Product Description
Twenty years ago, a French explorer for an underwater salvage team after exploring the wreck of the great ship Titanic secretly delivered to the Vatican a manuscript perfectly preserved in six sealed brass tubes. It was purportedly written in 1912 by the last archangel, Raphael, and contained a cover letter to Pope Pius X. In the letter, Raphael says that he is dying, and warns the pontiff that one fallen angel is still alive, held prisoner in an underground cave in Aberlady, Scotland. It was the angel Gabriel, who after being mortally wounded by the demon in the fourteenth century during the time of the Black Death, imprisoned him in a most cunning way by using the white magic of an ancient relic, the Staff of Saint Peter, before succumbing to his own death, leaving the demon to Raphael, the weakest of their band, to guard.

The manuscript holds an account of Raphael's final mission on earth, memorializing the most pertinent events associated with his “watch”, and the circumstances that have led to his ultimate demise. He, just a lowly scribe, gives warning. “The Staff of Saint Peter - Gabriel's Lock v may be broken. The demon has failed at least once and will try again. If unleashed upon the world, without the likes of Michael and Gabriel to do battle with him, his power will be limitless.”

Follow the story as a wily cardinal, a brilliant detective, an old mariner, and a beautiful young woman attempt to foil the demon's efforts to break the magical spell by solving an ancient riddle associated with the Staff, and three siblings who were separated at a young age who hold the key.