One of the Raven Nation operatives disappears near the small town of Hope. When Jordan and Foster investigate, they discover that the townspeople are hiding a terrible secret.

Quatrain 28, Century 3: "Tainted streams flow into fields of stone as the vanguard rises from hope / On a path of least obstruction, the evil one is crowned".

Foster and Jordan are saved from a Gua bomb by an email sent to Eddie by an ill ten-year-old girl. Jordan discovers that Mabus has made a psychic connection the girl.