In Book 1, Josh discovered that he ( and only he or his descendants) can open a mysterious book called the Ix Codex which predicts the end of the world. If anyone else touches it, they die a horrible death. Josh is still frustrated by what happened to cause the death of his father and vows to discover what is really going on. After discovering something very disturbing about the Ix Codex, Josh is back on an adventure that sees him following the girl he has been "promised" to into a secret maze deep in the jungle , meeting an old woman in a village who swears she's met him before and climbing a snow capped mountain. There are also the mysterious postcards addressed to him and his mother, and lots of other twists and turns. My suspicions regarding one of his closest allies is confirmed as PLOT SPOILER ALERT: she turns out to be the girlfriend of his mortal enemy Simon Martin.