When the past becomes prologue to the present…

One month after exposing the Heritage Clarity conspiracy, teen Guardians Milo Parker and Zoe Williams thought the hardest part was over. They were wrong. When a massive federal immigration operation descends on Minneapolis—the largest in American history—their magical bookmarks begin behaving strangely. And an ancient Maya artifact, dormant for five centuries, awakens with terrifying purpose.

The obsidian witness was created during the Maya collapse to anchor witnesses to moments of civilizational fracture. Now it's reaching for Milo and Zoe, recognizing in America's crisis the same pattern it was designed to document: an empire consuming itself from within.

Separated by thousands of miles—Zoe trapped with detained families in a Minneapolis standoff, Milo forced to witness processing operations at the Texas border—they must find their way back to each other while the country fractures around them. Meanwhile, their allies in the Guardian network race against time to extract them before the obsidian's grip becomes permanent.

When Empire Comes Home is the most urgent entry yet in this acclaimed series that weaves magical realism with documented history. As real events overtook the writing of this novel, the line between fiction and reality became terrifyingly thin.

Perfect for listeners who loved The Book Thief, The Hate U Give, and Long Way Down—and anyone who believes that truth is worth fighting for.

The Bookmark Chronicles: Fighting Book Bans Across Time • The Unwritten World • Fighting Deepfakes Across Time • The Donroe Doctrine • When Empire Comes Home