The Crystal Skull

There exist in collections around the world a series of life-size crystal skulls. No one knows for sure who made them originally or how, though they are reputed to be of Mayan origin. Legends say that a total of thirteen were 'birthed' in the same Mayan temples by an ancient people who foresaw a time when their land would be overwhelmed by a natural disaster, an event they referred to as the 'End of Days.' Created over hundreds of generations, and watched over by a handful of specially chosen 'skull-keepers', the skulls are believed to contain a lost wisdom that will be revealed only when all thirteen are brought together. The Mayans also devised a Codex of such complexity that it has never been fully decoded. Recent research has nevertheless revealed a definite date for the cataclysm to come: 21 December 2012. The clock has begun to tick. This is all fact. The fiction involves a 21st century academic, an Elizabethan physician, and their desperate bid across the centuries to save a skull that may yet protect us from the greatest disaster the world has known ...