Things are going well for our heroes. Harry, Megan, Uncle Garth, and Gid will soon be returning to their own times, and their friends Symeon Cleophas, his daughter Mary, and his newly adopted son Jesse are on their way to Ephesus, to deposit the sacred scrolls they recovered in the last book with the Christian church. Escorted by their Roman friend Apollus, the group have only to depart from Caeserea to reach their homes. But something intervenes.
The day after Apollus's departure, Gid, Harry, and Megan are shopping. Megan runs into Gracchus, the slimy ward of Simon Magus from last book, who declares he's going to Epheseus to seek redemption. And Harry and Gid run into a gladiator. The one they humiliated and stole from at the end of Book 5. He recognizes them. And he's got six buddies.
Before Harry and Gid can do anything, they're assaulted and beaten into unconsciousness, Megan watching from a distance but unable to do anything. A while later, Harry awakens on a slave ship, departing to the death mines of Corinth. And Gid is nowhere to be seen.
Megan runs back to the hotel and grabs Uncle Garth, explaining what happens, but by the time they reach the authorities, they reveal the gladiator sold Harry into slavery and took Gid for himself as a prisoner. Since the two did steal his sword and assault him, he has the legal high ground.
The two decide to reach out to Apollus, managing to catch up with him. But upon their meeting, Garth reaches the difficult decision that even with Apollus's authority they won't be able to find Harry or Gid. They need to go back to the modern day to get supplies and help. But since Apollus is still involved, they're going to have to tell him where they're really from.
They make it to the cave Garth used to time travel, bringing Apollus, who leaves behind two soldiers to mark the location and wait for them. After a long journey, they come out in Cody, Wyoming, stunning Apollus.
The two call the Hawkins and Plimptons and tearfully reunite in Utah, and Jim reveals that they were planning on going after them anyway. He, his fiancee Sabrina, and his daughter Steffanie have already made the arrangements. In the meantime, Marcos has successfully reunited with Melody, and her cancer has gone into full remission.
Apollus is SEVERELY shocked by everything happening. Most importantly, he's stunned by the thought that Rome will be a footnote in the future. Megan spends a lot of time walking him through this, strengthening their relationship.
But meanwhile, Harry has been enslaved. His ribs still broken from his beating at the start, he finds rowing very difficult, but pushes himself to when a sectarian Jewish bunkmate doesn't want to work on the Sabbath. Said friend's name is Micah, and the two gradually build a friendship. And then the ship is attacked by pirates, who kill the crew and leave the slaves in place as they sink the ship. Harry manages to reach some dropped keys and free everyone, but most can't swim and only thirteen (Harry and Micah included) survive. The survivors gradually make their way to a small island nearby, and start building a life there.
Meanwhile, Megan, Steffanie, Jim, Sabrina, and Apollus prepare to return to Judea. Garth explains that he won't be coming, since he's spent too much time away from his family. The group make their way through the caverns, but find directions from Apollus's two men to take a different route. They end up finding a pool with a tunnel that exits in an ancient-looking cistern, and take turns shuffling themselves and their supplies through, Apollus doing most of it.
They find it's early morning, and that they're in some ancient Jewish fort. But then Megan takes a look in a room and discovers a line of Jewish corpses with their throats cut, and a line of Romans break down the fort gate that she can now see is on a huge mountain. The reality of this hits her all at once, and she spits it out to the crew - they're on Masada, the Jewish fort, on the morning the Romans broke the siege and the hundreds of Jewish defenders chose to kill themselves and their families rather than be enslaved and pillaged. But that's not the bad news. When they left Judea, it was 70 AD, the year Jerusalem fell. But the fall of Masada didn't happen until AD 73! They've been gone three years! And at that very moment, as Roman soldiers enter the cistern, an earthquake occurs, and Apollus - the only one still in the tunnel, and the only one who could've vouched for them - is suddenly cut off.
Meanwhile, we cut back to Harry. It HAS been three years. He's been with the others on the island the whole time, refusing to light a signal fire because a Roman ship could easily be what spots them and they'd be enslaved again. Harry has spent his time learning to survive and preaching the gospel to his wreckmates, who have all come around, especially Micah. But that morning, a large shipping boat arrives, and it's revealed to be captained by a Christian fishing captain from near Athens, who was instructed in a dream to come here today. The crew are rescued, but run into another problem.
Apparently, Athens has really stepped up its Christian persecution. There have been people cast out, imprisoned, tortured, and even crucified! And the captain mentions that they even crucified the cousin of Jesus, an old preacher named Symeon Cleophas. Even worse, Symeon's daughter Mary has been imprisoned by the Greek senator Epigonus, and he's keeping her that way until she agrees to marry him.
Harry is devastated and joins a Christian group heading to Athens - with a trial of Christians approaching, they seek to secure representation. Harry soon discovers Jesse, who has been living on the streets again. He reveals that they never made it to Ephesus. On a stopover in Athens, Symeon became severely sick, and in the year or so it took to recover, the Christian persecutions started. He also reveals that Epigonus has two Scythian bodyguards, that make rescuing Mary very difficult. The two scope out Epigonus's mansion, but are spotted by the Scythians and pursued through the day and night. Jesse evades capture, but Harry does not. He is thrown into prison with the other Christians.
The next day, they attend their trial, and Harry gets a chance to refute the claims made against them. He is also imprisoned with Luke, author of the gospel of Luke, who reveals he hasn't written any scriptures yet. While this raises Harry's spirits considerably, what does the most is that he sees a man watching them by the courthouse, and realizes that the man is a Nephite. Gid must've escaped and gotten help!
Meanwhile, Jim and his family make it out of trouble relatively easily. Jim gifts the commander a bunch of Bic lighters and mini-Snickers and he lets them go. The group worry about Apollus, thinking the earthquake may have shifted the timeline so he may not come out for a while. They also worry about a Roman bully named Cronus and his buddies. The next day, the group stay at an inn and are accosted by Cronus and co., but Apollus suddenly comes riding over the hill and takes them on, managing to take three men and killing Cronus personally.
Unfortunately, the good news ends there. They make it to Apollus's encampment and discover that his father passed away during his three-year absence. His men waited as long as they could, explored the cave, left directions, and then assumed he was dead. Apollus is devastated. With nothing to anchor him, he volunteers to escort the Hawkinses, who decide to head for Ephesus, where they know they'll find allies.
That night, Harry and Luke and the remaining Christians are rescued by Gid and a team of thirty Nephites. Gid killed his gladiator captor, escaped, and went for help exactly like Garth and Megan. He also has lookouts surveiling Epigonus's mansion with Jesse so they can rescue Mary. They make it to the mansion, but discover the three lookouts are dead and Jesse nowhere to be seen. The Scythians must've seen them. Gid and Harry use a secret entrance they discovered to sneak into the mansion, but discover Epigonus is dying. And is deciding to honor his death with a Scythian tradition, where all a lord's servants are slaughtered and his house burned when he dies. The group hear the Scythians killing servants downstairs and make tracks. They manage to find Mary's room and free her and Jesse. But they're accosted by the Scythians and Gid takes an arrow. After a harrowing struggle, they kill both of the Scythians (and Mary rescues the scrolls Epigonus stole), but Gid is shot twice and as they escape the carnage, Gidgidonnihah passes away.
After Gid's funeral, Harry, Jesse, Mary, and Micah take a trip to Ephesus, hoping to finally deliver the scrolls. They arrive at the same time as the Hawkins family. That night, the Hawkins see Gracchus preaching in the square, claiming to be a miracleworker superior to Christ. Megan calls him out, but he demands there be two or three witnesses to prove her claim. And Harry steps forward from the crowd and calls him out too. Then Jesse. Then Mary. The Hawkinses see them all and the family is finally reunited.
That night, Apollus admits that he wants to be baptized into the Christian church. But also, that he doesn't want to keep living in the ancient world with all his family dead. He wants to live in Megan's. She welcomes him. Similarly, Mary reveals that since her father is dead, she has no living family, and the Hawkins invite her to come join their family, Harry most enthusiastically. The two speak in private and even share a kiss. Micah ends up taking Jesse on as a charge, and the two stay with the Christians in Ephesus.
The next day, before they leave, the Hawkins family visit with the apostle John, leader of the Church in Ephesus. He hosts them in his home, and before they leave gives them a special opportunity. He leads them into a back room and introduce them to Mary, mother of Jesus. As Jesus proclaimed on the cross (John 19:26-27), John is responsible for looking after his mother, and John has. The family return home safely.
A few weeks later, the joint weddings of Jim and Sabrina and Marcos and Melody are held. It is as happy an occasion as you'd expect. But that night, Megan makes a discovery; Apollus has sold his armor and used the money to buy Harry's motorcycle from him. He wants to explore this world, and face it like a man instead of being coddled. Megan sadly accepts his choice, but before he leaves, the two finally share a passionate and heartfelt kiss.
—
A few months later, Harry - still mourning Gidgiddonihah - has turned nineteen and puts in his submission to serve a two-year LDS mission. He receives his approval paper and reads it privately first. He is called to serve in ... Athens, Greece. He's incredulous, but happy. Everything came full circle.
And so ends the story of the Hawkins family. At least, for now...
