A.J. Meyers

Estranged fraternal twins Allen and Allie Foster are reunited by their mother's death, and return to their strange hometown of Obelisk Bay to attend to her lingering matters. Allen, struggling to resolve his latest novel, is enticed by Allie to take a powerful psychotropic drug she calls "the lotus." As if a muse were speaking through him, Allen begins recounting the winding story of a young woman's travels decades earlier. Her life in some ways parallels their own, as she journeys into the desert in search of a statue her own deceased mother left her with an old photograph of. The two lives begin to cross over in unexpected ways, and it becomes apparent that a dark secret at the heart of their old home has far broader ramifications than they could have possibly imagined.

The Manticores, led by Conway and his second-in-command Butcher face off in a game against their rivals, The Hellhounds. If they manage to keep Conway's brother Michaels, the worst player on the team, from screwing up their plans they just might win. But soon everything changes when Zoltar, Conway's old enemy shows up looking for revenge.