A god-haunted pool in the Yucatan waits for a girl from the future to come of age and accept her obligation to the PaperClan in this literary thriller hailed by critics as a bewitching, breathtaking, lyrical masterpiece.

Part Maya myth, part hipster stream-of-modern-day-life, part love letter to this beleaguered planet, this memoir of a time traveler teems with unforgettable characters - some despicable, some lovable, including a charming burro named Pants-on-Fire and the story’s heroine, a doubt-riddled young woman who carries an ancient bloodline with a spark of Maya divinity.

Raised on the contested Texas/Mexico border, two cousins - Mocheela, who thinks herself altogether ordinary and Liliana, who believes herself a star - gradually learn that their lives and the lives of the young men they love are mirrored in a more dangerous ancient world. The way their grandmother tells it, time is an illusion, and each world continuously depends on the other.

Here is a tale of two cities. One a dusty, dinky border town, one a dazzling, ancient Maya metropolis. But this dazzling ancient world contains shocking secret - one of the four friends is destined for human sacrifice.

Two shamanic grandmothers collaborate across time to stage a dramatic rescue. Both are powerful medicine women of the PaperClan. Both serve the Maya Godma, Ixmukáhne.

There is more at stake than a PaperClan bloodline and the destinies of the lovers. A power shift among the ancient Maya Gods could signal the return of the Godma and the rewilding of planet Earth.