Summary of The Hesperus Prophecy

The Hesperus Prophecy, book one of The Hesperus Prophecies Trilogy, begins with George Washington’s death. Throughout the course of events, we learn more about George Washington’s pivotal role in founding a secret society, the Clypeate, as well as his interactions with the mysterious figure known as Hesperus.

When George Washington first meets Hesperus, sneaking around Washington’s plantation, Mount Vernon, his life is changed. Hesperus functions as Washington’s protector and benefactor, and through their interactions, Hesperus guides Washington, transforming him into a leader of men. After Washington leads the United States to independence, he founds the Clypeate, a secret society sworn to protect mankind from tyranny and oppression.  

After Washington’s death, the Clypeate endures under the leadership of Tobias Lear, Washington’s closest aide, long-time friend, and another historical character. Tobias Lear has a dubious past, stealing money from Washington along with other questionable choices, but in The Hesperus Prophecy, he continues the Clypeate’s struggle against the Obturavi, an equally powerful, secret society bent on dominating humanity.

During Lear’s final speech to the Clypeate, informing them of the Obturavi’s plans to find and attack Clypeate headquarters, we are introduced to the Epistolith. He describes the giant, diamond-shaped crystal, several stories tall, as a store of unknowable knowledge. We also learn of Lear’s achievements as leader of the Clypeate, fighting off the British in the War of 1812, but more importantly, the sacrifice he is about to make, shooting himself to stop the evil Obturavi from torturing him to obtain the secret location of the Clypeate’s headquarters.

Tobias Lear’s sacrifice in 1816 keeps the Clypeate safe until 1898, when we first meet Mary Elizabeth Powell. She is a sharp-witted and highly opinionated 8-year-old girl with vibrant red hair and sparkling green eyes, and it is through her eyes that we witness the second attack on Clypeate headquarters.

The Clypeate whisks her family away in the middle of the night, from their home in Foggy Bottom to the Clypeate’s secret headquarters located under Washington, DC. When they are ultimately trapped in a library filled with the collective wisdom of the ages, Mary Elizabeth encounters an extraordinary object – the Axyn Kirox (pronounced Axe In Kai Rocks), a silvery pyramid just a few inches tall, with a small handle. Her father uses it to signal Hesperus, who is too far away to help, and when Mary Elizabeth gets too close to it, the Axyn Kirox flies towards her and disappears inside her head. When she wakes up, everyone is amazed, but there isn’t time to ask questions. Soon, Thomas Edison arrives through a tunnel leading from the surface, the entrance hidden under a large stone called the Jefferson Pier, into the library’s ceiling, rescuing the Powell mother and children while her father and the other Clypeate remain behind to face the Obturavi.

Next, the book fast-forwards to 1938, when United States intelligence services learn of a mission by Nazi Germany, ostensibly looking for whales off the coast of Antarctica. When James Fischer, a young analyst, presents this information to Howard Bowen, the historical Director of the US Naval Research Labs, the Clypeate decides to track the mission. James is tasked with procuring a list of men named Declan, fulfilling a prophecy handed down to George Washington by his mysterious benefactor, Hesperus. One of these Declans is Professor Declan Riordan, a biology professor at UCLA. After some career-boosting offers, Professor Riordan agrees to the Antarctica mission. However, the trip turns out to be more than he bargained for. The Professor’s team encounters the German expedition, and they are murdered. Luckily, the Professor survives, hidden by a second barn-sized crystal, another Epistolith, they discover in Antarctica. Due to his injuries, the Professor is left behind for the US Navy to capture, and he ends up in a top-secret interrogation chamber known as Dante’s Inferno.

After James Fischer and Director Bowen release Professor Riordan from Dante’s Inferno, they all meet with Bruce Kingston, the Commander of the Clypeate. The Clypeate doesn’t hold the political clout it once did, no longer considered important by the United States government, but they are the only ones who know Nazi Germany’s real mission – to obtain ancient information hidden inside the Epistoliths. The Nazis are being helped by the wicked Obturavi, and together they plan to build a weapon of unimaginable power. Declan finds out he is the key to stopping Germany and the Obturavi from achieving their ambitions of global domination, which he doesn’t initially believe. To further convince Declan, he is taken to Clypeate’s headquarters underneath Washington, where he meets Embrie, a young, mysterious woman who is a caretaker for the headquarters' incredibly advanced computers and library full of irreplaceable documents. After a journey through the headquarters, he comes face-to-face with another Epistolith, this one under the Washington Monument.

Despite initial hesitation, Professor Riordan soon remembers an Epistolith that protected him from the Nazis and saved his life in Antarctica, and he approaches the giant crystal. As he gets closer, the image of a young girl appears inside the crystal, the Girl in the Glass, and when Declan reaches his hand out to her, he disappears for 2 weeks. When he reappears, he is initially sick and confused, but quickly realizes the Girl in the Glass flooded his mind with valuable information.

Unsure how to retrieve the information trapped in Declan’s mind, the Clypeate’s Analytical Engine Room, filled with the world’s most advanced computers, arrives at a solution. Using a small army of robotic workers, they build a machine to extract the information. However, the machine vibrates so much that it causes the room’s elevated platform to collapse, injuring both Declan and the commander, Bruce Kingston. Bruce’s injuries are life-threatening, so they race him back to his office, but in the process, trap Declan and Embrie in the Clypeate’s underground headquarters. Declan suffers extensive damage to his leg, and Embrie nurses him back to health. While the pair are trapped together for a month, the Analytical Engine’s machines are busy processing the information they extracted from Declan’s mind, and when they realize these are blueprints for highly advanced devices, the robots begin building them.  

As Declan recuperates, he also starts having unusual dreams. They feel very real, and he believes these dreams are actually the memories of the Girl in the Glass. He confronts Embrie, who admits the Girl in the Glass was a real person, her sister, Mary Elizabeth Powell, who disappeared while trying to escape from the Obturavi. As Declan and Embrie spend time together, the Professor develops feelings for her, and for the first time in his life, he ignores his rational mind and falls in love.

When James breaks through the Jefferson Pier Stone, blocking the original entrance to the Clypeate’s headquarters, Declan and Embrie are reunited with James and Bruce, who is alive but with debilitating injuries, especially to his arm. All four are soon summoned to the Analytical Engine Room, where the robots have finished building the devices created from the ideas retrieved from Declan’s mind.

The four humans travel deep into the Analytical Engine Room, encountering the thinking mind responsible for the Clypeate’s highly advanced machines. Here, they discover the vast room full of computational machines, known as the E.D.I.S.O.N., or the electronic data intelligence synthesis and operations network, is actually run by the sliced-up brain of Thomas Edison. They are also presented with the devices created from Declan’s mind, and the largest of them, a piano-sized box, appears to be a navigational device wired to respond to Declan’s mind, while a shoebox full of smaller trinkets is even more advanced, although their purpose remains unknown.

Bruce apparently has plans for the navigation machine, although he doesn’t share them, but pushes for an immediate departure from Clypeate’s underground headquarters. Worried the government may be watching the Jefferson Pier, where he and Bruce returned to headquarters, James devises a bold plan. Break through the brick wall erected by the government to block the Clypeate from accessing the building next door to the White House.

However, before they enact this plan, Declan professes his love for Embrie, and is met with devastating news. Bruce tells him that Mary Elizabeth, the Girl in the Glass, drowned when the ship her family was travelling on, the La Bourgogne, sank in the Atlantic. Even worse, he learns that Embrie is a machine, a robot built by Thomas Edison so he could pretend like Mary Elizabeth hadn’t died.

Declan doesn’t know what to think, except that he doesn’t think Bruce is correct. While trapped for a month, during one of his dreams, he was aboard a sinking ship. If these dreams were truly Mary Elizabeth’s memories, then she didn’t drown. Instead, she was captured by the Obturavi. Not entirely convinced that his dreams are real, Declan doesn’t share this revelation with anyone, as he is unable to process these mixed feelings.

Their escape plan miraculously succeeds, and when they return topside, Bruce departs with the mysterious navigation device and box of trinkets. Book one, The Hesperus Prophecy, concludes with James hankering for a night on the town while Declan grapples with his feelings, ultimately deciding to leave the Clypeate.