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something approaching umbrage. “What?”
    “ Mountain climbing is dangerous. Don’t go.”
    “Gods, not you too. You sound like my mum.” She pursed her lips together and shook her head. “In case you haven’t been paying attention, you’re the one who’s having trouble with high places.”
    “ I know. It’s just that—”
    She waved her hand, cutting him off. “I’m going for a coffee. You can do whatever you like.” She spun on her heel and stomped down the stairs, not looking back.
    As he watched her depart, Paul wondered what had prompted his outburst. His certitude about the realness of what he remembered had not diminished, but belief alone was not enough to make it real. He was a rational being, believing only in what he could observe and measure and quantify. Whatever else it was, his perception of Lauren ’s death was not real if only for the simple reason that she was still alive.
    A premonition then?
    Paul did not believe in premonitions. Fortune telling and psychic mumbo-jumbo was just trickery.
    Still, why would I imagine Lauren dying in a climbing accident when I had no idea that she was even interested in mountaineering?
    It was a coincidence. It had to be. There was no other rational explanation.
    Nevertheless, as the week passed, his dread of what might happen increased. It was not merely the ominous expectation of what might happen to Lauren. For her sake, he certainly hoped that the foreseen calamity would not occur, but the reason for his anxiety went much deeper.
    If something did happen to Lauren at Chamonix—if what he had imagined or envisioned or…pre-remembered really did come to pass, what would that mean for his understanding of the world?
    Everything had a rational explanation. That was not merely an article of faith for him; he had seen it proven true, again and again. Were there things that science did not understand? Absolutely. But to catch a glimpse of the future? How was that possible? How could he explain it in a way that squared with his knowledge of the universe and space-time and causal relationships?
    And why had it happened to him?
    If something happened to Lauren, would he be able to explain it away as a coincidence?
    And if nothing happened, what then?

PART ONE: WALLS

ONE
     
    Teotihuacan, Mexico—Present Day
     
    This is why I love being an archaeologist, thought Jade Ihara as she stared across Calzada de los Meurtos —the Avenue of the Dead—at the massive structure, known as the Pyramid of the Sun. Because she had spent so much of her professional career digging holes in the middle of nowhere, sifting dirt and, if she was lucky, finding a potsherd or two, she welcomed any chance to work a site like this, a place full of both history and mystery. It was a way of recharging her batteries. Lord knows, I could use that right now.
    The invitation to join an ongoing investigation at the Pyramid of the Sun could not have come at a better time for her, both professionally and personally. It was a chance to get back to her roots, at least in terms of her career as an archaeologist specializing in Pre-Columbian American cultures.
    Despite being one of the largest and most thoroughly studied sites on earth, very little was known about the origins of Teotihuacan and the people who first lived there. Even the names given to the city and its monumental pyramids were the product of later inhabitants. Teotihuacan was a Nahuatl word that meant “City of the Gods” and was the name given the place by the Aztecs who discovered and occupied it half a millennium after it had been abandoned by its builders. No one knew where the Teotihuacanos came from, why they built massive monuments—the Pyramid of the Sun was the third largest pyramid in the world—or why they disappeared. The chance to solve that enduring mystery, or at the very least, shed some light on it, was one of the main reasons Jade had jumped at the chance to join the dig.
    She strode across the broad