There’s a strange mystery regarding the death of Peter Hillyer, renowned figure in the world of research
and fact checking. He's found dead, struck by lightning, at the foot of Cleopatra’s Needle, the
Egyptian obelisk in Central Park.
He’s wearing clothes from the late 19th century, has
French francs and coins from the year 1887 in his pocket, along with other
paraphernalia from the time: a ticket for The Louvre and receipts from Paris
dated 1889, including one from the most famous restaurant in Paris, dated
October 5, 1889.
Next to his body is an ornate piece of jewelry, which
along with his clothes and possessions, are returned to his son, Dalton. The
case is closed.
Eliza
Kinkaid, 21, disappears. Her family thinks she’s been kidnapped. Police think
she’s a runaway. Her family hires a private detective who finds nothing. This case is
also
closed.
Seven years pass.
Eliza is declared legally dead. Her sister, Juliet,
discovers a journal belonging to her filled with notes and drawings of Paris
circa 1889. It also contains information that ties Eliza’s disappearance to the
death of Peter Hillyer. Juliet
contacts Dalton, now 28, also a professional fact checker. She wants to hire
him to research what happened to her sister. He takes the job. She immediately
presents to him an incredible theory as to how his father died and what
happened to her sister.
“Your
father found a way to transport my sister back in time to Paris in the year
eighteen-eighty-nine,” she says. “I can even pinpoint the date she arrived,
October sixth, which was the date the Moulin Rouge opened. I think my
sister went to Paris to study with him.”
Dalton
finds her theory preposterous, but after reading the journal, studying the
drawings and talking to various experts, he thinks there might be something to Juliet’s theory. If nothing
else, he wants closure on the mysterious death of his father.
With the aid of Proctor Newley, a distinguished authority
on enchanted historical objects, Dalton comes to believe that his father did
indeed help transport Juliet back to 1889. Not only that, he learns that his
father actually went back in time to Paris in 1889 for one day.
He discovers that the object found alongside his father’s
body is called The Brimstone, and learns about The Brimstone Society -- a
secret, centuries old group of wealthy men and women obsessed with time travel.
Also in pursuit of The Brimstone is a grisly mercenary
hired by a member of The Brimstone Society with orders to find The Brimstone at
any cost, even murder. Dalton,
Juliet and Proctor learn that for the Brimstone to work it needs to be next to
a special obelisk in extreme weather conditions.
They gather at midnight by the obelisk in Central
Park. It all goes according to plan, until the mercenary appears and grabs the
Brimstone just as the lightning strikes, and all four are transported back to
Paris, 1889.
When they arrive, Dalton, Juliet and Proctor have The
Brimstone and take off. The brutal mercenary, reeling with pain from having
been struck by lighting, sets out to find them, and more importantly, The
Brimstone, so he can return to the present day.
Ultimately, he tracks down Dalton’s troupe and rends The
Brimstone from their possession. He leaves Paris, stranding Dalton, Juliet and
Proctor in Paris, 1889.
They have no way to get back.
They must find a way!
They discover it’s an amazing city, more glorious than
they ever imagined, but they still have to find a way back to their own time
against impossible odds.
