Picking up not long after she left off in The Golden Hour, Williams' new adventure covers much more territory than the first.

Xanthe Alexander, while enjoying a short reprieve from her twin brother Xavier, is overly busy beating herself up. While out on the porch studying math to distract herself, she happens to notice something in the pond. Much to her shock, she realizes it's her best friend Rowan. As it turns out, she, Rowan and Nina have been called back to Owatannauk, Maine to assist in a special project: collecting historical items for customers of the curio shop.

After a brief run-through of Egyptian history, the trio are costumed and sent on their way. Xanthe, pleased to finally have something her brother does not, has lost sight of the mission almost before it's begun. When Xavier later shows up in Alexandria, she loses it completely. Though the children have been forewarned not to interact with anyone important, when Xanthe accidentally runs into Cleopatra while exiting an alleviator in a Temple of Isis, she finds it all too easy to let the girl believe she is the godess she's come to worship.

In secret, she begins making trips to see the princess as she ages, following her through history. Moody and distracted during the day, it doesn't take long for the others to figure out something's up. She feeds Rowan a lie to pass on to the others, but Xavier knows her better than that, and follows her on her next visit. Furious as she is at the discovery, it turns out to be the least of their troubles, as they get stuck overnight in the wrong year, and return to Owatannauk only to find they've created an alternate branch of the universe and are stuck out of time.

With the help of the alternates in the new Owatanauk, and Rowan and Nina, Xanthe and Xavier, or Isis and Osiris, scheme up an incredible plot to return history to its correct path, which is their only chance to undo the damage, and return to their own time.

A much heavier read than the first of the series, The Hour of the Cobra covers far more territory than The Golden Hour, but is equally enjoyable. I'd recommend reading them in order, only because most of the mystery of Owatannauk is told in the first book, though there is a brief summarization for the reader at the beginning of this story.

A tale of jealousy, friendship, teamwork and faith, The Hour of the Cobra is well worth a look.