Andrei Petrovich, at the request of his teacher, professor-historian G.N. Bogdanovich, comes to his family “nest”, an estate in the Leningrad region, where there is now a local history museum. He will get acquainted with the latest scientific notes of the teacher, in which he links the biblical legend about the Apostle Paul and the snake with the mystery of the collapse of Byzantium. The Bogdanovich family has kept a part of the ancient Parchment with a sacred, mystical meaning for more than two hundred years. There is also another document left by the professor’s ancestor, a sailor from the Ushakov flotilla from the time of Emperor Paul I. With the professor’s two nieces, Vera and Irina, Andrei goes to Malta and Syracuse, in the footsteps of the apostle, to look for another part of the Parchment in the catacombs. And also the Laying of Satan... His gift of Seeing the Hidden helps Andrey to unravel the mystery of the teacher’s discovery, while Verochka has the ability to decipher signs, build information and logical matrices incredible in volume and depth... The splendor of natural landscapes and the charm of baroque architecture make the heroes’ journey festive, but... this is only softens the exciting dynamics of dangerous, literally adventurous adventures and plot twists, when the “blots of fear” clinging to the heart are replaced by the cleansing elixir of love. But also an unusual love... Another big storyline of the novel is connected with the Maltese period in the history of the Knights of St. John. The Grand Master of the Order, Jean Parisot de la Valette, and his faithful secretary Sir Oliver Starkey, noble and courageous warrior monks, take the Pack from Suleiman and save the Order, the offspring of the Christian world at that time. The Knights are victorious in the Great Siege...Andrey, Vera and Irina found that other part of the Parchment and returned it all to the Holy See and the Order. The merits of Russian researchers are highly appreciated. However, Andrey is obsessed with the search for the Styling. The Bogdanovichs want to buy the estate, return it to their family and create a family commandery of the Order of Malta on its basis. And again the search, again dangerous adventures... The goal is close, the Laying is very close, only now... “if you peer into the abyss for a long time, the abyss begins to peer into you”... But there is Luck, there is the living water of Love and the Path is open, and Andrei Petrovich follows his new Destiny.