Fifteen-year-old amateur scientist Jason Hirley just received his inheritance: a family curse threatening to wipe out humanity. As heirlooms go, this one sucks.

Jason's ancestor, naturalist James Hirley, stole a crystal bird from an Amazonian edifice mound. His crime was punished with a terrible prophecy: the world will reel under a devastating illness unless his descendants return the crystal to its rightful place.

One hundred and fifty years later, the prophecy comes to pass. Spread by exotic bird smuggling, Arara fever is on the verge of reaching pandemic levels. Those infected...