There is a mountain in western Tibet that no human being has ever stood on top of. Not because nobody has tried. Because every single time someone gets permission, something kills it first. For a century the explanation was simple. It's holy, so leave it alone. That explanation is now coming apart. The monks who have watched that mountain for a thousand years have started describing it to outsiders in language that isn't religious at all. It's mechanical. And a few kilometers below them, compasses reportedly go wrong on one stretch of trail, and pilgrims who have never met each other come back missing hours on that exact same stretch. Why that stretch?