For Howell the day begins like any other: school, followed by a group of bullies making fun of his mother. But then it changes. A blind boy saves him from the bullies, and a frightening Man in Black looks Howell up and down with his laser-like eye. Both say they’ll meet Howell again.

Where? When? Why?

Then there’s his sister’s ominous new boyfriend who grins when news comes that Howell’s mother has vanished after a car crash. But strangest of all, his eccentric Uncle Tal insists that only he, Howell, can rescue his mother, and he needs to do it before an important birthday. What does all of this mean?

Before Howell can get answers, he is loaded into Uncle Tal’s old Volkswagen van and headed away from Northern California to New Mexico. As they drive, strange events, good and evil, confront the pair. Driverless trucks almost crush them, a tree “reenacts” the crash, a field of corn attempts to smother Howell, he is left alone and abandoned in the desert, etc.

Howell wonders what world, what reality he is in.

Uncle Tal “rescues” Howell and enrolls him in a school for “potential” Doeths (wizards) in the middle of the desert. Is this where he’ll learn how to save his mother? But he soon finds that even the school is not safe. Drygoni (evil forces) whether teachers, staff or other pupils, have infiltrated the school demanding constant vigilance. A simple walk from one building to another can result in any or all pupils being lost in the desert.

Repeatedly Howell and his friends face hazardous tasks: a flash flood threatens to drown them, a huge, deadly snake that mesmerizes and kills, sunstroke, and many other obstacles. And lurking constantly is Howell’s greatest enemy: his own doubt of his worthiness for the tasks ahead.

After one failed undertaking, Howell is sent home. He’s a failure!

Waiting for him at home skulks his sister’s boyfriend, Tommy Foxglove. A simple but vital clue, the location of a hidden painting, will assist Howell return to his friends in the desert.

Only when he foils Tommy Foxglove can Howell return to the school in the desert.

The school has changed. Professor Drago Lucian, the man in black, is now in charge. He, together with some students who have given in to evil forces, is determined to crush Howell and his friends.With the aid of Uncle Tal and the other Doeths [wizards], Howell and his friends escape Professor Drago Lucian’s school . They race across the desert pursued by the professor and his band of evil pupils.

Finally, Howell and friends find the site where Howell’s mother is trapped. They enter the tunnels that lead to the central kiva. Here Howell confronts the Powerful Evil Force behind his mother’s disappearance.