Passage to Zarahemla

Plot Summary

In a certain forest hollow of southern Utah there exists a place where the centuries converge, where time becomes a watery, uncertain substance, and where the civilizations of two separate worlds overlap. Natural phenomenon seems to trigger or accelerate the power of this vortex. The most common triggers to this phenomenon are the frequent earthquakes that occur along the fault line that runs across the area. The Native Americans knew of this place and considered it sacred. Today this power is stirring back to life. A hunter chases a wounded elk into the woods. During his pursuit he feels a tremor deep in the earth. Suddenly the forest becomes an eerie, ethereal place full of shadows and whispers, as well as a droning whir or hum that is known to locals as the sound of the "Whistlers." This hunter is suddenly attacked by blurry images in ancient costumes. An arrow coalesces from the vortex and strikes the hunter's shoulder. The hunter screams as the shadows converge and the adventure of a lifetime begins. Twelve years later: Enter 17-year-old Kerra McConnell and her 11-year-old brother, Brock. They live in poverty in Southern California. Their mother has just died from a drug overdose. Kerra has not seen her father since she was four or five years old, making the two children orphans, wards of the state. Because their caseworker, Mr. Paulson, feels that Kerra is not old enough to care for her brother–and also because Brock has already had some run-ins with the law–he informs them that they will have to be separated - sent to different foster families. Kerra cannot allow this to happen. Her brother is all she has, and vice versa. Together they steal the social worker's car and flee the state. Kerra takes them to the only relative that she remembers from her early childhood - her Aunt and Uncle Whitman in Leeds, Utah.