In this page-turning young adult fantasy novel, an English colony was established in Le Mars, Iowa, in the late 1800s. It soon became a refuge for Druids trying to escape persecution in Wales, and they formed a High Council of Druids that has magically protected the town ever since…until suddenly losing their eldest member. Since then, they have been unable to summon forth the magic of the Sacred Grotto to aide in their fight against the sources of evil threatening the town. Then Ben Walker, a thirteen-year-old growing up in Le Mars in 1966, was discovered to have a particularly strong connection to the spirit energy of the earth. The High Council recruits him to replace their missing member so they can continue their fight against a coven of witches living out at the Bates farm as well as the sinister warlock who runs the scary old Union Hotel. As Ben carries on with his normal summer activities, his special powers allow him to open a portal to the Other World. He and the Council enter the mystic pathway on a quest to find other sources of magic.
