"The boy stood at the fork in the path and weighed his fears. Going to the left would take him home where he knew questions about his tardiness would lead to the conclusion he remained a foolish boy. If he answered honestly about how he lost temper and his wits, he worried he would look as idiotic in his parent's eyes as in his own." Marcus doesn't believe in magic or time travel. He really doesn't believe in much at all as a shallow and narrow-minded boy of fourteen years. None of that matters to the strange fortune teller at the market or the cave that sends him back in time to pre-historic South America. Now he will have to learn the ways of a stone age civilization and make friends with people who let them selves be stung by ants to be part of a tribe. All Marcus wants to do is return home, but a fantastic trip to the oracle and a run in with supernatural beings make him re-evaluate all that he valued and believed. Caught up in a civil war between tribes and an eternal war between beings who can command the elements Marcus has to make some important decisions.