Publisher's Synopsis
Neither solid nor liquid it cannot be held, yet anyone who is unfortunate enough to come across it lives the rest of their lives desiring only one thing: the piedra, the stone of legend... known by countless names down through the ages: Aladdin's Lamp, The Philosophers' Stone, the elixir of life, the Midas touch, the I Ching, the crystal ball, the lotus, the philter, the rune stone, and even star dust. When the piedra appears unlooked for at the Triple Six, a bone-dry ranch in the north of Texas, its powers begin to act inexorably upon those who are closest to it gradually drawing them into its enchanting and bewitching ways. Living in poverty and wanting nothing more, Yanielle and her son Church are spared the more onerous effects of the stone, but those around them soon find themselves ensnared in webs of desire as far-reaching and as ancient as the legends that come with the piedra. Will Willem discover the secrets of the stone in time to save his family? Or will the yearning for the powers offered by the piedra ultimately corrupt all who come near it?
