Publisher's Synopsis
When 15-year-old Ardin follows an old woman off the city bus and disappears on the backstreets of downtown Cincinnati, her foster mom, Karen Bradford, involves her daughter Amelia, former cop Miguel Alvarez, and eight-year-old Jojo Jenkins in a race to find the girl that turns into a twenty-four-hour adventure. As Karen attempts to commandeer the search and rescue, forces that are far more powerful than everyday waking life are implemented by others to both hide and seek Ardin. All but Karen are frequent visitors to the Wait Zone, a multidimensional plane where the Heavenly Kingdom is a neighborhood right next door to the Karmic Realm, and nighttime dreamers pick up ceu's in dreaming, surfing between dimensions, and helping the dearly departed cross over. Unfortunately for Amelia, Miguel and Jojo, etheric guide Hrim and the guru Tetta, who are usually available for consult seem to have gone missing at the worst possible time. One thing is certain Ardin didn't run away, was nabbed at just about the same time that Max, a Christian martyr from 2nd century Greece, found out the Moksha Meter that registers the cumulative life achievements he shares with a divine Hindu sage, a 16th century court jester, and an off-Broadway director, is tanking right along with the world economy. While the Roman god Pluto, and his sidekick, Emperor Decius, complicate matters by multiplying fear and greed to undermine the most ancient feminist objective ever established, the question begs to be answered: who has the moksha to win this round? In the spirit of the melting pot in which ancient stories are boiled down and redefined, author C. Pic Michel's second novel combines legends from Eastern and Western mystical traditions with lore on time, reincarnation, and the values that run our current culture, to keep you smiling, second guessing, and learning stuff you didn't think would fit together like that.
