The Founder's Curse (New Zigon, #1)
John can't help that his last name is Brown or that he is a farmer. It's not his fault that his only shoes are work boots, and that his wardrobe consists of overalls and thin T-shirts. Even if Father and Mother are strict and detached, at least he has his eleven sisters and Widow McNeally on his side. He thought he was okay with it all, really! However, something made him trip that bully of a classmate at the museum, making him number one on the goon's hit-list. During the ensuing hunt, those blasted boots caused him to break a priceless statue, freeing a girl named Diana, who had been trapped in stone for centuries. His choices from that moment forward turn his life upside-down. Should he have turned Diana over to the authorities instead of sneaking her home and hiding her in the loft of his barn? Maybe. Should he have told his parents instead of Widow McNeally and two of his sisters? Possibly. Should he have run the other way when Diana showed him the things she can do with her mind and the amulet of crystals around her neck? No one would blame him if he did. Instead, he allows himself to be pulled deeper and deeper into Diana's world, doing crazy things like breaking into an insane asylum, traveling through waterfalls, confronting a Fourteenth-Century warrior, battling an old hag, and, worst of all, lying to his parents. That's a lot to deal with for a sheltered fourteen-year-old farm boy. Travel with John and Diana and a diverse cast of characters through an adventure of discovery, loss, and rebirth as friendships are forged and old debts are revisited in this tale where "mind over matter" has a whole new meaning.