Book excerpt: A twenty-first century adventurer passes through a portal in the time/space continuum and is thrust into the sixteenth century before the coming of the Europeans. He finds himself in the Southwest amongst a tribe of hunter-gatherers on the brink of extinction. They call him “Chee.” A young girl, born with a deformity, was declared to be a curse. The superstitions of the tribe required that she be cast out to die of exposure, starvation, or under the fangs of some beast, but she somehow survived. This little forest waif’s indomitable spirit and determined courage compel her to seek love, acceptance, and a family. Chee gathers a group of young people who were willing to fight for survival. There are sisters, whose family was captured or killed. There is also a trio of young men, still in their teens, gradually emerging as skilled hunters and valiant warriors. With Chee’s help, can they bring hope to the tribe and stop the downward spiral to destruction? Can they bring love to the “curse of the tribe” who had despaired of ever finding a family?