Hollis Whittaker

It changed the course of WWII. In 1945, it was stolen. Now a ten-year-old boy has found it, and the government will kill him to get it.When ten-year-old Hollis Whittaker picks up a strange medallion he stumbled upon at the edge of a stream, he suddenly begins exhibiting signs of brilliance, even discovering the solar system's Planet X and astounding the astronomical community. The awkward, overweight fifth grader with heart problems is an instant media sensation, but all is not well. The genius-making medallion bonds to only one person for life and the U.S. government has been searching for it since World War II, which means they're prepared to kill Hollis to acquire it so they can exploit the medallion's immense power.After a thwarted hit job by two military agents, Hollis treks cross-country with the aid of his best friend Kirby and a Navajo woman, Cha'Risa, whose family possessed the medallion-the Níłch'i-more than seventy years ago. They are hoping Cha'Risa's aged grandfather will be able to help them. Unfortunately, the whole country believes she has kidnapped the boys, and the agents who are trying to kill Hollis have the system on their side.

An ancient medallion has turned ten-year-old Hollis Whittaker into the U.S. military's top target. Through the artifact, the boy shares a mind with an alien, and possesses the most advanced brain on the planet, capable of teleporting people through space and time. A Native American woman, her grandfather, a computer nerd, the boy's best friend and an involuntary time traveler will do anything they can to help, but when Hollis' parents disappear, their plan to flee the country and relocate to Central America is scrapped. Then a mysterious insect appears, followed by an old woman bearing another medallion. The Bolivian stranger has been endowed with different capabilities than Hollis. She tells him that he is unwittingly damaging spacetime and that the consequences could be disastrous. Is the woman connected to a 1958 nuclear explosion in the Amazon Jungle? Can she help locate Hollis' parents? Can a ragtag band of misfits protect the boy against the mightiest military in the world? And what's all of this got to do with aliens?