Nita Bauer

Awchewa Nita Bauer

When a rainstorm spoils the first LaHoya family picnic of the summer, an angry swan suddenly flies out of the reeds and attacks fifteen-year-old Katie. As she falls in seemingly slow motion, Katie hears a voice that no one else can hear, chanting in a foreign language. Ya awchewa! Continuing to be troubled by nightmares, a swarm of neon stars on steroids, and episodic visions that start to come true, Katie is reluctantly swept off to the sticks of central Texas to stay with her quirky Grandma Rubythe only one who knows whats going on. As a chain of events leads Katie to unravel the secret her family has been protecting for centuries, Katie must confront the past and the future in ways she never imagined. When she is left with an agonizing choice between the safety of normalcy and accepting her destiny, Katie soon discovers that she will have to let go of who she believes she is in order to find her true self. In this coming of age tale, a self-conscious teen spending the summer with her grandmother becomes intertwined with a centuries-old secret and a deranged swan intent on bringing the awakening.