The story begins in the early morning hours of Charlie’s thirteenth birthday. He is still adjusting to the loss of his mother, the reappearance of his father, and the strange antics of his Uncle Oph. He also struggles with bullies at school and a series of events that defy his scientific mind's analysis. Charlie's arrowhead heirloom starts acting up, warming, glowing, warning him of danger. The school principal seems to be out to get him, bent on Charlie undergoing the FYI Infusion Procedure at the school’s mysterious clinic. Charlie suspects the FYI procedure of turning other students into demon zombies of some sort. Then, things get really strange as Charlie discovers he may be contributing to some of the weirdness. During a P.E. game of dodge ball, he somehow explodes a ball, causing it to burst with locusts all over school bully Damian Monev.

Thirteen year old Goth girl Aldercy --- Aldie to her friends --- lost her parents in an accident years ago. The Edlyns, leaving Aldie at home, went to a school conference with Principal Yulumbago and never returned. The emergency officials that knocked on Aldie’s door the next morning said it was a single vehicle accident. Due to the nature of the accident, the bodies were unable to be recovered. Aldie now lives with her prescription drug abusing step mother, workaholic step father, and step sisters which, Aldie believes, would be of much more use as decorative gargoyles mounted above the large fireplace in the mansion’s family room.

Dr. Venue, his cat Einstein always at his side, is superintendant of WASGAD’s Academy for Youngsters. Dr. Venue is a quiet, unassuming administrator with a certain flame of inestimable power always aglow in his eyes. He sends, via Mr. Feeze, three invitations to Charlie for admission to WASGAD’s academy. Charlie, wishing to remain with his father, throws away the first two and burns the third. Dr. Venue, in the form of MacGuffin the Magician, recreates the third one for Charlie.

Huge, dreadful-looking but tender and kind. He is the envoy of WASGAD's Academy for Youngsters and tasked with bringing each angel child to the academy in safety.  Regardless of Wrungwhrul attack, demon dogzzz, or wormhole malfunctions he has never lost a passenger and has no plans to start with Charlie Parker and his gang of delinquents.  He will get this manifest of passengers delivered, via his sturdy riverboat, though they may be the last manifest of passengers and the last class at WASGADs.

These three bullies are in the same gang as Charlie’s tormentor Damien C. Monev.

Book Excerpt: Clopus, built as if he had sprung to life from a long line of cement blocks, had a square head that looked like it must rattle when he ran.  "Clopus' head," thought Charlie.  "The most vacant geographical region in the known universe."  Clocher, his weasel-like, tobacco-chewing sidekick, had a habit of spitting every few seconds.  You could tell where he had been by the trail of brown spit.  Indoors, he had to slurp to suck the spit back.  Sounding like he had a Sippy pop in his mouth, his struggle to speak was often overwhelmed by his need to slurp.

Daren, a drifter who seems unable to remember much about his own life, including his last name, lives in the barn on the Parker farm. He slops the hogs, tends the chickens, and spends the rest of his time sneaking around and creeping Charlie out.

Book Excerpt:  Boney old Daren was a fruit loop and liked to play tricks on Charlie, the neighbors, and Uncle Oph's pigs.  A sinewy, shirtless figure leaned out of the woods.  Hand over his brow; shielding his eyes from the rising sun, he peered toward the trolley.  The muddy figure of a man danced his head in a jig from left shoulder to right shoulder.  It was Daren, the homeless whacko from the barn.  Charlie watched and fumed as the vagabond vagrant did his early morning silly dance and cackled.

Bergie is the local mailman. He also operates the general store where the local newspaper/gossip column, Aunt Proop's, is published. He is a hefty, jovial soul who Charlie only later learns is the angelic messenger, and sometime fierce warrior, Gabriel.

The incarnation of evil itself, he is the antagonist throughout the series. Unbeknownst to Charlie, Fe’ controls the government through his intermittent possession of Senator Therfafolie Linoge. Through his minion, the little gangster-like fallen angel/demon Mr. Saligia, Fe’ also controls the local Jr. High School. He is at the heart of the FYI Program conspiracy. Riclu Fe’ plans to infuse teens with demon venom, turning them into hosts who will work, as slaves, toward his own evil ends. As pure spirit, Riclu Fe' is unable to act in the physical world without a human host. The host must be powerful enough to encapsulate, contain him. Otherwise, the host/human will be destroyed in the possession process. Senator Linoge, fast-climbing star in the halls of political power, was the perfect choice.

Toothy softball-sized flying assassins, they work for Kurlup & Dye's Plumbing and Pest Control Boutique. Mr. Kurlup and Mr. Dye have a host of Ballassins, making the little ball-like demons available at a cheap price and a moment’s notice. Ballassins are stealthy enough to obtain access to most anywhere at anytime. They attack Charlie twice, both times at home, and are defeated both times with the expert swashbuckling of Trebor in the first attack, and Lailoken Parker during the second.

Click to see Ballassins face to face, if you dare.

Struggling to adjust to the loss of his beloved wife, Miss Fortune, nothing during his days of adventuring through the universe aboard his physics-defying sailing ship prepared him for fatherhood. Trebor tries to keep his son from the world that Charlie's mother could not escape, but soon realizes his only option is the truth. He has no choice to but to prepare his son for the battle that is to come and sends Charlie to WASGAD’s Academy for Youngsters.

Huge, majestic gyrfalcon which arrived at the Parker farm on the arm of Trebor Parker shortly after Charlie lost his mother.  His father gave him to Charlie under the guise of developing a relationship.  In reality, Tebbetts is an angelic protector who is ruthless in his quest to keep Charlie from harm.

Head administrator at Oil Trough Jr. High, he rules with an iron fist and a hidden agenda.  Having opened the door to evil, he often surrenders like a drug addict to the possession of the otherworldly creature known as Mr. Saligia. It is his job to see all the Jr. High Students are 'infused.' The coming battle depends on hosts; young, strong, teenage hosts.

A gangster-like entity and sometime inhabitant of Principal Yulumbago, his name itself breathes evil. Always hard at work doing the will of his master, he is Riclu Fe's first lieutenant, and is in charge of finding the map. Saligia instructs Yulumbago to engage the services of Kurlup & Dye's Plumbing and Pest Control Boutique. Kurlup & Dye lose the ballassins, and they attack Charlie in an attempt to cease the boy's interference.

Science teacher extraordinaire, he is Charlie's protector. A 'flyrbim', he is tasked with protecting Charlie during the search for the Map of MissFortune. Feeze, working as an unseen bodyguard, tries to stay in the shadows. It was he, along with Tebbetts, who protected Charlie in the deep, dark woods of Wolf Den Hollow. It is Feeze who, left with no other choice, presents Charlie with an invitation to WASGAD's Academy for Youngsters where Charlie will train to use his full range of angel powers.

Brother to Trebor, he became a swashbuckling adventurer in his own right.  He harbors feelings of jealousy for his brother, who he felt has kept secrets from him for years about the truth of WASGAD's, Fortune Parker (Trebor's wife), and the strange occurrences involving his nephew Charlie.  A determined investigator, he embarks on quest to find the truth, and any possible treasure, despite the consequences to himself, his family, and a battle that may determine the destiny for countless innocents.

Charlie's mother & Trebor's wife, she gave up her life as an angel to have a mortal life.  She discovered some responsibilities couldn’t be escaped.  As guardian of a sacred map meant to be locked away for all eternity, she and her family became the targets of evil.  Riclu Fe', in his quest for godhood, has been searching for the map for millennia.  He located its keeper, leaving a child without his mother and a husband without the love of his life.  Now, with the same genetics as his mother, only Charlie can locate the map and assure it is safe from Fe'.

Charlie never believed in magic.  He prided himself as a scientist.  Magic was just slight of hand.  But this angel in disguise gives him something that saves his life and may assure the battle for good is not lost.  Charlie destroyed his third and final invitation to WASGAD's.  Without it, he cannot get on the riverboat.  MacGuffin teaches him what is made cannot be unmade and that miracles may have a basis in science after all.

From a family of wealth and political power Damian exerts his influence over the small Jr. High with cunning threats and his gang of street toughs including Clopus & Clocher.  It is his mission to subdue any willful students who fail to submit to his rule but one student, Charlie, is proving problematic.  He is regretful to discover he and Charlie have much more in common that the same Jr. High school.

Fallen Flyrbim and brother to Feeze, his greed and quest for self has cost him much including most of the fingers off one hand, hence his nickname.  He now works as a snitch-for-hire.  His current employer, Lailoken Parker, is a demanding taskmaster plagued by the same greed for knowledge and treasure as his pint-sized minion.

Furry, friendly, cute, cuddly, they make great nightlights and flashlights. They are fierce warrior cats; virtually indestructible. Using flaming gusts of gas from their rear-ends to decimate even the most powerful Wrungwhrul demon, they battle for Captain Gollargus Thudbutt. Sometimes, if cut in half, they are able to rejoin and heal. Often, in the heat of battle, they may join to the severed end of another Glo-Cat and wind up as a two-headed monstrosity or double-barreled flaming fart cannon.

Half-breeds, a mix of gnome and elf, they are shunned by most but employed by WASGADs for their legendary loyalty and strength. They are expert Scroll-swordsmen and have the strength of foes 20 times their size. They are the ‘death before dishonor’ fighting force aboard Thudbutt's riverboat as well as on the grounds of WASGAD’s Academy for Youngsters.

Feared as demons of bedtime stories they are so-named for the last sound heard from the mouths of their victims.  Their long staffs swirl space and time to form wormholes, which suck victims into seeming non-existence.  They are unstoppable foes, lorded over only by Riclu Fe' and do his bidding without hesitation.  Only Glo-Cats and Scroll Swords have any effect on them, though they are only slowed and not stopped by these.

Oatmeal expert, Kickapoo Juice fermentor, and Ghost Jar owner, he lives with Charlie and his dad on the Parker farm. Placed in the Parker home as the first tier of protectoin, followed by Tebbetts and Freeze, he is the one to tell Charlie about the 'family business' and begins training him to use his genetic gifts.

Senator Therfafolie Linoge is the up and coming superstar politico haunting the halls of government power.  Though a bit shy and unassuming, he is an outspoken supporter of Dr. Osculum Fian’s Infusion Procedures.  He is a most ardent supporter of the ‘Free Your Intellect’ Program, of which Dr. Fian’s procedure is the lynch pin.  Marketing himself as “the voice of the people”, the Senator even takes time out of his pressing schedule to make a personal house call to the Parker Family Farm in order to recruit Charlie Parker to the program.  He thinks Charlie would make and excellent student spokesperson for the campaign.

Lifelong sufferer of arachnophobia majoris (major fear of spiders), Ms. Straggler happens along Charlie Parker’s science experiment as it twiddles along the hallways of Oil Trough Jr. High school headed for Mr. Feeze’s classroom.  This first meeting, between arachnophob and arachnid, went quite a bit worse than Little Miss Muffet’s encounter.

Older than memory, fallen into decay and disrepair, sitting on the banks of the rushing White River, Archy's is the local teen hangout and hideaway. It is here that Charlie's small, misfit team unites to tackle the mystery of the Map of MissFortune.

Operated by Mr. Kurlup and Mr. Dye, it is a shopper's delight for those planning all sorts of nastiness upon their enemies.  Born of demons, Kurlup and Dye are indestructible.  They have no conscience and therefore are limitless in their propensity for evil.  Part-time plumbers and exterminators, just to stay busy, they approach their chosen careers as professional hitmen with the fervor of kindergarteners out for afternoon recess.  Though they aren't choosy about employers and will work for anyone, they find much of their business comes from Senator Therfafolie Linoge, Principal Derwin Yulumbago, and Dr. Osculum Fian, though Fian only wants live victims (a particularly distasteful way to end a job in the minds of Kurlup and Dye).

Charlie discovers a map once owned by his lost mother. All can see the map and its geography but only he can see the treasures and read the clues and symbols transposed upon it. He sees a familiar poem about its border and hot spots where treasures lay hidden around the areas where he spent his childhood. He also sees within the map a place of dark ever-twisting evil and an object which looks like a compass, but keeps time like a watch. Most scary is a line of text that everyone else sees but cannot read. Charlie, however, can read it. It says "a child shall lead them" and when he looks at it, the letters glow, twist, and spell out a name: C-H-A-R-L-I-E.