Paul Deal

The Hidden People Paul Deal

Lems, small furry people, live in secret passages within the buildings of the much larger zooks. Zooks hunt, poison, and trap their small neighbors, unaware of their true nature. Then the lem leader, Old Gray, announces, "The time has come," and the lems leave their warrens and begin a prophesied journey to the Portal where the Chosen are destined to go to a mysterious placed called Tomorrow. Zooks learn of the exodus, and frightened by the danger the lems pose to long-term zook security, begin an all out campaign to destroy them before any escape. Trez, thirteen years old and Chosen, flees with his mother and sister from the only home they have ever known. Racing against time, he and his family cross deserts, forests, and mountains, living on what they can find or steal from their zook enemies. Along the way, they dodge the zooks, their fierce deggs and kaats, and the most awesome danger of all: zook hunter-killer robots. Driven by faith as much as reason, they risk all to fulfill a prophecy they scarcely comprehend in search of a future beyond their imagination.