Steamline — Charles M. Long

Born with a crooked back, a crooked leg, and a crooked smile, Peko is sixteen, parentless, and outcast. He lives among a dying tribe atop a high mountain burned by a scorching sun. His vicious uncle, a tribal elder, has abused him since his mother's death. As the tribe's rite of passage-the first hunt-looms, Elder vows to exile Peko into the steam jungle and certain death. In the days leading up to the hunt, Peko glimpses something in the steam-a ghost? A spirit? A demon? When he, at last, enters the steam alone, he must confront the mysteries surrounding his life: How did his father die? Why does his uncle hate him? What is the spirit in the steam? Along with a handful of others, he must find his answers in the toxic mist that surrounds the mountain-or die trying. Inside the steam, you hunt...and are hunted. Inside the steam, you eat...and are eaten. Inside the steam, you live...and die. Inside the steam, you find mysteries...and answers.