Maricela de la Luz Lights the World

A few days before Christmas, as Maricela de la Luz and her brother Riccardo come out of a San Diego mall, the world suddenly changes. It starts off slowly. First it's the unexplainable snowfall. Then it's all the adults disappearing. Then it's the polar bear that appears out of nowhere, followed by the penguins. On the radio the governor of California is urging everyone not to panic. Maricela and Riccardo have no way of reaching their mother, who's in Las Vegas with a new boyfriend, or their father, who's stationed in faraway Korea. Realizing the safest place to be is home, the kids decide to hit the road. But there, things are even worse. The children meet a distraught Mayan Moon God who claims that his brother the Sun God has been kidnaped by the forces of the cold. The Moon God begs the children for help. Convinced he is nothing but an unemployed actor, the kids refuse. The two-headed Goddess of the U.S.-Mexico Border they meet minutes later is harder to dismiss. She explains to them that something is out of balance in the mythic world—that's why everything is so strange in San Diego. She predicts a great battle between the gods of warmth and the gods of cold. She begs the children to join this battle and help restore the Mayan Sun God—thus saving their city. Riccardo is game but Maricela is uncertain. Suddenly the goddess freezes and is rendered unable to speak. Her life's in danger and the kids must save her. Looking for help as they continue their journey, our young heroes confront a massive cyclops, snow wolves who want to eat them, a sleepy Hercules, a seven-headed hydra, a toxic, talking fog, two severed heads, and finally a talking snowman who wants them to give up fighting and surrender to the forces of inertia and cold. On this magical and unusual journey the children learn the meaning of heroism and commitment. Their refusal to give in to the evil snowman (who is the trickster god Loki in disguise) is the climax of this wild and fanciful drama.