Written with Peter Straub. In order to save his dying mother (and maybe even the entire world), twelve-year-old Jack Sawyer must find the Talisman, a crystal globe perhaps three feet in circumference, which also happens to be the axis of all possible worlds.

Unfortunately, the Talisman is located a continent away and Jack�s got to hurry. Luckily, Jack can "flip" between our world and the world of the Territories, a world that mirrors our own. And distance travelled in the Territories is equal to a greater distance in our world. Evil men, nasty creatures, and the Blasted Lands lay between Jack and the Talisman.