New Orleans, August 29, 2005, after Hurricane Katrina: Aerial of people sitting on a roof waiting to be rescued as flood water surrounds their home.

Photo by Jocelyn Augustino of FEMA

Evil spirits and unfriendly ghosts have been released from their crypts and are wreaking revenge.

A 12-year-old boy moves to New Orleans unaware he has been chosen …

Jack Strom is unprepared for his move to New Orleans with his father, head of a small construction company. Jack’s father has moved them from Los Angeles to take advantage of the construction opportunities in New Orleans after the destruction of Hurricane Katrina.

And there’s another reason Jack’s father has moved them — Jack’s mother has died recently and Jack’s father wants to get away from Los Angeles and those memories.

As soon as Jack arrives in New Orleans he learns that New Orleans is a city as different from Los Angeles as he could possibly imagine. On his first day of school he overhears two boys talking about having a St. John’s root in order to kiss a girl. What is a St. John’s root?

And thanks to that same girl Jack learns the difference between voodoo and hoodoo — an important distinction in the folklore and myth surrounding New Orleans’ fabled history.

Jack’s biggest surprise is yet to come when he learns that, at the age of 12, he is expected to be the savior of New Orleans.