this is my favorite in the time quintet. the murray kids are all grown up-- charles wallace is fifteen, and everyone is home for the holidays. meg is married to calvin. he's at a conference in england, so the murrays invite calvin's mother to supper.
she thrusts an ancient rune onto charles wallace, with which he is to stop a nuclear war. thus the next adventure commences. there's a unicorn, a new dog, more echthroi, and hope. always hope.