The next gripping, atmospheric horror novel from NYT bestselling author Christopher Golden, set in a deteriorated, half-sunken freighter ship off the coast of Galveston, TX.

Charlie Book and Ruby Cahill have history. After their relationship ended in heartbreak years ago, they never expected to see each other again. Now, as part of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, Book lives aboard the Christabel, a 19th century freighter half-sunk off the shore of Galveston with a massive forest of mangrove trees growing up through the deck. As a powerful storm churns through the Gulf, he intends to sleep on board as usual.

But arriving at the dock, he’s stunned to find Ruby there waiting for him. And she’s not alone. With her are a mysterious woman and her infant child asking Book to hide them safely aboard the Christabel while they’re on the run. Only it isn’t the police who are after them: it’s a coven of witches. The woman, Mae, has fled, stealing away the helpless infant for whom they had hideous plans… or so Mae claims. It’s lunacy and Book wants nothing to do with it.

But after the way he and Ruby ended things, and the unspoken pain between them, he can’t refuse… Yet even as he brings them out to the ruined ship and its floating forest, there are shadowed figures looming back in Galveston, waiting out the storm. And despite the worsening wind and rain, the night birds are flying, scouring the coastline for their prey.