A HORRIFIC SPIN ON WIZARDS, WITCHES, AND WANDS.

Five years ago, the witch came to Drybell, and Max Abbott’s hometown vanished without a trace.

Now twelve years old and living in the sleepy neighboring town of Suttershade, Max just wants to forget. Forget the storm. Forget the witch. Forget Sterling Marsh, the woman who disappeared the night Drybell was erased. But forgetting is impossible when the past refuses to stay buried. The witch still haunts his dreams—and his waking life. And something sinister is stirring in Suttershade...

A serial killer stalks the streets. A trio of masked maniacs known only as The Ghoul Gang is preparing to unleash terror on Halloween night. And at the heart of it all lies a secret Max swore he’d never uncover again. As darkness closes in, Max must face a terrifying truth: the greatest threat might not be the killer or the gang, but the past he thought he'd left behind.

Meanwhile, worlds away from Max’s quiet town, Sterling Marsh is alive.

Trapped in Pendervale, a crumbling castle that was once a prestigious school for witches, Sterling finds herself in the middle of a living nightmare. A catastrophic spell has transformed the grounds into a surreal, candy-coated hellscape, now ruled by the Thirteen Witches, a coven of monstrous beings determined to spread darkness across the cosmos.

Marked as their newest recruit, Sterling must navigate a world where magic wands can level cities, lessons are laced with terror and blood, and survival means embracing the darkness. Because if she can’t survive Pendervale and harness the terrifying power within her, Max—and the rest of the universe—might be lost forever.