Title PageDedicationThe Ballad of the NightbeastAnything but a SpareForever WitchlingsThe Impossible TaskRoller-Coaster Ride to Despair TownWay Too Early for Monstruo HuntingValley Pepperhorn Is a BullyBeefy Gets LostThe Trouble with ThornPoisons, Books, and QuarrelsWitchlings on ToastLight as a FeatherStarlight Cottage The Nightbeast’s CaveSo, You Lost Your Best Pal, Huh?Boggs Ferry Raccoons vs. Stormville Lightning ForksThe Truth about Boggs FerryAn Unfortunate DiscoveryA Perilous, Chaotic, and Kinda Fun Slumber PartyTotally SpiesA Secret PotionLittle Old WitchlingsA Stolen MemoryThree Days LeftWhat Happened in the Woods?The Final NightSmell the RosesBehold the NightbeastValley, Seven, ThornThe Long and Twisty PathThe Festival of the Holly KingEpilogueAcknowledgmentsAbout the AuthorGhost Squad ExcerptCopyrightOceanofPDF.com In the darkness of the woodsListen, listen well—Every little noise you hearMight be the thing that dwells:Crunching leaves, a subtle breezeOr a monster as it breathes.Now! The monster’s hunting you—It is too late,We’ve let him loose.Lock the windows, shut the lights,Wrap your little ones up tight.Hang the rue and heed the bells,Beware, bewareThe Thing that dwells.—“The Ballad of the Nightbeast,” from The Twelve Towns Book ofFolksongOceanofPDF.com IT WAS THE NIGHT of the Black Moon Ceremony, and the very last thingSeven Salazar wanted was to be a Spare witch. Now that she was twelve,she’d be placed in her coven, but like every ceremony before, tonight threewitches would be left over: Spares. Nobody ever wanted to be a Spare.Seven had done everything she could think of: studied for her C.A.T.exams, attended every witching social event she could fit on her calendar.She’d even joined the toad racing team and gotten stuck with the slowest,crankiest toad of the lot. At least his name, Edgar Allan Toad, sort of madeup for it. But only sort of.It wasn’t like Seven had to do all those things either. Everyone in heryear got to participate in the Black Moon Ceremony, of course, but it was along-standing belief among Witchlings that the harder you studied andworked, the more likely you were to get into one of the cool covens. Seven tied her combat boots and slipped on her oversized purplehoodie before securing her pointy hat on her curly hair with some pins.They’d give her a giant black ceremonial robe when she got to the townsquare, but it was thin and the night was cold. She didn’t want to freeze herbuns off. She shot a quick text to her best friend, Poppy, telling her howexcited she was for tonight.“Duh,” Poppy wrote back. “And me too! Can’t wait to be coven sisters!”Seven smiled at the message as she walked into the kitchen, where hermother, Fox, was putting the celebration cake in the fridge to cool.“Sev, you’ve got your amulet, right?” Fox wiped her slender fingers onher apron and let down her curly red hair.“It’s only the whole point of tonight, Mom,” Seven said, holding up theamulet that hung around her neck. Later that night, it would light up withthe same color as the other witches in her coven. Please, please let it turnpurple. The color of House Hyacinth, the coven Seven and Poppy haddreamed of being placed into for, oh, just about all their lives.“Remember, things will work out okay, no matter what happenstonight,” Fox said.“Easy for you to say,” grumbled Seven, looking at the brightaquamarine pendant that hung from the necklace Fox always wore. Theblue stone signified House of Stars, one of the most popular covens.Seven would have a much better chance of achieving her biggestdream, becoming a witching-world-famous journalist, if she was in one ofthe powerful covens, like her mom. It was pretty much the opposite ofbeing a Spare. Because being a Spare meant your destiny and magic didn’tmatch up with anyone else’s. Being a Spare meant you didn’t belong. AndSeven wanted desperately to belong.As Fox moved around the kitchen, the moonlight hit her pendant andseemed to adorn everything around her with shimmering stars. Seven usedto wonder if her mother had gotten her name because of her red hair, whichshe always thought looked lovely with her deep brown skin and freckledface. Seven looked more like her dad, tawny-brown skin and dark curls. Butnow she knew it was more likely that her mother had been named Foxbecause of how cunning she was. In their world, the Twelve Towns, achild’s name was a prophecy, passed down from a grandmother or the TownGran, their leader. Seven had no idea what her name meant, not yet anyway. But like any name given in Ravenskill, one day its meaning would bediscovered. It was just a matter of time.Seven began tapping drumbeats on the closest object, trying to matchthe beat of her fluttering heart.“You’re still nervous about being a Spare?” Seven’s father, Talis,asked, strolling into the room. He was carrying her baby brother,Braucherei, who everyone affectionately called Beefy, because of both hisroundness and his unusual strength. He was also unusually tall for his age,already three toadstools long, when Seven had only been two when she wasa baby. Beefy pulled on his father’s ear, and Talis cringed; the baby’s gripcould be painful. Seven rubbed her scalp, war flashbacks of Beefy pullingon her curly hair coming back to her.“I’m not just nervous, Dad. I’m freaking out. What if I didn’t doenough, or what if the magic gets fudged somehow, or”—Seven droppedher voice to an ominous whisper—“I get placed with Valley?”Valley Pepperhorn was the literal worst. Valley had been bullyingSeven for as long as she could remember. Putting weird things in herrucksack, hiding Edgar Allan Toad before a race, or giving dirty looks toSeven and Poppy. She was mean, scary, and came from one of the familieson the Hill. They were the wealthiest witches in town and thought they raneverything. Well, they sort of did run everything, actually. The only witchesthey couldn’t go up against were the Town Gran and Uncle.“The chances of that happening are not high, but even if it does, anywitch can be a friend if you just give them a chance,” her mother said.Seven held back a snort. Seven was almost positive Valley was a cucoor, at the very least, part gremlin. Her parents didn’t see the way Valleysnapped at their professors and didn’t seem to care about her schoolwork orhow she was always on her own doing sneaky, probably terrible, things.Sometimes, when Seven thought about it, when she thought what her lifewould be like without Poppy and without her family, she felt almost sad forValley, who had no friends and the scariest parents ever. But then Valleywould do another awful thing and Seven wouldn’t feel so bad for heranymore.None of it would matter after tonight anyway, Seven reminded herself,because once she and Poppy were placed in House Hyacinth, she wouldn’thave to deal with Valley ever again. In all the past Ravenskillian Black Moon Ceremonies she’d researchedin preparation, not one showed an example of best friends sorted intodifferent covens. Tiordan Whisperbrew, the famous, coolest reporter of alltime and Seven’s idol, was sorted into House Hyacinth right alongside theirbest friend and now owner of the Squawking Crow newspaper, InkpenKillian. They were a dynamic duo, and Seven looked forward to her andPoppy following in their footsteps.“Come on, then. It’s almost midnight, and the Gran will hex us if we’relate.” Talis grunted as he placed Beefy in his stroller. The baby swung hislegs and cooed happily as he was strapped in. When he was done, Taliskneeled down in front of Seven.“A hug for good luck?” he asked, and Seven smiled as her dad pulledher into a warm embrace. Talis, short for Talisman, had always been lucky.Seven pinched his cheeks before a test for an extra boost. A brilliant bluependant hung from his neck, the same color as her mother’s. It’s how herparents had met, after all: They’d been placed in the same coven as kids.“No matter what happens tonight, we’re all proud of you,” said Talis.Seven scrunched her face at him. “Even Beefy?”Talis laughed. “Especially Beefy. He has no idea what’s going on, buthe’s still proud of you too. Let’s go.”The town square was just across the cemetery, under a bridge and pastthe Bruised Apple Bookshop, which had been recently taken over by a newfamily in town. A shadow dashed across the night, and Seven jumped,clutching her mother’s arm.“It was only a rabbit,” Fox said softly.Seven laughed nervously. “I knew that.”She did not know that.There had been sightings lately. Sightings of a monstruo called theNightbeast, a giant wolf that ate Witchlings. Or at least that was the rumorat Seven’s school. Her teachers had assured them those were all rumors, butshe had noticed the older witches around town had begun enchanting theirgarden gates with stay-away spells, hanging rue from their trellises andabove their doors, and panicking on the Ravenskill message boards. Allsigns that a creature lurked near.Seven had walked this way to town a thousand times, many times onher own. Tonight, she was grateful to have her family with her on the cold, dark path. Even if it had only been a rabbit.The Salazars arrived just as the other families were gathering aroundthe cascading fountain at the center of town. Lanterns hung from treesaround the square in groups of five to symbolize the incoming covens. Thelight cast a warm orange glow on everything it touched and left a fewcorners cloaked in shadow.Poppy and her mother were there—they waved at Seven as she tookher place in the circle around the fountain, and Seven felt a surge ofhappiness. Her oldest friend ran over to her, and it seemed everyone’s eyesfollowed her. Poppy had always been the more popular of the two of them:cheerful and optimistic to Seven’s anxious determination. But they hadalways gotten along.“Seven, I didn’t sleep at all, not one wink,” Poppy said breathlessly.“Me either. I feel like my eyeballs are gonna explode,” Seven said.Poppy laughed.“Cake at my place after,” said Seven.“Pineapple?” Poppy raised an eyebrow.“Of course,” Seven said, and smiled. Pineapple-jam cake was herfavorite, and her family’s recipe was famous.The crowd began to shuffle uneasily. It was almost time. “No matterwhat,” Poppy said hurriedly, “we stay friends. No matter what coven we’rein, deal?” She held her pinkie out for their best-friend swear.“Deal.” Seven linked her pinkie with Poppy’s, and they swayed theirarms to and fro three times. The pair of Witchlings devolved into laughter,the excitement of the ceremony too much to contain.They hugged, and Poppy ran back to her parents.The Town Uncle, second-in-command to the Gran, walked aroundhanding each Witchling a long black robe. He was the most powerful witchin Ravenskill after the Gran. Town Grans got their powers from the Stars,while Town Uncles got their powers from nature, and could even speak toanimals. The Uncle was charged not only with being the Gran’s right handin everything she did, but also in being the liaison for and caretaker of allthe animals of Ravenskill—an immensely important job indeed. He worethe customary special-occasion robe of the Uncle, adorned with trees andvarious animals enchanted to scuttle about the fabric, and, of course, thebluebird brooch he received when he became Uncle. “Here you go, Seven Salazar, correct?” the Uncle asked when hereached Seven.“Yep.” Seven took the folded black robe as the Uncle crouched downto coo at Beefy.“Oh my, look at his fat little feet!” the Uncle said sweetly. Just then,Beefy grabbed the Uncle’s furry green hat and began to chew on it.“So sorry,” said Seven, pulling the hat, not without a struggle, fromBeefy’s grip and handing it back to the Uncle. The Uncle just laughed andmoved on to the next Witchling. Talis and Fox retreated to the outer circleswith Beefy in tow, giving Seven an encouraging smile and snappingpictures as they joined the other parents.The ceremony was about to begin.Seven slipped into her robe, taking deep breaths and softly chanting,“Not a Spare, not a Spare, not a Spare,” as if it were a lifesaving spell.“Sorry!” Someone bumped into Seven from behind and nearly knockedher into the fountain, which was now lit up with a deep green glow.“Careful,” Seven said, straightening up to face the girl who’d bumpedher. It was someone she’d never seen before. “The Gran is watching us.”The Gran had arrived and was standing on a floating platform at thecenter of the fountain, water splashing just below her feet. Though it wasdark and foggy, she seemed to eye each of them carefully, and Seven sworeshe could see inside her brain. Like most everyone else, the Gran wasdressed in all black, but the fabric of the Gran’s long black coat wasenchanted to look like the night sky. She was famous for her coat whichheld magical objects and changed color like the sky. The most brilliant ofthe visions was the stars and moon spinning around each other in aglittering sky, an ode to the Gran’s real name, Knox—an ancient word thatmeant night. From under her pointy hat fell a cascade of gray braids that shealways had done in the colder months, her tight curls loose and flowingwhenever it was warm out.“I’m Thorn,” said the girl next to Seven.Seven gave her the side-eye, taking in her straight, short black hair andbangs, her round, pale face and flush red lips. She was much shorter thanSeven, petite in every way. Even her feet were small; her shoes looked likethey were less than half a toadstool long. Despite the darkness, she couldsee her eyes were a deep, dark blue. There were tiny pins, like the kind seamstresses use to hold fabric in place, stuck to her hat. It was interestingher name was Thorn since she sort of looked like a rose and was also beinga real pain in the buns.“You must be the new girl,” Seven said.Thorn nodded so quickly, her witch’s hat almost flew off.“I’m pretty nervous,” said Thorn.Seven sighed. “Seven Salazar, hi. I think we might be starting soon.”“Right, right,” Thorn said, and locked her lips up, throwing away thekey.A few moments passed in silence.“Nice to meet you, by the way. Which coven are you hoping to beplaced in?” whispered Thorn, almost immediately forgetting her lockedmouth.Mercifully, the Gran raised her arms then and the crowd went silent,saving Seven from having to fib and say whatever she got would be ablessing. From the moment they began their magical training, they weretold, and told again and again, that their coven was their destiny, and thatbeing ungrateful for fate’s gifts would curse them with bad luck. Or evenworse than bad luck: If you truly didn’t accept your given house, then youcouldn’t be sealed with your coven during the ceremony. They’d stayWitchlings. But that hadn’t happened in many years.“Tonight marks the two hundred and fifth Black Moon Ceremony inthe town of Ravenskill,” the Gran began to say.Everyone clapped politely. Across from Seven’s line of vision stoodValley’s parents. They wore expensive-looking coats with sharp lines andleather gloves. They stood rigid, looking in Valley’s direction intently. Aftereach one of the Gran’s proclamations, while everyone else cheered loudly,they barely clapped, as if this was the most boring event in the world.Valley looked miserable, but then again, she always did. She stood oppositeSeven in the circle of Witchlings, scowling, her hair tucked behind her earsand her hat sitting haphazardly on her head.“I am so, so, so nervous,” whispered Thorn again.Seven had to force herself not to move away. Instead, through clenchedteeth, she warned, “Stop talking, or I’m going to hex you to be my toad’swife.”That shut her up, at least for now. “And now,” exclaimed the Gran, “for the reason we’re all gathered heretonight. The forming of the covens.”Where before there was a low murmur of noise throughout the square,now everything was deadly quiet.“Witchlings, prepare your amulets!”With a collective ruffle of fabric, the twenty-eight Witchlings pulledout their crystal amulets, which hung from black cords around their necks,and held them in front of their faces.“Now, intone the spell with me.”All at once, voices rose, reciting the Black Moon Song they’d knownall their lives but were not allowed to sing aloud till this night. Seven’s heartfluttered as she began:A coven is fiveIn death and in life,To believeTo protectNever doubtOr neglect.Bound with our magicBefore the Black MoonBound by a circleFor no circleSpells doom.As the final words left their lips, purple smoke snaked from theirmouths to dance in the center of the circle, right above the Gran’s head.Then, with a flick of her wand, she sent the smoke careening back andstraight into the amulets, which began to whir and vibrate. Seven’s amuletspun wildly, and she closed her eyes, begging one final time for the thingshe’d begged for whenever she thought of this night: Please let it turnpurple. All around her, covens began to form. Five amulets turned thebright aqua color of her parents’ coven.“House of Stars,” said the Gran. “Brilliant, beautiful, generous to all.”The Witchlings squealed and ran off together, holding hands in theirown circle. They would be a new wing, a five-witch coven, part of the larger Grand House of Stars now.Another group got a deep black the color of obsidian for Moth House.“Mysterious, morbid, dependable friends,” intoned the Gran toenormous cheers from the crowd, including a group of parents who lookedlike they had died last week. Moth House was the creepiest coven. Theirblack lipstick and pale makeup was pretty cool, Seven could admit. Sevenwas a bit surprised that Valley hadn’t been sorted into Moth House, but itwas probably the dependable friend part.Witchlings embraced and joined their new covens happily, and all thewhile, Seven waited, eyeing Poppy anxiously. Next, the Witchlings for theemerald-colored Frog House (focused, frugal, truthful to the last) wereplaced. And now there were only two covens left to form before the Spares.There would be three Spares tonight, Seven knew. Valley being a Sparewould make sense, since she was always falling behind in all her classesand had zero friends. There were a few kids from her class, ones who neverfit in, who Seven could see being sorted into the Spare coven.A girl named Starlight whooped when her amulet began to glowpurple. This is it, thought Seven. House Hyacinth. Her house.Next came a boy named Cane, which Seven knew was short forHurricane. Seven and Poppy looked at each other, and Seven had to holdback a giggle, excited for their amulets to go purple.A girl she recognized from her class, one who always ignored her andwhose name she couldn’t remember, was chosen—and then her best friendwas too.Seven’s heart gave an awful lurch as the two friends looked at eachother with delight. There was only one spot left. She glanced down at herown dull amulet, then over at her best friend: Poppy’s amulet was a vibrantpurple.Poppy’s face dropped as she looked at Seven, all their plans of beingcoven sisters unraveling. She quickly corrected herself, giving Seven a lightsmile and turning away to join her new coven. Seven knew that Poppycouldn’t betray her assignment. Even one misgiving about what coven youwere placed in could spell disaster—could prevent your coven from closing.That didn’t make it hurt any less.“House Hyacinth!” said the Gran. “Valiant, virtuous, powerful in allthings!”