I absolutely adore Halloween. I love the vibrant fall colors and the fun and revelry. And Samhain (Sa-win) is a major holiday for witches because it represents our new year. It’s the time when the spirit world meets the living.

So I wanted to throw a Halloween party for my students at Hawthorne University. Since the Billington frat house wasn’t available, I planned a party at my place. But as Maddie sat smiling in our circle, planning pumpkin carvings and costume contests, a visitor from my teacher’s past appeared, in tears, beside our bonfire. She said she had been terrorized by a haunted house, and she was looking for the Hawthorne Witch.

And as I discovered more about her haunting, I found that, this time, I was up against more than witches competing for my power or blaspheming with left-sided magic. This was a primal evil. I had met the Samhain Witch.