The Tale of the Brackenbeast

Once upon a time there lived three children, born on Halloween, who were cursed to be turned into a magical key by the dreadful People Who Look Away, led by Mr. January. This key would open the door to their wicked realm and unleash its horrors upon the world.

But these three children—Eleanor, Pip, and Otto—were bold and clever and persistent, and they escaped Mr. January on Halloween night. They could have saved themselves for good, but they knew Mr. January would only find other victims. So instead they made a bargain: he and his two sisters would each have one more chance to capture the children. If they failed, they would have to give up their scheme forever.

The first sister came for them with tricks and potions and beasts of mushrooms and mud. In her realm of bones and endless muck the children found a new ally: Jack, a man possessed by the strange power of a Prime Story. Three Stories there were, tales that could take a person over, erasing their memories and all they’d been: the warrior, the world-walker, and the hedgewitch. Once, Jack had another name. Once, he’d had another life. Now, nothing but Jack remained.

Eleanor was shocked to learn that Jack was her father, and devastated to discover that her mother, possessed by the Story of the hedgewitch, had lost all memory of her. And the Stories weren’t done stealing people from her, for the Story of the warrior was through with Jack. It slipped from him to Pip, and as its power overtook her, she began, slowly, to change.

Once more, Eleanor, Pip, and Otto defeated the People Who Look Away, but at a cost. For now Pip bore the warrior’s Story, and it was beginning to unwrite her to make room for itself. Eleanor and the others could only wait for Mr. January’s second sister to come for them. But then they received an unexpected visitor: the world-walker, who came with a warning . . .