Tagline: When the clock strikes twelve, it’s time to die!
Back tagline: Resolution to kill
Summary: They say every problem has a solution. For Tess Ryan and her friends at Pembrook High, the problem is a bully named Bran Hatten. The solution is Charisse Bienville, the new girl at Pembrook High—rumored to be a witch.
They say actions speak louder than words. So Tess and her friends ask Charisse to cast a spell on Bran—just to teach him a lesson. But the spell results in murder.
Now Charisse expects payment for services rendered. And if she doesn’t get what she wants, she’ll cast another spell. And another.
Until only Tess is alive.
First impressions: Oooh, this sounds like it could be a slasher, which I usually always enjoy! The blurb doesn’t mention New Year’s Eve at all, so I have absolutely no idea what the link here is, but I guess it’ll just takes place around that holiday? The cover is super simple and I like it, but it also seems to have no correlation with the blurb at all. Charisse and Bran sound like our bad guy, but the cover features someone in disguise. And why are they positioned as if they’re just about to strangle that girl? She’s inside, he can’t reach her! She can definitely see him, though; I think it would have been more affective if she wasn’t directly looking at him. But oh well.
Will New Year’s Eve have any relevance to the plot besides the time the story takes place? Let’s find out!
Recap
Roll call:
Tess – Our heroine who’s the most wary of Charisse.
Charisse – The mysterious rumoured witch.
Casey – Tess’s sceptical love interest,
Nathan – The nerdy friend.
S.W. – Tess’s self-conscious bestie.
Bran – The bully who takes immense pleasure in tormenting others.
[This book is over 200 pages and the font is smaller than most Point Horrors/Fear Streets, so this might be a lengthy recap lol. I hope it’s a good book! I’ve found a typo in the second sentence; it says ‘mon’ instead of ‘mom’ lol] The book begins with our protagonist, Tess Ryan, arriving at the local candle shop in downtown Pembrook, on a mission to find some black candles. Although hesitant, she’s forced to ask the shop owner since there’s none on the shelves, and luckily for Tess there’s some in the back. Tess purchases 12 and heads back to her car, feeling nervous about what she and her friends are about to do. She’s in a hurry to get to Charisse Bienville’s place where her friends are all meeting, and as she drives on over, we learn the backstory behind whatever plan they’re about to set in motion.
Bran Hatten is a huge bully and has harassed just about everyone at Pembrook High at some point. If a girl declines a date with him, he makes sure to get revenge; he’d “accidentally” knocked Tess’s lunch tray out of her hands in the cafeteria, covering her in food in front of everybody, and when Tess’s friend S.W. [No idea what that stands for, but surely it’s more syllables than her first name?] refused to go to the homecoming dance with him, he’d strung up a dead rat in her locker. Boys aren’t safe from his wrath either – popular boy Silas Taylor copped an elbow to the face after arguing with Bran about some inane topic, and Tess’s friend Nathan Drake [Not to be confused with the protagonist from the Uncharted video games, which I highly recommend] is terrorised constantly, seemingly just because Bran’s bigger than him.
Charisse is new to Pembrook, and Tess and her friends quickly noticed that Bran didn’t bother her. At first they thought she’d somehow managed to avoid his attention, but then one day, Tess was walking to her next class when Bran bulldozed past her. Charisse was walking slowly a few feet ahead, lost in her own world, and was definitely in Bran’s way, but Tess watched as he suddenly veered right at the last moment and kept going, ‘as if pushed by a tailwind.’ Tess caught up to Charisse and mentioned how Bran had almost mowed her down, but Charisse seemed unfazed and mysteriously told her, ‘”Nature and the universe have their order, though it’s an order that can be controlled.”‘
Tess and her friends observed Charisse for the next few weeks and decided there’s something special about her – Bran definitely noticed her, but would always avoid her. There’s something eerie weirdie about Charisse, prompting lots of speculation and rumours at school, and whenever Tess and her friends have spoken to her, she’d vaguely hint at ‘tantalizing possibilities where Bran was concerned.’ Tess and S.W. eventually asked her what made Bran leave her alone, and Charisse smiled knowingly and said she’d help them. Then she told them some things they’d need to gather and set this afternoon to get everyone together, promising that soon Bran wouldn’t bother anyone ever again. [OK, in the first chapter alone I’ve noticed four typos, which really bugs me: there’s the one I already mentioned; ‘too’ instead of ‘to’ at one point; there’s a full stop after the very first word of a sentence that shouldn’t be there; and when talking about Bran almost bulldozing Charisse, ‘all’ is written instead of what I assume is supposed to say ‘wall’. To me they’re obvious typos, but maybe I’m just a grammar snob because of my occupation. Either way it is very distracting]
Tess arrives at Charisse’s house, which looks like it’s straight out of a horror movie, and is ushered into the living room where S.W., Nathan and Tess’s crush Casey are all waiting, and we get a brief description of everyone. Tess is a cerebral, pretty brunette that doesn’t see herself as beautiful because she’s not cheerleader material [Tess, please]. Casey has long blonde hair and an earring that defies the school’s dress code, but he’s not a complete bad boy because he excels in all of his classes. S.W. isn’t as trim as Tess, but she’s got a pretty face and a chestnut mane that’s hard to miss. Tess thinks she might also have a crush on Casey, so we might be in for a love triangle. Nathan is perpetually nervous and thin with sandy hair combed with a neat part on top, and Charisse is unquestionably pretty, with ivory skin and flaming hair. [The name Charisse just screams redhead to me]
Charisse leads the group down to the basement, where the windows are blacked out, and uses chalk to draw a pentagram on the floor so they can get their witchcraft on. The black candles are placed at the points, and Charisse rings a small hand bell over her head as she turns slowly in a circle, which she explains is for purification. Casey pulls out Bran’s scarf from his bag, which he stole from Bran’s chair at lunch, and Charise winds it into a tight ball. She then positions everyone back to back inside the pentagram and lights the candles. Charisse flips off the light switch and announces they have a choice: ‘”Do you wish to help yourselves, or do you wish to destroy Bran?”‘ Tess confirms that they don’t want to hurt anyone, they just want Bran to leave them alone.
Charisse places a small metal bowl in the centre of the symbol and begins chanting words that Tess doesn’t understand. Afterward, she collects a piece of paper from each person and places them into the bowl. They’d previously been instructed to write down what they wanted the spell to achieve and keep it a secret from each other, and Tess had written that she wanted to be free of Bran’s torment. Charisse produces a small dagger and slices each person’s fingertip, [How hygienic] letting a drop of blood fall into the bowl with the papers. She then drops a lit match into the bowl, and when everything is reduced to ashes, she tosses a handful into the air. As the charred fragments fall to the floor, Charisse starts ringing the bell again. [This is making me want to get into witchcraft! Also, there was four typos in this chapter: ‘thee’ instead of ‘the’ occurred twice, although the first instance was possibly supposed to say ‘three’; ‘ind’ instead of ‘mind’; and ‘very ell’ instead of ‘very well’. I’m gonna start keeping a tally of every typo I notice; so far we’re at 8, four per chapter 💀]
Cut to a short while later as Tess, Casey, Nathan and S.W. are at the Petite Burger discussing whether they think the spell will work. Casey doesn’t believe in magic and reckons if something does happen, ‘”it’ll be because we all focused our concentration, not because we have any supernatural forces in play.”‘ [I think it could be argued that both of these things can be considered magical/other-worldly, Casey] The others agree with me, so he breaks it down for them:
“Negative energy,” Casey said. “If we generated enough of it, that might make Bran leave us alone. Otherwise, it will be business as usual.”
“If we generated psychic energy, isn’t that magic?” S.W. asked.
“No. It’s not even supernatural,” Casey said. “It could just be that you’re thinking about something really hard, so you give off subtle subconscious clues. Somebody else’s subconscious picks up on it, and they react to it. Not magic at all. Not really even psychic. Just human nature.”
[So this guy really thinks if Bran leaves them alone, it’s because he subconsciously picked up on their combined negative energy from however far away he was at the time? I really don’t think it can be explained away like that] Casey suggests Charisse is a lonely girl who figured this was a good way to get attention when they asked for her help, and admits he went through with it to see if she knew what she’s talking about. Tess admits to feeling guilty that they tried to conjure up bad things for Bran, but she feels better when they all reveal they only wrote that they wanted him to lighten up, or for him to leave them alone.
A short while later as Tess drives home, she gets the feeling that she’s being followed, but there’s no-one pursuing her. She decides her imagination is just getting the best of her and turns on the radio, but all she gets is static, even when searching for other stations. Then, suddenly, a voice that sounds unearthly and not like a radio announcer – ‘Beware the forces of midnight lest you be devoured.’ [Ooop, did they conjure up something evil?] It startles Tess enough to lose control of the wheel, which isn’t good because it’s raining! After lots of skidding and a big struggle, Tess is able to stop the car before it ends in a nasty crash. As she’s driving off again, there’s another crackle of static from the radio, followed by ‘a deep, frightening sound of laughter.’ [Wow, a whole chapter without any typos!!]
Elsewhere in town, big bully Bran is strolling down the street when he notices tall, blonde nerd Hammond Easterman [Weird name] exiting the bookshop. He decides to have some fun with him, and takes the bookbag out of Hammond’s hands, emptying the contents to the wet pavement and stomping on one of the books, twisting his foot side to side until it’s all grimy and pages are tearing. Hammond knows better than to try pick everything up, and Bran creams his jeans over that fact. [Ugh, Bran is awful] For a laugh, Bran goes to punch Hammond in the face, but before he can swing he’s seized by a weird chill from within his body. He suddenly doesn’t feel right and can’t bring himself to hit Hammond, so instead he scampers off, rattled by whatever just happened. [Another typo for the tally, ‘the’ instead of ‘them’. Did no-one proofread this?]
It’s Monday now, and Tess hasn’t spoken to her friends all weekend on account of visiting her grandmother over Thanksgiving. The foreboding feeling she’d felt after her near-accident had lingered over the weekend, and now it seems even worse, so she searches for Casey at school to find out if anything strange happened while she was away. Casey pokes fun at her anxiety and reaffirms that Charisse was just using the opportunity to try make friends. He’d seen Bran a short time ago bullying some freshmen for lunch money, [This is a severely overused bully trope, but has it ever actually happened to anyone? Or is it just a fiction thing?] and Tess relaxes a bit knowing things are normal. Casey asks where S.W. is, and Tess feels a little jealous, although ‘his question seemed to ne just an offhand remark,’ [That’s not my typo there, that’s literally in the book. See what I’m dealing with?!?!] and even more displeasing is that as Tess and Casey enter their algebra class, S.W. is already there, looking great.
During class, the teacher calls on Tess, Bran, and two other students to write down and answer an equation from the text book onto the chalkboard. As they do so, Tess notices that Bran seems to be writing down words she doesn’t recognise, but there seems to be an order to what he’s doing. She starts scribbling down what he’s writing into her book, but unfortunately the teacher rubs it off and scolds Bran before Tess can copy everything. Bran steps back and seems surprised, as if he doesn’t realise what he was just doing, and Tess wonders whether Bran was just pulling his usual bullshit, or if he briefly had no control over his body. After class, Tess asks Casey what he thinks, because to her it seemed like some kind of magic was going on, but Casey is pretty dismissive and assures her there’s nothing to worry about; [I really don’t know what she sees in him, he seems boring] if the spell did work, at least he’ll leave them alone.
After school, Bran is walking home, feeling nervous about this morning’s lapse in memory. He genuinely thought he was copying down an equation from the book and was just as surprised as everyone else to see that he’d actually been writing some kind of foreign language. He wonders if all the beatings from his stepfather over the years had caused some kind of tumour, [I guess it’s true, hurt people hurt people] but eventually decides the strange occurrence and the weird chill he got the other day are effects of some kind of winter flu, and he’ll be over it soon.
Bran spots Nathan up ahead and decides to take out his frustrations on the poor guy, tripping him over and making him cry. [Poor Nathan 😥 ] Bran wants to stomp on him, but all of a sudden his leg is completely frozen, as if glued to the concrete. Sensing something is wrong, Nathan dashes off without bothering to pick up the books that had scatted when he fell. [Although it’s another typo; the book says he doesn’t bother to pick up his boots??] Bran’s too busy worrying about a potential brain tumour again to care, and wonders with dread what will happen next.
Talk of Bran’s blackboard antics travel around the whole school, but as Tess and S.W. discuss it at lunch the next day, they’re unsure whether to blame it on Charisse’s spell. Surprisingly, Charisse appears and asks to sit with them, and S.W. offers her a seat before Tess can politely decline. [Don’t be rude, Tess] Tess ends up asking if Charisse thinks the blackboard incident was a result of their little ceremony, but Charisse remains vague and asks if that’s what they willed to happen. Tess admits they came to her for help because of all the rumours about her being an ooky spooky witch, and to Tess’s chagrin Charisse doesn’t confirm or deny any truth to the speculation. Tess and S.W. hurry towards gym class after lunch, leaving Charisse all alone and allowing us some more insight into her character as she watches them hurry off as if they’re suspicious of her:
People were always suspicious, everywhere, but Charisse had hoped they would warm to her if she helped them or seemed to help them. Maybe the ceremony had been a mistake. Maybe she shouldn’t have allowed any hint of witchcraft or darkness. Now they thought she was weird.
[OK, I’m still not sure if she actually is all witchy poo, or if she just manipulated them into believing that so she could befriend them] She’d made an effort to be as normal as possible when she arrived, but there’s something inexplicable about her, ‘an aura of the mysterious that she couldn’t get rid of.’ She decides she needs to work on her intense gaze and frequent silences and learn to make conversation and keeps things light more often, to prevent more rumours to go with the ones that she believes came about because she lives in an old house and mostly keeps to herself. She vows to keep working on Tess and her friends because, after all, she’d come back to Pembrook because she craved friendship and community and wanted to cure her loneliness. [Back to Pembrook? Maybe she’s a decades-old witch that has barely aged over the years or something. I don’t think her parents have been mentioned, so it would make sense] A short while later as Charisse is at her locker, we learn that she’s got several candles and an an amulet at the bottom, along with an old yearbook photo of Bran. [Yep, she’s a witch!]
After school, Tess and S.W. head to the mall for some retail therapy, and Tess purchases a bright red hat that she hopes will subtly get Casey to notice her more. A short while later, they notice Bran standing at one of the mall’s fountains, gazing intently into the pool of water as if hypnotised. Then he steps right into the knee-deep water and wades up to the silver fountain as a crowd begins to gather. Bran just stands there as the cascading water splashes over his head, and the girls decide that this isn’t something he’d do on his own – ‘”Someone must have suggested it to him, one way or another.”‘ [More typos: ‘aa’ instead of ‘a’, and ‘hr’ instead of ‘her’. This is driving my crazy 😫]
That night, Tess, S.W. and Nathan head over to Casey’s to discuss Bran’s weird behaviour. Casey is still sceptical because his actions are only slightly exaggerated compared to what he’s usually like but suggests they just keep a close eye on him, and Tess decides they should pay close attention to Charisse too. [‘Wee’ instead of ‘we’ at some point here. Seriously, was there no proofreader?!] S.W. senses the sexual tension between Tess and Casey and pretends to be curious about the video game the boys were playing when the girls showed up, and Nathan is more than happy to show her how to play. Tess is super thankful for the time alone with Casey as he leads her to the kitchen for a coke. He reassures her that they shouldn’t be too worried about Bran, then compliments her on her new hat. They decide to take a walk, albeit a quick one so S.W. doesn’t suffer too much with the video game, and eventually Casey holds her hand and asks to do something on the weekend before they end up kissing. [Cute]
Meanwhile, Bran’s just arrived home and is in his room, trying to dry his combat boots with a space heater and knowing his stepfather won’t like that they’re. He has no idea what came over him at the mall, but just before he’d managed to get control of himself again, he’d noticed Tess standing there like a stunned mullet and had a strange feeling that she was to blame, although has no idea why. Bran’s drunken stepfather comes to his room and demands to know why he came home dripping wet. He hits Bran in the face as he tries to answer, and then seems to get angrier when Bran doesn’t react. Bran gets another backhand before the man leaves, and then checks his face in the mirror to see if it’ll bruise, not that it’ll matter much if it does:
Whenever he went to school with bruises, people just figured he’d been fighting.
That was part of what had begun to make kids afraid of him a long time ago.
Nobody ever guessed the real source of his bruises, and he didn’t tell.
[I like that we’re getting some depth to Bran and finding out why he is the way he is] Elsewhere, Charisse is sitting as still as a statue in her living room, staring at a blank wall. She’s feeling good about herself and the others, although everything isn’t going the way she wants just yet. ‘She had sat thinking, concentrating and contemplating since getting home from school,’ and while it would have been nice to be included in the girls’ mall trip, [She’s all-knowing, is she?] she just needs to be patient and bide her time. Things move much slower in small towns like this compared to cities like New Orleans, where strangeness is more of a commodity. No-one had thought she was odd there, where she’d lived for many years. She just needs to remember how she had functioned in small towns before, although that had been a very long time ago… [I’m gonna stop listing every typo I find but I am 100% still keeping track because I want to see how many there are by the end of the book hahaha]
While Tess drives S.W. home, she downplays what happened tonight with Casey, but S.W. is super excited for her. As S.W. is climbing out of the car, she finds a black cat on the sidewalk and picks it up. Tess points out that black cats are bad omens and are used as familiars for witches, but according to S.W., they’re only bad luck if they cross in front of you, and her grandmother says it’s good luck if a black cat visits your house. S.W. takes it inside, apparently planning to keep it, [Not gonna check for a microchip or anything? Or what if it’s a random feral cat?] and Tess is a little nervous; yes, it’s just a cat, but why is it showing up now?
Later still, Bran struggles to get to sleep because he can’t stop thinking about his stepfather and worrying about the weird flashes he keeps having, and eventually dozes off and dreams about being in the school hall. He’s in a hurry to get somewhere, but can’t find the right door and each one opens opens up to an empty classroom or a room void of anything at all, until eventually he finds a girl standing behind one. He recognises her from school, one of many pretty girls that have ignored him, but there’s no description of her appearance so I have no idea who she is. [Probably Charisse, though] The girl knows he’s never had a chance to be happy and mentions how he’s been a laughing stock over the last few days. Bran wishes he could identify whatever has been affecting him, and the girl suggests ‘”Maybe it’s something strange, something they did to you.”‘ Instead of asking who she means he asks how someone could have done something, but she just tells him it’s something to think about and laughs before the door slams shut and he wakes up. He wonders if there was some truth to the dream and decides to look into it.
Tess eats lunch with Casey the next day, much to S.W.’s pleasure, and Tess feels a little awkward after their kiss last night. She also isn’t sure if she’s after something serious or not, especially since college is around the corner and it may lead to heartbreak, but they’re coincidentally planning on attending the same college anyway, so I say go for it. They spot Bran across the room, seemingly waiting for someone, but quickly avert their eyes so as not to provoke him. Charisse walks past, having eaten lunch alone, and Tess feels glad that Casey hasn’t taken an interest in the beautiful redhead because he might find that they’re kindred spirits if he took the time to think about it. Bran notices Charisse and follows after her as she exits the cafeteria, which makes Tess nervous after everything that’s happened. She decides against mentioning it to Casey, though, because she’s dwelled on the ceremony and Bran too much lately, and she doesn’t want Casey to get annoyed at her.
Meanwhile, Bran catches up with Charisse as she’s getting her books for her next class. He walks down the hall with her and explains what she told him in his dream last night, but she tells him ‘”Maybe it’s something to think about,”‘ which makes him stop while she continues on. He feels uncomfortable again and orders himself to get a grip.
During study period that afternoon, S.W. is really excited for Tess’s date on Saturday and wishes she could meet someone too. Tess is super supportive and encouraging, remembering how self-conscious S.W. is, but admits that if she lost a few pounds [Wow, Tess] she’ll be a knockout – ‘”You’re already pretty hot.”‘ While browsing through books she’ll need for an English assignment, Tess decides to peruse the witchcraft section. There’s only a few books there and most seem too ancient and cryptic to be of use, until she recognises some odd lettering that’s very similar to what Bran had scribbled on the chalkboard. It also has a list of steps on how to become a witch, which includes renouncing goodness and light, and cutting off a piece of your favourite garment to show your allegiance to the darkness. She looks through a few other books before deciding to get back to her studies, but stops abruptly when she spots Charisse at the end of the row, staring at her. They make awkward small talk while Tess wonders if Charisse is doing her own research on witchcraft, which would mean she probably isn’t a witch herself, but it seems more like Tess is just trying to convince herself she doesn’t need to be worried. Tess turns around after hearing a noise behind her, and both girls see the books she’d been looking at tumbling off the shelf, one by one. [Ooky spooky! Is Charisse showing off her power?]
A short while later, Charisse is sitting by herself, worried that Tess is ‘becoming one of the dangerous ones, one of those who threatened.’ Charisse knew revealing herself would be dangerous, but had hoped the ceremony would turn Bran into a useful pawn and win the friend group over with the allure of power. Instead, it had just created suspicion, and while she initially perceived Tess as someone who could be a great ally, Charisse senses an internal will in her that could spell danger. If Tess can’t be won over she’ll be a formidable enemy, which is seeming the more likely case. Charisse thinks back to horrible past memories filled with pain, death and hiding, and knows that turning back now would be abandoning everything she and her sisters had given up for the forbidden arts. She decides to work on the weaker people of the group for now, but refuses to let Tess ruin things – ‘if she couldn’t be converted, she could be dealt with in other ways.’ [I think she wants to recruit to form a coven?]
Tess doesn’t bother to tell anyone about the books flying off the shelves, and we jump ahead to date night with Casey at Roland’s Pizza Parlour, what I’m assuming is the most hip pizza joint in town. S.W. had helped Tess choose an outfit but had complained about her own appearance again, and Tess is finding S.W.’s new self-esteem issues concerning. Casey and Tess make plans to go to a girl called Nancy’s upcoming Christmas party together, and then they head out to Arthur’s Lake, AKA Lover’s Lane. They kiss for a bit, and Tess feels so giddy that she wonders if she’s falling in love. This stresses her out, though; is it wise to start college with a commitment, even if they do attend the same one? She convinces herself that falling in love right now would be foolish and eases back a bit, prompting Casey to wonder what she’s thinking about. She screams instead of answering, though, because there’s Bran, staring in through the window at them! [Terrifying]
Bran’s face disappears in the split second it takes Casey to turn around, forcing Tess to question whether what she saw was real; her mind had been spinning at the time, maybe she’d subconsciously conjured up his image? If that was the case, maybe she’s so worried about things getting serious with Casey that she’d unconsciously committed an act of self-sabotage. Casey takes an embarrassed Tess home, where she frets that he’s no longer interested in her and will probably come up with an excuse to not take her to Nancy’s party. [Make up your mind, Tess. Do you want something serious or not?!] With tears in her eyes, Tess phones S.W. and tells her all about the night; Tess is almost certain it really was Bran out there at the lake and believes their spell worked, and something’s going on with Bran. S.W. isn’t so sure and had bumped into Charisse as she left Tess’s place earlier; Charisse had been walking in the neighbourhood but didn’t say who she’d been visiting, but the two girls got to talking about school and stuff and S.W. thinks she’s pretty nice. Although she doesn’t express her concerns, Tess doesn’t share the sentiment because the more she thinks about their little ceremony, the more she believes it was legit:
Everything had been executed too precisely. Charisse hadn’t fumbled. She’d been sure of herself, and from the way Bran had acted, she had accomplished more than just a spell to make him leave everyone alone. Charisse was playing with him, maybe slowly building up to something with him.
Tess couldn’t keep denying that fact. Denying it wouldn’t make it go away—even if Casey thought it was stupid and S.W. thought Charisse was nice.
She was going to have to figure out what was happening, and the first step was research.
At the public library the next day, Tess sits down with a few witchcraft books and learns of the Wiccan religion, which doesn’t match up with her experiences with Charisse. As she continues on, she becomes more and more apprehensive while learning of white magic and dark forces. There’s more details about the markings similar to what Bran had written, too; they’re commands witches would send to a victim. There’s also information of the practices Charisse had utilised during the ceremony, like the ringing of the bell, the candles and the markings, and Tess is filled with dread as she realises they’re all consistent with black magic. [I mean, duh, right? Like maybe when they approached Charise it was easy to think she dabbled in white magic, but surely during the ceremony Tess realised the truth?]
Tess constantly tries to call S.W. all weekend to tell her what she’s learned, but each time she’s told that S.W. is out, so the next time they link up is at S.W.’s locker on Monday morning. To Tess’s surprise, S.W.’s had a complete makeover – her wild, chestnut curls have been clipped short into a smart, hip style; she’s got makeup on to enhance her features; she’s wearing a completely new outfit and she’s looking much more trim. While she was cute before, she’s a stunner now, and Tess compliments her new appearance. As they walk to their first class, S.W. apologises for being so busy on the weekend; it turns out Charisse suggested the makeover, and S.W. had practically spent all weekend with her. Tess is alarmed that S.W. is getting chummy with Charisse, but S.W. reminds her that ‘”We were all going to be friends with her until you got scared by the ritual.”‘ [Yeah, I don’t really know what Tess’s problem is. She wanted the ceremony to work, but now she’s scared of it when nothing bad has actually happened?]
Tess informs S.W. that the ceremony was real black magic and some of the things Charisse did were used in ancient rituals to conjure up evil forces, but S.W. thinks she’s being dramatic and accuses Tess of being jealous of her new friendship. Charisse had also suggested to S.W. that the reason Tess has never suggested a new hairstyle for her or anything like that is because Tess ‘”needed a sidekick who could make you feel good about yourself. That’s why you always told me how cute my curls were.”‘ [Sneaky, sneaky, Charisse! I love it. Also, S.W. does have a very good point here. Tess has never explicitly stated it, but it’s clear from her thoughts so far that she was quite happy with S.W.’s original looks] Tess is hurt and apologises if she ever made S.W. feel that way, and S.W. agrees that it may not have been intentional and explains she’s not mad, it’s just something to consider. [Eerily similar to what Charisse had told Bran!]
With S.W. basically ignoring her and Casey also being distant, probably because of what happened on their date Friday night, Tess realises her best shot at an ally is Nathan. She tracks him down in the computer lab before lunch expresses her concerns about S.W., Charisse and black magic. She thinks Charisse has had a plan from the beginning and they need to find out what it is. Nathan suddenly bolts upright in his chair and looks past Tess to the door, and she turns around to find Bran standing in the doorway, staring at her with a fierce scowl on his face.
Bran moves into the room threateningly, enjoying their frightened looks, and while he couldn’t make out what they’d been saying, he knows they were conspiring against him. He’s slowly beginning to understand the message of his dream the other night; Charisse had come to him while he slept and made it clear, and he thinks she’s led him here now. Charisse is his friend, trying to help him through the manipulations of Tess and her pals, and he’s ready for it all to stop now. Tess asks what he wants and if he knows what’s happening, but Bran doesn’t respond, refusing to play her game, and he just walks out instead.
Tess realises he thinks her and the others are responsible for what’s happening, [Well, you are] and is even more convinced Charisse has been planning this for a long time. Nathan isn’t so sure, so Tess reminds him how Charisse would drop subtle hints about white magic until they approached her; she clearly wanted them to ask for her assistance. They’ll need Casey and S.W.’s help to figure it all out, though, so Tess plans to see S.W. after school to snap her out of Charisse’s spell.
Tess drives right on over to the Wentworths’ house [Ahh, but what’s S.W.’s first name?!] to find that S.W. isn’t home from school yet, but her mother lets Tess wait in her room for her. This is the perfect opportunity for some snooping, and Tess finds a gold and lavender silk scarf, one of S.W.’s favourite accessories, with a gaping hole in it inside a drawer. It’s not an accidental tear, either, it’s been done deliberately with scissors, and Tess remembers with horror what she read about offering a piece of your favourite garment to the evil spirits in order to become a witch. Tess can’t believe she didn’t realise Charisse had been luring S.W. into being a witch sooner and places the scarf back, planning to act oblivious.
Tess is then attacked by the black cat S.W. adopted off the curb. It claws at her back and arm, drawing blood, but eventually Tess is able to throw it to the floor and it scampers out of the room. Examining her arm, Tess notices a lot of blood coming from a slice that stretches from elbow to wrist and then blacks out while calling out for help.
[Haven’t seen any typos for a while, which is making the book more enjoyable!] Tess wakes up in hospital the next day attached to a plasma bag, and a nurse tells her how lucky she is because she lost so much blood and needed 15 stitches. [From a cat scratch? Must have knives for claws] She talks to her parents for a bit before they leave so Casey can spend some time with her, and Tess immediately tells him what happened. She believes the cat is Charisse’s familiar and that Charisse wanted to prevent Tess from hindering her plans to witchify S.W., then explains the relevance of the hole in S.W.’s scarf:
“Casey, it might sound outlandish, but it all fits together. Black cats, a drastic change in S.W., Bran. It’s Charisse, and she’s up to something. I need your help. I shouldn’t have been out this long, should I? She took my blood at the ceremony. She’s probably got me hexed.”
Casey is as sceptical as usual and tries to argue with her, but eventually gives in and agrees to help. Tess instructs him to do some more research on witchcraft with Nathan so they can try figure out exactly who Charisse is and where she came from. He accepts his mission and wants her to rest up so they can make it to Nancy’s upcoming Christmas party, but they’re interrupted by an absolutely livid S.W. storming in. She’s not mad that Tess “broke” into her room, though; [S.W., please] it seems Nancy’s sent out the party invitations already, and everyone’s got one except Charisse. S.W. thinks Tess is responsible because she’s jealous of their friendship, and she refuses to accept that it may be because Nancy doesn’t know Charisse well. Tess seems to be growing weaker as she defends herself, and S.W. tells her she deserved what happened and stomps out. The outburst has convinced Casey that something strange is afoot because S.W. definitely wasn’t herself just now, and he’s more keen to help out now. Tess, feeling worse and worse by the moment, is about to thank him but can’t get the words out, ‘probably because at that moment her breathing stopped.’ [Yes, that’s probably the reason]
We jump forward to Friday now as Casey visits Tess, now on bedrest at home. Apparently she had septicaemia, which baffled the doctors because they’d never seen an infection pop up so quickly like that, and she’d already been given some shots. It further proved to Casey that something unnatural is going on, but all the witchcraft books at the school library had disappeared when he tried to find them. They weren’t checked out either, they’d just completely vanished! Nerdy Nathan has been posting and gathering information on an online bulletin board about the arcane, so they’re hopeful he’ll find something useful to help them stop Charisse.
Meanwhile, Nathan has hung back after school until it was completely vacated, and is now in the computer room to scan the message boards again. [Remember the days when a computer wasn’t in every household?] On one of the notes he’d previously placed, there’s a reply from someone calling themselves Father Alison, who warns that if Nathan has encountered someone from the ancient orders, he’s in grave trouble. Father Alison has devoted his whole life to researching this sort of thing, and what Nathan has mentioned resembles ancient rituals that might date back ‘as far as the Ovates, a group of witches from France…’ [This seems important] A sound interrupts Nathan, but there’s no sign of anyone when he turns around. Unnerved, he prints off Father Alison’s message and heads for one of the school’s exits, which are all locked from the outside but are required to open from inside anyway due fire regulations. Unfortunately for him, someone’s wrapped a chain in place to prevent the doors from opening, held in place by a bicycle lock. [Oh no, is he gonna die?]
Bran is close by, watching Nathan struggle with the doors. He’d been lost in a daze for several days, but everything is perfectly clear since he’d stopped fighting the strange impulses in his head. There’s orders to follow, and Bran has a purpose for the first time in his life – ‘he knew he would take revenge on those who had played games with his destiny, and then he would do whatever he was told.’ Realising something is wrong, Nathan turns to make a dash for another exit but comes face to face with Bran, ‘standing only a couple of inches away in his socks.’ [Why no shoes?] Bran accuses Nathan of looking up magic spells so he and his friends can destroy him:
“Who told you that?”
“I had a vision, a dream. I know what’s happened, and I know what’s going to happen—”
“That’s crazy Bran.”
“I’m following Charisse’s will.”
“You’re nuts.”
“No, I’m not.”
“She’s a witch.”
“A witch’s gotta have an assistant.”
Nathan tried to run, but he didn’t get far. Bran came after him, grabbing a handful of Nathan’s hair.
Before he could pull away, Bran’s hands closed around his head, pulling upward, yanking.
Nathan’ scream snapped off midsyllable.
[Wait, so did he pull Nathan’s head off?! Poor Nathan, I liked him] It’s just after 3am now, [The witching hour!] and Tess has just awoken from a bad dream she can’t remember, but she has the ominous feeling she’s witnessed something awful. She heads downstairs for some juice to ease her parched throat and is surprised to find the Christmas tree lights are turned on. Trying to figure out where the plug is so she can switch it off, Tess feels around for the cord but touches something solid instead under the tree. Curious because no-one usually puts presents there this early, Tess pulls a branch back to take a gander and finds herself looking directly into Nathan’s frozen, blank eyes. It takes her a moment to realise only his head is present, then she screams and passes out. [So Bran’s got some superhuman strength, courtesy of Charisse. I wonder what other things she’s gifted him?]
She awakens again in her parents bedroom after they’d found her in the living room, believing she’d had a bad dream while sleepwalking. Tess tells them about Nathan but they assure her there’s no severed head under the tree. She forces them to check again anyway, as well as the whole house for an intruder, such as Bran, but there’s nothing out of the ordinary in the house. Tess’s parents are clearly worried about her mental state and she realises that they won’t believe her, no matter how certain she is that what she saw was real. She plans to call Nathan tomorrow, ‘but she knew she wouldn’t find him at home.’
Casey comes over the next morning and they decide to call Nathan’s house after Tess informs him of the early Christmas present she found under the tree. Unfortunately, Nathan’s mother hasn’t seen him since he left for school yesterday morning and has already notified the police, who think he may have run away. Tess is even more certain what she saw was real, and she wants to search Charisse’s house to learn more about her. Charisse is probably hanging out with S.W., and since they’ve never seen Charisse’s parents, it shouldn’t be too hard to break in and check things out. They might even find Nathan’s body!
Parking down the street, they stake out Charisse’s home the car and eventually notice S.W. pull into the driveway, then leave with Charisse. As they walk over to the hopefully empty house, ‘Tess felt artic swells flowing up over her vertebrae’ [This is the most obnoxious way to say ‘the wind sent shivers down her spine’ I’ve ever read in my life hahahaha. Much like with some of Pike’s stories, the writing and dialogue in this book is like, sophisticated and mature compared to Stine and other Point Horror authors, and doesn’t seem like a realistic portrayal of teenagers. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, though; I feel like I’m using my brain more at least and it mixes things up compared to the more basic vernacular of most other YA horror] because she’s so nervous. They knock on the front door just in case, and after receiving no answer they head around back in search of an open window, eventually sneaking in through the basement. On the main floor of the house, they find the kitchen covered in a thin layer of dust and smelling musty, clearly unused in the time that’s passed since the ceremony.
The living room is in a similar conditions but with more signs of life, like school books and other items strewn around. After investigating a few more rooms, all of which are empty and void of any personal items, Tess and Casey agree that Charisse lives alone. Unbeknownst to them, the black cat has been sitting on the second-floor bannister, watching the pair move about the house, and leaps down at Casey as he’s about to climb the stairs. Casey’s able to jerk out of the way to avoid getting his eyes gouged out, and the cat’s claws get tangled in his scarf instead. He unwraps the scarf from around his neck and tosses it aside, and the cat manages to free itself before scurrying away to the kitchen. Tess is sure there’s something upstairs they’re not supposed to see, so they head on up to find several more empty rooms. Finally they stumble on Charisse’s bedroom, and upon the shelves that line the walls are numerous jars filled with herbs and roots preserved in cloudy liquids. Tess points out that they may have just narrowed the field, as herbal use may specify the type of with Charisse is.
At the library a short time later, they’re looking through a stack of witchcraft books and discover that herbs were used in a variety of rituals, such as voodoo practices and other ceremonies. ‘”A particularly feared group of witches descended from the French Ovates practiced in rural Louisiana after the Acadians settled there,’ [Ovates again!] and they relied on herbal medicines ‘”and other beneficial natural magic to win the favor of the other settlers.”‘ That’s all the information they can find that seems even remotely related to their plight, so they enlist the help of a friendly librarian to track down any witchcraft books with references to the witches who lived in Louisiana centuries ago. The librarian finds one called Legends of the Bayou County which may be useful, but it’s privately published and she’ll have to request it through interlibrary loan, which may take a while due to the holiday period. Tess and Casey leave their numbers with her and head off, and Tess worries that Charisse could have them killed before the book arrives, since Bran’s bound to come after them next. [Neither of them seems overly sad about Nathan’s probable death, lol]
Unbeknownst to them, Bran’s followed them to the library and had been watching from across the street. He’d thought about waiting in the back of Tess’s car, but decided to be patient instead. And then he’d make them sorry they’d ever thought about casting spells on him! [Charisse has obviously manipulated and is controlling him to an extent, but I wonder if he’s aware that she was involved in the ceremony? Or does he think she’s a good witch and is just trying to help him?]
Driving home, Tess and Casey decide they’ll need to play it cool until they’ve figured out exactly what Charisse’s agenda is here; if she knows they’re plotting against her, she might hurt S.W. or come after them sooner. [Why don’t they just try talking to Charisse, maybe?] There’s a police car in the driveway when Tess arrives home, but to her relief it’s not in regard to their breaking and entering. Instead, Officer Williams is seeking information on Nathan, and wants to know when she and Casey last saw him, as well as if he had any enemies that might want to hurt him. They answer the first question truthfully, and Tess considers giving him Bran’s name in relation to the second one, because it might buy them some more time to figure out the whole Charisse thing, but she realises it might also alert Charisse that they’re onto her, so she denies knowing anything.
A few days later, Tess and Casey are walking around the mall because Charisse/Bran are less likely to strike in such a public place. News of Nathan’s disappearance has spread by now, and Tess is really missing her friend. She’s spent a lot of time reading about witches and witchcraft, but there’s no uneasy answers on dealing with a witch, which is really frustrating. Eventually, Tess and Casey spot S.W. and Charisse with Serena Adamson, a girl S.W. had been close with but had drifted apart from in ninth grade. Remembering what she’s learned from her witch research, Tess realises Charisse must be recruiting for her coven and decides to accidentally-on-purpose bump into the girls to see what they’re up to.
Serena’s got bags filled with crepe paper and other items and reveals they’re planning a New Year’s party; S.W. had suggested it, since she and Serena haven’t spent much time together recently. Tess immediately understands why they’ve roped in Serena; her popularity and her mother’s work on the city council has gained her a lot of respect with students and parents alike, so a party involving Serena will have a lot of guests, ‘even when parents might veto other gatherings where they feared liquor would be too plentiful.’ The party will be held at Charisse’s place, and it dawns on Tess that the witch wants everybody together on her own turf where she’s in control. The question is, for what purpose?
It’s time for Nancy’s Christmas party now, and Tess and Casey mingle with some friends, Gerda and Jere, [This book is full of unique names] for a little while before Nancy gathers everyone up for an announcement. Standing with her are Serena, S.W. and Charisse, the latter one being introduced to the room as Nancy’s new friend. She admits that Charisse wasn’t initially invited, but thankfully Serena pointed out the mistake, so I guess Nancy’s part of the coven now. Nancy also informs everyone of the New Year’s party Charisse, S.W. and Serena are throwing, and assures the guests that that’s where they’ll want to be. [Is Charisse planning one big human sacrifice, or does she want everyone in her coven?]
It’s now time for the party guests to go carolling around the neighbourhood, which happens every year at Nancy’s Christmas party, [Omg, I can’t think of anything worse to do at a party lol] and Tess begins feeling unwell. Her skin is warm despite the freezing cold, and on instinct she glances at Charisse, who smiles knowingly at her. The sick feeling somewhat subsides as Tess sings along with the group at their first stop, [The power of Christmas!] but she warns Casey that something big is about to go down. Sure enough, as the group are between houses a short time later, Bran appears from behind a tree and makes a beeline for Tess. He shoves, elbows and punches his way through several carollers until his meaty paws are on Tess, but just as he’s just about to strangle her, a soft voice calls out that there’s no need to hurt anybody. To Tess’s surprise, Charisse is the hero who’s ordering him to leave her alone, and although he seems confused, Bran obeys.
Tess and Casey discuss the altercation the next day at Petite Burger. Tess believes Charisse weakened her with a spell so she couldn’t run away, and they both agree that it was a setup to make Charisse look good in front of everyone, which definitely worked. S.W., Serena, Nancy, Charisse and some other girls suddenly walk in, giggling and laughing. They smile and wave at Tess, excluding Charisse who smirks instead – ‘She had everything under control, and she wanted Tess to know it.’ [I know she’s the antagonist but I kind of like Charisse! She’s a bad bitch]
Tess’s mood continues to decline as the holiday season continues, so much so that her mother thinks her she’s got some lingering sickness. She’s also curious as to why S.W. hasn’t been around lately and accuses Tess of making Casey the centre of her universe and forgetting her friends. Mum and Dad haven’t really hidden their disdain for the rebellious-looking Casey throughout the book, and a frustrated Tess insists he’s just a friend and there’s nothing to worry about. [Liar!]
Early that afternoon, Tess surprisingly receives a call from S.W., who excitedly brags that everyone’s coming to the New Year’s party. Tess agrees to come too, but she knows it’s a trap; she’s the one Charisse hasn’t been able to win over, so there’s probably something particularly ghastly in store for her. It feels awful being the odd one out and to have people you care about plotting against you, and she reconsiders putting herself in danger to try to save them in the first place. Maybe she should stay home and watch a movie with Casey instead, taking ‘smug satisfaction in being the one who didn’t follow the crowd.’ [I don’t think that would necessarily stop Charisse from coming after you, but you do you, Tess]
It’s a few days before Christmas now, and Casey’s just picked Tess up for a drive, and with him is the book they’ve been waiting on from the library! the seventh chapter has all the information they’re after, and Tess eagerly starts reading. It details how various governments disputed ownership of a large stretch of land in the Louisiana Purchase, so it was eventually designated off limits to civil and military authorities. This led to the region becoming populated by outlaws, and witches also fled there to escape persecution. The witches befriended the outlaws for a while thanks to their herbal medicine practices, but the outlaws soon grew wary of rituals and animal sacrifices, eventually deciding to drive them out. The witches were massacred with guns and fire, but a young girl was taken in by a man and wife who fled to New Orleans:
“The family name—”
“Was Bienville,” Tess said, cutting him off. “Which means Charisse is either the descendant of that child…”
“Or she’s the same girl.”
[She’s definitely the same girl] Tess and Casey spend an hour or so at the library checking indexes and bibliographies in search of the nearest expert they can locate, but the books are all super old so the authors are long gone. They catch a break after explaining what they’re after to a different librarian than last time, who tells them a young woman was in here a few weeks ago doing research on witches for a novel she’s writing. She’d been travelling all over, and was in Pembrook trying to find out if witches had lived here. Tess agrees with me that that this seems a little too convenient, but they get the Felice Wharton’s number anyway, then head home to call and organise a meeting.
The next day, Tess and Casey drive the 70 miles to the small town of Hampton to see Felice, who’s a real country bumpkin that tones her accent down over the phone in case an agent or publisher calls, because most people equate Southern with stupidity. [Interesting] After gauging how much Felice knows about the Louisiana Purchase’s little-documented witch history, Tess explains their situation. Felice is somewhat sceptic because of her academic background, clarifying that she’s studied this stuff from the viewpoint of people’s beliefs, of which superstition is a big part, but she still considers that what they’re saying might be true. Felice confirms that Charisse is likely creating a coven and she may have chosen now to do it ‘”because of some cosmic alignment she’s been waiting for.”‘ Also, the coven that moved to Louisiana were originally from around the Pembrook area, so Charisse may have returned to where it all started to re-establish her group. [Makes sense to me!]
Christmas comes and goes while Tess and Casey research more and more, consulting often with Felice over the phone. The only useful information they can find about defeating a witch is that because they manipulate nature with their magic, they’re just as susceptible to the elements; fire, earth and water. [What about air? Doesn’t that usually go hand-in-hand with the other three elements?] They plan on waiting for Charisse to reveal her plan at the party, and then Tess and Casey will act before she can draw anyone else in, although they’re not sure how they’ll do it. [It also sounds like they’ll be waiting too long to do something about it? You need to take preventative action, guys!] They purchase lots of lighters, planning on burning down the house as a last resort.
Elsewhere, Charisse has been prepping hard for the upcoming party and is feeling empowered with S.W. and Serena already onside. She’d had a ceremony with them, the same one she’d partaken in when she first joined, and has been teaching them chants and ceremonial movements. S.W. had been worried that people might not come, too nervous about Nathan’s disappearance, but Charisse reassures her that everyone will want to join them once they see how strong the girls are. Charise aspires to complete what her original coven hadn’t had the chance to; to claim the ‘throne of the universe’, and maybe she’ll even become the most powerful sorceress alive. Cosmic forces align perfectly at stroke of midnight on New Year’s morning, and any coven birthed at that time ‘would become a force to behold, and she would sit at its head.’
It’s time for the big event now, and the party’s in full swing when Tess and Casey arrive, stocked up with lighters and matches in the pockets of their pants, coats, and the band of Casey’s hat. Tess is confident Charisse will strike at midnight, the witching hour, [Well, google says the witching hour is 3am, so….] so it’s only a matter of time. Meanwhile, Bran enters the shed behind Charisse’s house and takes the double-headed axe, which is waiting for him just as Charisse had said. She hasn’t lied once to him since she started visiting his dreams, and although he didn’t understand at first, he’s now willing to do her bidding.
Back inside, it’s clear Serena and S.W. are keeping an eye on Tess and Casey, who are starting to worry because Charisse hasn’t made an appearance yet:
They were going to have to wait for something to happen, something that would signal the beginning of the evil. She knew the evil was coming.
But why? What was Charisse trying to accomplish? Just a new coven? Or—
The answer came tumbling from above… literally. The severed head toppled off Stephen Kelsey’s shoulders, and plummeted down into the living room, spreading the crowd apart as it thudded to the carpet.
Screams and shouts followed as the people crushed back against the walls, huddling in horror. Tess looked up to the second floor where the headless body teetered, a lost staggering stump.
After a second, the body collapsed over the railing also, falling like a bag of broken plates to the floor.
Then Bran stepped forward, the still-bloody ax in his hands, as he looked over the crowd.
[Love it! How the hell did Bran get upstairs unnoticed, though?] A mass panic breaks out and everyone heads for the door as Bran slowly descends the stairs, but Tess and Casey already know that any effort to escape is pointless; Charisse probably plans to be some kind of hero to get people on her side. As expected, the door won’t budge, and the hysteria only gets worse when the lights go out. [Spooky] Charisse suddenly appears, wearing a hooded black cloak and holding a candle that somehow lights up the whole room. She orders everyone to calm down, promising they have nothing to be afraid of [Tell that to poor Stephen Kelsey’s severed head!] because Bran is under control.
As Serena and S.W. take their places beside her, Charisse announces that everyone has a decision to make; become part of her powerful coven, or stand against them and become a sacrifice. Bran also lumbers over to join the girls as Charisse continues that no-one can escape without making a choice. She explains she’s the last in her line, but is ready to establish a new group now because ‘”the cosmic forces are about to become aligned again as they were in the year my sisters died. At the stroke of midnight, the opening for a new age of power will begin.”‘ She also verifies Felice’s thoughts from earlier; she chose Pembrook because this is where her original coven first formed.
Charisse reveals that she needed someone to open the door so she could infiltrate their ranks, and she used Tess and her friends to do it. She admits to believing Tess would be her number one ally, but her heart was too pure. Fortunately for Charisse, S.W.’s will wasn’t so strong. S.W. giggles at this and apologises to her former pal; Tess had been a good friend, but S.W. couldn’t turn down the power Charisse offers. Charisse denies Tess’s accusations that she corrupted S.W. and reminds her that each of them had opened themselves up when they agreed to participate in that ceremony, and they’d been warned not to take part if they weren’t willing to accept the consequences. S.W. joined her willingly, but Nathan made the wrong choice and was removed from the equation.
As the curious crowd watches on, Charisse orders Tess to make her choice and unsurprisingly, Tess refuses, [To be honest, I don’t know why she’s so against it. Stay alive and have power! But I guess the coven would probably be a dictatorship, and who knows what Charisse plans for the world?] adamant that the way Charisse has gone about things is completely wrong. ‘”Wrong is in the eye and the belief of the beholder,”‘ replies Charisse, before Bran grabs Tess in a headlock. Casey tries to rush him but is knocked out cold with the axe handle, which hits him just above the eye. With Tess as the first sacrifice, Charisse wants to know who’ll be first to join the coven, and Nancy voices her curiosity. [Oh, I thought she’d joined sometime before her Christmas party] Charisse uses Nancy’s aspirations to attend Yale to entice her, promising the coven can help her get in easily. Tess tries to reason with Nancy, but Bran’s arm across her throat is choking her and she can’t get the words out. Nancy doesn’t want Tess to be sacrificed, but Charisse argues that Tess’s decision isn’t her concern, and Nancy nods, stepping towards Charisse. [Damn it, Nancy!] As other people begin moving forward too, the lack of oxygen and blood flow caused by Bran’s arm causes Tess to black out…
Tess wakes up in the basement with her hands and feet bound, laying in the middle of a pentagram and surrounded by the partygoers. Gazing around, she sees that Nancy and a few other teens have joined Charisse’s side, while the sacrifices are bound at their wrists like her. Tess realises what a nong she was to believe she could come here and outwit a witch and wishes she’d taken action sooner. [Yeah, it really was a bad plan]
It’s time for the ceremony to begin now, and Bran prepares to axe Tess while Charisse offers her up to the dark forces. All of a sudden Casey appears on the stairs, holding a lighter with the flame at maximum power. [Did these idiots really just leave him up there unattended without even tying him up or anything? Why didn’t they bring him downstairs to sacrifice too?] He orders everyone to back off, and the would-be sacrifices immediately obey, breaking the circle and scattering around. The potential coven members get confused and also step out, and everyone ignores Charisse’s orders to stay where they are. While they’re all distracted, Tess wriggles her way up to a candle and knocks it over, further weakening Charisse’s control on everyone. Everyone continues to escape the basement, leaving only S.W., Nancy and Serena, Charisse, Bran, Casey and Tess.
Charisse sends Bran over toward Casey, who avoids the axe and manages to light Bran’s jeans on fire. While Bran tries to extinguish the flames, Charisse and her three remaining companions charge at Casey, but he dodges away and launches himself on a slide across the floor to Tess’s side. [Just like in the movies!] He quickly frees her hands and they jump up to face Charisse and her gal pals, as well as a recovered Bran, who Tess notes is no longer an individual, just something Charisse controls. Casey threatens the girls with another lighter, but Tess is much less intimidating because her lighters were confiscated while she was out cold. Charisse declares that fire alone isn’t enough to stop her, but she’s clearly still wary of the flame and backs up as Casey steps towards her.
Tess and Casey suddenly burst forward, breaking through the line of would-be murderers and dashing up the stairs, relieved to see the front door wide open because Charisse had needed to direct her powers away from it for the ceremony. It slams shut before they can reach it, though, and they scramble through the house looking for another way out after collecting their coats [I assume more so for the lighters they’ve got stashed in the pockets]. They open one door at the end of the hall and a headless body tumbles out; it’s Nathan! Something crinkles in his jacket pocket as Tess lovingly touches the shoulder of her dead friend, and she pulls out a folded sheet of paper. They scan through Father Alison’s introduction and get to the useful stuff – as we already know, evil witches violate natural law and are thus susceptible to the elements. A single element wouldn’t be effective against a powerful witch, ‘but a combination might serve to destroy.’ [A combination of earth, fire and water? Sounds way too hard]
Tess has an idea, but Charisse appears before she can voice it and they have to flee again. They make their way to a bedroom in the back and smash a window to escape. They rush to Casey’s car and Tess orders him to drive to the water tower a few blocks away, and they park the car right at the base. Climbing on top of the hood, Tess gives him a boost up to the ladder on the side, which begins a few feet off the ground to prevent exactly what they’re trying to do: release the water.
As Casey ascends the ladder, Charisse and her goons have silently arrived, and Charisse climbs onto the car behind Tess and grabs her by the hair. Charisse forces her to watch as Bran starts up the ladder with the axe, and Tess shouts out a warning to Casey before twisting out of Charisse’s grasp and shoving her off the car. Charisse lands on her ass in the mud [Earth!] and as S.W. and Nancy help her up, Tess jumps off the car and heads for the back, twisting off the fuel cap and stuffing her scarf inside. The girls quickly swarm over her while Charisse makes her way around, but before they can pin Tess’s arms down, she attempts to spark up a lighter. She’s unsuccessful, and the girls begin dragging her away from the car as Charisse gloats that there’s only four minutes until midnight.
At the same time, Casey has just reached the catwalk that surrounds the top of the tower, and starts searching for a valve or lever that will release the water. He feels Bran step onto the catwalk behind him and turns around to confront his attacker. He successfully ducks under an axe swing, and the metal collides with the tank but doesn’t puncture it; it wasn’t built to cave in so easily. As Bran starts to recover, Casey manages to kick him in the midsection [Balls? Stomach?] and makes a grab for the axe as Bran doubles over.
Back on the ground, S.W.’s manages to remove the lighter from Tess’s grasp. She screams at S.W. to stop, and the intensity makes her pause and look into Tess’s eyes. Tess sees a glimmer of remorse and goes with it, asking ‘”I can’t die without my new hat can I?”‘ The words clearly have an affect on S.W., and the hesitation is all Tess needs to pull away from the girls and grab Casey’s hat, which had blown off while he was climbing the ladder and landed nearby. She uses one batch from the band to light up the rest of the box as she moves to the car, then successfully sets the scarf alight. [Fire!] She runs as far away as she can while the would-be witches scatter, despite Charisse’s confidence that the explosion won’t be enough to kill her.
Tess dives to the ground as the explosion rumbles behind her, and she looks back to see Charisse still in front of the burning car, unaffected ‘even though the heat of the blast should have been searing her eyelashes.’ Tess’s hopes continue to diminish when she sees a figure falling off the water tower. Charisse is thrilled and almost does a happy dance, but then a stream of water gushes out, showering her. [Water! All three elements! How did Casey do break through it the tower, though? Did he get the axe off Bran somehow and hack away?] She screams as the water washes over, and at first Tess thinks she’s melting, but she quickly realises that Charisse is sinking into the muddy ground, which is softening due to the waterfall:
Flames from the vehicle seemed to leap onto the ground and rush toward the witch’s twisting form.
Tess realized it wasn’t natural. Something odd had taken over, something beyond understanding. The flames began to circle around Charisse, and the water did not affect them. They blazed brighter than orange, becoming a hot, white light, like shimmers of lightning.
Then the earth began to rumble. She felt even stronger vibrations than before, and the ground began to split around Charisse’s feet.
The witch’s scream became a scream of terror, and Tess almost wanted to run to her, to help her as the earth swallowed her up.
It’s time for an epilogue now, and it’s almost a month later. Tess is once again visiting the candle store, and thanks to some exposition from the chatterbox shop owner, we learn that the cover story is that Casey’s car spun out of control and slammed into the water tower, and Bran, who’d been vandalising it at the time, was killed. Tess purchases some candles and steps out into the street, where Casey’s loitering nearby. They haven’t been able to see each other much because Tess’s parents now think Casey’s dangerous, but they’re both hopeful they’ll give in soon. Her parents aren’t really sure what happened, ‘”Especially since the cops are still looking for Charisse.”‘ Apparently all the party guests had been questioned, but the cops haven’t gotten many answers. Serena, S.W. and Nancy have kept their mouths shut and likely won’t be prosecuted since they didn’t really do anything; Bran’s the one that killed people. [I’m confused, so did everyone tell the truth about Charisse? If so, why the cover story about a car crash?]
Speaking of S.W., she and Tess haven’t spoken yet. Tess knows it was Charisse’s fault, but she’s still hurt that S.W. turned on her ‘”just because she thought she could be a little prettier,”‘ and she speculates that S.W. is too ashamed to face her. Still, Tess might try to talk to her soon, now that she’s learned how to deal with confrontation. [Hahahaha] Casey wants to know what the candles are for, and Tess reveals she’s continued reading up on witches. While Fire alone had killed her original coven, Charisse had grown a lot stronger over the years and Tess worries that if she somehow manages to come back she could be unstoppable. However, if you burn candles at the site where a witch was consumed by the earth, it can help ensure she can’t escape. Then the book ends with Casey offering his assistance, and Tess agrees that she could use a hand, as well as a lighter – ‘”Have you got any left?”‘ [Cuuuute]
Final thoughts
Despite the length and only two deaths, I really enjoyed this one. Tess was a strong heroine and the main characters were nicely fleshed out, even the villains, and I liked how the author humanised Bran by giving us a glimpse into his mind and home life, only for Charisse to turn him into a hollow shell to use as a vessel for evil. One gripe I do have is the language the teenagers used. I’m sure that even in the 1990s no teen was walking around using words like ‘coquette’ and ‘pertinent’, it just made them seem unrealistically wise beyond their years. It reminds me of the the Pike books I’ve read so far, but this was a little more obnoxious. Or maybe I’m wrong, and ’90s teens were incredibly smart and used more sophisticated language. My other main issue was the typos, but thank god they weren’t as frequent as the book went on, and I only noticed 25 all up. I was really worried at the start!
After reading the book, I feel like both the title and cover came before the story. Like, someone had a basic idea for a plot around New Year’s Eve, came up with a title and got the cover art created, and then hired someone to write the book. Other than the climax occurring on New Year’s Eve, the story could have taken place at any time. Oh well. I also wish it was explained how Casey ended up releasing the water from the tower, but oh well.
56 severed heads under a Christmas tree out of 67.
