Kerry wants to find the truth behind the urban legends in Paxwood–and confess her crush on her best friend. When Kerry digs into the Haunting of Paxwood House, she gets drawn into a dangerous web of prophecies. She meets Rowen, who survived her prophesied death and realized that Chosen Ones fighting alone are doomed to tragedy. Rowen seeks a place to gather Chosen Ones together to help each other survive. Is Paxwood House that place?
Read the episodes of Book 1 in order from the beginning here
- Prologue: The Chosen, and Those Who Choose Themselves
I shouldn’t still be in this house. It shouldn’t even be standing after the long cons, betrayals, incursions, and battles—most especially the latest.The battle that shattered the world. Newscasters are calling it the Wild Hunt—not sure who coined it, or if they care it isn’t entirely accurate. The Fair Folk and the Old Gods were - 01: Trespassing and Eavesdropping Are Terrible Hobbies
Tuesday, May 18th, 2018, Late EveningMoon Phase: New MoonPaxwood, Whatcom County, Washington, USAEyewitness: Kerry Loose crumbling brick remnants shifted beneath my feet as I crossed the gap in the wall that surrounded Paxwood House. I shouldn’t have been there, but the city council meeting ended early and Char wasn’t expecting me for another twenty minutes. - 02: Research by Moonlight Is Better with Friends
Tuesday, 14 May 2019, Night (New Moon)Paxwood, Whatcom County, Washington, USAEyewitness: Kerry A dirt road illuminated by flashlight wasn’t the most romantic place to confess your love to the girl of your dreams, but there were worse. I’d planned this out—and lost my nerve—for months. Any of the times we drove around provided the privacy - 03: Never Confess In Front of a Cop
Tuesday, 14 May 2019, Night (New Moon)Paxwood, Whatcom County, Washington, USAEyewitness: Kerry “Kerry Rhys-Hansen.” Officer Adrien Morgan tipped his head at us. He wore plaid and denim and he had no senior partner anywhere in sight, so he was definitely off duty. The first time I met him, before he joined the force, he kept - 04: Wizards Don’t Teach Shop
Wednesday, 15 May 2019, Morning (Waxing Crescent)Paxwood, Whatcom County, Washington, USAEyewitness: Kerry Regardless of what Clover thinks about humanizing myself and everyone else in this story, let’s be honest: Getting grounded sucks, and none of us wants to relive that conversation. Besides, you’re here for a haunted house story, not mother-daughter drama. Once my mother - 05: An Old Journal Should Be Kept Dry
Wednesday, 15 May 2019, AfternoonPaxwood, Whatcom County, Washington, USAEyewitness: Kerry I didn’t see Char for the entire school day. Our class schedules annoyingly didn’t line up, and even though we’d usually eat lunch together, she texted me to let me know she was going to hole up and review her math notes because she’d failed - 06 Best Friends Save You Leftovers
Wednesday, 15 May 2019, EveningPaxwood, Whatcom County, Washington, USAEyewitness: Kerry Luella Paxwood’s voice caught me somewhere between the turn of a page, where her journal became less like reading and more like listening to an old friend. I absorbed her life story, took notes on my computer, forgot about the existence of time or food. - 07: Red Sky in the Morning…?
Saturday, 18 May 2019, Afternoon Paxwood, Whatcom County, Washington, USA Eyewitness: Kerry I wanted to get inside Paxwood House, and Diana Cade, Paxwood Chronicle Editor, pulled through. All I had to do was ask, and she gave me the contact info to schedule a visit and one of her digital cameras to add pictures to - 08: Flickers of the Past
Saturday, 18 May 2019, EveningPaxwood, Whatcom County, Washington, USAEyewitness: Kerry The massive double doors parted silently, an open invitation. Weren’t haunted house doors supposed to creak like the voices of cursed souls? I stopped before I crossed the threshold and turned to give Char a photogenic smile, hand on the doorknob. With a laugh, she - 09: Ignore Instincts; Suffer the Consequences
This is one of those memories where emotion overshadows detail for all eyewitnesses present and willing to provide their perspective. Char, driven down the hallway by the massive black dog that had emerged from the cellar stairs. Me, in pursuit, behind the dog, shivers running through my body, a spectral woman breathing down my neck. - 10: Butterflies and Toads
Sunday, 19 May 2019, MorningPaxwood, Whatcom County, Washington, USAEyewitness: Kerry The thing about the phrase “butterflies in your stomach” is that, yes, it connects to a churning nervous feeling, something uncertain or nerve-wracking in the world, but it’s also that beautiful sort of nervousness. Something worthwhile, positive, enjoyable, or pleasant follows butterflies. The unsettled nervous - 11: Yogurt Drops and Truth Bombs
Sunday, 19 May 2019, Early AfternoonPaxwood, Whatcom County, Washington, USAEyewitness: Kerry Through the open repair bay door at Cardoso Auto, I spotted Dominic Cardoso working on a car. I moved close to the wall before he could spot me. Active power tool noises worked to my advantage. When the pitch and intensity masked the chime, - 12: The Buyer’s Story
Sunday, 19 May 2019, AfternoonPaxwood, Whatcom County, Washington, USAEyewitness: Kerry Maisey’s Diner had been a Paxwood staple since it opened in the fifties. Local, fresh, and classic—the menu hadn’t changed much, and neither had the decor. There was something novel about the white and red checkered picnic tablecloths over the booth tables, the red vinyl - 13: A Little Antiquing
I gave Rowen a rundown of everything I knew, all the intel I’d been gathering on Silphium for my mother, a play-by-play of the city council meetings regarding the sale of Paxwood House. She took it all in stride, jotting down notes in a small personal journal as I spoke. I wanted Mx. Cardoso to pipe up and contribute anything about the actual magic around Paxwood House and its ghostly residents, but they just ate their strawberry rhubarb pie and let me drive the info session. - 14: Curiosity Freed the Cat
In which Kerry and Sly open a secret compartment and discover a surprise inside. - 15: So Magic Is Real
In which Kerry tracks down the glass cat while Sly handles a vampire lawyer customer - 16: Meeting Trouble with Open Eyes
This time it was Sly feeding unexpected treats to Mx. Cardoso’s mouse familiar Arcie, while I was the one explaining that magic was real, the animated glass cat had to be enchanted, Hugh was a vampire, and he’d just hit Sly with some kind of charm. - 17: Is Winning Really Better?
No one invited me to the meeting between my mother, Mx. Cardoso, and Rowen, but I knew it was going down Monday night. I spent my school day juggling between distractions—pretending not to notice that Char wasn’t there, sending my potential buyer everything I had on Silphium and the town meetings up to this point, hyping up this option to my mother, trading messages with Sly about nothing important. - 18: Protectors, Hunters, and Chosen Ones
The bed-and-breakfast Mx. Cardoso recommended to Rowen was on my way to school, more or less, so I swung by Tuesday morning to check on her. I wouldn’t be driving over to pick up Char—still no car—or riding my bike to Char’s to ride along with her to school, so I had to fill the time up with something. - 19: Eavesdropping. Trespassing. Terrible. Hobbies.
The voice I most wanted to hear flowed through Mx. Cardoso’s door and into my ears. I paused at the threshold, out of sight. Was Char back to school today, or was I imagining it? - 20: The Evergreen Waltz
One moment, I was screaming as incorporeal forces dragged me forward, sneakers squealing on hardwood. The next, I was standing on the threshold of a grand ball. - 21: Meanwhile, Phoning a Friend
While I was busy dancing in dreams in a haunted house, Rowen went to visit the Silphium Resort. - 22: How Many Heroes Does It Take…
Within the dream, time had a way of blurring whenever the conversation with Bast lulled. However much time passed, my muscles didn’t grow tired, and my feet didn’t get sore. I desperately wanted to ask my mysterious dance partner a thousand questions about who he was and how he knew so much about this place, and I was running out of casual comic book material, so I asked. - 23: Tuff Love and a Quartz Shield
“So, let me get this straight. You’re telling me that there is an entire, what, plane of existence that we can experience in our dreams, and the ghosts dragged you into their literal nightmare?” Sly asked as I finished my bizarre account of the day’s experiences.