A stay in the Derbyshire countryside should be the perfect rest for Theodore Baker. There he ought to be able to forget his wearisome secret duty and the monsters he hunts, at least for a little while.

But first he witnesses the peculiar behavior of a girl...then he hears of the girl's great-aunt, who was a strange and special woman, and about the ruins she used to visit on a lonely hilltop. Next comes a sudden death and Theodore finds himself in an unexpected dilemma. Monsters he can handle...but what about the rising power of a young witch?