A Witch of His Own

Cornwall, England, October 30th, 1814Desperate to honour the memories of her murdered parents, Joan of Winterbarrow Hundred accepted the invitation to Nightshade Manor's Witches' Ball. After all, everyone knew that to remain a helpful white witch, one had only to marry another white wizard or witch. And Joan needed to stay a white witch. After her vengeful rage at the villagers, who caused her parents' death, no one could know that she slid into the worst kind of witch there was: a grey witch. An in-between, not always helpful witch, with too many choices. Something her dutifully supportive parents never would want her to be. Branok Flavell wanted nothing to do with anyone, which had little to do with his ghost laying family, and everything to do with what he'd become: something neither here nor there. Something so dark, he hid it from his family and the village of Bocka Morrow. Until he found a way to fix himself, it was best to ignore everything and everyone around him. So why, in the middle of the night, did he offer to help a witch whose carriage was stuck in the mud?