Sixteen-year-old Celeste is the Witch of Stars and leader of her coven, the Five Poisons. But Celeste feels her greatest powers are in chewing anxiety pills and stress-eating. Uniting the vicious witches who share nothing but their unique forms of magic and a list of family dysfunctions is fruitless. The Poisons see only weakness in Celeste, for stifling her magic upon her mommy's request. Using magic drains their mothers, the Elementals, but Celeste is the only one of the Poisons who doesn't want her mother dead.When a demon breaks through The Chains, the magical veil into the human world, Celeste tries proving herself to her coven by confronting him on her own. Through his eyes she discovers that the Elementals have been feeding the Poisons lies about demons, magic, their heritage, and the coven's purpose. Worse yet, the abuse, manipulation and oppression Celeste's coven has suffered at their mothers' hands was more than tough love; it was to strengthen the girls' powers for a Halloween harvest, to weave their souls into The Chains that they serve. Celeste will do anything to save the Poisons, from traversing the wicked realm of The Gone, following the demon who's shown her the truth, to waging war upon the Elementals. But to end the grisly cycle the Elementals have created means the Witch of Stars must either show her mother mercy and live in the false world she knows, or sacrifice herself in ways no magic can reverse.
Genre: Children's Fiction
Genre: Children's Fiction
Used availability for Julie Hutchings's The Wind Between Worlds