At Night

Teenagers Lisa, David and Ernie have fantastic summer jobs, they work for a company which creates Halloween storefront displays. Jennifer and Carol, sisters, own The Cauldron Company and their marketing gimmick is to pretend to be witches. What no one knows-but the teens suspect-is that they really are witches, a genetically advanced form of human being that is gentle and kind, not the evil creatures of myth. Their race is called The Family, and current world crises have led them to decide it is time to reveal their existence by gradually developing public recognition and trust and then making the announcement. But this plan is shattered with the arrival of a troubled new teen employee.

John is forced by his mothers boyfriend, Shotgun, to burglarize the sisters home while one of the sisters is corming (and ancient process wherein the witch settles into the bare earth and allows her body to transform; her skin thickens into wood and roots grow from her hands and feet to penetrate the earth and draw up the special nutrients and compounds needed to renew strength and vigor). During the robbery, Shotgun discovers the hidden corming room, mistaking it for a vault and the bizarre wooden statue for a valuable prize, whereupon he rips it out of the ground and steals it.

The horror of the moving wooden form trying to escape causes Shotgun to try to kill it. Instead, he causes a fire and explosion. John believes the things misery to be his fault, and when he realizes that it is Jennifer now weakened and at the mercy of the night creatures, he determines to sacrifice his own soul in her place.

The next morning, John is found alive and apparently well-but very different. Either by luck or intent, the parts of his soul the night creatures got were his darker ones.

At Night is a spectacular YA Halloween story featuring horror, friendship and an unusual love story.