Maya Witherspoon sets herself up in self-imposed exile in London after her physician father is killed by the bite of a poisonous snake in India just after her sorceress mother had died, warning Maya to beware the serpent's shadow.

Whisked away to Haxahaven Academy for Witches in 1911, seventeen-year-old Frances Hallowell soon finds herself torn between aligning herself with Haxahaven's foes, the Sons of St. Druon, to solve her brother's murder or saving Manhattan and her fellow witches.

"Be careful of the dark, dark wood... Especially the woods surrounding the town of Fir Haven. Some say these woods are magical. Haunted, even. Rumored to be a witch, only Nora Walker knows the truth. She and the Walker women before her have always shared a special connection with the woods. And it's this special connection that leads Nora to Oliver Huntsman -- the same boy who disappeared from the Camp for Wayward Boys weeks ago -- and in the middle...