Locke embraces the magical legacy he wields, but it didn’t help him save the girl he loved. Now he’ll have to use everything he’s learned since the Seer’s death to safeguard Keleigh and find a magical object hidden and only whispered about for centuries. By the light of the next blue moon, the ShiningOnes plan to infiltrate this realm and retrieve the mighty relic. The Elders are prepared to sacrifice anyone to acquire it. The Sisters will manipulate anyone to safeguard it. While every other witch in the Order whispers and warns about the artifact’s power, Locke and Keleigh follow clues from her mother’s message, hoping to retrieve it. But if Locke and Keleigh don’t locate the relic first, the battle brewing between sacred knowledge and modern communication will destroy everything—even their love. When fairy tales hold ancient secrets, many may have to be revealed because something greedy this way comes.

The show crept into town late one dark October night to the eerie whine of a calliope. In the terrifying days that followed, everything changed... Two boys stumbled onto the first of the secrets - the nightmare merry-go-round that produced the grisly turnabout of human beings. But not until they actually became part of the dance of death did they discover the final mystery of all...

A powerful vate and the last in her line, Keleigh denies the potent magic singing through her blood because she wants to be Ordinary. Keleigh has the ability, but not the training, to save her parents from slaughter by beasts most only see in horror movies. But after they perish, her mother reaches out from the OtherWorld, freeing Keleigh from her oath never to practice magic and imploring her to find an ancient relic powerful enough to destroy this realm. Keleigh, no longer able to deny her true calling, begrudgingly turns to her sworn enemy for help. Locke is a damaged druid whose family is entrusted with keeping witches cloaked in the Ordinary world in Salem. But Locke has a mission of his own, one that might not align with Keleigh’s. Can the two come together to find the ancient artifact in time to save each other and the world from plunging into complete chaos? This fairy tale is about to become deadly because all’s fair in vanity’s war.

In the earliest days of humankind, everything in the world seemed magical. Gods and demons, spirits and sprites were considered to be responsible for everything from life and death, to the turning of the seasons, to the abundance or failure of crops. Today, much that was once attributed to magic has been explained by science, and in our technologically driven world, the question is whether there is still a place for magic. For twenty of fantasy’s finest imaginers, the answer is obviously, “Yes.”So welcome to visionary, modern-day realms of magic where surprising things can still happen. From a Gypsy fortune-teller’s transforming prophecy…to a troubled teen seeking a haven from his family woes…to a mysterious gathering of cats at Cape Canavaral…and a kid out to spook his best friend into believing that werewolves are real…here are stories that will amuse you or send chills down your spine—or have you looking wistfully around the next corner, hoping to find a bit of magic all your own….

When times are darkest, one vampire desires more than blood. As mortal men battle for the English crown, vampire warriors’ move undetected among their ranks, savoring the flow of blood the battlefield provides. Vampire prince, Severian Pearce, fears a revelation of their existence to humankind should the king fall from power. While in pursuit of the king’s enemies, Severian comes to the aid of Meridian, a human woman he craves—and not for the scent of her blood—but for the dark desires written on the pages of her diary. Meridian is torn between honoring her father’s dying wish and her unexplainable yearning for Lord Pearce. But as Severian and Meridian work together to protect a holy relic hunted by mortals and immortals alike, the Red Veil descends over them. This all-consuming attraction can drive vampires to the brink of madness and most humans do not survive its bloodlust. Will the existence of this powerful bond between a human and a vampire be enough to unite the seven immortal clans and protect them from the human world or is the Red Veil a plague set on destroying any chance they might have of being together for eternity?

Revenge. Betrayal. Retribution. That’s the Russian way. Seattle businessman Alexander Volkow arrives in Crossroads, Alabama and buys up half of Broad Street. Local residents think he’s there to buy low and sell high, but he’s really after information pointing to a hometown hero who’s MIA. Alex is determined to get his vengeance, leading him to the missing man’s fiancée. Although Polly Anna swears she doesn’t know where Billy is, she might offer Alex the payback he’s looking for with her sweet Southern charm and hot little body. The problem is her sexy snort might lure him back for more. He’ll do anything to get his revenge ... even pretend to fall in love. Polly Anna Coots is searching for a way out. Escaping Crossroads is the only way to survive Billy. Everyone thinks he’s MIA, and no one wishes it’s true more than Polly Anna’s battered body, but someone’s been stalking her. All she needs to make her getaway are the profits from her organic cotton crop, but Alexander Volkow is the only man who’ll buy it and he wants more than a business deal. She’s been with a possessive, domineering man before—there’s no way she’s getting in bed with a secretive Russian playboy ... especially one who’s after something more than another notch in his bed post. In a small Southern town filled with secrets that fuel the smoldering fire burning between them, can either one of them get Just Close Enough?

Love is conceived in the mind of a vampire long before it is ever realized. Vampire prince, Sebastian Pearce, has waited six hundred years for the right human mate. While vampires no longer require live donors for sustenance, Mother Nature has played a cruel trick on them making breeders a rare commodity. As numbers in Sebastian’s imperial house continue to dwindle, his virgin bride eludes him. That is, until he happens upon a young woman searching for a secret vampire text, the Book of Descent. Sebastian’s need for her is more potent than anything he’s felt for another woman, but Everleigh Marbut isn’t innocent. Worst of all she’s an American with a mind of her own, and has no desire to carry an immortal being. But fate has forged connections between vampires and human mates in the form of the Red Veil for generations. As the Red Veil descends over Sebastian and Everleigh they fight their attraction to each other, but neither of them realize they’re being lured into a battle pitting ancient myth against the power of modern science to recreate life until it’s too late. The destiny of his lineage, and the bond forged between them, now rests in their acceptance of each other as they are. Can a modern woman endure an eternity of devotion from a sexy, old-world vampire?

Two boys' lives are changed forever when a sinister travelling carnival stops at their Illinois town.

Fate Graphite is one of the forsaken. Cursed with the skill "Gluttony," he is ever starving, never sated...until the day he kills a dying thief and devours the man's strength--and his soul. The true hunger of Fate's Gluttony has awakened, and if he can learn to control his power, he will at last be the master of his own destiny.

Newly updated to incorporate recent additions to the English language, the Oxford Dictionary of Word Origins provides a fascinating exploration of the origins and development of over 3,000 words in the English language. Drawing on Oxford's unrivalled dictionary research programme and language monitoring it brings to light the intriguing and often unusual stories of some of our most used words and phrases. The A-Z entries include the first known use of the term along with examples, related lexes, and expressions which uncover the etymological composition of each word. Also featured are 22 special panels that give overviews of broad topic areas, 5 of which are completely new and that variously cover words from Oceania, word blends, eponyms, and acronyms. New findings in the OED since the previous edition have also been added, including emoji, mansplain, meeple, meme, and spam. An absorbing resource for language students and enthusiasts, but also an intriguing read for any person interested in the development of the English language, and of language development in general. It also includes an extended introduction on the history of the English language.