In the adventures of the witch Mrs. Macabre and the Gracey twins, Bram Vasquez has always felt like a supporting character in their story. But when he meets the Hallowbreed, the first trick-or-treaters, he may have found a new set of friends. Especially in their charismatic leader. But the Hallowbreed have something dark in store for Bram. One that will depend on Mrs. Macabre to save him. . . or this Halloween may turn deadly.
This is the fourth book in The Mrs. Macabre Chronicles and can be read in order or as an individual volume.
Excerpt:
I would like, if I may, to take you on a strange journey. Granted, if you have read previous adventures of Mrs. Macabre and the twins Jane and Catie Gracey, then you already know just how strange this journey could get. This particular adventure, however, shall not be focused on the Gracey twins.
Instead, the spotlight shall be taken mostly by their dear friend and fellow monster lover, Abraham Vasquez. It is a story that is frightening, magical, and even a little melancholic.
Autumn would not have it any other way, of course. Seasons were unfamiliar to Bram. That is to say, when one spends their early childhood living in the state of Florida, one does not experience seasons so much as feel them. Each turning of the annual cycle does not bring with it a change of the leaves on the trees or drops of snow. In Florida, the seasons either consist of humid and rainy in the spring, more humid and rainy in the summer, a little less humid and a little less rainy in the fall, and cool in the winter.
But now that he lived in the northern part of the United States, he was able to truly experience the seasons in all of their glory. Winter brought the icy chill and blankets of snow. Spring brought the resurrection of green and the reprisal of bird song. Summer brought the warm rays of the sun. And autumn? What autumn brought was above all other seasons. What autumn brought was. . .
Halloween Time.
The leaves became beautiful golden orange, the wind whipping through them, making ghostly cries. Sweaters were removed from closets and fires were lit in backyards or on camp- ing trips. The twilight of the evening shimmered and glowed like spirits of old tales creeping into the modern world. Pumpkins were picked from fields, ready to be carved with grinning faces of ghoulish glee. Corn mazes were raised in fields, beckoning strangers into their long and twisty tunnels. Bundles of hay were hauled onto vehicles for those daring to take a ride in so-called haunted woods. Skeletons of plastic bones were hung on branches. Witches’ cauldrons brewed with sweet nectar from the grocery stores. Costumes and masks were raided in stores for devilish disguises.
Bram ate up all of the sights, scents, and wonders of October like it was a bag of candy that would never empty.
It was also a time to be spent with friends. In Bram’s particular case, it was with the Gracey twins.
Being an only child, there is a certain aloneness that is essential to having no siblings. Not loneliness exactly but a strange island of You that one is born on. Having moved from one state to the other was an unmooring experience to have, but to also have that same experience be one that does not come with the reward of many friends? That feels more like being stranded on an island than anything beforehand. Luckily, Jane and Catie found his emotional message in a bottle one day during lunch hour and they had been the closest of companions ever since. Bram had felt a kinship with the girls that he’d never felt elsewhere. Their love of the spookier side of life matched his own and filled his heart with warmth like a lit jack-o-lantern.
The Gracey twins also had a secret.
Jane and Catie were not just girls who loved monsters, they knew monsters, as well. They were dear friends with a witch named Mrs. Macabre who would take them on adventures in the Hallowland, a place that Bram thought was like Oz by way of Edgar Allan Poe. A magical dream world of monsters of all variety and foggy nights filled with the sounds of bat wings and the howl of werewolves. It was an absolute revelation for him. All of the things that he had read obsessively for as long as he could string sentences together were here! In the flesh! He could see any beast or monster he wished. A dreamland that was no longer contained to his imagination alone. It was real and it was true.
