History is not just a story. It's a physical structure, and the foundation is rotting from the bottom up.

The Bicentennial summer of 1976 is supposed to be about patriotic fireworks and riding Sting-Rays until the streetlights flicker on. But deep beneath the historic Derby Wharf in Salem, three best friends — the self-proclaimed Kings of the Cul-de-Sac — are about to unearth a secret that should have stayed buried.

When a foolish dare for rumored treasure goes wrong in a flooded smuggling tunnel, the boys shatter a three-hundred-year-old salt seal and release an entity that was never supposed to reach the surface. Silas Wickern is an ancient Harvest-Master forged in blood during the darkest days of the witch trials — an erased executioner whose name was struck from the colonial ledgers and whose hunger has been building in the deep water for three centuries.

Armed with nothing but chunks of maritime cold iron, glass vials of tuned rock salt, and the desperate guidance of a dying witch named Elara Vance, the boys are forced to grow up in a single summer. Joined by a quiet classmate who has been hearing a dark frequency her entire life, the newly formed quartet must hold the line in a war the adults cannot see. The veil protecting the city is thick. The oblivious parents sleep soundly in their beds. And the bruised sun is going down over the harbor. Silas Wickern is coming for the master pin, and four brave kids carrying iron in their pockets and salt in their hands are the only locks left in town.

Sign up now to get the most out of Books2Read

Discover something great at Books2Read.

Thanks for signing up for Books2Read notifications!