Christine Lynn Herman

After the death of her sister, seventeen-year-old Violet Saunders finds herself dragged to Four Paths, New York. She may be a newcomer, but her mother isn't: They belong to one of the revered founding families of the town, where stone bells hang above every doorway and danger lurks in the depths of the woods. Justin Hawthorne's bloodline has protected Four Paths for generations from the Gray—a lifeless dimension that imprisons a brutal monster....

Every generation, seven families select a champion to compete in a tournament to the death for control of high magick--the most powerful resource in the world--but this year, a salacious tell-all book draws reporters, tourists, and government agents to Ilvernath to watch the bloody curse unfold and some of the champions are determined to thwart their destinies and rewrite their stories.