"Twenty four years ago, Olive and Stacia went into the woods. Only Olive returned, with no memory of what happened. Now, Olive's father has vanished, leaving behind research which indicates that he has found out what lives in the woods. It wakes up every twelve years, taking only children. It has been doing so for at least two hundred years. And it is waking again. Forced to return to her hometown, Olive finds her memories returning. What she remembers from the days leading up to Stacia's disappearance is magical, almost impossible to believe, but she knows that she must return to the woods--to face what lurks there, to save her father, and to find out what happened to Stacia."--