How It All Goes Down
It's the most wonderful time of the year. Well, for everyone except Will Stanton. You'd think the fact that his birthday is right around the corner would make him happy, but the guy's annoyed—all he wants for his birthday is for it to snow, and he's pretty sure that won't happen. Sigh. He goes about his daily chores on the farm and then goes to bed, hoping for snow. When he wakes up, though, something weird has happened: Will can see all of his family members… but they can't see or hear him.
There's no time to sort this out, though, because Will notices snow outside, and lots of it, too, so he starts playing outside. Before long, a mysterious woman comes up to him and offers him bread. Will's hungry but he's also suspicious, so he doesn't take it. Then Will is given a horse, which takes him to a random set of doors in the woods. Okay, this is getting weird. Will knows something fishy is happening, too—it isn't just us.
He goes inside the doors, where he meets an old lady and a man named Merriman. They explain to him that he's an Old One, a.k.a. he has secret powers and can live forever. Say what? Will's confused, but it all starts making sense when they tell Will to think of something and make it happen. He doesn't believe at first, but sure enough, he thinks of a fire and then one appears in the fireplace. Whoa. Before Will can play around with his new trick, he's told that he must go on a quest for Signs. These will help him defeat the Dark.
Will's messing around with his magic when the Dark comes knocking. Literally. They take the old lady; Merriman gets annoyed but tells Will that she's okay. It turns out Old Ones can travel through time and space, so the old lady can escape them. Phew. Will goes home and hangs out with his family—who have been frozen in time—and most things go back to normal.
That is until Will figures out that the head honcho of the Dark (a.k.a. the Rider) knows his dad and visits their house. On Christmas the Rider comes knocking right after Will gets a weird carnival mask from his brother Stephen. Will knows somehow that this mask will help him defeat the Dark, though, so he makes sure to hide it from the Rider. Eventually the guy leaves, but he also causes a blizzard so bad that the local store almost runs out of food. Thanks, dude.
Everyone gathers at the manor to stay warm. Luckily, Merriman is there and gives Will more instructions about collecting the Signs. Will has already managed to get a few of them, but needs all six in order to defeat the Dark. In the storm, Will's sister is kidnapped by the Rider. The guy's plan? Lure Will to collect his sister and then defeat him. And guess what? It works—or partly, anyway. Will goes to save his sis and almost gets killed by the Rider, but luckily Merriman helps him escape. On his way home, Will finds the sixth Sign to defeat the Dark.
Merriman tells Will what to do; he gives the Signs and the carnival mask to the Hunter, who will battle the Rider directly. As the Hunter fights the Rider, Will and Merriman stand back and watch. It doesn't last long, though, because the Hunter is so powerful thanks to Will collecting all the Signs. Phew. Will and Merriman have a little confab afterward, promising to stand up against the Dark in the future—which we bet is exactly what they do in the next book in the series, Greenwitch.