The Witch Boy

**The Witch Boy** is the first book in *The Witch Boy Series* by Molly Knox Ostertag.

## Story

*WARNING: Spoilers ahead.*

Aster Vanissen is a boy with magic powers who lives with his large family in an unknown town. In Aster's family, the girls learn witchery while the boy learn to shapeshift. However, Aster desires to learn witchery, but is forbidden by his family to do so.

The book begins with Vervain teaching the girls witchery. But she discovers Aster listening in from the top of an apple tree. She tells him to leave and reminded him that only girls can do witchery much to his dismay. He later tells his mother, Holly, what happened. Holly then tells her son about how their uncle, Makasi, tried to use witchery and was turned into a monster, hoping that Holly would stop Aster from learning witchery. Holly then has Aster join his male cousins in a game of Capture The Flag. Aster joins the game much to the chagrin of Lindon, but was allowed to by Sedge. While Aster was keeping a watch over his team's flag, he looks through his note book at the spells he secretly learned until he was caught by his grandmother. But instead of scolding him, she just tells him to be careful. During this time, someone from Lindon's team takes the flag.

Later at dinner, Aster is eating with the girls while they talk about what they learned in witchery until his sister, Juniper, asks if he would rather eat with the other boys. Then, his father, Tohor, returns home after helping another family with a demon. Tohor asks Aster if he had any dreams about animal with Aster saying that he did dream about bees (but it was probably mostly from working the family's bee hive). After Aster left, Tohor secretly tells Holly that the reason he came home was to help Aster find an animal form which Aster overhears. This makes him depressed.

The next day, Aster ventures outside the boundaries of the family's home and into town. There, he secretly casts a spell to make a berry bush grow. He succeeds, but is caught be a mortal girl with a broken leg named Charlie. Seeing what Aster can do, she gives him a good comment about his witchery which made Aster a bit happy.

That night, the boys prepare to go into the woods to find animal spirits who will help them gain animal forms with Tohor, Kieran, and Samuel supervising. As they go in, Aster wonders around but finds no spirits. Suddenly, he finds Sedge approaching a mysterious red entities that is outside the barrier. Aster tries to warn Sedge to stay away, but he is too late and Sedge is taken away. Later, the adults search the woods for Sedge. At the house, Tohor asks Aster what happened to Sedge, but he is unsure. Inside, Juniper gathers things to help her scry for Sedge. Later while some of the adults still search and everyone else goes to sleep, Aster sneaks out to scry for Sedge himself, but instead is frightened by a scary voice.

The next day, Kieran tells the boys about how they must fight demons and protect mortals and witches. Aster asks him if witches can defend themselves with Kieran saying that witchery takes time and that they need to protect witches. Later, Aster goes back to town where Charlie is practicing basketball from a chair. Inside Charlie's house, Aster tells her about how only the girls are allowed to practice witchcraft. Charlie encourages Aster to practice it and helps him scry. They look into the scrying bowl to see Holly running frantically asking where Aster is. Aster leaves, but before he does, Charlies says she likes Aster's witchery and they become friends. At the house, Holly tells Aster that two more of his cousins, Tupelo and Aquila, have gone missing.

The next day, Aster listens in on a witchery lesson by his aunt, Iris. She talks about using magical tools. One of the girls asks about something missing from the box. Iris explains that Makasi took a sword from it before he left. Suddenly, Aster is caught by Lindon, Cygnus, and Brome. Lindon suspects Aster of having something to do with Sedge, Tupelo, and Aquila's disappearance which Aster denies. Not believing him, they attack him. This forces Aster to cast a spell to make them back off. Scared and embarrassed, Aster runs away into the woods. Suddenly, he encounters a strange creature. When Aster saw its eyes, he realized that the creature is Sedge. Sedge attacks Aster, but is saved by Holly. Sedge is bound to a shed. When Aster asked how it worked, Holly told him to go to the house. Inside, Iris is sensing what has happened to Sedge. Samuel asks if they can help him. Grandmother suggests time, healing magic, and his parents' love. In the shed, Sedge is approached by the scary voice who tells him that he is a failure and disappears, leaving Sedge miserable and scared.

The next day, Aster goes into the witchery classroom and takes a book on healing. Iris arrives and asks why he is there. Aster tells her that he scryed for Sedge and saw him in a cave, but Iris scolds him for it and kicks him out of the classroom. That night, Aster is reading the book in his room when something appears. It is the scary voice which belongs to a monster who reveals that he was the one who took Sedge, Tupelo, and Aquila. Aster tries to call for help, but the monster seals his voice with a spell. The monster then offers Aster a chance to learn how to shift. He gives him a phone and uses a spell which will keep Aster from telling anyone about their meeting.

The next morning, the women are preparing a spell to trap whatever has been taking the boys. Aster tries to tell them about the monster, but the spell stops him. Ivy comes in to tell them that Sedge is talking. In Sedge is room, Sedge, who is now partially cured and nearly back to his human form, tries to remember what happened to him. All he could remember was being in a cave. When they tried ask him again, Sedge was too traumatized to answer anymore.

At Charlie's house, Aster tells her about what he learned since the spell only keeps him from telling his family. Aster had doubts and thinks that he should give up and accept the monster's offer. Charlie then tells him how she broke her leg earlier that summer. Hearing the story, Aster decides to heal Charlie's leg. After he did, He then tells her where to find his house. Charlie thanks Aster and tells him that he's good at witchery which makes Aster happy.

Later that night, Charlie sneak over to Aster's house where she reveals that the healing spell worked. They decide to call the monster to rescue Aster's cousins. They go to the classroom and Aster takes some of the magic tools to help him. Using the phone, Aster enters the monster's lair while Charlie waits in the classroom. In the cave, Aster discovers Tupelo and Aquila, who were partially turning into monster, eating a dead deer which was rotting away. Aster sees a sword and realizes that the monster is his great uncle, Makasi. Then, Makasi tastes Aster with his tongue, but is disgusted to find that Aster has the soul of a witch. Aster then uses the runes to net Makasi and save Tupelo and Aquila. Aster uses the dagger to open a portal that takes them home. But Makasi chases after them. Charlie tries to fight back, but Makasi breaks her bat and continues to chase Aster. The chase wakes everyone in the house. In the den where the trap was set, Aster tries to activate by writing Makasi's name in the circle while Makasi is fighting with Tohor. After Aster finishes, Makasi is trapped in the circle where he is forced back into his human form. Then, Grandmother reveals the true reason for what happened to Makasi. When they were younger, Makasi revealed that his true power lies in witchery. However, the adults refused to teach him because, as a boy, he was only allowed to learn how to shapeshift. Angry, Makasi tried to use witchery to shapeshift. But it ended up currupting his magic and turned into a monster. Grandmother also reveals that she can also shift. She says that Makasi is a witch and so is Aster. Touched by the story, Aster's family embraces him.

Later on at Charlie's house, Aster tells her that they have decided to let him learn witchery. Aster thanks Charlie for helping him convince his family that he is a witch and they are happy to be friends.

## Characters

* Aster Vanissen
* Charlie Martin-West
* Holly Vanissen
* Wynonna Vanissen
* Tohor Vanissen
* Makasi Vanissen
* Sedge Vanissen
* Lindon Vanissen
* Hazel Vanissen
* Brome Vanissen
* Persimmon Vanissen
* Juniper Vanissen
* Ivy Vanissen
* Tupelo Vanissen
* Cygnus Vanissen
* Aquaila Vanissen
* Lyra Vanissen
* Kieran Vanissen
* Jessamine Vanissen
* Vervain Vanissen
* Samuel Vanissen
* Iris Vanissen
* Jade Vanissen
* Mr. Martin (mentioned only)
* Mr. West (mentioned only)

## Trivia

* The characters' last names and the name of Grandmother are not revealed in this book. They are revealed in the next one.
* This book was published on October 31, 2017. That means that this book was published on Halloween.