The LaZelle family of southern California has a secret: they can do magic. Real magic. As a teenager, a LaZelle undergoes "the Transition' —a severe illness that will either kill him or leave him with magical powers. If he's lucky, he gains a talent like shape-changing or wish-granting. If he's unlucky, he never experiences Transition. If he's especially unlucky, he undergoes Transition late, which increases his chances of dying. And if he survives, he will bear the burden of a dark, dangerous magic: the ability to cast only curses. And curse he must, for when a LaZelle doesn't use his magic, it kills him.In Nina Kiriki Hoffman's A Fistful of Sky, Gypsum LaZelle is unique among her brothers and sisters: she has not undergone Transition. She resigns herself to a mundane, magic-bereft existence as a college student. Then one weekend, when her family leaves her home alone, she becomes gravely ill... — Cynthia Ward

Opal LaZelle is a special effects make-up artist, transforming actors into fantastical and grotesque creatures. Unknown to the casts and crews of the films she works on, Opal is gifted in the art of magic—and she applies more than make-up when altering an actorÂ's features. Her latest job requires turning Corvus Weather into a dark god of the forest. But when CorvusÂ's performance becomes too convincing—on set and off—Opal realizes heÂ's not acting. Something has taken possession of Corvus. Something sinister tied to the townÂ's past, with the ability to absorb the very essence of life. Something Opal doesnÂ't have enough power to confront, much less drive from the man she has fallen in love with.