In the nineteenth century, ten-year-old Florence Crutchfield leaves a London orphanage to live with her great-uncle, great-aunt, and sickly cousin James, but she soon realizes the home has another resident, who means to do her and James harm.

"They say that a ghost witch lives in the woods, up on Brewster's Hill. They say her companion, Bloody Bones, has a pig skull for a face and stands taller than a man, his skeleton gleaming white in the moonlight. They say that the witch takes young girls, and no one ever sees them again. Daniel doesn't believe the stories about the witch or her beast. He figures the kids on the bus are just trying to scare him, since he's new. But when his sister,...