An ancient evil arises. An ancient power awakens.

Nineteen-year-old Megan Howatt lives in a house on the edge of a crumbling sea cliff, waiting for her life to fall into the North Sea. Her mother is dead, and her father has lost his mind, obsessively hoarding the junk that he salvages from the shoreline. Her only friends are Lou, the eccentric owner of a beach-side cafe, and Kelpy, the large black dog that she rescued from the sea as a puppy. Desperate to escape, but unwilling to abandon her father, she scratches a living working at the Dry Dog Inn in the nearby village of Salwick.

A violent storm hits the village, and the killings begin. A flock of sheep is torn apart, and suspicious eyes turn towards Kelpy. The owner of a local antiques shop goes missing. Something prowls the village streets at night—something that smells of rot and endless hunger. Megan finds herself drawn to the story of Mad Annie, a local woman accused of witchcraft who died on the island of Nine Mothers. With Lou’s help, Megan must reckon with the occult powers awakening in her, face the ghosts of her childhood, and save her home from a shape-shifting horror of the ancient world.