Some gifts should be left unopened. When her gran passes away, the only item left to Lou is a small wooden box. Although it's not the car that her sister, Cindy, receives, Lou knows it could have been worse. She could have gotten Gran's collection of toenails. When Lou opens the box and a guy the size of a stick of gum falls out; she changes her mind - the nail clippings would have been better. Not a day goes by that Lou doesn't wish she could shove that guy back in the box and pretend she'd never laid eyes on him. Because of him, she discovered Gran was a sorceress and Cindy is a witch and all these years they have been keeping Lou's magic locked away "for her own safety." Without the magic she's vulnerable to whoever, or whatever, is after her. With it, she's a target for a fate worse than death.