The year is 1692. The story starts with a dare among Midwestern, teenage girls swimming in Kettle Lake: who can stay under the longest? Shasta Bloodworth wins, the hard way: almsost drowning and strangely connecting with her alter ego, a water sprite, Phoebe Nichols, who was unjustly doused as a witch exactly 300 years prior, in historical Salem, then condemned to forever remain in Norwood Pond by the evil warlock Goodman Bartholomew. Shasta goes back in time with Phoebe, and then the evils of Salem follow her back to modern times. Given the same circumstances for mass hysteria, will the historical horrors of Salem be reborn in young Shasta's world? The answer is an emphatic YES Join Shasta in her battle with evil, and ultimate passage into womanhood, to see just who of the afflicted will live or die, and whether or not her dear friend and mentor, Phoebe, will finally be allowed the freedom to die again