Banshee in the Well

This fantasy adventure begins at Monastery Farm, Cumbria. Niall Carver, the farmer’s twelve-year-old son, hears a blood-curdling scream and tracks down the sound to an ancient well in the farmhouse garden. From the well he rescues a gothic-looking, dark-haired girl in leather boots and a short dress, her limbs dappled with black markings. The girl introduces herself as Sathra. Niall carries out some internet research and confirms the truth, that Sathra has come through a time warp from the thirteenth century to the present day. At first Niall suspects she’s a banshee, though Sathra insists that she’s a dryad. The distinction is important because whilst banshees were evil, dryads were the exact opposite. What Niall doesn’t know is that, to return to her own time, Sathra the Banshee must restore her magical powers by sacrificing a boy her own age. Niall would fit the bill perfectly, though she has to lure him to a place of sacrifice, an ancient stone circle about a mile from the farm. Now believing Sathra is a dryad, Niall looks forward to a series of escapades of the kind that feature in his favourite books. These adventures certainly follow, but all the while Sathra is plotting the dreaded sacrifice…