Beth's mom and dad bought the Ordway farm to escape from the city, but Beth hated living in boring old Vermont. She didn't like the creaky house and she didn't like "Aunt Clara," the weird lady her parents had found wandering at the crossroads. Why had her parents invited her to live with them and "help out," when she couldn't remember her own name? She looked like a witch, and she acted like one, too. Beth wishes there were a few normal people around. Nice normal kids, like herself.

Then, with "Aunt Clara"'s help, Beth won her class' "Best Hallowe'en Story" contest, and suddenly Beth didn't feel so normal herself. Where did she get all those ideas, all that stuff that she'd put in her story? And why did she feel so strange, like she was changing inside? Pretty soon, she was changing on the outside, too. Changing from a nice, normal little girl into an evil, horrible creature -- a creature even more horrible than the one in her story!