Fairy Tales, Folk Tales & Myths, Fantasy & Magic, Country Life 

Charlotte Thacker and her siblings have been sent to stay with family friends, the Warders, at their hotel on the edge of Puget Sound. As they settle in, Charlotte realizes that something about Gull Walk is very disturbing, and it is affecting her adopted younger brother, Will. He doesn't seem to have a shadow anymore. He claims to be able to talk with birds and "Spirit Lights." And he is spending too much time with Gull Walk's teenaged handyman, Jonah. Then Charlotte learns Jonah and the Warders' secret: the nearby forest is a Darkwood, one of earth's mythical places, home to griffins, unicorns, wyverns, and dragons, and it is in mortal danger. The only one who can help is Will, who is himself an otherworldly Fair One. Will he abandon his adopted human family to save the Darkwood? Jean Thesman brings her evocative, suspenseful storytelling style to this novel, which is reminiscent of her award-winning The Other Ones-as well as a literary plea for the endangered animals and forests of our world. - from Amzon