"The concerns of everyday life are beginning to transmute into the extraordinary and to reveal the forces, dark and light, that truly govern our lives. So it is for Pierce Moffett, would-be historian, who has moved to the Faraway Hills, where he seems to discover a path into magic, past and present. It is the dark of the year, between Halloween and the winter solstice, and the gateway is open between the worlds of the living and the dead. A great cycle of time is ending, and Pierce and his girlfriend Rosie must take sides in an age-old war that is approaching its final battle."--P. [4] of cover.