The Halfway Tree: Parts 1 & 2 (ePub)

Like any ten-year-old, Cherise Martin wants everyone to see how responsible and grown up she is. Despite her
family's hardships, she is happy and as content as any child can be. One day, during torrential rainfall, her parents
have an argument and her father leaves to meet his friends to blow off some steam but doesn't return. His absence
comes not only as an emotional blow, but also as a financial one to them as well, and her close-knit family begins to
implode, as the strain weighs heavily on them.
While all of this is going on, Cherise finds herself, and the other children in her town, haunted and 'hunted' by
douens, a dead spirit of a child that leads children to their doom, that up until now Cherise only believed existed in
stories. As her small town reels from their children disappearing from schools, playgrounds and even homes,
Cherise finds out that she has a strange protection from these jumbies. Worried that her younger sister could be
taken as her family circle becomes even smaller, with the help of someone unexpected, she embarks on a journey to
find where the jumbies live and dwell, in the hopes that she can save her family and the missing children.
What she finds instead is a deep grudge against her family that has been brewing for over 20 years and the father she
thought she had lost. Set in Trinidad and Tobago in the mid-2000s, this standalone urban fantasy novel by debut
author, True Nicks, is a heartbreaking tale of family and loss, encapsulated by a world of terrifying folklore.