What's the deal with the magic in Family Magic? Patti Larsen, award-winning young adult author of the Hayle Coven Novels, gives us the scoop.

When she begins her story in Family Magic (and the prequel novella, Dreams and Echoes, Syd has access to witch magic thanks to her mother and demon power through her father, the Seventh Plane Lord, Haralthazar. As the Hayle Coven Novels progress through the twenty volumes, Syd adds to her growing magic arsenal until she has access to all of the particular magicks of her Universe. Let’s begin with witches. They access the elements through mental, physical and emotional connections to the world around them: emerald green for earth, white for spirit, amber for fire, pale blue for air, pale green for water, plus the deeper blue for the combination of the magicks into the family power all covens possess. Not all witches can access all of the elements, Syd’s family being an exceptional standout thanks to her great-grandmother’s aggressive recruitment program years before, making the Hayles the strongest family in North America. Next, let’s examine the demons. Tied to fire, their power is pure amber, and much stronger than our plane’s element, due to millennia of focus on honing their control as well as constant battling to increase their personal magic. Being half demon, Syd has access not only to extra oomph when it comes to that element, but a hair-trigger temper, fed by the demon soul she carries. The Sidhe, or Fey folk, are tied to earth and the green power of the deep underground. With control over the environment, the Sidhe can manipulate not only the stability of the earth beneath them, but use their magic to cast glamour over the physical and can make one see what they choose. The vampires are a bit of an oddity. Instead of using magic, they are magic, their undead forms animated by pure spirit energy. Without the spirit magic, vampires would pass over, though due to a flaw in their makeup, they require blood—and the magic within it—to maintain their power. Which leads us to blood magic—creation magic. Though witches possess the ability to use it, blood magic is illegal in the witching communities. Old prejudices going back to the Inquisition and the dark days of witch burnings has led to racial rejection on a physical level for all witches, to the point they are unable to even consider using it. Fearing the incredible power that comes from blood magic, any witch who actually manages to break through the geas against it and is caught using blood power is immediately sent to the stake. This is an oddity only shared by witches as demons also use blood magic—as the vampires do—in their initial crossings to our plane. The werewolves are as much an anomaly as the vampires. Unable to control their magic beyond altering their bodies into wolf form from human, there is untapped power within the weres controlled and manipulated by the sorcerers whose power infuses their very cells. Because of this, no one knows where their base of magic comes from, masked by the emptiness of sorcery. Which leads us to the next race and their terrible power. The magic of the sorcerers isn’t so much a magic in itself as it is a siphon, a black and hungry hole devouring the power of objects and magic users to feed the energy of the sorcerer. Though each sorcerer has their own specialty—whether organics, inorganics, liquids, etc.—some, like the witches, have access to all types of matter and can suck dry the innate life force from what surrounds them to support their power. Magickless on their own, sorcerers aren’t trusted due to the very nature of their need. And, finally, the last race—the maji. Though there are some blood-born maji—part human and part pure—living on our plane, the true maji live apart. As the hands of the Creator, they were the first people and helped shape all planes and all magic races. Their power is an iridescent shimmer combining every discipline: witch, demon, vampire, Sidhe, sorcery and blood magic coming together to create an all-powerful being. Okay. That’s it. Clear as mud trampled by a herd of irritated demons, right? If you want to know more about Syd’s world and the power she possesses, check out the first book, Family Magic. But don’t say I didn’t warn you—power can be addictive…

About Family Magic

Her mom's a witch. Her dad's a demon. And she just wants to be ordinary. I batted at the curl of smoke drifting off the tip of my candle and tried not to sneeze. My heavy velvet cloak fell in oppressive, suffocating folds in the closed space of the ceremony chamber, the cowl trapping the annoying bits of puff I missed. I hated the way my eyes burned and teared, an almost constant distraction. Not that I didn't welcome the distraction, to be honest. Anything to take my mind from what went on around me. Being part of a demon raising is way less exciting than it sounds. Sydlynn Hayle's life couldn't be more complicated. Trying to please her coven, starting over in a new town, and fending off a bully cheerleader who hates her are just the beginning of her troubles. What to do when delicious football hero Brad Peters--boyfriend of her cheer nemesis--shows interest? If only the darkly yummy witch, Quaid Moromond, didn't make it so difficult for her to focus on fitting in with the normal kids. Add to that her crazy grandmother's constant escapes driving her family to the brink and Syd's between a rock and a coven site. Forced to take on power she doesn't want to protect a coven who blames her for everything, only she can save her family's magic. If her family's distrust doesn't destroy her first.

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