magpie
Some houses don’t just haunt you—they claim you. Maggie has been slowly disappearing from her own life, numb to the passions and people she once loved. Then, on Halloween night, she enters a legendary haunted house—and never walks out. Inside, something ancient and hungry calls her Magpie, binding her to a dark mage who feeds his magic by collecting broken souls. Trapped between two timelines, Maggie must face the house, the mage, and the darkness growing inside her. When the one thing anchoring her to her new life is stolen, she is drawn back into the shadows she thought she escaped, forced to choose between surrendering to the darkness or fighting to reclaim herself. Magpie is a haunting, lyrical fantasy about dark magic, fractured identities, and the monsters we carry within.
Tropes•Triggers•Spice
Magpie is a dark contemporary fantasy with gothic elements, shaped by my own experience with depression and suicidal ideation. The story explores the quiet unraveling of self, the pull of numbness, and the seductive nature of escape.
It contains depictions of depression, grief, and emotional detachment. Suicidal thoughts are present, as is the personification of Death and other allegorical representations of mental illness. There are scenes involving psychological manipulation, a coercive and abusive relationship, and emotional isolation. Themes of death—both literal and symbolic—are woven throughout, including the death of an infant. Violence and unsettling imagery appear as part of the world’s shadowed fabric.
