Ethel and Tommy Barrick are sent to Ireland to spend the summer with their new stepmother. Once there, they discover her to be an evil, power-seeking witch, with real magical powers and a hatred for all things green.

Hesitating in the moment he is about to kill the rebel leader, Nikolai fails and is captured. Rather than being killed outright, he is forced to undergo a shamanic initiation ritual. The ingestion of the poison of a local scorpion, and his initiation ceremony, including scarification (a scorpion), give him a new identity and role in the world -- the Red Scorpion. Written by Phillip Batz