Book excerpt: The finale to the saga of The House on South Street. Protective forces are gathered for a final struggle to seal the veil between the realms of the living and the dead. A witch's banishment to eternal damnation is the goal of the unlikely warriors. (Revenge cannot soothe the loss of loved ones, but it is a necessary instrument.) The funeral pyre, as the result of that struggle, of the once great Victorian house, is the sad conclusion.