Potion Apprentice

A kid becomes apprentice to a grumpy but brilliant potion-maker in a magical village. When the potion-maker falls mysteriously ill, the apprentice must brew a cure using dangerous ingredients while rival potion-makers scheme against them.

You are Wren, an eleven-year-old who just moved to the village of Fernhollow with your aunt. Fernhollow is no ordinary village — every shop on the main street sells something magical. There are stores for enchanted candles, singing crystals, and bottled moonlight.

'I am never going to get used to this,' you whisper to yourself, watching a glass jar of bottled moonlight glow softly in a window. 'A whole village of magic. And I get to LIVE here.'

But the most famous shop of all sits at the end of a crooked lane, behind a door painted midnight blue. A wooden sign above it reads: 'Grimbold's Extraordinary Potions.' Your aunt says old Grimbold is the greatest potion-maker alive, and he is looking for an apprentice. 'He'll never pick me,' you mutter. Then, more firmly: 'But he can't pick me if I don't try. Just knock, Wren. Just knock.'