Revenge of the Witch: The Last Apprentice, Book 1

Many scary scenes, the worst of which involves a character tied up all night in an open grave after being given a potion to induce terrifying hallucinations, including a giant worm and a corpse invading the pit. Suggestions that witches will drink the blood of missing children; frightening descriptions of witch attacks, including possessing victims by oozing into their nose or ear. The Spook disposes of dark, evil beings, binding and burying them in his garden. Naratives tell of past violence that led to hauntings: prisoners hanged; a man who buries his wife alive in the basement and then kills himself; an apprentice who dies of blood loss, but not before a boggart eats his fingers. Local witches are said to have killed children and pregnant women and ground up their bones; a mother and baby die in childbirth. One creature dies from a blow to the head; pigs tear another apart.

Some hand-holding.