Cherry Murphy is thirteen. She is the apprentice to Mr. Hollis, a magician. She goes to his house to receive magic lessons. This is her first year as an apprentice. She gets him coffee and practices moving water between cups. She is looking forward to when she can use magic to stop bullets in mid-air. Mr. Hollis gives her literary homework and makes sure that she eats. As she practices magic, she becomes gradually hungrier. Magic is taxing on the body, and it also makes her sick. He says that she must eat more if she continues to practice magic. He also makes sure she goes home to her dad at six-thirty and always wears a jacket.

Cherry thinks that Mr. Hollis' apartment always smells like dead bodies and Old Spice. They continue to practice magic and Cherry is sometimes defensive about her abilities.

In June, they spend time at the beach when Mr. Hollis isn’t off with his girlfriend Jennifer. Mr. Hollis makes Cherry wear a one-piece and read more literature. Cherry continues practicing magic and finds herself sick and hungry to the point where she eats raw hotdogs.

She enters seventh grade. The process continues with Mr. Hollis: magic, sickness, eating, and reading. Cherry is eventually able to move his Honda using magic, but she throws up blood and bile after. Mr. Hollis takes her out for dinner to celebrate her advancement in magic.

When Cherry turns fourteen, Mr. Hollis says that the apprenticeship only ends when the apprentice knows and understands everything that the magician knows and understands.She continues practicing magic at his house while he sits around reading newspapers. She starts cleaning his kitchen one day because he is a slob. He tells her not to as his girlfriend doesn’t even do that. Cherry is introduced to Jennifer as Mr. Hollis’ niece.

Cherry asks if Mr. Hollis will tell Jennifer about the magic. Mr. Hollis gives Cherry the cold shoulder and reminds her that she can never tell anyone about what they do.

That year they have many long arguments, some about the homework Mr. Hollis gives her. Mr. Hollis reminds Cherry that he has a day job. Cherry says that he does not, as his day job is simply him venturing off mysteriously with men in suits and returning with loads of money.

Cherry starts wearing daisy dukes and dressing trendy as she enters the eighth grade. She is asked to the dance by a boy named Callum.

Mr. Hollis says she needs to wear his gym pants on her walk home instead of her shorts. He reminds her that women get murdered by serial killers and rapists all the time. She wears the pants home. When Callum dumps her after she is uncomfortable when he touches her legs, Mr. Hollis comforts her.

The next year Mr. Hollis teaches Cherry the spell 'stop.' Cherry thinks Mr. Hollis’ place smells like rot and old washing. She is good at this kind of magic. She is hungrier than ever.

One day she is driving with Mr. Hollis, and they are almost in a terrible accident. Cherry is able to use her magic to stop the oncoming car. However, this takes an incredible toll on her body, and she wakes up to Mr. Hollis feeding her. She is ravenous and can not stop eating. Cherry asks what she is eating. He says it was a goat. He explains that magicians need to eat freshly killed beings to sustain themselves. He mentions that he does terrible things for her, which she finds oddly evasive. He reprimands her for not letting him be the one to stop the oncoming car.

Cherry turns fifteen and Mr. Hollis tells her to call him John. He makes her read Lolita. Cherry says that he has given her a novel about pedophilia. Mr. Hollis explains that Lolita is about someone devouring someone else’s life. Cherry feels drawn to Mr. Hollis but knows he is too old for her. She touches his hands a lot but he always pulls away. Mr. Hollis calls Cherry a child during an argument once, and she stops touching him.

The spell this year is 'make.' Mr. Hollis becomes gradually more distant. During an argument, he tells Cherry that he feels he has nothing left to teach her. This makes her feel unnerved. One night, she is isolated in her room and is upset by his distance. She shows up at his apartment at two A.M., and tells him he cannot send her away anymore. Mr. Hollis says he has been waiting for her to grow up. He brings her inside. Mr. Hollis takes her to his coat closet. When he opens the door, there is a dead person on the floor. Their thighs have been cut like slices of meat. He tells her that magicians eat and that he ate her childhood.

Cherry sobs uncontrollably while Mr. Hollis holds her. Slowly, he takes a hold of her head and presses it into the table. He tells her the ball is in her court now. She asks for teriyaki sauce and a fork.