Brad, a thirteen-year-old American boy whose father is stationed in Italy, talks with three of his new friends after school one day. Brad wants to get ice cream in a village a little far away, but in order to do so they must walk on the path through a small town called Magusa. His friends tell him that there is a strange pull on the path to Magusa and that one night the three of them all went to investigate the town at night time, but were too afraid to leave the olive groves. They had heard a crying baby all night long, and knew that no one was coming to comfort it. Brad doesn’t believe the story at first, but after questioning all three friends he feels like he might be convinced. He tells them that they should go to the town anyway because it is daytime and the others agree. They walk the path slowly and finally get to Magusa without hearing anything. Brad is afraid that someone will come out and yell at them for Brad being American, but no one is on the streets. On top of all the doors is a symbol in red paint that looks like a hammer and sickle, but after further inspection Brad thinks that it looks more like a crescent moon and a cross. They see suddenly a small head peek out from a door and then retreat back into the house. They go closer to the house and see a bucket of red paint, which they believe is blood. One of the friends touches the blood and the door opens. The four boys all run away before looking to see who it is. Two years later Brad is trying to get a pet dog that comes to his house he calls Ciccio. After feeding it everyday for a week, Ciccio doesn’t come back, but a few days later Brad hears a yelping somewhere near his house. He peers over his wall and sees Ciccio in the trees being pulled by an invisible leash, trying to get to Brad, but unable to. Brad begins to chase Ciccio through the trees, unsure of what is pulling him but sure that he must get to the dog. He follows it all the way to Magusa as the sun sets. As he is walking through the trees his head hits a burlap bag hanging from the trees. He sees Ciccio in someone’s backyard along with three other dogs who are all sitting in a trance. Brad gets to the dogs who are all broken from the trance, and looks to the bags in the trees and sees that there are skinned dogs hanging in them. Suddenly a squat man emerges from the house holding a knife. Brad runs with the dogs out of the backyard and into the olive trees until he sees a large figure sniffing a bag near him. He is afraid of the creature and so runs back to Magusa. As he approaches the town he sees six more of the creatures, wolf-like monsters, all prowling the town. They are sniffing the doors and backing away from the blood that has been painted on them — which Brad assumes is dog’s blood. Then, an infant’s cry begins to resound from the cobblestones beneath him as a light emits from the ground. The monsters begin pawing at the ground trying to get in and suddenly one of them sees Brad. Brad rushes into a doorway near him and hears the monsters outside at the door. He follows a low light in the floor through a trapdoor and down a tunnel. Below the town he finds a large room with all of the villagers circled around a crying baby that is bleeding and cold. Brad watches as all of the villagers drink the baby’s blood and look at Brad with a kind of shame. Brad realizes that the blood is keeping the villagers alive forever, but also keeping them shackled to the baby if they want to live for eternity. The monsters outside also want the blood to live forever, but four witches in the town are able to keep the monsters at bay with the dog’s blood. Brad leaves the room and sleeps upstairs in the house. The next morning, he and Ciccio go back to the town and Brad lies about where he was all night. He doesn’t tell his friends about what he saw, but does tell his dad that he heard a crying baby. His dad informs him that everyone has left Magusa and it’s possible that they left a baby behind.