Title: The Netherworld Witch
Author: Lisa Acerbo
Publisher: NineStar Press
Release Date: 08/25/2026
Heat Level: 3 – Some Sex
Pairing: Female/Female
Length: 79600
Genre: Fantasy, Romance, fantasy, young adult, bisexual, interracial, high school, fantasy world, elves, witch
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Description
Mina Rubenstein has a secret. She doesn’t just sketch elves; her drawings transport her into the kingdom of Auralon. Once there, the princely Callon informs her the king has vanished, dark forces are rising, and Mina is the Netherworld Witch. According to the prophecy, only she can shape the ethereal darkness into anything imagined, find the missing monarch, and save the realm. Mina never asked for magic, let alone a destiny, but refusing Callon’s plea to save his father could doom Auralon.
The only thing worse than her possible death at the hands of mythical monsters is junior year at St. Benedict’s Catholic School. When bullies target her, Mina’s best friend Ayden becomes her sanctuary and first love. But as the torment escalates, Ayden reaches a breaking point. Desperate and angry, she buys a weapon and begins talking about revenge.
Trapped between two worlds, Mina searches for peace in both. One world is filled with family, Ayden, and school. The other full of wild magic and Callon. As Mina’s existence at St. Benedict’s descends into pandemonium, she wonders whether her quest in Auralon is fate or a way to avoid the pain of reality.
The Netherworld Witch
Lisa Acerbo © 2026
All Rights Reserved
“Hey, Zachs, please let me stay,” she begged.
Mrs. Zachias had a freshmen class but allowed Mina to come in and draw. Advanced Art didn’t fit between AP and honors classes in her schedule. She should be in study hall. Mina hated study hall.
St. Benedict’s, a small school with fewer than five hundred students in grades nine through twelve, had two tracks. You were either in the accelerated track with lots of honors and AP classes jammed into your day or on a vocational track, though no one called it that anymore, with plenty of time for classes such as bake shop and art. She’d taken the Foundations of Art class in her freshman year and couldn’t repeat it for credit. She didn’t care so long as she could hang out and do something artistic.
Mina grabbed her spare sketchbook from a cubby and sat in the back on a stool. She assessed the still life set up on a center table.
“Hey, yourself.” Mrs. Zachias grinned at her. “How’s your day going?”
Her grin faltered. “Cindy fainted in religion class.”
“She okay?”
“The nurse took her away, but she has that low blood pressure thing.”
“I’m sure she’ll be fine,” Mrs. Zachias reassured. “Are you going to do the still life?”
Mina eyed the mix of flowers and fruit. The still life would be easier, but the odd elven creatures preoccupied her.
“I want to illustrate a character I used to love as a child from this old fairy tale book. I reread some of the stories, and one stuck in my mind.”
She couldn’t fully explain, even to her favorite teacher, the truth about how the drawing she’d started in homeroom appeared more real, in some ways, than her current life.
When the charcoal pencil hit the paper, Mina lost herself in the joy of creating. Lines and circles turned into shadows and light.
Trees and leaves surrounded the older man, who was made of angles and ancient lines. In her first drawing, the three elves walked down a long path to the castle, with a slew of guards and servants following. Mina’s pencil worked to capture the beauty of their home. While the castle was cold outside, made of stone and wood, the tall, velvety tapestries sewn in rich colors and covered with mythical creatures warmed the walls inside.
In her second picture, roaring blazes in numerous fireplaces heated a vast hall. Sinking deep into her drawing, she could smell the castle. It was pine trees and freedom, rain approaching, and coyotes howling at the kill.
“I’m going to go back outside and get some practice in.” Elarona shed her cape and draped it on a stool, one of the many surrounding long plank tables forming rows that would seat men-at-arms or visiting dignitaries. Each table held at least twenty, but her place was on the dais with her father and brother.
Under the discarded cloak, she wore full body armor made of leather and a chainmail hauberk.
Ruaid sighed. “Having you trained in weaponry was a mistake.”
“I can’t help but appreciate battle skills more than the finer arts of poetry, dance, and song. You have Callon for those lesser arts.” Elarona pointed at her brother. “He’s the sensitive one.”
“I fear that will lead to his downfall as king,” Ruid said.
Eyes bulging, Callon spat his words. “I’m right here.”
Elarona let a sneer rest on her lips. “You are. Want a sparring session?”
“Your words wound me enough. I cannot stand more trouncing. I’m headed to my room to study the ancient laws and to find a way to avoid being married to someone I’ve been barely introduced to and lack feelings for.” He turned and stalked away.
“We need an heir!” Ruaid’s words roared through the hall.
“I’ve heard it before, Father.” Callon pivoted and ran a hand through his long, brown hair, pushing it out of his eyes. “But I wish I could have a say in who I bed.”
“This conversation is done. We follow the laws that have been put before our tribe. You are not that special, my son, to be the exception.” King Ruaid ascended to the massive throne carved from the still-living tree that grew in the center of the room. “Leave me, both of you. You bring my heart no peace today.”
Mina thought about starting a new picture of Callon in his room studying, but the buzz of the bell ending class shifted her gaze from her drawing to the clock.
Where had the time gone?
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Lisa Acerbo is the Director of General Education and Liberal Arts at Post University. Her short stories and poetry appear in Scarlet, Sagebrush Review, Moonstone Arts, Poor Yorick Literary Journal, Ripples in Space, Universe in a Bottle by Flying Ketchup Press, Whatever Happened to Hansel and Gretel? by Fathom Publishing (a finalist in the 2024 Best Books Awards in the category of Fiction: Anthology), and Birds of Vermont Museum. When not writing, you can find her walking in the woods with her rescue dogs.
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