Inherit the Witch is the 23rd book in the Charmed novel collection.
This novel takes place between the Season 4 episode Womb Raider and the Season 4 finale, Witch Way Now?.
Summary
On this, a young girl's birthday hour,
we call upon her ancient power.
An ancient calling has been switched—
now, bring back magic to this witch!
The Charmed Ones know the burden of having powers and of the constant demonic and warlock attacks which is why Grams bound their powers until they were old enough to adjust to having them. In fact in many witch families, the powers of their offspring are bound until the witch is old enough to receive their power.
In Juliana O'Farrell's clan, that age is thirteen but something goes wrong when Juliana's daughter Lily calls for her powers… those powers don't come. Now with no other option, Juliana, who has been in hiding with her family because of a demon known as Gortag, must accept help from the Charmed Ones to find her daughter's missing powers. But as we all know, the life of a witch is never dull and there seems to be a hidden twist in the O'Farrell's life. Can the Charmed Ones bring the new witch into her powers or is there another witch amongst them who doesn't even know she's a witch?
Characters
- Clan-goids: According to Juliana and Lily, the Clang-oids are imps that were said to take a witch's child to raise it to be evil (a warlock/evil witch) and they would gorge themselves on the child's negative energy. It was later confirmed that they were not imps but demons.
- Drew: Lily's best friend who somehow intercepted Lily's powers, or maybe there's more to her than meets the eye.
- Gortag: An extremely powerful demon who has hunted the O'Farrell witches for centuries as it was prophesied that only a mother-daughter combination could vanquish him. He had a warlock place a powerful enchantment over the witches of that family enabling them to only produce male witches. It was revealed though that if the male witch married another witch they would be able to have daughters though the warlock's enchantment was so strong that even that couldn't lead to his vanquish. His only known weakness is fire (hence, Juliana was most likely destined to vanquish him as she was a firestarter witch). His only known powers are telepathy and possibly cloning. Described by Piper, Phoebe, Paige, and Lily to resemble a kid in a devil's costume on Halloween.
- Juliana O'Farrell: A firestarter witch who comes out of hiding to ask for help from the Charmed Ones. It was said that when her family discovered her power of firestarting, she was the strongest witch in the O'Farrell clan in ages.
- Juliana's Aunt: Juliana's aunt, and a witch of the O'Farrell Line. One of the few surviving members of the clan. Along with Juliana's grandfather, she raised Juliana. It was said when Juliana was revealed to be a firestarter witch, she was the strongest O'Farrell witch in centuries. Not much else is known about her except she did have a job as a fortune teller maybe by reading palms. Her only known powers besides the basic Wiccan powers of: spell casting, potion making, and scrying, was the power of telepathy. It is possible she might have had some sort of precognitive power or divination power as she was able to read people's future though it is stated she was reading their mind.
- Juliana's Grandfather: A witch of the O'Farrell Line, and said to be one of the few surviving members. His power was a weaker form of telekinesis. Once described by Lily to be able to levitate objects (Projective Levitation) but according to Juliana, his power was telekinesis but he could only use it when he was upset or experiencing strong emotions.
- Lily O'Farrell: Juliana's daughter, an O'Farrell witch whose Wiccan powers have gone MIA.
- O'Farrell Ancestor #1: A witch of the O'Farrell line who discovered Gortag's weakness to fire. It was said that during the Summer Solstice, Gortag attacked a group of witches and this O'Farrell witch used her power to throw him into the fire which lad to the coven casting a powerful spell to keep him in the fire possibly killing him. Her power was unknown but due to Drew's description of "she used her power to throw him into the fire", it is not too much of a stretch to assume she possessed telekinesis possibly or some other physical power.
Magical Notes
Spells
To Bind Gortag to one Body
- Demon of Many Bodies,
- In this form we command you stay.
To Break a Demonic Mind Control
- Goddess hear our call release.
To Call Lily's Powers to Her
- I call upon you Elements Four,
- Unlock your secrets forever more,
- A new witch enters the fold,
- Allow her magic to take hold.
Powers Used
- Cloning: Gortag (Possibly as he was mentioned to be a spirit who could create bodies)
- Levitation: The Book of Shadows. (It was stated that when Lily attempted to steal the BoS that it levitated back to the attic and back to the pedestal where it normally rested)
- Immunity: Clan-goids
- Mind Reading: Juliana's Aunt. (mentioned only)
- Molecular Combustion: Piper
- Molecular Immobilization: Piper
- Premonition: Phoebe
- Projective Levitation/Telekinesis: Juliana's Grandfather (mentioned only)
- Pyrokinesis: Juliana
- Orbing: Paige and Leo
- Sensing: Leo and Clan-goids
- Shapeshifting: Drew
- Force Field: The Book of Shadows
- Shimmering: Clan-goids
- Spell Casting: Lily (failed)
- Telekinetic Orbing: Paige
- Telepathy: Gortag
- Water Teleportation: O'Farrell Ancestor. (A witch from Juliana's line was called to the present to judge to see who the powers would belong to, she disappeared back into the bowl of water though it is speculated that it was only due to the ritual instead on an actual power though it is possible as nothing was known about her.)
Covers
- Russian: Potomstvjennaja vjed'ma (Hereditary Witch)
- French: La Sorcèllerie en héritage
