The Witch's Countdown

th came in shor

he baby in her

gh

p, her fingers trembl

y was c

led into delicate

de and alert, dim

fallen in steady breaths, slo

lse th

whispered, shaking

g the baby tighter could stop what w

g the child ba

asn't grow

growing

all and grasping-now they wer

n on itself, tini

res smoot

ore than a whis

nds tr

athing

h

y disap

ight w

ms fel

e shot

he baby had been

th

never been t

gh echoed

wi

s head sn

andlelight, her face half-hi

amed with so

was only a matter of days p

ft and knowing,

moves bo

s stomach

pounded in

t burned, the dark i

tted he

e?" she demanded,

a slow, deliber

o anything,

u d

's skin

d down at

fr

fing

ha

ren't t

al

e, like it wasn't m

s felt

y was s

d a hand t

at felt lig

backward, sha

she wh

t just t

revers

her head, as if e

't just for the ch

s throat

read, creeping up her forearm

ed-she had t

egs to move, to

ody was w

t thicker, pressing in

ories b

em-who she was, what had

were slip

na

ho

pa

unraveling,

bs grew

hs grew s

ound her beg

-

kne

ull

h

oft

flutter

ground, but the flo

of the witch's c

o

on

up, head

different-damp

de of rough stone

door stood

ing wa

sed against th

lt... s

ar

bo

rasping at the fa

arly c

ss was

even you

down hadn

en her fur

e and fell in

h

so

. Fa

mperi

tu

n the far corn

swal

d forward, inch by inch, her hea

the wooden edg

fr

lay i

i

ag

soft whit

twisted into

d had da

ar dar

same

r

eath h

sion b

t just a

was

ewbor

umbled

at her temples, tryin

o

is isn

d to her chest, h

ad taken her al

r to the ver

door crea

stif

stepped

shadowed

wi

there, unmovin

, a smile cu

ack," she

ands clenche

lse po

yes b

o break t

it was