Willa Hex - A Dark Fantasy Romance

Chapter Six

She tried not to trample things in the garden. Usually the planting rows were spaced plenty wide in her little patch. Tonight though, with only the light of the Flower Moon, she needed to take caution with her steps.

Carrot greens blended in with the lush grass in the darkness. She cursed when she knocked over a bean pole, snapping it as it scraped against her calf. The herbs she needed for a poultice paste should be just at the corner of her garden.

Willa knelt, dew soaking through her dress to cover her knees. She bent, lowering her nose to a tender herb, deciphering from the smell that it wasn't quite right.

"Ah," she hummed, feeling blindly and coming upon a rougher thicket of greenery. "I believe," she said to no one but herself, "that this is it."

She twisted, snapping the little twigs to pull the bundle up toward her face. With a nod of affirmation, she stuffed more than what she needed down into her pocket. Her mortar and pestle would work this up in no time.

From beyond the garden gate, something snapped in the dark forest. Willa closed her eyes, remaining still- frozen- in her crouch. With caution, her eyes swept open, praying for silence in the woods.

They had come for her again. She knew it in her heart. One does not escape fate.

One does not escape faulting the pride of men.

She wanted to scoff, but prioritized her silence instead. Drawing a quiet breath, she held it, crawling toward the corner of the fence. Peering through gaps in the worn wood, she willed her eyes to see through the black.

Moonlight illuminated the tops of the trees, but little more than that. She blinked, hoping to focus, heart dropping as legs and a torso came into view. It was the Widow Hawley.

Willa rose, tender ribs aching to move with quickness. "Mrs. Hawley?" she called, causing the woman's head to jerk.

"Willa- Wil..." the woman stumbled as if near to fainting. Her breathing was rapid, white apron stained with mud and blood. Bits of leaves tangled in a nest of gray hair. "Willa," she said again, steadying herself on a nearby tree trunk. "What have you done girl?"