20 years ago...
...
Every day, she lived in the fear of it being her last.
The rain had been unforgiving for days, pouring as if it wanted to flood. But that night, it poured with a vengeance, warring the earth with roaring torrents that uprooted trees and displaced roofs.
For the first time in a long while, Rea could feel her heart beat steadily in her chest, and not hung up in her throat, aware of every smell, every sound, every movement.
She slumped down on a high chair, the wooden furniture creaking under her weight, and stared outside the window in her dank cottage. It had been Vineta, one of the Mothers – the five head witches – that had brought her there a week ago. When Rea had seen the small cottage hidden away like a precious gem underneath the crawling roots of the giant tree, she knew it would do for a while.
