Ridda began the story, to reveal to Sioni what had happened, what was going on. She was nervous, the girl was already so tired and confused. “Sioni, I think I have the answers you’re looking for.” She whispered, her voice tender and a little scared. Her son, Joseph, moved into another room.

“A long time ago, when your mother and I were just girls, best friends…” She told Sioni of the time near the well, of how they treated Arelia. “How could we have known that she was being forced into it? We felt so terrible afterward, especially your mother. I took after my mother as town midwife, so I knew that Arelia never had children, never was even with child. She became a witch after her husband, your father, left her for your mother.” Sioni’s eyes widened. She wanted Ridda to go on; she nodded.

“Then, she came back. We’d aged only a few years, but she’d grown so old. I hadn’t even had a child yet, and she looked to be a grandmother. She tried to steal you from your mother’s womb, revealed a curse your mother…”