“They’re coming for you.” Meredith informed Lucy and continued with what she'd been doing.

House chores, and right now, she was cleaning the table they'd just eaten on.

Lucy, had been mute from the moment they arrived, now she squinted at the witch with both distaste and confusion. She could not understand the witch, what she truly wanted, still unsure whether the woman was her captor or merely toying with her mind. Lucy wore no restraints, no chains or bindings, and yet her freedom felt like an illusion. The woman’s hospitality was suffocating, almost theatrical in its excess, as though every gesture was meant to remind Lucy that her comfort...