FANTASY

Moon Water
Abby Bidwell

A long time ago, in 1597, cold rains and hailstorms plagued the
villagers of St. Maximin. Vicious gray clouds hung overhead for
months on end, flooding their crops, which left nothing to harvest.
Pastor Edmund was a wise leader of the people of St. Maximin who
needed to restore the lands for all to survive.
A foreigner had once warned the pastor about witches he had
described to be too powerful for their own good. Pastor Edmund
had to find someone to blame for their misfortunes, so the village
began hunting the witches, and when they found them, they were to
be hanged. So, the witches began hiding in the woods by day. Only
when the villagers were safe in their beds, and long since in a deep
slumber, did they dare venture beyond the edge of the forest. The
villagers believed that the witches would not enter their homes, nor
would they be dangerous to them.
None of the villagers dared to go near those woods. The children
in St. Maximin were told not to cross the stream, or they might
wander too far into the forest where the witches would prey on them.
With their heightened senses, they could sniff out a child from afar
to track them down to devour their souls.
Adelinda lived with her father and sister in the village of St.
Maximin for many years. Her mother died giving birth to her
sister, Rowena. As a young girl, Adelinda always admired the
beautiful silver cross pendant her mother had worn. One day it
would be hers, but for the time being, her father kept it hidden
away in a drawer, as he was too grief-stricken to look at it. With
the loss of their mother, most of the responsibility fell on Adelinda
to take care of her younger sister Rowena.

12

One day when Adelinda and Rowena were children, their father
came home to find them sitting on the floor in a candle-lit room.
They were playing a fortune-telling game known as Venus Glass.
Adelinda cracked an egg into a bowl of water, and they both watched
the gooey, white texture disperse to tell them of their fate. This was
considered heresy, and their father knew if anyone was to find out, it
would not be taken lightly.
When the girls were found out, their father tried to convince
the village people his daughters could not possibly be guilty of such
deviant behaviour. However, the villagers were decided. When they
came to take the sisters, Adelinda was out, but on returning home,
she discovered her sister was gone. She knew that her sister would
be hanged in the town for all to watch, and she could do nothing
to save her. Her only choice was to leave while she still could before
they came for her. It was no longer safe for an accused witch like her
to stay in St. Maximin.
She quickly fled the village, leaving her father behind. It was then
that she met the witches of the woods she had always heard about
but never knew if they truly existed. She had taken only her most
prized possession with her—her mother’s silver cross pendant. At
first, the witches thought of Adelinda as a peculiar-looking girl, with
her spiralled locks as silver as the chain and pendant she wore around
her neck, and her eyes as blue as the cornflowers that the children
in the village made into wreaths. She must have been a different
breed than any of them. They tried to make her as comfortable as
one could possibly be after losing a sister. They taught her spells and
how to fly, as they thought it might offer a distraction for her. They
gave her a beautiful new crimson-hued gown that clung to her form
and hung just below her knees, with a neckline that left collarbones
exposed, which went perfectly well with her bloodless skin. After all,
it was the proper attire for a young witch like herself. The witches
grew very fond of Adelinda over the years, but they couldn’t lessen

13

her grief over her sister. Adelinda’s sadness made her tears overflow
like a river pouring down her cheeks. It was even said that on the
nights when the winds were quiet, her cries were heard in the village.
Adelinda lived among the witches in the woods for ten years and
could have hidden out there for the rest of her days. Often when
Adelinda braided her hair, she would close her eyes and imagine it
was her sister’s long black strands. She pictured her sister’s soft smile
and her brown eyes flecked with amber and how they glistened in the
light. She had become rather weak from grieving the loss of her sister,
but she decided it was time for revenge.
She could live a hundred years without returning to the village.
But he took away the thing that mattered most to her, and she
wanted him dead and the village to feel her pain. The village people
feared that she would seek vengeance for what they did to her sister.
Witches would never be safe there for as long as he lived. First, she
would need to charge her magic.
On a dark and cold night, Adelinda perched in a tree at the edge
of the forest and looked out at the village. She contemplated whether
she should act tonight, for if she did not, she would have to wait for
another twenty-nine moons to pass. She fiddled with the pendant
on the chain around her neck and thought of heading back into the
forest for the night. Wolves howled in the darkness, and the trees
rustled from the wind. Thunder rumbled overhead. The moon was
full and shone brightly high in the sky. It had to be tonight.
As Adelinda flew down, her emerald green cape trailed behind
her in the wind, trimmed in gold that gleamed in the moonlight.
She paced toward the stream that ran between the village and the
forest. She kneeled down on the grass beside the stream, and held
her hands out, palms up, toward the sky as she asked for the moon’s
water to make her strong and powerful. She scooped up water from
the stream with both hands and poured it down her throat. Some

14

water trickled from her face onto her chest. She could feel her energy
rising, and her magic vibrating at a high frequency. Her desire to kill
grew stronger. There was no heading back to the forest now.
She journeyed to the village on foot. She would draw less
attention than if she flew. As she approached the village, she noticed
a man walking in the cool night breeze. Adelinda whisked away to
hide behind a tree trunk. She poked her head out from behind the
tree and recited a spell before she realized he was sleepwalking and
had not actually seen her. She continued through the village, making
her way to the church. When she arrived, she chanted a spell under
her breath. A flame caught on the roof of the church.
Pastor Edmund woke in his bed to the crackling sounds of fire,
and screams outside his room. He looked for an escape, but flames
around him reflected off something by his bedside. He picked it up;
it was his wife’s shiny silver cross pendant. He had not seen it in ten
years.
The flames sputtered before jumping to life on the surrounding
houses. Soon the flames spread and engulfed the entire village. The
shrill screams of the villagers were heard as they ran out of their
homes, carrying their shrieking babies. The sleepwalker awoke from
the commotion and chaos. He caught a glimpse of Adelinda that
night, and her cornflower-blue eyes pierced his soul. He turned away
for a mere second to see his village going up in flames, and when he
looked back, she had disappeared. She was never seen again.
Centuries later, many people still say to be wary on the night
of a full moon, when a witch’s energy is at its most powerful. Some
even believe in the sacred ritual that a glass of water left to charge
under the moonlight, and drunk the next day, will harness the
power of the moon.

15