The Bewitching

by Silvia Moreno-Garcia

Back then, when I was a young woman, there were still witches. That was what Nana Alba used to say when she told Minerva bedtime stories; it was the preamble that led into a realm of shadows and mysteries.

Salem was a few train stops away from the college, but there didn’t seem to be a real basis for the story about the witch. As for the Devil, he seemed to live everywhere in New England. There was a Devil’s Rock and a Devil’s Footprint and a Devil’s Pulpit. Devil or not, Briar’s Commons had served as the inspiration for The Vanishing,

After Ginny’s disappearance I would know the shape of shadows.