Status Updates From Withered Hill

‘To the woods!’ calls Noah, and he marches off towards Main Street, Zachary falling in beside him with the goat, and everyone filing slowly up the cobbled road, their torches held aloft. ‘It’s going to be wild tonight, I can feel it,’ whispers Catherine, her breath hot on Sophie’s ear.

Sophie gets to her feet and watches Peter drive his flock on through the trees, the outside tantalisingly close. Then she turns around for the third time that week and walks back to Withered Hill.

Two weeks after Beltane, Sophie takes a walk in the warm May sunshine down to the farms crouched on the inside of the woods. Up on Peter O’Keeffe’s top field, there stands a new scarecrow. Sophie has avoided it for the past fortnight, but now she feels ready.