Chapter 1

I t is a fact universally acknowledged that a parent who suspects their daughter is a witch will send her into the woods to remove the danger she presents to society. Less of a fact, actually, more of a little acknowledged tradition. It started in the early days of Ireland, widely thought to be the birthplace of the first witch in some year lost to history, where a family who believed their young daughter was possessed by the devil sent her into a nearby forest. She was never seen again.

As whispers passed across villages, across provinces, across countries, of children born with mystical powers, the isolated incidences of abandonment became far more prevalent. Parents would send their young children, typically only four to five years of age, into the mountains or forests, never to be seen again.

As the world became more enlightened, the tradition continued, although it did evolve with the times and the unique cultures of the area. Women from families known to be bearers of witches cloistered themselves during late pregnancy, hidden from the world in case their daughter was born with powers, and they were forced to abandon their daughter. The age of children left to the wilderness grew younger and younger with some truly desperate parents leaving infants at the edge of the trees within their first month of life.

Most children never returned after their parents abandoned them, and they were never found. Those who knew of the tradition believed that they died, especially the newborns. No corpses were ever found, though, no remains ever spotted. And, with the children gone just as quickly as they appeared, it became easier as the tradition grew more ingrained in society to pretend they never existed.

There were a rare few who came back within days. Usually when this happened, the parents would open the door to their infant, swaddled and sleeping, on their stoop. The toddlers and older children who were returned were often found sleeping in their own bed or standing confused at their parents' door. If the parents chose to abandon the returned child at the forest once more, they would find their daughter once more under their care by noon the following day. The general thought became that, if a child was returned from the forest, she did not possess mystical powers.

Several parents attempted to abandon their male children at the forest. They were returned to the parents within hours. The forest did not accept male children.

Sometimes, the parents thought they saw their daughters standing at the edge of the forest, clothes rippling and hair blowing in a breeze they could not feel. Each time, they looked closer. Each time, there was no one there.