Alas, our bride is young, and her groom has long abandoned her, leaving her with their daughter to raise alone in a tower with one circular window, above all the other homes. Alas, even Shakespeare is gone, too lazy to venture too far into the night. Alas, Daphne follows the two witches as they speak in harsh whispers. They march her to the bridge. She climbs up up up even as she’s reluctant to.

It is not until they are there, in the middle of the railroad bridge, that Daphne begins to understand what they are saying, words more polite than what her own parents called her before they threw her away, but meaning the same.

“We know it’s you, Daphne. We know what you’ve been doing with Jacqueline’s husband. And it needs to stop now.”

She protests, but realizes it’s futile. They will never believe her. After all, she’s here because she had a baby out of wedlock. She’s clearly no virgin bride. Everyone can see that.

“You’ve been sleeping with him.” Jacqueline, venom and bullets in her voice, gets close, face-to-face. “I have proof.”

FORTY

Kendra

It was just like it had been thirteen years ago.

“We need to talk. Now,” I told the others.

The party would go on without us.

Our tails bounced as we walked down the trail, silent, carrying our black cups. The music and voices from the party faded. I turned on my phone’s flashlight, and we followed the thin bobbing beam of light around to the back of Alice’s yard and into the woods.

Dark shapes swooped in the sky. Bats.

“You’re freaking me out, Kendra. What happened?” Bettina, the squirrel. “Did you find something out?”

I led us to the back of Alice’s fence. On the other side of us, beyond the row of trees, was her beehive. Her bees were getting ready to go dormant for the winter. Their work was nearly done.

Ours was just beginning.

“Is it Maggie?” Pia asked. “She keeps filming us. Didn’t you see that? Jesus. I feel like she’s watching us even now.”

We’d all pulled our animal hoods down, and they bulged around the backs of our necks.

“It’s Theresa,” I said. “She was the babysitter. The one Greg was cheating with.”

It took a moment to sink in.

“Holy shit,” Bettina finally said. “You mean she’s the one that—”

“Yes,” I said.

Pia lit a cigarette. Her raccoon eye makeup smudged around her cheeks. From the folds of her costume, she withdrew a small flask and took a slow drink. Goddammit. This was eating away at all of us, bringing out the worst in us.

“What are y’all talking about?” Alice asked, watching me closely until I looked away.

We’d kept it from her. She’d had enough to worry about afterward.