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I

t was a good story, and it was well told. But when Nana got to the end bit, the bit about the man being found in the woods, Lauren felt like her grandmother had struck her. How could Nana use Lauren’s father’s death in this story, like it

was just a dramatic plot point? How could she so callously throw that out there without any regard for Lauren’s feelings?

Lauren had been buying it all up until the end. The story of the witch and the man who loved her had struck the perfect tragic note, like an old-fashioned legend. And the notion of a creepy presence in the forest didn’t even seem that farfetched. She liked the idea of a local story that explained so many of the funny things about Smiths Hollow, even if it wasn’t really true.

Of course it couldn’t be true. It was just a story