spell with her gurgle of laughter. Little Leveret – Maizie’s lastborn, Maizie’s moment of madness. And now, at fourteen, she was a nightmare.
‘Answer me, Leveret! Where have you been?’
The girl sighed and shook her dark curls further over her eyes, frowning at her mother from beneath them. Should she tell the truth? Would her mother understand or would it be better to lie?
‘It’s the Moon Fullness tonight, Mother, the Hunter’s Moon.’
‘Yes I know, Leveret. That’s all the more reason for you to be safely indoors by the hearth and not out cavorting. I know exactly what goes on at Moon Fullness and a girl shouldn’t be out and about with all that moon lust flying around. You’re far too young for such things.’
Maizie of all people knew the trouble a girl could get into on the night of the full moon, when the body was ripe and aching with want, and the boys bursting with passion and energy. She understood only too well the forbidden joy of casting aside everything sensible and everyday for that brief crescendo of bliss. But that was not for Leveret to hear of, not yet.
‘Where have you been? You still haven’t answered me.’
Leveret scowled, knowing that whatever she said would be the wrong thing.
‘I was in the woods. I had to—’
‘The woods?’ screeched Maizie. ‘You stupid girl! That’s the worst place to be at the Moon Fullness, especially at the Hunter’s Moon. You should know that! Who were you with?’
‘Only Magpie.’
‘Magpie? Oh for goddess’ sake, Leveret, when will you learn? When will you start behaving responsibly? I’ve told you time and time again to stop spending time with Magpie, especially not at night, especially not in the woods, and especially not at the Moon Fullness. You’re in such trouble, my girl! And if I have the slightest reason to think you and Magpie have been up to no good …’
She stopped for breath, quivering with anger at her daughter’s foolishness. Sixteen-year-old Magpie was most definitely not an appropriate companion. Maizie had plans for her youngest child, important plans, and they didn’t include the mute, half-witted boy. Magpie was a constant irritant and, hard as she’d tried, Maizie couldn’t stop her daughter’s friendship with him. It had always been like this from their early childhood; in the Village Nursery the clumsy, strange boy with vacant eyes had latched onto tiny, quick-witted Leveret, and the pair had been inseparable ever since. Over the years in her role as Village Welfare Councillor Maizie had endured regular dealings with Magpie and his nasty mother. The little boy had been neglected and the unpleasant task of reminding his awful family of their duty had fallen to Maizie. She’d had little success and received much hostility and abuse from the lot of them, but luckily Magpie had survived his deprived upbringing and was now an adult. Although Maizie felt pity for the poor boy, she didn’t want her daughter anywhere near him. Yet, try as she might to keep the pair apart, they remained bound together with an inexplicable closeness.
‘Can I go to bed now?’ asked Leveret wearily, keeping her eyes down.
‘No you can not! I told you to stay in tonight and I trusted you to do as I said. That was a mistake, wasn’t it? You’re only fourteen, but the minute my back’s turned you’re out cavorting with boys, and—’
‘No Mother, I had to pick some special mushrooms tonight! It was important to pick them at the Moon Fullness, but that’s all I was doing, honest.’
‘Why? Why was it so important you had to disobey me? How do you know these things, Leveret? I know you’re not learning that at school, about mushrooms and when you should pick them, so who’s been teaching you? Where’s all this coming from?’
Leveret shrugged. It was her very special secret and she’d never divulge it to her mother. She’d face any punishment and let her mother imagine the very worst, which she was always so quick to do, rather than tell her of the secret. The only one who knew was Magpie and he wasn’t capable of speaking to anyone but her. So she merely glared at her mother from behind her curls and remained silent.
Maizie was at a loss as to how to punish her daughter; nothing seemed to make much difference to Leveret. It didn’t help that she was so busy herself with constant meetings to attend and work to do, with Leveret left to her own devices for long periods