Never make deals with witches Five hundred years ago, Edward Solomon made a deal with the Crone of Hollow Woods. He was never quite sure what happened that night. He intended to get all of her lands, but he walked away with a contract in blood for only some of her lands, an agreement to deliver her anything she wanted, a promise of eternal life and glory, and a warning to never enter Hollow Woods again. The Crone’s demands were always odd and started becoming oddly specific. Four freshmen from the Alpha House Fraternity she established at the entrance of Hollow Woods were to be sent to her every Halloween night. The four new Alpha House recruits, Davarius, the football player, Nakata, the basketball player, Vincent, who is there on merit scholarship, and Ashton, who was given a special scholarship for being an orphan are all sent into Hollow Woods on Halloween night with only flashlights and stories of the crone that haunts Hollow Woods. They are all sure this is just another hazing ritual the fraternity has thought up. None of them know what to think when they find a bonfire in the middle of Hollow Woods with the president of Alpha House and three senior members around the fire with a beautiful naked woman they introduce as the Crone of Hollow Woods. She certainly doesn’t look like a Crone and she has other things on her mind Halloween night besides stealing souls and witch curses. The Witch of Hollow Woods is an 11,340 word reverse harem short story with a few wicked twists inside.

A witch curse is a hell of a thing to deal with when you’re immortal Nice to meet you. My name is Catarina Ash. You’ve probably read about me. Wife of Bath ring a bell? The Loathly Lady stories used to be wildly popular. I used to have a thing for dating writers. I don’t take credit for the Viking story, but it wouldn’t surprise me if Cadence was so proud of the curse she put on me, she repeated it on another witch. She throws out curses like candy and probably has a few repeats. I’m cursed to walk the earth as a wrinkled crone unless I can find love. What they don’t tell you in all the stories about the Loathly Lady is that since I’m immortal, when my love dies, I revert back to the crone unless I can find love again. I’ve retreated to my enchanted woods, hoping to just shrivel up and die, until one day, I feel a horrible aura sneaking around in my woods. My foresight tells me the human that aura belongs to is going to eventually lead me towards the path of breaking my curse for good. Edward Solomon is in my woods hoping to steal my land and build a university. Somehow, that university is important, but I don’t know why. All I’m armed with is a cryptic feeling in my gut that giving this horrible man a part of my land and making a deal with him will lead me towards the right path. I’ve got my familiar here to guide me, but sometimes, she can’t keep the present and future straight and I’m not sure what she’s talking about. The answer to breaking my curse is there, but I will have to wait, learning ancient magic of my ancestors, tricking Cadence’s curse with men from the university, and trying to find the missing piece to breaking my curse