Please Don't Send Children to the Fox Spirit
READING AGE 12+
The night eleven-year-old June Bell was lowered into Lake Mercy in a locked steel cage, I heard her ask the people on shore whether the fox beneath the water was going to eat her. I had been trapped under that lake for a hundred and twelve years, and I had never eaten anyone. The town called me a guardian when it wanted good harvests and a demon when it needed someone to blame. Now its mayor was reviving the old offering ritual, and June was only the latest child chosen because her family had no power to refuse. I could reach her, but every attempt to break my seal would cost me something I might not get back. If I saved June, would she believe the monster in the lake—or the people who sent her there?
Unfold
I stood in front of the Bell House when the town held the memorial.
The water had drained from its first floor, leaving mud on the stairs. The council had placed a long wooden table outside. Forty-three names were written on paper and laid across it.
People came in coats and boots. Some stood at the back. Some left flowers. The sh……
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