Page 55 of The Women of Wild Hill

A good witch knows that there’s far more to a forest than its trees.

Beneath the surface lies another world—a world most people don’t know about and few ever see.

Down there, in the dark, the wood giants talk to each other.

Fungal webs the size of whales send tiny mushrooms to scout the surface.

Their carcasses dissolved, animals reassemble into moss and flowers.

The world underneath is ignored by most. A good witch ignores nothing.

A smart witch looks where no one else dares. She visits places the others shun, and sees all the things they don’t care to see. She studies the countless connections between the worlds above and below. She follows all roots to find out where they go. She turns over rocks and sees what wriggles out.

Her fearlessness will be rewarded with knowledge, and that knowledge with skill. But a wise woman also knows that the courage to look beneath the surface is often the difference between a live witch and a dead one.