The Girl Who Drank the Moon

A parent tells a child a story about the Witch’s Seven League Boots. The parent explains that the Witch’s boots aren’t inherently evil, they just magically allow anyone who wears them to travel faster and farther with each step. The boots give the Witch the power to take children and travel about, doing evil and spreading sorrow. Before the Witch acquired the boots, she had little magical power. Once she got the boots, however, she could wander the world finding and stealing magic from everywhere, including the moon. The parent tells the child it is true that the Witch cast a spell of sorrow over the whole world, which explains “why the world is drab and gray” (182). The parent tells the child they are powerless, and the child should learn right away that “hope is only for the smallest of children” (182).

Luna goes out to sketch with Fyrian stowed away in her satchel. She notices that things are changing. Physically, her body is beginning to change: She is stinky in the warm weather and has “eruptions” on her face. Stranger things are also happening. Luna jumps and finds herself on top of a tree. She hears a squirrel talking back to her. But when Luna tries to tell Glerk what happened, her mind goes blank. Luna is left with the unshakable feeling that “this has happened before” (185).

When Luna meets a crow with a distinct blue-and-silver shine to its feathers, she seems to understand what each of its “caws” means. She has a memory of taking a chicken egg from the coop and seeing it hatch, in her hand, into the crow. Luna searches for a word that will explain what is happening but cannot remember it.

Luna knows what the forest looks like toward the Free Cities but doesn’t know how it appears in the other direction. Luna closes her eyes and draws. After a long time, Fyrian interrupts her in alarm, saying that Luna’s eyeballs looked like “two pale moons” (192). Going home, Luna observes that the volcano is more restless than usual. Xan is still in bed, but both pretend everything is normal. Later, Luna looks at her drawings and sees that some of the images she has drawn before, but this time she also drew two maps. One shows the way to the Free Cities, and the other shows a trail through the unknown part of the forest, ending in a town with a tower. Next to the tower Luna wrote “she is here” three times.

Ethyne is pregnant. Antain knows that since no other women in the Protectorate are expecting children, their child will be the youngest on the coming Day of Sacrifice and will be the infant left for the Witch. Ethyne tells Antain to be hopeful. Antain loves Ethyne dearly and has a plan to save their child. He lies to his uncle, Grand Elder Gherland, and claims he wants to address the Council of Elders to thank them for all they have done for him.

The Council receives Antain cheerfully. They are proud of his success as a woodworker and happy he has a loving wife. Antain shares the news about their baby’s impending sacrifice. Antain declares that he has found a way to stop the Witch from taking the Protectorate’s children. Antain admits that he has seen the Witch and knows she can feel pain. The Council is in an uproar. Gherland and the Elders know there is no Witch. Antain insists that not only does the Witch exist, but he also knows how to find her. Antain shows them the madwoman’s map, which leads through the Forest’s dangerous obstacles up to a meadow and swamp at the peak of a mountain. Gherland worries what it would mean if there was a Witch.

Antain knows that unless he does something, his baby will be sacrificed. He acknowledges he might die in the forest. But Antain also says it is possible that he will lift the curse and take his baby home. He announces his plan to follow the map and kill the Witch.

Awakened by a terrible headache one night, Luna goes outside and gathers starlight on her fingers. As she drinks the starlight, she feels as though she has done it before. She walks to the stone that has the inscription “Don’t forget,” and lays her hand upon it. A doorway opens. Luna and the crow follow steps down to a workshop that appears paused in time, looking as if someone had just been there. Luna sees books and papers but cannot read them. Luna is frustrated, feeling that knowledge is just out of reach. A piece of paper with the words “Don’t forget” lands on her hand. Luna shouts angrily that “no one tells her anything” (209), though she knows this isn’t true. Luna realizes that both Glerk and Xan have taught her things, but the words don’t stay in her mind. Another scrap of paper lands in her hands. This one contains a whole sentence, but the first word is a blur. She demands that the word show itself, and the letters begin to appear. They spell “magic.” Luna hears a roar in her ears and sees flashes of light. She knows she has heard this word before, and she knows it means something—but she doesn’t know what. Slowly, with the crow cheering her on, Luna speaks the word aloud.