In woods where the woodsmen told lies, maybe it was the wolves who told the truth.

Sometimes superheroes are born, sometimes they are made. Sometimes they make themselves. Sometimes all it takes is will.

People feared snowstorms once. Hazel read about this all the time. Pioneers opened their front doors and saw they'd been entombed in snow overnight. They walked across malevolent swirling whiteness and did not know if they would survive. Nature can destroy us in a blink. We live on only at its pleasure. That was what looking at the witch was like.

Her father said she was a princess. He did not see that she was a brave knight.

In woods where the woodsmen told lies, maybe it was the wolves who told the truth.

She understood. They were plastic flowers of words—but they looked nice on the surface.

She'd read once that if you ran into a bear in the woods you should avoid eye contact and you shouldn't run away, but all she knew about wolves is that you should never tell them how to find your grandmother's house.