By 5:00 AM, the bewitching played out like a flute telling a story, each note curling through the magnolia air.
Moon fairies fluttered upward, carrying doll shoes in their tiny arms.
Below them, the dolls scampered up the sycamore tree, clutching their own nooses like climbing ropes.
They climbed fast—because if their shoes fell into the magnolias, they would vanish into the spirit realm before the ritual could begin.
