Story Spotlight: “A Better Place” by Jamie Ferguson

In the quiet hills of Ireland, beside a sacred spring that no one visits anymore, a goddess waits. Dideacea is the last of her kind—ageless, alone, forgotten. For centuries she has watched the world move on without her. The sacred spring still flows. The question is whether anything sacred remains in the act of tending it.

I greet the morning as I always do, by stepping into the coolness of the pool fed by my spring, then sinking down to the sandy bottom. I love the way the water bubbles out of the rock face far below the surface, then smooths out and creates a little creek that winds down the valley and eventually joins with Liame’s river. Or at least I still think of it as her river, although I haven’t seen Liame, or any of the others, for many, many years.

After a while I rise to the surface, head to the shallow area on one side of the spring, and step onto the bank. The cool air smells of damp earth, of growth, and of the promises springtime brings. Clumps of bog-rosemary have begun to bloom, their tiny pink flowers dotting the moss on the southern bank. The surrounding trees—oak, ash, and hazel—are leafing out. Soon it will be summer, and I’ll spend my days watching the bees, or the squirrels, or petting the deer that stop by. And then it will be autumn, and I’ll watch the leaves fall from the trees and land on the moss, the rocks, the surface of the pool. The land will grow cold and barren until spring comes again, repeating the cycle that has existed since the world was formed. Another year will pass, and then another. Every year will be the same as the one before. And I, like my spring, will be the same. Beautiful. Powerful.

Alone.

I ball my hands into fists so tight my fingernails dig into my skin.

I don’t want to be alone anymore.

I wring the water out of my long hair, glance at my beloved spring, and begin walking toward Liame’s river—and toward the village which lies beyond.

About the Author

Jamie writes stories where magic lives just beneath the surface—where ghosts haunt houses that no longer exist, selkies are stranded far from the sea, and witches discover their power one herb at a time. Her work blends folklore, emotional depth, and a deep empathy for characters navigating impossible choices. She lives in Colorado, where her two border collies are still waiting for her to get them a proper herd of sheep.

Find out more about Jamie at jamieferguson.com

If you liked…

• Circe by Madeline Miller—for its intimate portrait of a divine figure reckoning with loneliness and reinvention
• The Green Knight (2021 film)—for its dreamlike immersion in Celtic landscape and the weight of mythic obligation
• The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow—for its exploration of forgotten power returning through unexpected belief

Read the Story

“A Better Place” appears in Haunted Waters, available now from Blackbird Publishing.

Buy the book from your favorite store