Chapter Text
Beatrice notices the shift in the Green as soon as she enters the house after helping Lilith reorganize the greenhouse storage. She looks into Suzanne’s room, then Vincent’s but sees nothing out of the usual, so she proceeds up the stairs to her room. As she climbs, the energy changes further and increases in intensity. There’s an undercurrent of panic and defense to it that Beatrice doesn’t quite recognize. She knocks softly on the door to Camila’s room. When she receives no answer, she opens the door gently and pokes her head through. Camila’s bed is in its usual, half-made state. On the other bed, usually unoccupied, she finds Ava tossing and turning in fitful sleep. She’s once again the source of the change in energy around Beatrice. She enters the room and kneels beside the bed. Reaching out slowly and softly, Beatrice whispers Ava’s name before touching her shoulder to wake her. Despite her warning, Ava jolts upright at Beatrice’s touch.
“Shhh, shh. I’m sorry to scare you, you’re alright. You were having a nightmare.” Ava heaves out a breath.
“Awful, awful dream. There was this…tree. A huge, terrible tree covered in black vines and they were swallowing my mother. Someone was laughing. I couldn’t see them, but it sounded like a man. I tried to get her out of the vines, but it was like they were alive. They swallowed me too.” Beatrice haltingly rubs circles on her shoulder, preoccupied by Ava’s description of the tree.
“Have you seen this tree before?” If Ava hears her question, she doesn’t acknowledge it.
“I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t move. I thought I was paralyzed again.” She falls into Beatrice’s chest and cries. After a beat, Beatrice brings her other arm around Ava and wraps her in a stiff hug. Ava doesn’t seem to mind her stiffness, and leans in a little harder. As she continues to cry, the room glows a bit brighter.
“Ava, Ava…Focus on me. I know you’ve gone through a lot in just the past day, but it’s very important that you rein in some of these emotions. The Green is very protective of you. Could you try to tell me a happy story?” Ava takes a few shuddering breaths, listening to Beatrice’s steady heartbeat under her ear.
“You know I grew up in a pretty awful orphanage. The one bright spot was a little kid named Diego. He’s 11 now. He’d get into so much trouble with Sister Francis for me. People looking to adopt a child would bring candy for everyone sometimes, and he always stole an extra couple of pieces for me, since Francis never took me out of my room, or brought any to me. Sometimes he could convince her to let him push the chair around so I could go outside when the weather was nice. No one else ever needed the chair but she didn’t want to deal with me, so she kept it in her office and me in my room. The week before I left the orphanage, Diego was adopted. I wanted to leave sooner, probably should have, but I couldn’t leave him there. These people really wanted a son. You know how it is, most people just want another pair of hands on the farm. But they had the money to hire help, and they seemed to really love him. He asked if before he went home with them, they would take me with them on one of the times they took him in to town. We went the day they adopted him. We saw a circus, had a fancy lunch at a hotel, and even big scoops of ice cream. Most of the kids had something like that at least once when people met them, but I never had. I’d only been walking again for a few weeks, and they were so patient. When it was time for Diego to leave with them, they hugged me and kissed my cheeks. It was the first time I hadn’t felt like a burden in years.” By the time she finishes, Ava’s smiling a watery smile and her breathing is steady and calm. The Green is calm again as well, but Beatrice realizes her hold on Ava has tightened.
“That is a beautiful memory, Ava. I’m glad you had that time with Diego.” She loosens her arms from around Ava, who sits up and blushes prettily.
“I’m so sorry, I’m sure you had other things to do than handle my out of control emotions.”
“Not at all. It is important to have support, especially when your connection to the Green is so raw and new. Happy, calm memories are one of the best ways to help you control the Green in moments of stress. It will get easier.” Now no longer holding Ava, Beatrice sits perfectly upright with her hands fisted loosely on her thighs. She’s a portrait of restraint, but as a line of sunlight peeks through the curtains across her knuckles, Ava sees a collection of scars and sees perhaps she has not always been that way.
“Still, thank you. For everything. I don’t know where I’d be right now if you hadn’t showed up last night.”
“Something had felt off about Crimson for most of the night and he was very focused on you.”
“Well, so were you and most of the other fellows, too.” Ava says, delighted by the blush that appears on Beatrice’s cheeks.
“I…It was more than that. The more attuned you are to the Green, the more obvious creatures of the Dark are. That was how I felt about Crimson. He’s a drunken fool on his best days, but he was different last night. I would rather lose sleep discovering a drunken fool is just a drunken fool, than wake up and find I was wrong.” Ava nods and places one of her hands over Beatrice’s.
“It was just a joke, Bea. I’m glad you were paying attention, regardless of the reason why.” Beatrice blushes so strongly at the soft touch and affection in the way Ava says her name that she has to look to her hands to make sure she hasn’t started glowing. They take in a brief moment of quiet together before Camila bursts into the room with Lilith not far behind. She’s monologuing about someone named Todd, with Lilith interjecting noncommittal sounds at the right points when they realize Beatrice and Ava are in the room. All four women seem surprised to see the others, and Camila trails off before leaping onto the increasingly crowded bed with Beatrice and Ava as her excitement bubbles over.
“You came back! I understood why you were upset but I really hoped you would stay. Lilith will be glad I have a roommate now, I won’t bother her for sleepovers as often.” Lilith scoffs at mention of her name, and offers Beatrice a pointed look and quirk of her eyebrow at Ava’s hand on hers. Beatrice wills herself to not tear her hand away in self-consciousness but does shift in such a way that Ava takes the opportunity to face Camilla on the bed as she rattles off the things she and the others could teach Ava about the Green. Despite everything, Camila’s excitement is a natural draw for Ava’s positive nature and she finds herself grateful for the distraction of Camila’s friendly, rapid-fire conversation. After a few moments, Beatrice rises and leaves the room with Lilith. As she passes, Ava squeezes her hand one more time and Camila finally takes notice.
“Oh, did Lilith and I interrupt something?”
“No, Beatrice just stepped in to check on me after this morning. This Green business is…difficult.” Camila nods in understanding.
“It was hard for me, too. I used to get into a lot of trouble and then out of it in ways I didn’t understand, but it often hurt people. Suzanne taught me how to work with it, rather than it using me.”
“Hurt people?”
“You’ve seen how protective the Green is. I’d get into trouble and be scared, or angry, and next thing I know, something or someone is broken. One day, Vincent caught me stealing from his traps. I ran away somehow, but Suzanne found my mom’s house later that day. I got ready to run again and accidentally broke her cane. I almost broke her arm, too, when she grabbed me, and I don’t know how. I was hardly strong enough to do that on my own. Instead of demanding I be punished, they offered me a place at the Cradle. She taught me how to use the Green safely, but it took months. I was scared to touch anyone. It’s not always like that, though. Beatrice and Lilith have always had good control over it, but their families don’t believe in the Green, to put it nicely. They though Vincent performed some sort of exorcism, but in truth he and Suzanne give gifted people a safe place to learn, and live if they need it. They could go home at any time now that they can hide their gift, but I don’t think the thought has ever crossed their minds.”
A green, twisted kind of anger wells up in Ava’s chest; for Beatrice (and Lilith, of course, to a degree) that their families would throw them away so easily, and for herself again. Had her mother just told Suzanne where they were, left some kind of sign, had Suzanne…she knows there’s nothing Suzanne could have done. But Suzanne is here and alive, and her mother is not. She breathes deeply and releases the anger as best she can. Camila, as perceptive as the rest of the residents of the Cradle it seems, offers her a pat on the knee.
“Would you like to learn how to make a charm to prevent nightmares?”
Despite her lingering grief and anger at Suzanne, Ava finds life at the Cat’s Cradle comfortable and interesting. Vincent largely keeps to himself, speaking mostly with Suzanne, Shannon, and Mary, and Ava doesn’t mind. She spends most mornings with Camila and Lilith as they tend to the apothecary and visiting neighbors’ ailments. Her friendship with Camila grows quickly and Ava delights in their late night, low-voiced conversations about Todd, Michael, and the other eligible young people in town. Lilith is nearly impossible to make progress with, but Ava had miraculously been restored her ability to walk so she remains optimistic. When Mary wakes in the early afternoon, she sometimes brings Ava into the kitchen with her, teaching her to create meals out of a mish-mosh of ingredients, which cooking methods work best with which cuts of meat, and eventually some basic knife work. After returning from their work in the evenings, Shannon and Beatrice take turns helping Ava further improve her neglected reading and writing skills. They find she’s a stubborn, quick study and thrives with the opportunity to push herself.
For as flustered as she made Beatrice the day before she rescued her, Ava often finds herself on the back foot when under Beatrice’s tutelage. Beatrice seems to possess unending patience, calmly and pleasantly correcting Ava’s pronunciation as she struggles through a paragraph. She listens attentively and once in a rare while cracks a smile or her own small joke at the expense of the literature they read. When Ava gets frustrated with the shape of a letter, Beatrice’s tool-calloused hands are there to gently guide her grip on the chalk. Her victories over the aggravating shapes of Qs and Fs and Ks earn progressively larger smiles and genuine, “well done’s” from Beatrice that spark a warm glow in her stomach.
Ava takes over making lunch pails from Mary, and starts including little notes every day to get more practice. She gifts everyone her most egregious puns to make Lilith groan when they take lunch, and soon she begins to find the pun from the day before in Beatrice’s pail with a pun of her own in response. Each time, she tucks the slip of paper into her pocket. Later in the day, she’ll deposit it in between the pages of The Golden Fleece and the Heroes Who Lived Before Achilles, a book Beatrice had “borrowed” from the school after reading portions of it to the students on a day Shannon had taken ill. Beatrice was fond of the Greek myths and this retelling. Because of the difficulty of the names, their reading of it was more collaborative than with the other books they read. By the early days of March, it became quite a common sight for the rest of the Cradle’s inhabitants to disperse for bed with Ava and Beatrice still seated together by the fireplace or a candle, reading quietly to each other. The second or third time the pair remains seated, completely unaware of the departure of the others in the room, Camila bounds down the hallway to Beatrice and Lilith’s room.
“Lil, are you awake?” She stage whispers.
“Unfortunately, yes.”
“Beatrice and Ava are downstairs still.”
“Good for them? Beatrice’s sleep schedule is none of my concern.” Camila rolls her eyes at the voice drifting out of the darkness.
“Together, Lilith. I think our Beatrice may be sweet on Ava.”
“Hmph. I hope for Beatrice’s sake that she loses her taste for her quickly. Ava’s not going to stay for long.”
“How can you be sure?”
“It’s just in her nature. She was bed bound for a decade; she’s not going to settle down any time soon, let alone for a coal miner.” Camila hums doubtfully and says goodnight. She pauses at the door.
“Is that why you’ve been so cold to her? Because you think she’s going to leave?”
“I treat Ava the same way I treat everyone, Camila.”
“Nuh-uh, you don’t treat me that way.” Before either of them takes the time to consider the weight of that sentence, Camila quietly closes the door and returns to her and Ava’s bedroom. She’s dozing lightly when Ava clumsily tries creeping into their room, hoping not to wake her. When Ava stubs her toe and sucks in a breath to keep herself quiet, Camila giggles,
“I’m awake, Ava. Don’t hurt yourself.”
“I’m sorry! I really tried.”
“It’s alright, I wasn’t asleep yet.” Camila rolls over to face Ava’s side of the room and watches the candle on the nightstand flicker as Ava dons her nightgown.
“How was reading with Beatrice tonight?” Camila swears she feels Ava start vibrating across the room at the mention of Beatrice’s name.
“It was swell. The myths are focused on Atalanta again. I was able to read most of the Greek names without Bea’s help this time. Which is a little sad, actually, because I like listening to Bea read.” She rambles on for another few moments about Beatrice’s reading voice, how steady and sure she sounds compared to Ava’s own stumbling, heavy tongue.
“I’m sure she’d still take turns with you even when you don’t need help anymore, if you asked.”
“Do you think so?” Camila makes a noise in affirmation and they settle into an easy quiet. Just as Ava moves to blow out the candle, Camila speaks up again.
“Have you thought at all about how long you’ll stay here? Certainly no one wants you to leave already, but you haven’t stayed put in one place for very long before.” Ava is quiet, thoughtful, for a long moment.
“I haven’t, really. When I came back that morning, I was so sure I wasn’t going to stay more than a day or two to plan. But…even with Suzanne, it’s nice here. You’re helping me a lot, and I like helping you in return.”
“But why stay? It’s a far cry from New York City, and you don’t want to learn about the Green.”
“ I’m just…not ready to leave yet, like I have in the other places.”
“I understand. I’ll say again from all of us, you can stay as long as you want to.”
By mid-March, it starts to feel as if Ava has always been at home in the Cradle. Suzanne keeps a respectful distance from her in conversation, and Ava’s hurt slowly melts into begrudging civility as the days pass and she sees the respectful distance Suzanne gives her. More than once, Beatrice catches Suzanne looking at Ava with the same heartbroken expression she’d had that night in June all those years ago. Likewise, she sees Ava looking at Suzanne with curiosity and longing. If the two would just sit down and talk, she thinks, they wouldn’t have to dance around each other like this. Still, she knows better than most the time it takes to face your family after a loss, and she keeps these thoughts to herself.
Ava still has little interest in learning about the Green, despite Beatrice and the other residents’ offers to teach her. She’s more than happy to learn herbalism and some of the midwifery that Camila specializes in but backs off at any mention of calling on the Green for assistance. She confides in Beatrice that learning what could happen after channeling too much of the Green at once, she’s afraid to use it at all. She explains no more than that she “can’t be like that again,” and Beatrice is reminded how little they know of the years Ava was away from the Cradle. She doesn’t push, and slowly the others suggest it less and less often.
One quiet afternoon, Vincent returns from the church early and asks Ava to walk with him. She’s surprised, as Vincent still hasn’t spoken more than perhaps one hundred words to her in the three or so weeks she’s been at the Cradle. He’s not unkind to her, simply withdrawn. It’s been a quiet day, mostly waiting for Shannon and Beatrice to return, so she sees no reason to say no. They walk in silence for a few moments as Vincent seems to gather his thoughts.
“If you don’t mind, Ava, I’d like to tell you the history of Areala’s Gap and the Cat’s Cradle. I understand you have no interest in deepening your usage of the Green, and we all respect that. However, I believe it is time you understand how this place came to be.” Ava remains quiet, but nods her head and he continues speaking,
“Areala’s Gap was founded and named in 1877. Before that, it was a small hunting community with immigrant families from many different countries who preferred the rural life. In the 1870s, a hunter named Adriel began advocating for the gap to incorporate and become a proper township. He was charming and well-spoken, and led the Gap to believe he had the best interests of the region at heart. People started going missing, however. People who questioned the idea and his motivation, people he’d had conflict with in the past, some children. The Gap became a very dark place, literally and metaphorically. The short days of winter arrived by August, and more and more neighbors were in conflict with each other than weren’t. Families were struggling to fill their stores for winter but the community refused to share. There was a sharp divide between the people who supported Adriel and incorporation, and those who did not. Adriel’s supporters became a mob and a cult. As the week of the community vote approached, the sides came to blows. Th day of the vote, incorporation passed by more than two thirds. The vote to choose the mayor, however, was much closer. Adriel narrowly won over the current Mayor Salvius’ great grandfather. As the days passed, Adriel’s followers grew stronger, more numerous, and more violent. It had become clear that Adriel had deceived the community, but the depths of his treachery were only revealed in the days before the winter solstice. A gifted healing woman named Areala discovered the remains of numerous sacrifices and possessions in the depths of one of the town’s first mines. Adriel had made a pact with a creature of what Areala would name the Inner Dark. In exchange for power and influence, Adriel would guide the region into the hands of this creature and the Dark.”
“How would he even do that?”
“You understand that the Green is the magic of life in all its stages, yes? It is in all things, it is all things. Birth, life, death, even rot, they are part of the Green” Ava nods.
“The Inner Dark is everything the Green is not and seeks to snuff it out. It is the drill against the mountain, unceasing. It is the quirt against the horse’s bleeding flank, relentless. It is the piles of slaughtered buffalo across the plains, wasteful. The Dark is destruction for the sake of destruction, consumption in excess, the hoarding of wealth, cruelty. To turn the mountains over to the Inner Dark simply requires acting against the interests of life. Adriel would gain power, accumulate wealth, and the Dark would feed on the slow destruction of the mountains and the communities that surrounded them.”
“So Areala found out about Adriel’s plan. What did she do?”
“As I said, Areala was a gifted healer, with certain skills doctors could not explain. She, and her mothers before her, had a special relationship with nature. Their salves and tinctures just seemed to work better than others. When it came down to the last scraps in the larder, a visit to Areala’s family always sent you home with enough for a meal, or a fat rabbit sitting, practically waiting along the path for you. The family knew of their gift, but knew not where it came from or how. With the discovery of the Dark, Areala concluded her abilities came from an opposite, positive force.” Vincent stops walking at the base of an enormous, sturdy oak tree. He presses his palm firmly against it, but pulls back quickly as if he’s been stung and looks at his hand.
“Ah, splinter.” He continues.
“She held her own ritual, right under this tree, pledging herself and her line to the preservation of the mountains and its energy, which she began to call the Green. In return, the Green expanded its gifts in her and other practitioners. These gifted people could now control the Green and its movement through them, where before the Green moved only when it chose to. The injuries you gave to Mr. Crimson are an example of that.”
“But I didn’t do that on purpose.”
“Not consciously, no. But the Green is protective of her own, and she found you in your fear. After Areala’s pact, the barrier between the Green and people became more porous. We can draw upon it more easily, but it can push through us on its own more significantly as well. The Green will act on its own when the situation calls for it.” Ava thinks back to when Mr. Fonesco started working for Mr. Duretti. She’d been inexplicably scared of him and his dead, unwavering gaze from under his driving goggles. A few short days later, she’d regained some measure of strength and control over her legs.
“So what happened after that?”
“With the guidance and power of the Green, Areala defeated Adriel and bound him and the creature working with him to a tree where he could no longer cause harm. As thanks for her bravery, the newly incorporated town was named “Areala’s Gap. She served as the adviser for natural resources for the first Mayor Salvius until she returned to the Green—passed— in 1884.”
“Why are you telling me this, Vincent?”
“Because Areala could not permanently do away with Adriel. His powers are such that every seven years, his spirit must be rebound to the tree. The ritual requires a physical remnant of the creature being bound. Most years only his spirit is released and his body remains in the tree for binding. It is never easy, but this year will be the seventh time Adriel must be bound. Because of the weakness of the bindings, his body has been freed from the tree, not just his spirit. It is founding task of the OCS to maintain these bindings and renew them every seven years, before the winter solstice. This year’s binding will be our greatest test yet because he walks freely and will not be keen to return to the tree.”
“I still don’t understand why I need to know this.”
“In four days time, on the spring equinox, Adriel is hosting a picnic at the tree he was bound in. He will be announcing his plans to challenge Mayor Salvius in the election, and bring progress to the region. We will be there to loosen his grip on our home before he can close his fist. I would like you to consider studying the basics with Mary and Beatrice and coming with us. I believe we will need as many hands as possible to subdue him and his followers.” Ava bristles beside him.
“Vincent, I…I can’t. There’s too much at stake for me to play with magic. I wouldn’t be any help.” He gives her a small smile, understanding.
“Please, consider it. The future of the Gap depends on this ritual.” He places his hand on her shoulder briefly and walks away. There’s an odd, deep feeling of cold on her skin where his hand had been and her arm feels stiff when she tries to shake away the feeling. When she returns to the house, everyone is gathered around the table and Beatrice and Shannon are home. Her greeting is subdued and Beatrice gives her a sharp look. As she takes her seat, Vincent begins to speak.
“In town today, I saw a flier announcing a campaign picnic at the binding grove. It will be the easiest opportunity we have to bind Adriel before he gathers more supporters. We will attend the picnic and make our move after everyone else goes home.” The table is surrounded by raised eyebrows and questioning glances. They silently agree to leave the discussion to Suzanne, who wastes no time expressing her doubts.
“Surely you see this for the trap it is, Vincent. He would never go to the grove if he thought he was at risk of being bound. Why even suggest it?”
“We all know this binding will be as challenging as the first. If we do not take the opportunity we know exists, we may never get close enough again. He cannot leave Appalachia, but these mountains are vast and if he slips through our fingers, we may not find him again. By the time he returns for the election results, his protection might be impenetrable.”
“And what if his protection is already too great for us? There will be civilians, children. He will use them against us. I believe it is too great a risk.” Shannon nods.
“This doesn’t make sense, Vincent. We know his haunts, we know the families that wait for him to return, even those we’ve sent beyond the borders of the Gap. We will be able to find him again. There will be better chances.” There’s a murmur of agreement from the rest of the seated women, and Ava looks at Vincent in time to see a flash of dark rage in his eyes before he speaks again, still calm.
“We should make an attempt. If after scouting the grove we feel it’s too dangerous, we will call it off and simply observe, glean what we can from the plans he shares.” There’s a moment of spirited discussion before the table assents to falling back into a reconnaissance mission if it felt too risky. The matter resolved, the OCS begins their preparations and Ava helps where she can. She grinds herbs for Camila and Lilith, helps Mary clean her guns and knives, and brings Beatrice food when she forgets to come downstairs because of her focus on perfecting her sigils. Beatrice is startled by her presence every time, no matter how loudly she knocks or gently she sets down the plate beside her. The second time Ava brings a meal up, she notices Beatrice had barely touched the first, despite drinking all of the tea she’d been brought. From then on, Ava chooses to stay with Beatrice for a few minutes to make sure she looks up from the slate and takes a break.
By the equinox, she’s still too obsessed with perfection to leave her work, but Beatrice seems to start anticipating Ava’s arrival, rolling her shoulders and stretching out her hands before Ava even enters the room. She coaxes more words out of Beatrice each time they talk, less and less about the shapes she’s drawing and more and more about the books she loves to read, naming flowers Ava brings back from her walks, or random facts about the birds Ava observes taking care of the garden while the others focus on their preparations. Ava is thrilled by the information and the little bits of insight into Beatrice’s mind. Talking to Beatrice feels a little bit like caring for the deer she encountered in her first days in the Gap. If she speaks softly, and reaches out slowly, Beatrice stays calm and opens up without coaxing. If she comes on too strong, Beatrice will blush (handsomely, to be clear) and close off for a time while Ava coaxes her back into the open.
After breakfast on the equinox, the OCS remains gathered around the table to discuss their plan for the equinox. Shannon and Beatrice would remain out of sight throughout the event, scoping the woods and setting wards to protect the townspeople and keep any spirits and haints within the circle. Everyone else would attend the picnic proper. Every so often, one of the picnic attendees would venture out into the woods to exchange information with Shannon and Beatrice. The plan settled, Vincent stands at the head of the table.
“As we prepare to work today, we must ask the Green for special guidance as this will be Ava’s first working, and what a task to start with.” After several days of Vincent’s pushing, Ava’s inexperienced presence finally sets the group off and the table erupts.
“This is your worst idea yet, Vincent.” Mary says.
“She can do literally nothing with the Green. Sorry, Silva.” Lilith snips and Ava shrugs.
“You’re not wrong.”
“Ava, I don’t think this is wise.” Beatrice speaks to her directly, rather than Vincent. Before Ava can respond, Suzanne speaks, her voice lined with an icy steel that sparks something in Ava’s memories. She hears it blend with the fading lilt of her mother’s voice in her mind, reciting words she no longer remembers. Then that same steel in conflict with her mother. They fought, before Raquel and Ava disappeared.
“She is not going. She has repeatedly refused to explore her connection to the Green, and we respect that. But I will not have her inexperience put the community, or herself, in harm’s way.” Ava feels a bit slighted by the phrasing but once again, Suzanne isn’t wrong. Vincent opens his mouth to push the issue but Suzanne slams the foot of her cane into the floor.
“No, Vincent. Your behavior this week suggests you’ve forgotten, so let me remind you that we make decisions as a family. With all respect to my ni—Miss Silva, I believe the vote is overwhelmingly in favor of her staying here. The women around the table nod emphatically. Vincent scowls but ultimately acquiesces.
“Of course, we decide as a family. I will see you all this afternoon.” He stalks away from the table to his room on the other side of the parlor. Ava flicks up a brow at Beatrice, whose face is clouded with worry. Before Ava can ask any questions, Suzanne raps her cane against the floor, gently this time.
“Well, with brother Vincent’s egress, I will lead our invocation of protection.” The gathered sisters adopt their preferred posture of respect as Suzanne begins to chant, the steel in her voice changing to something still hard, but warm and protective instead of cold. Ava mimics Beatrice this time, sinking deep into a posture of prayer, sending protective thoughts of her own to whatever good was listening to bring her new friends home safely this evening.