The Wood Wife Terri Windling (best novels to read to improve english txt) đ
- Author: Terri Windling
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âNight before last?â Maggie repeated as she came back out with a mug for Dora. âHoney, why didnât you call us? Have you been all alone in the house since then?â
Dora nodded her head. âI called in sick to work. Itâs just⊠well, Iâm embarrassed. And I thought Juan would come back home by now.â
âWhy are you embarrassed?â Fox said angrily. âItâs Juan who should be embarrassed. Or appalled. Preferably both.â
Dora colored, and Maggie put her hand on Foxâs arm. Her glance said: Take it easy.
Maggie said to Dora, âDo you want to tell us what happened? Do you mind talking about it?â
Dora looked up, tossing back her bright hair. âNo,â she said decisively. âI came over here to talk to you. I should have done it before.â
âI can go,â said Fox, âif youâd rather just talk to Maggie.â
Dora slipped her hand into his. âNo, donât, Johnny. Stay here and hold my hand. I want something solid to hold on to right now.â Then she told them about her fight with Juan, and the half-fights that had preceded it, and of Juanâs increasingly strange, obsessive behavior over the last several months.
Maggie asked, âWhat is it that happened several months ago that started all this? Do you know?â
âCooper died,â Dora said softly.
Maggie stared. âYou think thatâs related somehow?â
âI know it is. The night Cooper died was the first night Juan disappeared into the hills. I went looking for him. I found him near dawn, lying on the stones by Redwater Creek. He had taken off his clothesâŠâ Dora hesitated, cheeks burning with embarrassment. â⊠and covered his skin with oil paint. Zigzags and spiralsâcrazy stuff.â She shot Fox a defensive look. âI know, I didnât tell the sheriff that when they were investigating Cooperâs death. I guess I was afraid theyâd decide that Juan was involved in it somehow.â
âYouâre certain heâs not?â Fox asked carefully.
âOf course not!â
âDora, how can you know that for sure?â
âI canât,â she admitted. âI canât prove it. Only, Juan just isnât that kind of man. You know him, Johnny. You know how special, how good he really is.â
He touched her bruised cheek gently. âBut the Juan I thought I knew, he wouldnât have done this.â
âSpirals, jagged lines,â Maggie mused. They both looked up at her, puzzled. âThatâs like Annaâs paintingsââ
âYeah, I know,â Dora interrupted. âJuan is completely obsessed with Anna Naverra. Thatâs why Iâve brought her painting back. I donât want it in my house anymore.â
Maggie leaned down and picked up the canvas that rested against the front porch steps. âThe Mage and the Midnight Hour,â she read. âDora, how long have you had this?â
âSince my birthday, last March.â
âRight before Cooper died? Which was when Juanâs behavior began to change?â
Fox said, âI know what youâre thinking, Maggie; but the old man gave away other paintingsâto TomĂĄs, to the Alders. Thereâs one hanging in my cabin. And no one else has been acting noticeably different than they ever do.â
Maggie frowned. âOkay. But,â she turned to Dora, âdid Cooper say anything about this particular painting?â
Dora hesitated. âWell, he always called it âThe Drowned Girlâ like his poem, instead of Annaâs title. And he said a kind of funny thing. He said Juan and I were the nicest people he knew, so he thought that he could trust us with it. And not to give it to anyone else, because the Drowned Girl was ⊠something. Headstrong, maybe? Something like that. He said it might be dangerous if we gave it to someone who wasnât so sweet as us. It was crazy talk, the way he got when he was drunk. Flattering, but crazy. I just told him I wouldnât ever sell it. He seemed to be content with that.â
Maggie looked at Fox. âThumper also said that the Drowned Girl is dangerous. I donât know who this Drowned Girl isâa mage, according to this painting. I donât know what a mage is either. But something about the word is familiar.â
Fox was silent, considering this. Then he said, âWhatâs interesting to me is that Cooper thought the quality of âgoodnessâ mattered here. Remember what you told me Anna said about the land mirroring back at you whatever was inside of you?â
âSure. What are you thinking?â
âThat Anna Naverra had it figured out, way back in fortyeight. That the land and its creatures appear in different guises depending on what expectations we bring to the encounter⊠In which case, âgoodnessâ would be important, right? It would render any encounter harmless. Whereas fear would be mirrored by something fearsome, violence by something violent.â
Dora looked back and forth between them. âWould you please tell me what youâre talking about?â
Fox said, âWe will. But can you answer me one question first? Are you certain Juan was never obsessive, or angry, or violent before?â
âNo,â Dora said definitely. âNot in all the time Iâve known him. He had a temper when he was younger, thatâs what broke up his first marriageâbut he went through therapy after his divorce. He changed. He wasnât like that anymore; I wouldnât have married him if he had been. Heâs always been an angel to me.â She sighed heavily. âI mean, he was before all of this.â
Fox met Maggieâs eyes over Doraâs head. She knew what he was thinking. Juan had encountered the Drowned Girl, perhaps because heâd gotten so entranced by Annaâs paintings. And the girl was drawing out something at the core of Juan that heâd thought was dead and buried.
âLook, youâve got to tell me whatâs going on,â Dora said with mounting irritation.
Maggie looked at the younger woman squarely. âI believe the creatures Anna painted are real, Dora. Iâve actually seen some of them. Iâve never seen a girl like the one in this painting; but I think itâs very likely that sheâs out there, somewhere, in the hills, and that Juan has gotten ⊠involved with her.â
Dora looked at her sharply. âTheyâre real? Youâve actually seen them?â
Maggie nodded. âReal enough to touch. I fed one breakfast in my kitchenâand
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