Pretending to be a bear. Is that what the thing is doing? Is it copying other animals it has seen?
That didn’t make any sense at all. Why would a creature copy animal behavior?
“And where did it come from, anyway? It wasn’t on this mountain with us all along. We would have known.”
Griffin and C.P. said they were on the mountain because of a “sighting.” Who had seen the creature besides Mattie and William? The animal must have migrated from somewhere nearby, and Griffin and C.P. had followed its trail somehow.
She tried to think about what all of this information meant, but she couldn’t pull it together. Anyway, it wasn’t time for her to worry about the creature or the strangers on the mountain. She wanted to leave William. She had to have a concrete plan.
Chance had given her that roll of money, which would help her when she reached a town. William’s own preoccupation with the animal he called a demon had given her a second opportunity—to take food out of the storehouse and hide it away for the day she escaped.
She wanted to rush out to the storehouse right away, but she needed to think this through. First, she should continue with the plan to bring William a sandwich. Whether she was opening the storehouse or opening the trunk, she still needed to be certain that he was gone from the immediate area.
It had taken him at least two hours to dig the nearby pit, so if he’d moved on she would have at least that long to make her preparations. Mattie finished assembling the sandwich, wrapped it in a clean white cloth and tied a knot in the top. Then she pulled on her coat and wrapped her scarf tightly around her neck. Before she went out she made certain to close the cracked-open window, because even the small amount of cold air coming in had chilled the cabin. If William found the window open he would be annoyed, especially since he’d built up the fire and left enough wood for the cabin to stay warm while he was gone.
Mattie put on her boots and stepped outside the cabin. As she pulled the cabin door closed she noticed her hands were trembling. She’d never defied William so openly before.
You can’t be afraid. You have to be brave, or at least try. William’s in such a good mood today that he’s unlikely to punish you if he finds you outside.
But finding her out of the cabin might cause his mood to change. And she knew his mood could change without warning, could flare up like a summer storm.
You’re only taking him a sandwich. You haven’t done anything wrong. Not yet, anyway. If he finds you in the storehouse . . .
Mattie would have to come up with some excuse for the storehouse. She could say she wanted to make him a special dinner. As long as she was behaving like a good wife then it would be all right.
And what if it isn’t? What if he beats you so badly that you can’t walk or run?
“Then I’ll have to get better, and try again,” she whispered. “I have to try.”
She followed the path of William’s footsteps in the snow, past the garden, past the outhouse and on. There was a little clearing after the outhouse, the fresh snow broken only by her husband’s boots. Mattie continued in his steps until she reached the cool dark of the pines.
Her eyes took a moment to adjust, especially the left one, which still wasn’t focusing as quickly as her right. She could still see William’s trail in the snow. A little farther ahead she discovered the pit.
He’d chosen a place where there was already a depression in the ground—Mattie could see the shape of it in front of and behind the pit. Then he’d dug through the layer of snow and into the hard earth to make a hole about five feet long and the same distance deep.
Mattie knew that the creature was much, much larger than this tiny pit, and she wondered how William expected to catch it. Perhaps he only wanted it to stumble, to break a limb. She supposed that the pit was close enough to the cabin that William could run out and shoot the creature if he heard it fall in.
The dirt from the pit had been spread all over the path, covering the snow. Mattie thought this was to obscure the pit at night, when the snow seemed to glow white. If there were several feet of dark earth before the creature reached the hole then it was more likely to fall in.
She supposed that he might put some meat out to lure it, and then would cover the hole with pine boughs or some such thing. It seemed very cruel to her, almost as cruel as the shiny silver trap with its snapping mouth. Both were meant to hurt, to cause suffering before death. Mattie was afraid of the creature in the woods but she didn’t think it should suffer. She didn’t think they ought to be bothering with it at all, really. It had warned them and they should take that warning seriously.