Where the Dark Stands Still

Liska becomes the Leszy’s apprentice, and he teaches her how to navigate the Driada. He also teaches Maksio how to read and write. Liska is plagued by nightmares, including one that forces her to relive the last time she saw her cousin. After Tomasz’s funeral, Marysieńka told Liska that she would keep her magic a secret for the sake of their years of friendship, but she told her to leave Stodoła: “People like you don’t belong among people like us” (212). The Leszy hears Liska thrashing in her sleep and wakes her from the nightmare. Later that night, Liska and the Leszy find a man who has been led into a swamp by the utopiec, spirits of those who have drowned. When the Leszy tries to rescue the man from the utopiec, the panicked human attacks him. Liska saves both men by asking an old oak tree to form a bridge over the water so she can pull them to safety. The Leszy is astonished because the Driada’s trees barely listen to him.

Once the man is reunited with his caravan, Liska washes the swamp mud off her clothes in a pool formed by the spirit-wood’s river.