We were having such a good time making fun of the boys’ obsession with us, their terrible technique, and the way they had carried on like small children when we won that I almost didn’t notice Snow go running out of the house, hands over her face. I got up from the table and followed her, feeling worried. Was she offended by our habit of privately poking fun of stingy shopkeepers and would-be thieves? Granted, we could be a little cruel, but I didn’t think we had gone far enough to cause Snow to burst into tears.
I found Snow by the river. Her hands were still over her eyes, and her shoulders were shaking. I hesitated, not sure what to say. “We didn’t mean to offend you, lass. We’ll stop making fun of people who annoy us if the practice bothers you.”
She pulled her hands away from her face just enough to give me a confused look, then shook her head. She buried her face again, and I stared at her, feeling unhappy. She was acting as if her heart had been broken, but I had no idea why, and I didn’t know what to do about it. I couldn’t very well let her stay miserable, but I didn’t have the faintest idea how to cheer her up.
I sat down next to her, staring at the river as if it would tell me what was on her mind. After a moment, I ventured, “I want to understand. Is it all right if I try to guess?”
Snow didn’t reply, so I began, “Was it the way one of us were talking just now?” Still no reaction.
“Are you homesick?” She seemed to cry harder, but I didn’t know if that was a confirmation, so I tried again.
“Did you want to come to town with us?”
That startled her into looking up. She shook her head vehemently, wiped the moisture off her face, but then went right back to her silent sobbing.
I sighed inwardly, willing my imagination to come up with something helpful. “Is it because some of us got injured?”
She looked up again, gave a wan smile, then made a “keep going” gesture, tears still streaming freely. I was relieved that I had finally managed to guess the problem, which would make it a lot easier to comfort her.
“Are you annoyed with the people who inflicted the injuries?” That seemed likely enough of a reason to be upset.
Snow made the “go on” gesture again, and I gave her a confused frown in return. What more could there be?
Snow rolled her eyes, then slowly stood up. She headed for the same patch of dirt we had used earlier, and I watched curiously as she began to draw. She sketched five people who were so tiny that I could barely make them out, then started to draw people who weren’t much bigger around them. After a moment, I could see that the bigger people each had a hand pointed at the five people in the middle, and all at once, I understood. “You’re really that upset that people make fun of us?”
Snow nodded, looking something between tearful and livid. She began to slash her stick through the mocking people in the picture, trying to take out her anger on the drawing as her tears made dark spots in the earth.
“You don’t have to be upset. We’re used to it.”
She gave me an incredulous look, then continued to destroy each taunting figure. She briefly drew what appeared to be a castle around the people who represented us, running over the now-mangled scorners as she did so.
I sighed. “I know the way we’re treated isn’t fair. I don’t want you spending all your time fretting about how hard we find it to go into town.” She seemed to ignore me, and I chose to let her draw. I didn’t know how many dirt people she would have to destroy before she felt better, but I figured she needed to vent.
I returned to the kitchen table, and my brothers were acting as if they had never realized I was gone. I did notice the conversation was different now, and Keaton was no longer at the table. I wouldn’t be surprised if he had already left for his next hunting trip. The boy found the town so stifling that he would sometimes leave us and disappear into the woods before our walk home was even finished.
I was interested and a little surprised to realize that my brothers were talking about what they would do if they each owned a shop in town. We usually avoided talking about impossible ambitions because it often caused a deep, thorny dissatisfaction, but I didn’t stop them. I couldn’t say why, exactly. Maybe I found the conversation too entertaining to interrupt.
After a little while, I noticed Snow walk in, and I made a point to watch her to see if she was all right. It was hard to see her face from that angle, but I thought her posture looked slightly deflated. She wandered up to the four-poster, which had become her bed, picked up the bolt of fabric I had left on it, then approached me with an expression of confusion. “It’s to make yourself a dress.” I had to talk loudly to be heard over my chattering brothers.
Snow stared blankly at me for a moment, then her face split into an incredibly bright smile. She held some of the fabric to her chin and looked down, already imagining what the dress would look like, gave me a beam that made me feel as if I was staring directly into the sun, then rushed over to the box where we kept our sewing tools.
In no time at all, she was cutting pieces and pinning them together, working so quickly that I wondered how she managed to avoid making a mess of her project in the process. She didn’t stop grinning, she moved with little bouncing motions, and I was sure that she would have sung as she worked if she had been able. I watched her curiously. I could understand that she’d be happy to have some clothing that wasn’t in rags, but I couldn’t figure out why it would make her this happy. She was acting as if she had been given the best gift in the world. Just what made that dress so important to her?
I realized that everyone else at the table was also watching her, most of them looking about as confused as I felt. “When do you think she was last given new clothing?” Landon asked quietly.
“I have a tunic from three years ago that looks nicer than the dress she has on,” Darren volunteered a little too loudly, but thankfully, Snow was so intent on her work that she didn’t seem to notice.
Cedric gave a disgusted snort. “I’d like to get my hands on whoever took care of her last.” His tone was angry, but quiet. “She’s way too skinny, even for a girl, her hands look terrible, and she came to us in rags. Someone’s been mistreating her, and I want to find them and teach them a lesson.”
“Maybe you’ll get your chance when her voice comes back. . . if it comes back.” By now, I had begun to realize that Snow might actually be mute, and not sick.
For some reason, it took a moment for me to register Cedric’s words, and when I finally did, I was overtaken by an anger so ferocious, it felt like I was burning with a fire that seemed to come from somewhere inside my bones. I had suspected something wasn’t quite right in Snow’s life, but I hadn’t really understood it until then. What kind of monster would be so cruel to underfeed her, withhold the appropriate clothing, and then work her to the bone? I knew this wasn’t a normal farm girl situation—if even my family could pull together enough for the things she most needed, so should whoever was responsible for looking after her before us.
In that moment, aside from Snow’s sad history, I realized something else. I was already protecting her as fiercely as I protected my brothers. Staying with us was no temporary situation. She was a part of the family now, and there would be no sending her away. Not when her voice returned, and not ever.
Chapter Four
For a few days after that run into town, I fretted about my ability to support Snow. She hadn’t been with us for three full days before we had cleaned out our funds, and I wondered what we would do next time we needed something. I spent every spare minute I had carving. Every thirty minutes or so, I’d get up to see what my brothers were doing, feel vaguely surprised to see that, for once, everything was fine, and then I’d get back to my work. Two days and six carvings later, the thought crossed my mind to wonder why things had been so uneventful, and I began to investigate.
It didn’t take me long, once I was looking, to realize that quite a few things had changed. The pranks were nearly non-existent, no one had start
ed a scuffle in a while, and the chores were being done much more efficiently than they ever had before. Of course, figuring out the reasons for these things was just a little harder. When I tried to ask my brothers outright, they looked as if they didn’t even know what I was talking about. I started to assign myself to tasks specifically for the convenience of spying on them to see what I could figure out. I was sure that if I didn’t pin down whatever was making them behave so well, something would change, and I’d be in the same place I was before.
As I was perched on the roof and nailing down shingles that were only barely loose, I looked down and noticed that Darren was “helping” Cedric make a large wooden chest. I fully expected Cedric to either explode at once or be patient only until the first major mistake, but Cedric barely yelled at all, and that wasn’t until Darren accidentally dropped the hammer on Cedric’s foot. Cedric was unusually quiet as he continually pried misshapen boards off the project as soon as Darren, who nailed them on in the first place, wasn’t looking.
I wondered, in some amazement, that they could get anything at all done that way until Darren eventually got bored and wandered off, leaving Cedric to work by himself. He gave a sigh of relief I thought I could hear from the roof. I was perplexed by this. Cedric could have saved them both some trouble if he had chased Darren away and been done with it, but instead, he chose to let Darren make mistakes that continually slowed down the progress of the project.
I looked around, curious to see what Darren would do next, but first I caught sight of Landon, who was fishing next to Godwin. Godwin was being unusually still, and near as I could tell, anything he said was spoken quietly, which was unusual. Normally, you couldn’t convince him to be quiet under any circumstance, let alone to avoid scaring the fish. Wanting a closer look, I finished my task and climbed down, then approached the two as quietly as I could manage.
As I came within earshot, there were two things about the situation that made me start. The first was that Godwin was not only talking quietly, but he was intentionally taking breaks in his chatter to give Landon a chance to reply. The second was that Landon was actually making conversation rather than daydreaming himself away. I was so astonished by these facts that I nearly exclaimed out loud, but I thought better of it. Instead, I walked away to find my other brothers.
Darren was with Keaton at the back of the house. Keaton was skinning a rabbit, which wasn’t unusual, but Darren was also skinning one, which was. The brothers greeted me as I walked up, and I looked from one to the other. Come to think of it, Keaton’s last hunting trip had only been about three days long, which was unusual for right after a trip into town—it usually took him at least five days to feel like himself again after our errands, and it wasn’t like Darren to stick to one task for so long unless compelled, let alone an unpleasant one like this.
Keaton frowned. “Why are you looking at us so strangely?”
“You’re rarely back this quickly, and how long has Darren been in the habit of skinning things? Is anything the matter?” Of course, there might have been less clumsy ways to phrase what I wanted to ask, but I was feeling rather distracted at the moment.
Keaton stared. “Why would anything be wrong? I came back sooner because I wanted to eat another of Snow’s meals.”
Darren gave a huff. “I’m skinning rabbits because that’s what men do. With another mouth to feed, I’ve got to step things up. It won’t do if I keep letting the rest of you take on the hard stuff.”
I blinked a few times. I thought that Darren calling himself a “man” was a bit of a stretch. He didn’t even have a beard yet, and his problem-solving skills were still fairly childlike. Up until these past few days, he hated responsibility, which was hardly a manly way to handle himself. Choosing not to point these things out, I said, “Well, then. I didn’t realize you had taken such an interest.”
He started to chatter at me about the other skills he was learning, and how mature he was becoming, when the thought crossed my mind that if Snow was the reason behind the changes in these two brothers, she might know what was going on with the others. I excused myself, then went to find her, wondering just what I’d find.
Snow was in the kitchen, standing next to Jeffrey, who was chopping vegetables with a level of skill I hadn’t thought him capable of. I immediately tensed, fully expecting the knife to slip from his hand like it had the last time he was assigned to this task, but his grip remained firm, and his confidence didn’t falter. Snow watched him carefully, seeming ready to act if he started to fumble.
They must have noticed when I walked up, but both were so intent on Jeffrey’s work that neither one looked at me. I waited until Jeffrey finished his vegetable, then said, “How long have you known how to handle a kitchen knife?”
Jeffrey looked up at me, grinning proudly. “For about twenty minutes. Snow’s been showing me how.”
I blinked. I had tried to teach Jeffrey how to handle sharp objects before, but he had never seemed to understand, or would forget some of my instructions minutes later. Just how had the lass managed this, and without giving any verbal directions?
Snow was beaming at Jeffrey with a pleased expression that our mother would sometimes give us if she was impressed by one of our accomplishments. The memory made me feel a little off balance. To distract myself before I got any further into the daydream, I said, “And I suppose you’re planning on learning how to bake, and to make stew, and to prepare meat as well?”
Jeffrey nodded happily. “I don’t think I’ll ever be quite as good as Snow, but she’s going to show me all kinds of things.” Snow’s beam became even brighter and more motherly, if that was possible.
I stared at the two of them for a long moment. I had tried, many times, to push one or the other of my brothers to help me prepare the meals, but it had simply never worked. They’d only do it reluctantly, and then they would follow my instructions so impatiently that they’d often make a mistake that would ruin the meal. It was downright foreign to me to hear that Snow had not only persuaded Jeffrey to take lessons from her, but that they were both enjoying the classes. For a moment, I wondered, uneasily, if we had invited an enchantress into our home and not an innocent young girl.
Shaking away the nonsense I had been thinking, I decided to ask her about the things I had observed in my other brothers. “Snow, did you happen to teach Godwin the art of quiet conversation?” I realized after I said it how absurd that sounded—Snow didn’t hold any verbal conversations whatsoever, which would make it difficult for her to teach it, to say the least.
She gave me a blank look, but Jeffrey chimed in. “She did, but by accident. You see, after Godwin had been talking to her for a while, but wasn’t stopping to look at her slate, she got bored and walked away to do something else. Godwin had to learn to pay attention to her if he wanted her to keep listening. After a while, he realized that if he said less at a time, it was easier for her to scribble out those picture answers, so he had to be quieter to hold a conversation with her.” Snow looked at Jeffrey with an expression of amazement, as if she didn’t quite believe what she was hearing.
I found myself grinning. “That might have been unintentional, lass, but it’s done wonders for his communication skills. I overheard him talking to Landon just now, and Godwin was actually listening for opinions instead of only asserting his own. Snow, do you happen to know why Landon’s been acting more alert? How did you teach him?” By now, I thought it was fairly safe to assume that all the changes I had seen in my brothers was Snow’s doing.
She shook her head, but Jeffrey said with a smile, “She did it in almost the same way. Landon wanted to know what she thought, but he had to pay real close attention to tell exactly what was on her mind. He likes to talk to her, so he learned pretty fast.”
Snow blinked a few times, then gave a little smile, looking both amused and exasperated. The girl really didn’t understand what she had done, and she probably didn’t see why we were making a fuss about it.
; Addressing my next question to Jeffrey, I said, “Has she also done more work on Cedric’s temper?”
Jeffrey laughed. “She hasn’t needed to. He was so upset when he missed breakfast that morning, he doesn’t want to risk it happening again.” This, Snow seemed to understand, and she also started to laugh. Silently, of course.
I paused, feeling thoughtful. When I had brought Snow into our home, I hadn’t realized just how much would change, let alone how many little problems she would solve without ever meaning to. It certainly was curious, and I wondered if all females possessed this mysterious power, or if this talent was unique to Snow. . . and Mother, come to think of it. I felt that we were very fortunate that our adoptive sister happened to stumble into our lives.
Chapter Five
Once we got started on it, the addition to the house came together more quickly than expected. Between Snow taking over all the cooking and household duties, the fact that Jeffrey had recently learned to use his hands without fumbling, Keaton’s trips away becoming less lengthy, and Darren becoming willing to help with the harder tasks, we worked more efficiently than we ever had before.
However, the work was still difficult, and we felt consistently tired and sore as we built. About twice a week, we had a day when we couldn't work on the addition at all because we were all so exhausted. Snow fussed a lot on those days, clearly worried about us. I kept reassuring her that we were happy to do this for her, even if it wore us out.
Every so often, I wondered if Snow’s staying with us was really as permanent as we thought, but there really was no way of telling. I’d rather build the addition for Snow than to risk sleeping in the barn when autumn’s first chill hit.
One evening about two months after Snow came to live with us, and a scarce three days after we finished the addition to the house, there was a fierce rainstorm that made it nearly impossible to go outside at all. We had to leave a handful of our usual evening tasks undone, and we huddled inside around the fire, all except for Keaton, who was off somewhere. I hoped he had found some fairly sturdy shelter.
A Poisoned Apple Page 4