57 pages • 1 hour read
A. B. PoranekWhere the Dark Stands Still
Fiction | Novel | YA | Published in 2024A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapters 24-31Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 24 Summary: “The Leszy’s Apprentice”
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. Tired of holding back her desire for the Leszy, she talks him into joining her in the water. The Leszy tucks a flower behind her ear and asks her to stay with him: “Stay, and you can have all the power and magic you desire. Stay, and you can be anyone you want” (224). She tells him that this is a bargain and that she wants something in return. Then she kisses him. After a moment’s hesitation, he kisses her back. They share a passionate embrace as colorful motes of magic float around them.
Chapter 25 Summary: “Weles’s Punishment”
Liska and the Leszy return to the House under the Rowan Tree, and she doesn’t regret choosing the manor over Stodoła even though she wishes she knew what she and the Leszy are to one another. The Leszy enters the manor while she stays outside to enjoy the peace of the woodlands at dawn. Suddenly, Mrok appears and desperately tries to pass through the manor’s gates. The ghost hound startles and vanishes when Maksio comes outside. The Leszy looks weary at breakfast, but he tries to conceal this. Concerned, Liska follows him to his bedroom, where she finds him pained and feverish. She helps him take a potion.
Chapter 26 Summary: “They Say the Leszy Has No Heart”
Branches slither inside the Leszy’s body, causing him terrible pain. He explains that Weles is inside his heart. He uses potions to keep the old god asleep, but he is late to take that morning’s dose, and Weles knows that Eliasz defied his will by kissing Liska. Even in his slumber, the god of the underworld is powerful enough to command demons. Liska wants to find a way to break Eliasz’s pact with the old god, but he explains that, even if he could manage that, his powers and the Driada would vanish. She feels responsible for his pain because she kissed him, but he assures her, “It was my choice, and I was prepared to pay the price” (237). Liska holds his hand until he falls asleep. Then she searches his room for clues and discovers a book of magical history that mentions an ancient belief in twin souls: “Such twin souls were tied in fate, destined to live and die as one. It was said they would share great powers” (240). While the Leszy is asleep, Liska retrieves Mrok's tooth and follows the ghost hound into the Driada.
Chapter 27 Summary: “A String of Rowanberries”
Mrok grabs Liska’s clothes in his jaws. Maksio emerges from hiding and sings, “Leave Liska alone!” (246). His voice makes the ghost hound wither away, and Liska realizes that the boy is a rusałka. The Leszy storms into the forest and tries to kill Maksio. Liska shields the boy with her magic and explains to the Leszy that he was trying to protect her. Liska decides to give Maksio a chance because, although he has likely taken human lives, he didn’t choose to become a demon.
The three of them return to the manor, where an amused Jaga reveals that she knew Maksio was a spirit all along. Liska uses her magic to see the rusałka’s memories and discovers that a mysterious force compelled him and the other rusałki to lure the men out of the village. Maksio writes, “I like it here a lot. I don’t want to go back to the river, even though I know I should” (255). Liska assures him that he can stay.
Chapter 28 Summary: “All Souls’ Day”
The next day, the Leszy reminds Liska that All Souls’ Day is in three weeks. He offers to let her return to her village for the celebration, but she doesn’t feel ready to see her old home yet. While searching for warmer clothing, Liska discovers an old sketchbook filled with drawings, including a self-portrait of a “round-faced [girl], with small, dark eyes and shining hair bound carefully back” (259). Jaga has no memory of the artist. Liska hopes that one of the Leszy’s belongings may have some helpful memories attached to it, so she sneaks one of his notebooks out of his study.
Chapter 29 Summary: “The Man with a Hole in His Chest”
Using the Leszy’s notes on the soul-searching spell, Liska attempts to unearth the sketchbook’s memories. After this endeavor fails, she tries to reach Mrok’s spirit through his tooth. The tooth explodes into tendrils of darkness that fill the library. When they dissipate, Liska sees the ghost of a handsome man with a hole in his chest. The Leszy calls for Liska, and Jaga volunteers to distract him. The ghost leads Liska to Weles’s shrine in the forest. Six skeletons, each with a wooden fetter like the one Liska wears, are arranged around a totem of an antlered figure. She realizes that the ghost is Florian and that she is meant to be the next sacrifice.
Chapter 30 Summary: “Six Sacrifices”
Florian tells Liska that she is the only one who can save Eliasz from Weles. He shows her a series of flashbacks. In the first, she sees a young man with black hair conversing with Weles, who has a humanoid, antlered form made of branches. Although the young man claims that he only wants to be the equal of his fellow czarownik, he agrees to give the god his life and his magic in 100 years in exchange for even greater power. The next memory takes place a century later. The Leszy tells Weles that he cannot give the god his life because the Driada will disappear without him. Weles agrees to accept another life in the Leszy’s stead if the person has sufficient magical power. The first sacrifice that the Leszy delivers to Weles is a man who betrayed his fellow czarownik. The second is a girl the Leszy promised great riches. The third is the artist who owned the sketchbook, and Liska recognizes her voice as Jaga. Eliasz told Florian the truth about the sacrifices, and Florian went to Weles’s shrine alone so Eliasz wouldn’t have to see him die. Before his death, he anchored his spirit to Mrok and told him to find someone who could break the curse.
Florian ends the flashbacks. His magic is fading, and with it his connection to the realm of the living. He embraces Liska, asks her to look after Eliasz, and vanishes. The Leszy finds Liska standing beside the antlered totem and realizes that she knows everything.
Chapter 31 Summary: “The One Who Runs and the One Who Remains”
The Leszy admits that he planned to sacrifice Liska when he first made the bargain with her, but he swears that things have changed. She presses her dagger to his throat, but he reminds her that the Driada will perish if he dies. He says that he didn’t tell her his secrets because he wanted her to be happy for as long as possible. She accuses, “You never loved me, you merely enjoyed me” (284). She tells him goodbye, and they both weep as she walks off into the forest.
Liska goes to Kazimiera and tells her about the sacrifices. The elderly woman believes that Eliasz loves Liska, and she urges the girl not to sacrifice herself because she may be the last czarownik. Kazimiera believes that God gave Liska magic so that she could break the curse on the Leszy. Kazimiera shares her memories of Eliasz’s devotion to Orlica, such as the time he poured out his power to end a plague. She believes that he was trying to atone for the sacrifices. Maksio pounds on Kazimiera’s door and informs Liska, “Something is wrong with the Leszy” (290).
Chapters 24-31 Analysis
In the fourth section, the dark fantasy focuses on Liska and the Leszy’s complex love story and the secrets that threaten to tear them apart. Bargains figure prominently in Beauty and the Beast, and Poranek nods to the fairy tale when Liska and the Leszy share their first kiss: “I will stay. But this is a bargain, and I ask something in return.’ [...] She takes his face in her hands [...] and kisses him” (225). This third bargain underlines how much their relationship has evolved since the original deal that made Liska his servant. However, even after this romantic scene, the Leszy struggles with vulnerability. Using a telling simile, Liska objects, “You open and close like a door caught in a draft. One moment you put flowers in my hair, and the next you hide yourself from me” (238). Due to his secrecy, Liska and the Leszy continue to make plans independent of one another even after they become aware of their mutual love.
Florian’s ghost further complicates Liska’s relationship with the Leszy. Although he appears in only two chapters, he makes a strong impression on Liska: “She has known Florian for merely an hour, but she already feels a connection to him—his easy smile, his irreverence. He reminds her, distantly, of Tata” (280). Florian’s kindness helps to explain why his love changed the Leszy and why his death was so devastating to Eliasz that he allowed the manor to fall into ruin. In addition, the fact that Florian sacrificed himself at Weles’s temple explains why Eliasz keeps the truth from Liska even after he resolves not to offer her to the old god. The Leszy’s taciturn nature, long a point of contention between the main characters, threatens to destroy their relationship. Liska and Eliasz’s breakup heightens the love story’s drama and suspense.
Liska’s separation from the Leszy builds up Kazimiera’s importance as a mentor to the protagonist. After the breakup, Liska goes to the older woman’s home rather than “Stodoła, where she lived a lie, or the House Under the Rowan Tree, where she has been lied to” (284). This speaks to the great trust between the czarownik even though they have only known each other a short time. Kazimiera helps Liska resolve the inner conflict caused by her complicated feelings for the Leszy. For example, she provides insight into the Eliasz she knows: “He gave me a home, trained me, aided me when I called. During the wars, he was my brother in arms. During peace, he was my friend” (289). Kazimiera’s stories remind Liska of Eliasz’s noble qualities and his struggle for redemption. This helps Liska to recognize that the blood on his hands comes from his efforts to protect the human realm: “[I]f he had not done it, more would have died from the demons running rogue in Orlica. He sacrificed those people to bring peace” (288). The opportunity to sift through her complex emotions with Kazimiera helps the protagonist fight for her relationship with the Leszy and the human realm’s safety.
Kazimiera also supports Liska by offering her a new perspective on faith that affirms rather than demonizes magic. The elderly czarownik’s belief that God wants Liska to break the Leszy’s curse has a powerful effect on the young woman: “An unfamiliar wave of faith fills her, one she has not felt since she first discovered her powers” (287). In this view, her magic not only isn’t evil; it’s divinely ordained. This develops The Magic of Self-Acceptance by opening a way for Liska to reclaim her spirituality without denying any part of her.
Poranek uses literary devices to build up the story’s suspense and romance. Chapter 26 provides the first mention of twin souls who “would share great powers” (240). The idea that Liska and the Leszy are “destined to live and die as one” underlines that they are each other’s true love (240). The idea of twin souls also explains how Eliasz was able to absorb the strzygoń poison from Liska’s soul and foreshadows the plan the Leszy enacts during the climax. Another technique that Poranek uses to build anticipation for the novel’s conclusion is cliffhangers. Chapter 31 ends with Maksio delivering the news that something is wrong with the Leszy, and these grim tidings increase the reader’s anticipation for the story’s final section.
