House of Salt and Sorrows

Ortun, the sailors, Cassius, and Annaleigh discuss Old Maude. Ortun gives orders to set sail for the crushed ship to save the sailors’ lives and cargo. Fisher is needed to relight Old Maude, and Cassius volunteers to wake him up. Annaleigh almost tells her father about her possessed sisters but decides otherwise, as he’s too burdened right now.

Cassius and Annaleigh don’t find anyone in Fisher’s room. She thinks he may be at the Grotto, until Cassius reminds her that there were never any balls. Annaleigh is worried about Fisher, but they don’t have time to search for him. She volunteers to relight Old Maude instead.

Using teleportation, Cassius takes Annaleigh to the island with Old Maude. As a snowstorm rages, they check lighthouse keeper Silas’s house near the lighthouse. Annaleigh finds the keys for the lighthouse and kerosene for a lantern, but Silas doesn’t answer when she calls his name. She creeps into his bedroom, where the old man has died in his sleep. Cassius covers Silas’s face with a blanket.

Annaleigh and Cassius hurry to the lighthouse as lightning crackles in the sky. She drops her lantern on the lighthouse steps and hurries to grab another, hearing a voice say “Dance with me” in the dark (327). She and Cassius work the pistons and mirrors at the top of the lighthouse, and the light temporarily blinds her. Cassius beckons her to him, as the light has revealed Fisher’s corpse on the floor.

Annaleigh is horrified by Fisher’s corpse, which indicates he has been dead for a long time. She thinks the timing is impossible, as she saw him the day prior. Suddenly, Fisher contorts, his limbs falling off and fluids oozing out. Cassius wields a hidden dagger, protecting Annaleigh. Fisher’s body peels away to reveal the Weeping Woman. Cassius calls her Kosamaras, his aunt, the Harbinger of Madness and Nightmares.

Annaleigh and Cassius coax Kosamaras to reveal she’s been the one behind the illusionary ghosts and balls. Annaleigh demands to know if she killed her sisters. Kosamaras tackles her and admits she only killed Rosalie and Ligeia, making them dance outside in the cold. Cassius convinces his aunt to reveal that Viscardi, the Trickster god of bargains, summoned her. Annaleigh realizes Viscardi is the dragon man who danced with her. Kosamaras wants to kill Annaleigh next, but Cassius pleads for her life. She promises to leave Annaleigh alone for one night, instead targeting Verity.

Annaleigh begs Cassius to take her back to Highmoor Manor, but the lightning renders sailing and his teleportation dangerous. Cassius calms her, as Kosamaras wants her riled up so she makes a mistake. They discuss Viscardi and who likely summoned him. Annaleigh wants to make a bargain with Viscardi to save her family. Cassius explains that Viscardi’s deals always fall in his favor; the only exception is if the dealmaker dies, as he won’t receive his end of the bargain.

As for who summoned Viscardi, Annaleigh doesn’t know anyone who seeks (or would seek) revenge on her family, except her honorary uncle Sterland. At the Churning Festival, he and Ortun got into a drunken fight, as Sterland was engaged to Ortun’s twin sister, Evangeline, but she went missing long ago. Annaleigh doesn’t think her father was involved, but Sterland might not believe this. When the storm settles, Cassius promises to kill whoever made the bargain with Viscardi. He voices his love for Annaleigh, and she almost admits the same. He teleports them back to Highmoor Manor.

Annaleigh returns to Highmoor Manor with Cassius, but all her family, even her deceased sisters and Sterland, are in the room. Everyone asks Annaleigh about Verity’s whereabouts since she didn’t come down for breakfast. Camille accuses her of being their sisters’ killer, not the curse, since she and Cassius found Rosalie and Ligeia’s bodies. She also thinks she killed Verity. Annaleigh accuses everyone of being “mad” and tries to tell them about Fisher and Kosamaras, but they insist Fisher has been dead for weeks and that she cried during his funeral.

Annaleigh takes Cassius’s dagger to kill Sterland, whom she assumes bargained with Viscardi. Sterland swears he isn’t the culprit and that he never thought Ortun killed Evangeline. Annaleigh lets it go when Ortun pleads with her. She turns to Cassius for validation, but he’s gone. Everyone asks who Cassius is.

Everyone insists they never heard of Cassius, though they remember his sailor father, who recently passed away. Annaleigh brings up past instances in which Cassius was present, but Ortun and Camille talk to her as if she’s “mad.” No one remembers him or the balls. Annaleigh fears Cassius was another of Kosamaras’s illusions. She gives Cassius’s dagger to her father, which turns out to be a butter knife, and her mind fills with torturous sounds. She smacks her head until her family restrains her.

Suddenly, Morella howls from upstairs, and Ortun hurries to check on her. He returns and states he needs Camille’s help with Morella’s labor, despite Morella only being six months along. Camille blanches, as Annaleigh is more equipped to help. Annaleigh hands over a book that the midwife left to help. Honor and Mercy are scared to be left alone with her, and when a statue breaks and piano keys play on their own, they run from the room. In the dust from the statue, Annaleigh reads the words “I EXIST” (363). She wonders if Cassius does exist or if the sentence is another illusion. Camille shouts for her help.