"After The Forest" Readalong Days 4/5

Mathias walks Greta home. When they get to the house they nearly embrace again but Greta notices the door open. When Mathias goes to investigate, she feels a presence and a woman's finger on her neck.

She screams and Mathias runs outside. He tells her that he needs to go find ‘her’ and Greta watches him leave. 

Greta notices that there is a bright red apple on the table, the same type of apple that had once been found in her dead mother's hand. 

She tells the book, which she finds in a different location than where she left it, about the evening. It encourages her to look for Mathias and gives her a spell that will take her to his location. 

The catch? Of course it uses a drop of blood. 

Hans goes to Greta, telling her of his worries about being a husband and father. He's worried he won't make a good either. 

Greta reassures him and he leaves. 

It's then that Mathias shows back up but tells Greta that he must go away again, but when he comes back, he'll explain everything to her. Greta makes him something to eat and then sews the yarn made by her spell into his coat. 

After he leaves, Greta uses the spell to follow him. It shows her to the cave and Greta is worried to go inside it because of the bear. Once she does she realizes that the cave held the bear and Mathias as she spots his belongings and coin. She also sees a letter from Mathias's wife to him, worried and hopeful that Mathias will be able to be healed from his bear affliction

She pieces together that Mathias is the bear and he returns to the cave. 

Greta is angry and does not want to listen to Mathias's explanations. He pleads with her to listen to him but she leaves, walking away through the dark forest, using a tree's hollow as refuge. 
 

Mira finds Greta in the tree the next day. She tells Greta she knows that she used tattermagic, twice now and the argument she had with Mathias. 

Mira urges Greta to remember the day she thinks she killed the witch, but it was not Greta who pushed her into an oven. 

Instead it was Greta's prayer to the woods. The trees rose up and destroyed the witch, saving Greta and her brother. Her brother made up the story about Greta saving the witch and she'd been carrying that with her a long time. 

Mira tells Greta to go to Mathias and she does. He explains that he can never be a proper husband to her but she does not care. 

They embrace. 
 

Greta and Mathias talk about his past. Mathias has lived for over 200 years and 174 of those has been as a bear, cursed by a witch who wed his father. 

The witch, who goes by many names, including Liesbeth to Mathias, is ancient. With black hair and ruby red lips, using blood red apples as a calling card. 

Greta learns that Mathias's mother was killed by her and so was Greta's mother. Now the witch is after Greta. 

Mathias explains that she has taken the place of the Baron's wife, that the witch is Elisabeth, the Baroness terrorizing the valley. 

Greta explains to Mathias that she is after Greta, and that she promised to be back ‘soon’. 

Mathias sends Greta back to her cottage and vows to go kill the witch and her familiar mage. 

Greta returns to the house but does not feel safe there. She packs her gingerbread molds and leaves the book at the cottage. 

On the way down to town she sees Christof who has gone to help a neighbour with a late season planting. Greta helps them and learns that the planting season is so late because the Baroness has been taking so many people for the Blood Tithe. 

After they till the field and are all hungry, Christof takes them to the pub. There Greta sees Hans Hueber who threatens her with a witchfinder, vowing to rid the valley of witchcraft. 

Suddenly, someone comes into the pub exclaiming that the Baroness has been attacked by a black bear, but that her companion fended it off. 

The Baroness has chosen to bait the bear with dogs and it will be killed…