Serafina and the Twisted Staff: Chapters 1–6

by Robert Beatty
In this second book of the series, Serafina, now accepted by the Vanderbilts and allied with their nephew, encounters a presence that tests her connections to both high society and the shape-shifting cats of the Blue Ridge Mountains.

Here are links to our lists for the novel: Chapters 1–6, Chapters 7–12, Chapters 13–21, Chapters 22–34, Chapters 35–52
40 words 18 learners

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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. ken
    range of what one can know or understand
    It was beyond her ken why so many animals of the forest froze in terror when she pounced.
  2. reedy
    thin and high-pitched in tone
    Suddenly, she could detect everything in the forest around her—the sound of a tree frog moving on a branch thirty feet behind her, the reedy buzz of a lonely timberdoodle in the distance, and the glimpse of a bat swishing through the starlit sky above the broken canopy of the trees.
  3. gnarled
    old and twisted and covered in lines
    Serafina sat down on the forest floor with her back against an old, gnarled, lichen-covered oak tree and held the rat in her clenched fist on her lap.
  4. bolster
    support and strengthen
    She reckoned he’d bolster his memory of his courage the farther he got away from her and have a good story to tell his wife and little ones by the time he got home for supper.
  5. gossamer
    characterized by unusual lightness and delicacy
    She heard a delicate, almost gossamer, whisper-like murmur.
  6. outcropping
    part of a rock formation that juts above surrounding land
    She made her way over to a rocky outcropping, where the ground fell steeply away into a forested valley.
  7. dignitary
    an important or influential person
    The Vanderbilts’ guests—family members from out of town, businessmen, dignitaries, famous artists—slept on the third floor, each in their own luxuriously appointed room.
  8. newfangled
    needlessly modern, different, or innovative
    Serafina’s pa maintained the steam heating system, the electric dynamo, the laundry machines powered by spinning leather straps, and all the other newfangled devices on the estate.
  9. dub
    give a nickname to
    Her pa, half joking when he’d said it, had dubbed her the C.R.C.: the Chief Rat Catcher.
  10. scintillate
    emit or reflect light in a flickering manner
    The stars and planets hung in the blackened sky, scintillating as if they were alive with the spirits of ten thousand souls, but they offered no answers to the mystery.
  11. alignment
    the spatial property possessed by things in a straight line
    They hurried across the sky, their little wings fluttering, heading southward for the winter, traveling secretly at night to avoid the hawks that hunted in the day, using the ridges of the mountains below and the alignment of the glinting stars above to find their way.
  12. ensnare
    take or catch as if in a trap
    Her pa had always warned her about the world, of the dangers that could ensnare her soul, and after everything that had happened, she was sure there were more demons out there.
  13. rankle
    make resentful or angry
    The more she thought about the flocks of birds she’d seen, the more it rankled her peace of mind.
  14. canter
    go at a smooth three-beat gait, of horses
    The horses were all cantering together in a forceful rhythm, as if by the rein of a master, but there was no driver to be seen.
  15. meander
    move or cause to move in a winding or curving course
    She took shortcuts, taking advantage of the road’s meandering path.
  16. trepidation
    a feeling of alarm or dread
    Despite the trepidation she had felt moments before, the challenge of keeping up with the horses made her smile and then made her laugh, which made it all the more difficult to breathe when she was trying to run.
  17. fleeting
    lasting for a markedly brief time
    She thought she could see two figures inside, but then there was a roil of darkness like she’d never seen before—a shadow so black and fleeting that it was impossible for even her eyes to make it out.
  18. sinewy
    possessing physical strength and weight; rugged and powerful
    A tall and sinewy man in a wide-brimmed leather hat and a dark, weather-beaten coat emerged from the carriage.
  19. craggy
    rugged and lined or rough-textured
    He had long, knotty gray hair and a gray mustache and beard that reminded her of moss hanging from a craggy tree.
  20. lanky
    tall and thin and having long slender limbs
    The hounds had large, lanky bodies, massive heads with black eyes, and ratty, thick blackish-gray fur.
  21. rustic
    characteristic of rural life
    There was something about the stranger’s rugged face and beard, his rustic clothing, and the way he said his words that made her think he was an Appalachian man, born and raised in the rocky ravines and thorny coves of these very mountains.
  22. quarry
    a person who is the aim of an attack by a hostile influence
    The man looked down at his pack of hounds. “Our quarry is near,” he told them, his voice filled with menacing command. “Follow the scent! Find the Black One!”
  23. haunch
    the upper part of the leg of an animal, often used for food
    Suddenly, the dogs howled, savage like wolves. All five of them burst from their haunches and lunged into the forest.
  24. maw
    the mouth, jaws, or throat
    Coming up behind her, the first hound reached out its ragged neck, opened its toothy maw, and bit the back of her leg.
  25. fray
    a noisy fight
    “Haaaa!” came a violent shout out of the darkness as a boy with long, wild hair leapt into the fray, striking and punching and clawing, flailing his arms in a spinning, growling attack.
  26. sheer
    very steep; having a prominent and almost vertical front
    She ran backward, defending herself from the incoming bites, but then she slammed into a face of sheer rock wall and could retreat no farther.
  27. indignation
    a feeling of righteous anger
    Just as she turned to climb, another dog lunged at her, but the boy leapt onto its back, biting and scratching like a wild animal. The hound howled in vicious indignation and twisted around, snapping furiously at the boy.
  28. melee
    a noisy riotous fight
    They went tumbling onto the ground in a fierce ball of battle. Two more dogs dove fang-first into the melee.
  29. foothold
    a place that provides support for standing or climbing
    Seeing her chance, she jumped up and grabbed the branch of a rhododendron, then hoisted herself up the face of the rock. She quickly found a foothold and another branch. Using the rhododendron bushes as a ladder, she climbed as fast as she could up the cliff.
  30. mongrel
    an inferior dog or one of mixed breed
    The two dogs that had been on her had disappeared. They were running along the base of the cliff. Those mongrels are looking for another way up, she thought.
  31. lithe
    moving and bending with ease
    He had brownish skin, a lithe, muscled body, and long, shaggy dark brown hair, but it was his speed and his ferocity that struck her most.
  32. rabid
    infected by an acute viral disease of the nervous system
    She reckoned he must be one of the local mountain folk, like her pa, who were well known for being tough as nails and twice as sharp, but the boy had fought as hard as a rabid bobcat.
  33. feral
    wild and menacing
    There was something almost feral about him, like he’d lived in these woods all his life.
  34. elude
    escape, either physically or mentally
    She stumbled through the sea of trees, knowing there was no way to elude the dogs now.
  35. headlong
    with the upper or anterior part of the body foremost
    Suddenly, the trees opened up and she nearly fell headlong over a cliff edge into a rocky crash of whitewater rapids below.
  36. bedraggled
    limp, untidy, and soiled
    When the rapids finally spat her out into the calm water downstream, she crawled from the river, wet and bedraggled, and collapsed onto the rocky shore, exhausted.
  37. undulate
    move in a wavy pattern or with a rising and falling motion
    It was the most incredible feeling, streaming through the night at high speed, propelled by the undulating rhythm of the lioness’s bounding stride, so strong and quiet and fast, the dark lion running beside her.
  38. poultice
    a medical dressing spread on a cloth and applied to the skin
    The wounds on her arms and legs had been treated with poultices of forest herbs.
  39. cusp
    the point of transition when something happens or changes
    It was as if the angel protected the glade in a cusp of time, making it a place of eternal spring.
  40. cleave
    separate or cut with a tool, such as a sharp instrument
    My soul was cleaved. I need time to heal, to understand what I am.
Created on Wed Apr 10 16:10:59 EDT 2024 (updated Sat Apr 13 15:29:59 EDT 2024)

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