Serafina and the Black Cloak

“Don’t be a dumb mouse. Don’t be a dumb mouse.”

Panic-stricken, Serafina coaches herself to stay in hiding as the Man in the Black Cloak searches for her in the basement laundry. Serafina just saw what the cloak can do and knows she is next to disappear if caught. The passage highlights Serafina’s felinity and foreshadows her eventual cat-and-mouse relationship with the villain. She feels like a metaphorical mouse right now—fearful and hiding—but, by the end of the novel, the roles reverse.

“You’ve had a bad dream is all. Been readin’ too many of them ghost stories. I told ya to stay away from Mr. Poe. Now look at ya. You’re all scuffed up like a cornered possum.”

When Serafina first tries to tell Pa about the Man in the Black Cloak, he dismisses every word as a dream she had. He references Edgar Allan Poe—American writer of horror and mysteries—reminding the reader how Serafina often borrows books from upstairs. His dismissiveness represents Serafina’s low station and unacknowledged identity at the beginning of the novel. This social lowliness changes drastically as Serafina continually proves her maturity and insight and discovers her identity. Pa’s invalidating response also provokes Serafina to speak out more strongly and demand to know why he hides her from the world. 

“But the more she thought about it, the more she reckoned that maybe her momma didn’t just go sauntering around into the forest that night to give birth. Maybe she already lived there. And if that was true, then what kind of creature had her mother been? And what kind of creature did that make her?”

After Pa finally tells Serafina that he found her as a baby in the forest, she realizes that so many of her strange attributes—unconnected collarbones, eyes that see in the dark, an uncanny sense of hearing—might be explained by who or what her mother was. She also understands that Pa might have been too hasty to take her from the woods; had he left her, Serafina might still be with her mother.

“She’s not the first one, you know.”

Braeden alerts Serafina that Anastasia Rostonova disappeared two weeks prior to the disappearance of Clara Brahms. He and Serafina are in the carriage headed to Asheville as they talk. This whispered bit of dialogue demonstrates that Braeden inherently trusts Serafina and wants to discuss the mystery with her, despite his reputation as a loner. Serafina desperately wants a friend, and as Braeden draws her in with conversation, she reveals that she and Pa live in Biltmore's basement.

“The day hadn’t left her exhausted. It had exhilarated her. Suddenly, the entire world was different than it had been the day before. She’d never felt so alive in her life. There were so many questions, so many mysteries to solve.”

Serafina keeps vigil in the carriage as Braeden sleeps. Her senses alert, she waits for any sign of attack. This passage summarizes Serafina's character arc almost a third of the way through the story. Far from hiding in fear, she wants to go hunting for the Man in the Black Cloak, and she welcomes this new world of mysteries to solve. She also embraces her unusual skills, motivated to protect her first real friend. 

“I’m not sure it was bandits, Uncle.”

Braeden hesitantly speaks to his uncle, Mr. Vanderbilt, once he is safely rescued from the trapped carriage in the woods. This line conveys several meanings: First, Braeden tries to politely say that Mr. Crankshod is either a liar or a coward, as he either saw the Man in the Black Cloak attacking the night before (not bandits) or he fled before he saw anything. Second, Braeden wants to ease into a report of the night’s actual events, knowing that Nolan’s disappearance into the cloak sounds impossible. Third, Serafina, hiding in the trees, hears Braeden’s attempt to right the record—and she hears Mr. Vanderbilt’s quick dismissal of Braeden, stirring her suspicions of Mr. Vanderbilt.

“OUR CHARACTER ISN’T DEFINED/BY THE BATTLES WE WIN OR LOSE, / BUT BY THE BATTLES WE DARE TO FIGHT.”

After reading several disturbing epitaphs in the old cemetery, each of which indicates the corpses there might not rest easy, Serafina takes heart to find the stone statue of a sword-bearing angel whose pedestal bears this inscription. The words engraved reflect the battles Serafina fought recently against the Man in the Black Cloak, and they foreshadow her upcoming fight to flee the lioness as well as other challenges. It is also notable that the angel’s sword is real (and sharpened, planted plot information necessary at the climax).

“After all she’d been through, it felt more than agreeable to be accepted by these wonderful little creatures. It felt like a homecoming.”

In one of the novel’s most vivid examples of Serafina’s kinship with nature, Serafina discovers mountain lion cubs on the edge of the graveyard’s clearing with the angel statue. She and the cubs immediately take to one another. Extraordinarily, the cubs have no fear of Serafina, and although the mother lioness could have killed her or chased her down, she allows her to flee.

“The sun abandoned her, the birds and the other daytime sounds went dead, and the darkness settled into the trees like a black oil.”

Though Serafina tries diligently to follow the river to the estate grounds before dark, she does not make it. This line is notable for its imagery, indicating both Serafina’s imagination and her senses of sight and hearing as the light fades. The darkening atmosphere also heralds her self-criticism; as soon as the sun sets, she curls up in the roots of a tree and proceeds to think of herself as a failure for the many ways the forest and its creatures wounded her.

“I know you’re good in the dark […] Best I ever seen, but you gotta resist the urges, Sera. You’re my little girl. I’d hate to lose you all the way.”

After Pa finds Serafina in the forest near Biltmore (after she wanders through the old cemetery), he reminds her that even though he is not her biological father, he still feels love and responsibility for her. The line is also foreshadowing: Serafina will have to resist evil urges when she later dons the Cloak.

“Are catamounts changers of some sort?”

This line heavily foreshadows Serafina’s meeting with a real catamount. It also introduces to the reader the idea of a “changer,” a creature who can shapeshift into other forms. Serafina has heard about catamounts in old folktales, and the line lays the groundwork for the resolution of Serafina’s origin.

“She couldn’t put it all together, but she smelled a rat.”

Serafina’s mind is closing like a trap on Mr. Thorne as the strongest suspect for the Man in the Black Cloak. From her hidden vantage point in the ventilation passageways, she can see Mr. Thorne’s air of victory upon Mr. Vanderbilt’s invitation to join his close friend group for cigars. The line also shows how Serafina trusts her instincts, aligning with her developing cat-like characterization.

“It makes sense, Braeden. The whole thing. He’s stealing souls. And he’s coming for yours next.”

Serafina’s relationship with Braeden is a central driving force to the plot. Even before Serafina catches Mr. Thorne bearing the Black Cloak, she deduces his identity and tries to tell Braeden. She is also concerned for Braeden’s safety, and this concern will motivate her actions, leading to the defeat of the Man in the Black Cloak. She has never had a friend and certainly does not want to lose Braeden now.

“I don’t want to go away.”

In many of his scenes, Braeden demonstrates worldliness and maturity; in conversations with Serafina, he is well-spoken and logical, and regarding the trapped carriage with Mr. Crankshod, he is authoritative. In this line to his aunt, however, his words and tone bespeak his actual age and station: He is an adolescent afraid of the unknown. Serafina, listening in, also senses that Braeden does not want to leave her behind.

“She had two choices before her: to slink away and hide, or to dare to fight.”

It is no easy decision for Serafina to fight the Man in the Black Cloak. Having twice seen the danger he presents, she knows he could kill her. Additionally, any action at all defies Pa’s directive to lay low. Serafina shows increased maturity and courage as she decides that some moments require fighting for goodness, even when grown-ups cannot understand.

“Here was her enemy. Here was the fight she’d come for.”

Serafina changes into the maroon dress and prepares to bait the Man in the Black Cloak. She finds him where she expected—the Billiard Room. In a revelation validating her powerful instincts, Serafina discovers that she is correct about the Man’s identity. Despite others’ doubts, she knows now that her suspicions are true: the Man in the Black Cloak is real, and he is Mr. Thorne.

“Now the trap was laid.”

In her elaborate plan, Serafina runs through the woods, leading the Man in the Black Cloak to the den of the mountain lioness and waiting for an ironic ally to attack him. This line demonstrates Serafina’s foresight and creativity, but she is not without flaw—she doesn’t realize the fresh snowfall will reveal her footsteps. The line also extends the metaphor of the cat-and-mouse “game” she plays in defeating the Man.

“She looked at the palm of her hand and opened her fingers, and then examined her fingertips one by one. Were they fingernails, or were they claws?”

Serafina feels a strange connection with the mountain lioness, whose response to Serafina shows recognition, love, and happiness; in this moment, Serafina feels more than ever that she may not be wholly human. The moment carries the theme of identity by directly questioning who—or what—Serafina is.

“Imagine understanding and controlling everything around you…”

The mountain lioness leaves the Man in the Black Cloak limp and bloodied, but Serafina now struggles against an unexpected force: the Black Cloak itself speaks to her. Its offer is persuasive because she spent much of the narrative trying to fight confusion and maintain control. As Serafina faces this extraordinary temptation and wavers in her decision, the story reaches its climax.

“I can’t find my mother! Can you help me?”

The cloak’s controlling influence rapidly sets in as soon as Serafina puts it on. Everything changes, though, when she pulls the hood over her head; suddenly she sees the cloak’s victims and hears their woeful pleas like this line from Clara Brahms. Just as Serafina has been questioning whether she aligns more with darkness than light, she is put to the test—and comes out on the side of light. Along with the other victims’ words, Clara’s plea cuts through Serafina’s sudden obsession with power and prompts her to rip off the Cloak. Hearing from Clara also takes the reader back to the inciting incident (when the Man in the Black Cloak took the little girl in the yellow dress) that sent Serafina on her journey.

“The rat don’t kill the cat, girl […] That just ain’t right.”

As Mr. Thorne throttles and chokes Serafina, she is about to fall unconscious when she hears Pa’s voice in her mind. Listening to his words, she finds inspiration to fight anew and slips free from Mr. Thorne’s clutches. It is fitting that Pa speaks to her in this climactic moment, as he has been her best and most consistent mentor throughout her life.

“After twelve years, you have healed my soul. Do you realize that? I am whole again because of you.”

Serafina’s mother acknowledges that without Serafina’s help and tenacity, she and the other victims would remain trapped by the cloak’s evil power. The line also underscores Leandra’s contrast with the other victims: Because she is a “changer,” the Cloak’s imprisonment tore her soul in half. She can now change from catamount to human form again.

“The cloak’s destroyed, and the rat’s dead.”

Serafina returns to the extended metaphor comparing Mr. Thorne to a rat she hunted, trapped, and defeated. Speaking to Braeden, Serafina here shows her no-nonsense, blunt side as well as her humility (she does not claim sole responsibility but instead uses passive voice; later she will call it a team effort).