The Black Rose

by Diana Sweeney

  Orchid looked at her as if expecting her to speak. Wilhelmina wasn’t sure what to say. She thought for a bit and then remembered that she wanted to know what flower she was. She had a feeling Orchid might now.

  “Do you know what kind of flower I am?”

  “Yes, and you are a very rare one, a black rose.”

  “A black rose?” Wilhelmina said bewildered. She had never heard of a black rose, but Orchid had said it was rare. Then she remembered the marking on her back. Her black rose birthmark wasn’t a birthmark, it had been a sign. She felt dizzy for a moment, but soon snapped out of it when Orchid began talking.

  “Yes. Edmund searched for you for years. He even tried making one, but with no success, and then you showed up. You grew right in his garden, a beautiful black rose. He cared for you dearly. It is said that the black rose has great powers. He wanted to use you….” Orchid stopped there realizing that she probably shouldn’t say anymore. She didn’t want to upset her master, “Lord Edmund cares for us all. He sometimes gets a temper, but he would never hurt us, he’s quite fond of us.”

  Wilhelmina knew the rest of Orchid’s story. Edmund had turned her into a seed and placed a curse on her in order to attack her kingdom, but why? “Do you know why he wanted to harm Aridale?” Wilhelmina asked and as soon as she did, she realized she already knew the answer.

  “Revenge is a powerful emotion,” Orchid began, “You have to understand that at the time, he was very bitter, but now, he’s changed….”

  Wilhelmina smiled. Edmund couldn’t be all that bad if Orchid thought so well of him. She wondered if the other maids felt the same way about their master and then remembered Lily was still in the bathroom. “Do you think if I touched Lily, she would be able to talk too?” She asked Orchid.

  “Maybe,” Orchid said, “It’s worth a try. It worked for me after all.”

  “Well, then let’s go!” Wilhelmina grabbed Orchid’s hand and ran to the bathroom. It was nice to see that Orchid could move freely. She wanted to do the same for all the maids, but she wasn’t sure if she could. Orchid might have just been a fluke.

  “Lily?” Wilhelmina said nervously. Lily stared blankly at Wilhelmina.

  Wilhelmina wasn’t sure this was going to work. What if Orchid was just a fluke? Orchid gave her a little push and Wilhelmina smiled. Orchid also wanted the others to have free will.

  “Here goes nothing,” Wilhelmina muttered under her breath as she took hold of Lily’s hand. It was surprisingly cold, but before Wilhelmina could react, she felt the same tingling feeling in her hand that she had felt when she had accidently touched Orchid.

  “Lily?” asked Orchid.

  “Orchid,” Lily said staring at Orchid and then she gasped, “I can talk!” Lily began jumping up and down. “How? Why?” Lily asked looking at Orchid.

  “Rose did it.”

  “Rose?” Wilhelmina asked feeling confused. She hadn’t seen another girl. Orchid and Lily looked at each other with a puzzled expression and then looked at Wilhelmina.

  “That’s what Edmund calls you since you came from a rose,” Orchid said, “Is that not right?”

  Wilhelmina blushed. Knowing that Edmund called her rose had strangely made her happy. It was a cute name and it was her. She was a rose. “No, Rose is fine,” She smiled. Being called Rose also made her feel like Orchid and Lily. It was like she fit in and she always did want a lot of friends.

  “You’ve had a rough day,” Orchid said noticing Wilhelmina’s face. There was a hint of purple under her eyes. Her face was also red and puffy from crying.

  “You should get some rest,” Lily said grabbing Wilhelmina’s hand and pulling her into the bedroom. Wilhelmina followed after Lily. She did feel tired, but there was still so much she wanted to know.

  “Edmund probably won’t stop by till morning, so for now get some rest,” Orchid said pulling the covers over Wilhelmina. Lily lay down next to Wilhelmina. Wilhelmina hadn’t noticed how huge the bed was before. She had other things to worry about, but now that she lied in the middle of the bed, with Lily on her right side and Orchid sitting on her left, she realized the bed could easily hold three people with room to spare, at most it could probably hold five. Her bed at home was not near as huge. Hers could for sure fit at most three, but that would be a tight squeeze.

  “Thanks,” Wilhelmina smiled at Orchid. She then turned to thank Lily, only to discover Lily had already fallen asleep.

  “We work a lot and sleep is one thing we never really experienced,” Orchid smiled, “It seems Lily enjoys it.” She giggled and Wilhelmina smiled.

  “Are you going to rest as well?”

  “No, but I’ll sit right here and watch you two,” said Orchid, “Don’t worry."

  Orchid reminded Wilhelmina of her own mother and she soon found herself wondering about her mother. How were her parents? Her sister? Had she ruined Jerome and Edolie’s relationship? Wilhelmina had forgotten all about the wedding until now. More and more questions flooded her mind, but exhaustion got the best of her and she soon fell asleep.

  Chapter 11

  “Rose, Rose?” Lily rocked Wilhelmina back and forth. Wilhelmina slowly came to and Lily stopped shaking her. “It’s morning!” Lily exclaimed as she jumped out of bed. The events of yesterday suddenly hit Wilhelmina and she smiled at Lily. She was a very cheerful person. It was then she realized that Orchid wasn’t present.

  “Where’s Orchid?”

  “In here,” A voice came from the bathroom and Wilhelmina entered to find Orchid wrapped in a towel. She had just finished taking a bath.

  “Lily, it’s your turn,” Orchid said.

  “Kay,” Lily said as she undressed and then jumped into the tub.

  “We don’t normally get the luxury of enjoying a bath,” Orchid smiled as Lily swam around in the water. Orchid was struggling with brushing her long hair. Normally Edmund would do it since they only took baths when he told them to.

  “Here, let me,” Wilhelmina smiled as she took the brush from Orchid. She often brushed Milly’s hair and the thought saddened her. She missed Milly and wondered how Milly was doing.

  “Is something wrong dear, you seem sad,” Orchid said noticing Wilhelmina’s sad expression in the mirror.

  “It’s nothing,” Wilhelmina forced a smiled. Orchid had already told her a lot and Wilhelmina didn’t want to get her in trouble by asking more questions. She would have to talk to Edmund himself in order to get answers.

  “I would like to have a word with Edmund, Endymion, Lord Edmund, Lord Melanthius….” Wilhelmina realized she had no idea what she should properly call him.

  Orchid giggled, “I think Edmund is fine.”

  “Eddie!” Lily shouted as she jumped out of the bath “I wonder how he’ll act once he knows we can talk.”

  “That’s right,” Wilhelmina thought. Edmund didn’t know that his maids could talk yet, well two of them. She wasn’t sure how many he had nor did she know if she had the ability to make them all talk. It was quite strange, but Orchid and Lily seemed to have adjusted well.

  “Lord Edmund,” Orchid emphasized, “would probably be thrilled.” Wilhelmina smiled and left the bathroom so Lily and Orchid could get dressed. She stared at the bedroom door and remembered it had been locked last night. She knew it was probably still locked, but she gave the knob a twist and to her surprise, it opened.

  “The door is unlocked!” Lily said exclaimed, startling Wilhelmina. They were wearing the same clothes as yesterday. It was probably their typical uniform and it was then that Wilhelmina realized why all her clothes were black. She felt so stupid; she should have realized it when Orchid told her what flower she was. Wilhelmina was a black rose; her clothes would of course be black. It all made sense.

  “But it was locked last night….”

  “He probably unlocked it this morning, meaning he’s in his study,” Orchid said, “His room is right across from yours.” She pointed at a door that was on the other side of the wide hallway.


  “I’d like to talk to him,” Wilhelmina said looking at Orchid and she nodded.

  “I thought you might, I’ll lead you to his study.”

  “I want to go too!” Lily exclaimed, “We can surprise him and tell him we can talk!” she exclaimed and Wilhelmina giggled.

  “Yes, that sounds like a good plan,” Wilhelmina said and the three of them left the room together.

  Wilhelmina had only seen her room so far and was curious as to what the rest of the castle looked like. She also had no idea where they were, though she guessed this was Celewyn’s old castle, meaning they were in Fantasme Forest. After all, the story had said he disappeared into Fantasme Forest.

  “We’re in the royal family’s chambers,” Orchid said noticing Wilhelmina looking around.

  Wilhelmina nodded. That made sense since Edmund’s room was across from hers. There were a few more doors on each side of the hall, rooms usually used for the royal family’s children and even special guests. The hall came out onto a landing, which meant Wilhelmina’s room was on the second floor in the west wing. Orchid led her across the landing to the hall opposite of the royal chambers, which was the east wing.

  Wilhelmina looked over the elegant gold railing to see the ball room below her. If she wanted to leave, all she had to do was run down one of the flights of marble stairs and out the front door. It was then she realized that she didn’t really want to escape. She wanted answers and her parents wouldn’t give her those, so her only hope was Edmund. It was strange knowing you could leave, but not having the urge to do so. Then again, Wilhelmina remembered the stories of how once you enter Fantasme Forest, you never come out. It would probably be too dangerous for her to run away and she’ll probably never make it back to Aridale.

  “Is everything alright?” Orchid asked.

  “Everything’s fine, I was just admiring the ball room,” Wilhelmina said hiding her lie with a smile.

  “Well let’s go then!” Lily said grabbing Wilhelmina’s hand and they continued down the east wing hall. The east wing was shorter than the west wing. At the end of the hall was a library and there were a couple of rooms located on the right side. The rest of the hall was empty. Edmund obviously wasn’t the decorating type.

  “This is his study,” Lily said pointing to one of the doors on the right side of the hall. All of a sudden Wilhelmina felt nervous. What was she going to say to him? She felt her heart race. She also felt Orchid and Lily’s eyes on her, waiting for her to do something.

  “I can’t…” Wilhelmina said defeated as she turned to face them.

  “Sure you can,” Lily said, “Just like this!” She took Wilhelmina’s hand and used it to knock on Edmund’s door.

  “Lily,” Wilhelmina hissed and then she froze as she heard the handle turn. The door opened and she swore her heart stopped for a second.

  “You’re awake,” Edmund said simply as he saw Wilhelmina and then his gaze fixed on Lily and Orchid. “You asked both of them where I was?” He questioned confused as to why Wilhelmina needed two escorts. Orchid and Lily burst into a fit of giggles and then Wilhelmina couldn’t help but join in when she saw Edmund’s expression.

  “Since when…” Edmund stuttered. His creations were never able to talk or move on their own.

  “We don’t know,” Orchid smiled, “Rose just touched us and well….”

  “You?” Edmund looked at Wilhelmina.

  “It was kind of an accident, well Orchid was….” Wilhelmina said no longer feeling nervous. Her mood was lightened by Orchid and Lily’s laughter. She felt more confident, “But I want to ask you some things if you don’t mind.”

  “Uh…” Edmund began debating if he would rather focus on Orchid and Lily or on Wilhelmina. He decided Wilhelmina was more important, “Yes, come in.” He let her into the study and closed the door. He would deal with Orchid and Lily later.

  Edmund’s study was rather dull. There was a desk and a couple of chairs to one side of the room. On the other side there was a window and underneath the window were a green sofa and a brown coffee table. An arm chair was located next to the sofa and across from the armchair was a fireplace. The fireplace wasn’t in use since there was plenty of light coming through the window. There were some bookshelves scattered about, but other than that, there were no paintings or decorations of any sort on the plain brown walls. The coffee table lacked décor as well.

  Wilhelmina wandered around the room a bit before sitting down on the green sofa. Edmund followed suit and sat down in the arm chair. “Magnolia,” Edmund called and it was then Wilhelmina noticed that there was a girl standing next to one of the bookshelves. She had long wavy pink hair and fuchsia colored eyes. Her pink dress was similar to Orchid’s except it had shorter sleeves. “Bring us some tea,” Edmund ordered and the girl left the study.

  “Of all the dresses, you picked the plainest one,” Edmund noted as he stared at Wilhelmina.

  Wilhelmina frowned and chose to ignore his comment, “Why am I here?” This was the one question that had bothered her since she arrived.

  “I thought it would be obvious given what I told you,” Edmund sighed, “I really didn’t want to have to tell you myself, but if I hadn’t, you most likely would have been killed….” Wilhelmina was about to protest, but Edmund had put a hand up to stop her from talking so he could continue, “Your family might not have, but someone else surely would have. You are probably wondering why.” Edmund paused for a moment in preparation for the next part.

  “There are only two ways to end the curse, Rose,” He said looking straight at Wilhelmina. Wilhelmina wasn’t used to being called Rose quite yet so it caught her off guard. Edmund continued, “Either you must die or I must die.”

  “But you created the curse, can’t you just get rid of it!” Wilhelmina exclaimed in shock. Death seemed extreme and if he was indeed a sorcerer then why couldn’t he just rid of it. Then again, maybe this is what he wanted, “Or is this what you want….”

  “It’s…. complicated,” Edmund sighed. Magnolia then entered the room with tea, interrupting their conversation. She set it down on the coffee table and then returned to her corner.

  Edmund continued, “As years passed, I no longer became sure of what I wanted. I watched from afar, watched you grow. Then you were my creation and I wanted to know how you were doing. I noticed Jerome was falling for you and I felt pleased, only until I started to…..” Edmund shook his head, “that’s not important.” There was a long period of silence. Edmund took a few sips of tea, but Wilhelmina sat staring at her cup. He wondered what she was thinking and then she turned to look at him.

  “What’s going to happen to Aridale?” Wilhelmina asked breaking the silence. She was worried about her family and Milly.

  “The same thing that happened to Celewyn,” Edmund said before taking another sip of tea. As the cup left his lips, Wilhelmina smacked the cup out of his hand. He was startled by her reaction, but only for a second. The cup lay shattered on the floor.

  “Fix it!” Wilhelmina demanded as she stood before him.

  “I told you….” Edmund stood.

  “You’re a sorcerer, do something!” She screamed. It was then Edmund noticed the tears in her eyes.

  “After the way your family treated you, you still care that much for them! Do you really think they’d keep you alive if they knew killing you would end this?” He retorted and regretted when he saw the look of pain on her face. He let her sob for a moment while he tried to figure out what to say, but there was nothing. What he had said was only the truth and Wilhelmina deserved to know that, didn’t she?

  “Look… If I could do something I would, but I can’t…” Edmund said as he waved his hand to clean up the mess on the floor. The cup went back to looking new and the tea stain was gone. It looked as if there never had been an accident.

  Wilhelmina left the room in tears. She needed to be alone for now. She knew Orchid and Lily would probably be in her room, so she ran down the stairs and out the castle d
oor. It was the only place she could think of.

  Wilhelmina hadn’t been outside the castle before and her sobs soon turned to sniffles as she looked around. She knew they were in Fantasme Forest now as she saw a sea of trees ahead of her. She had a feeling it might be dangerous for her to be out here, but at the moment she didn’t care. Wilhelmina wandered around, but never strayed far from the castle. She didn’t want to get lost. Eventually she made her way around the castle and discovered that there was a garden in the back. She entered through the wooden gate and felt a tingling sensation in her heart. It was as if she had been here before.

  She closed her eyes to relax and then let her instincts take over. Eventually she came to an empty patch located next to the stone path she was walking on. It was big enough that two people could sit on it. Around the patch grew various flowers, lilies, tulips, violets and many more. Wilhelmina’s heart raced as she looked at the empty patch. This was where she had come from. Her mind flashed back to when she had been a rose. The image of a kind young man appeared. “Edmund,” Wilhelmina thought and couldn’t help but smile as she remembered him watering her and watching her.

  Wilhelmina jumped as she realized how weird a memory that was. She had been a flower, no, she was still a flower. She hadn’t focused much on the idea. Lily and Orchid made it seem so normal. It wasn’t till now that Wilhelmina comprehended how strange it really was. She felt a new wave of tears coming on. Wilhelmina knelt on the empty patch of grass and buried her face in her hands. How could she be a flower? She had to eat and sleep like a human. She could speak and had her own mind. “Why me?” She sobbed.

  Chapter 12

  Edmund sighed as he sat down on the green sofa in his study. That had not gone has he had hoped. He leaned back and rubbed his forehead. This whole situation was giving him a headache. It was not even lunch time and he was already exhausted.

  Suddenly his door burst open. Startled, he stood up to find Lily storming towards him. Her nostrils were flaring and her face was red. Edmund began to wish she had never learned to feel or talk.