The Garden

by Emily Shore

  I understand his meaning as I cross to the other side of the room and select a towel, but I’m not certain if I want to shed the Skeleton corset armor quite yet, especially since there are no dressing screens.

  “I will turn my chair if you’re more comfortable, but it reads as pointless to me.”

  “Why?” I counter, fiddling with the ends of the towel.

  “You don’t see me advancing toward you, do you?” Neil opens his arms, displaying them wide. “I have no interest in harpooning you, Serenity. But I have seen every inch of you already thanks to your Skeleton exhibit. Not one speck of your anatomy should go to waste. Every second, you lose more of your beauty to time.”

  I don’t bother mentioning my Immortal treatment.

  I just snort. “Because a girl is only as good as her petals…”

  Neil brings his hands together in a cathedral frame. “With some, yes. Others grow for more than just beauty. Trust me when I say you are such a flower. But it does not mean I can’t enjoy both displays.”

  “Maybe if more men were less concerned about the outward display, we would grow better,” I counter, playing his game.

  “Yes,” he agrees with me as he pivots in his chair. “Flowers need a certain amount of sunlight and water to feed them, but most grow in harsh conditions. And men are such restless pollinators. The way of the world. But the ones who blossom in the harshest conditions…ahh.” He inhales, closing his eyes for a moment before motioning to me. “Those are the ones I find most beautiful.”

  Shivering from the chilly air in the room, I take one look at the dry dress, turn to the side, and drop the towel to work at the corset strings at the bodice front. Magnolia has tied them. Far too tight. With them wet now, they are even harder to untwist. At hearing my suppressed groans, Neil finally stands, expressing an amused sigh. Immediately, I flinch when he advances toward me, but he raises a finger, signaling me to wait.

  I try to jerk away when his fingers land on the strings, but he tugs hard on one, summoning me. “I have spent a good deal of money to secure this visitation. And kept other bidders from doing the same. Please do not waste my time.”

  Noticing how his fingers don’t embark through the gaps of the strings, I relax a little more—even if his eyes do stray to my plump and heaving chest. Encouraged he is having trouble, I can’t help but lean over and fight against the chuckle tiptoeing on my lips. But after a suddenly pronounced and annoyed growl, Neil leans over and bites the knots until he’s managed to unfetter them. As soon as the deed is done, he loosens the wet strings for me and walks away, muttering something about how a professional sailor must have tied them. He returns to his seat, pressing his fingers together again.

  Through awkward motions, I manage to peel away the corset, discarding it to the floor. Careless of how it splotches on the marble, I reach down for the dry dress, pausing when I notice his eyes wander like a carousel on my form. I grab the dress. A moment later, my skin feels safe under the fabric. Managing to twist my hair into a braid, I keep it from dampening the dress. Not once does Neil move from the chair, though he does tilt his head to the side as if intrigued by my behavior.

  “You are fascinating,” he remarks just after. “Hastening to cover up when every other girl is ready to take off.”

  “They might be ready, but they don’t enjoy it.” I think of Gull and Fawn and who knows how many others?

  “Oh, some do.”

  “Or it’s what they try to believe so they can cope,” I argue. “Mind over matter can be very strong. Do whatever it takes to survive. Even if it means believing the lies of men.”

  I pace the room, arms hugging my chest.

  “Tell me, Serenity…” He invites me with a hand curled to the air. “Do you believe I’m lying?”

  “I can’t form an opinion.”

  “An impression, then. Indulge me.”

  Narrowing my eyes, I stop pacing and position myself in front of him. “You are a curiosity.”

  “Should I take that as a compliment?”

  “Hard to say. I’m a curious person. There’s something familiar about you, but I can’t say what it is yet.”

  “Hmm…I’m afraid to tell you that you are at a supreme disadvantage.” He crosses his leg as he reaches for the champagne glass on the table next to him. “You see, I know much about you. Very much.”

  I start pacing again, head flicking back every now and then. “An Aviary patron?”

  He shakes his head, then takes a sip of champagne. “No, I’ve certainly heard rumors about the Swan, saw voxel feed here and there, but the Skeleton Flower is my first encounter with you.”

  “Do you know Luc?” I pose my second question, but Neil shakes his head.

  “Not at all. You can say we run in different circles.”

  Defiant, I pause and stand with my hands on my hips. “So, why should I believe you know anything about me?”

  Neil stands then. Putting his glass aside and adjusting his suit, he strides forward, eyes sharp and alert, chin high and proud. Instead of retreating, I stand my ground, anchoring my fists at my side.

  “If you will permit me…” He raises one finger and continues, “This will be the only time I’ll touch you.”

  When his fingers descend to my dress, all the oxygen inside me deflates. The butterflies knock into one another, screaming for breath at the same time Neil lifts the fabric’s hem and kneels before me, hands settling on my thigh all in the span of a couple of seconds. Holding a clump of the dress with one hand, Neil tears one of the Skeleton Flower strings, peeling petals back and thumbing the faint brown mark on the inner side of my thigh. The only thing Luc kept from before the Immortal Treatment.

  With a crooked smile, Neil kisses the birthmark once, taps it twice, and juts his jaw upward to stare at me, pleased by my swollen gasp.

  Holy shit…

  “You know my twin!”

  16

  T h e S e e d K e e p e r

  I don’t have time to think about Neil’s revelation much less ask him about it. Immediately after the exhibit, Jade announces she is returning to visit Sky, but she prohibits me from accompanying her this time. Maybe she wants to learn more about his so-called fantasy without me. Tomorrow morning, I will find out more, but I don’t have time now. Not with Magnolia’s scheduled meeting.

  Questions skitter around in my brain like centipedes, multiplying legs with every moment. Now that the weekend is over, will I have to wait a whole week to speak with Neil again? Special exhibits like mine are reserved for weekends. Maybe he has free rein due to his all-access barcode.

  As soon as I reach the subterranean pool, I don’t hesitate to amble down the stone steps into the water. The pool drapes the skin around my knees and works its magic, scrawling watery notes into my flesh as I stare at the dark arches behind me. In the darkness, the cherub statue at the pool’s edge looks more like a ghoul, eerie, especially with the moonlight reflecting off the water and casting ballerina shadows to frolic around the grotto. I trust darkness too much. Never feel afraid of what lurks in the silhouettes. Or in the water.

  I feel him before I see him. Feel disturbed water just before he yanks me under. A Seedkeeper! On the way down, I instinctively exhale through my nose, wishing all the bubbles could transform into harpoons to carve him. With his hands on my neck, he forces my struggling body straight to the stone bottom. Holds me there. Constricts my air. Can’t breathe. Too many bubbles. Too much breath going to waste.

  You’re part fish—just hold your breath! Once I stem the panic, and stop thrashing, the Seedkeeper loosens his grip just a little. Just what I need for one of my legs to thrust upward, foot knocking right into his gut. For just one moment, his grip on me fractures—enough for my nostrils to snatch the surface air, but relief turns a page to horror when the Seedkeeper attacks me from behind, wrenching me back by my hair. My scalp burns. One mighty hand plants itself on my chest so he sinks me again. This time, I take a deep draught of air and keep my eyes open,
searching for weak spots. Can’t think about why. Just need the how. How to attack. No, I shake my head back and forth in the water, knowing my body will be no better than a pixie attacking a whale. Even if I can remember weak spots on a human body, there’s no guarantee any of them will work. Water is my domain anyway. All I need to do is escape.

  Saving a few bubbly exhales, I twist and send my elbow sparring into his rib cage, which is what I need. He lets go of my hair to protect himself, and I don’t resurface. Hemming my legs together, I skid along the stone bottom, putting as much distance between us as I can. Icy water engulfs my body, and I know I’ve reached the deep end. Not much time left. My lungs will become a lonely burial ground bereft of breath if I stay under another moment, so I rise, spinning my head. He isn’t far behind me. Just enough for me to scramble out of the water via the stone ledge to my left.

  Just as I get my knees on the ground, the Seedkeeper seizes me by the back of my neck. So close. Terror tunnels into me fast, but then, I see her out of the corner of my eye. Skin white as a shroud with the moon blowing a reflective kiss off her knife. My body smacks the water just as she lunges, knife passing right over my shoulder. Magnolia rams the blade right into the Seedkeeper’s neck. His grip on me breaks. Blood competes with the water, ultimately winning out and ballooning from the slashed artery.

  Using his body as leverage, I kick away until my arms discover the ledge again. Magnolia follows me out of the water, and we both collapse on the ground, gasping, our similar dresses soaked from blood and water. The knife clatters to the stone beside her. Her head nudges mine, eyes soap-like—pale and thick—they still manage to impale me.

  “I saw you fighting as I ran up,” she huffs, chest heaving. “My mother should’ve made you a mermaid. Like Chrysanthemum. You can drag a man right down to the depths.”

  I shake my head and giggle, covering my mouth at the ridiculousness. “I’d rather have bit his head off. Drowning is much too quiet.”

  “I was wrong.” Slower and steadier than me, Magnolia eases up from the ground and gestures to the dead Seedkeeper. “It wasn’t who I thought. The Seedkeepers have been trained to only respond to my mother’s voice. More like programmed…surgically. Someone must have tampered with this one…somehow.”

  Leaning back on my hands, I gaze at her and ask, “I thought you knew who ordered Chrysanthemum?”

  “Unless there are two, it can’t be who I think it is.”

  “What will Jade do when she sees?”

  Magnolia inclines her head back to the pool. “We can’t leave him there. If we do, she’ll know he attacked one of the Flowers. She’ll quarantine the entire Garden. No clients in or out.”

  Does that include Neil? If that’s the case, I won’t have the chance to speak to him about my twin.

  “Mother is used to dealing with threats from the outside, but internal ones…I don’t know how she will react,” Magnolia finishes.

  “But you’re her daughter.”

  “That doesn’t matter. I’m still a Flower here all the same. I can see her restricting all of us to our quarters. But if we get that body to the ocean, it will look like the murder happened from someone outside.”

  “But how do we do that with the electric fence around the border?”

  “There are weak spots near the ocean. Gaps. I will show you.”

  The mere mention of the word gaps sends an electric charge right into my heart, igniting my lightning. If it’s possible, a way to escape, perhaps we can get far enough away for Luc’s inhibitor to be out of range.

  “Well, Serenity, a girl of many talents, I see.”

  While I spin my head to the subject of the new interruption, Magnolia just stiffens. Not difficult to see she recognizes Neil’s voice even more than I do. In his typical, casual stance with arms placated behind his back, he advances toward us.

  “Moonlighting murder sprees included.”

  I glance down at myself, considering the irony of the situation since our first meeting isn’t so different. At least I’m wearing underclothes this time, and the dress is thicker. Oh, and there’s a dead body in the pool, of course.

  “It’s more like self-defense,” I correct before pointing to Magnolia. “And the credit goes to her.”

  “But you put up a good fight without a weapon,” she emphasizes.

  “How can you know that?”

  “I heard you thrashing around in the water. When I arrived at the grotto, I wasn’t hasty enough to attack before he followed you under the arches and to the deeper parts.”

  Now, Neil stands close enough to pick up every detail of our conversation. Interested, he squats and eyes Magnolia even though she can’t return the favor. “What do you ladies intend to do with the body?”

  “Why?” I raise an eyebrow. “You offering a suggestion?”

  “More like my assistance.”

  He turns his hand upside down, palm open and fingers curled toward me. Without refusing, I allow him to raise me up. Despite the same offer to Magnolia, she shakes her head and stands on her own. Less wet than I am, she doesn’t have as much trouble carrying herself. Since the Garden is located so close to the ocean, a steady current of salt air gusts all around us. Without the adrenaline to keep me warm, goose bumps sprout like daisies along my arms.

  Then, I realize Neil is unbuttoning his shirt, then tugging it off, following with his shoes. First, he places the shirt around my arms, giving the collar a quick tug to keep it anchored.

  “Chivalry’s not quite dead yet.” He winks. “And besides, doesn’t hurt to have another excuse to take my shirt off,” he says just before diving into the pool to collect the body. He’s less muscular than Luc and Sky. Considering his silver-spoon tongue and suits he always sports, it’s not surprising. Neil strikes me as that pretty artist boy. That and his soft hands. Still, he’s lean enough to lug the corpse out of the pool.

  “I can hear your breath, Serenity,” Magnolia murmurs as Neil hauls the body over the pool’s ledge. “Is Neil your secret client?”

  “How do you know him?”

  “From time to time, he comes here, but he spends most of his time overseas. Business there keeps him occupied. But you didn’t answer my question,” she adds.

  Over the sounds of Neil’s groaning from hauling the soaked body onto the concrete, I lean closer to Magnolia to inform her, “Let’s just say he hasn’t deflowered me yet. And won’t.”

  “Why? You’re clearly attracted to him, and that’s a rarity.”

  Not that attractiveness matters much. I turn to the pool. Neil is just getting the Seedkeeper’s legs over the side of the pool. For me, attraction doesn’t register as a benefit. The only attraction that’s ever ignited my heart, strong enough to handle my lightning, belongs to Sky. Body, mind, and soul all kindled—full planetary alignment. Without that kind of attraction, I fear fading—like my mother—to cope, but unlike her, I won’t do well. Instead, I’d become a dying star…and implode.

  “So, ladies…” Neil turns to us and motions to the dead body. “Where to?”

  It’s refreshing to see him like that. Balances things somehow that he’s just as watery as he’s seen me.

  “Follow me,” Magnolia says.

  “Do you need help?”

  I screw my brows together to watch Neil shake his head before bending over, gripping the Seedkeeper by the waist, and heaving him over his shoulder, growling just a little as he does. But he stops short and heaves a few exhales before dropping the body.

  “Hmm…” he pauses, gesturing to the two of us and clearing his throat. “Um ladies…I never professed to be a body builder.”

  I refrain from chuckling as Magnolia and I agree to take the legs while Neil handles the other half.

  “Much obliged,” he adds. “Moving dead bodies does not happen to be in my repertoire. I don’t plan on expanding either.”

  “Why are you doing this?” I ask as Magnolia directs us onward.

  “This is my holiday.” Neil is incred
ibly open. “And I’m very much enjoying myself. It would be a shame for a quarantine to interrupt that holiday. Besides, it’s not every day you get to dispose of a body. Another secret to bind us together.”

  My mind immediately goes to the other secret. “How do you know my twin?”

  Neil pauses for a moment, exhaling. “One thing at a time, Serenity. Be a good girl and keep a stiff upper lip.”

  Part of me wants to tell him my lips aren’t the trouble. My fists are, but he’s right. One thing at a time.

  On our trek to the ocean’s edge, he groans a couple of times from the Seedkeeper’s weight. Muscle is heavier than fat, and all the Seedkeepers are blessed with an impressive collection—just like Sky. As Jade stated, it’s what she likes. I ponder what Magnolia said regarding the Seedkeepers. How someone must have tampered with this one. What does that mean? Do they have some sort of electronic inhibitor like Luc? It would certainly explain a few things, such as their complete lack of interest in any of the Flowers. Yes, the guards at the Aviary are dedicated professionals, but they work for money, and even they receive a discount while some girls snuggled up to them on the side in exchange for special protection or favors. Here, the Seedkeepers are emotionless—faces quenched of expression like a numb winter choking a rose. What little attention is granted to them all stems from Jade.

  Is she going to turn Sky into a Seedkeeper?

  “There’s a gap just beyond these trees to a little bank.”

  Magnolia motions to a tree on her right after she’s guided us down the palm-tree-lined stone path and past the gazebo to its right flank as we face the water. We are relieved to be rid of the burden almost as much as Neil is, and the body slaps the water hard after we chug it into the waves.

  “The current will carry it right to the retaining wall where the electric fence is. By morning, it may not even be recognizable.”

  “Well, ladies…” Neil stretches out his hands. Thanks the two of us. “It’s been an honor and a pleasure. A memorable night indeed.” He bows just at the waist to us. “Serenity, I’m certain we will bump into each other from time to time, and as usual, I’ll see you after your exhibit next weekend. Perhaps a new location will be appropriate next time.”