by Ksenia Anske
“I can’t believe she came right to the house,” Lilith said. “We need to find Ed, and then try to talk to her.”
“I don’t think there’s need for that,” Panther squealed.
The ground shook. Crows scattered. The rose garden parted like a bloody sea, and a tall figure towered over them.
“Rosehead,” they said simultaneously, staring upward.
The bush woman stood about thirteen feet tall. An enormous belly protruded from her midriff. She located the girl and the dog with her scarlet eyes and, arms outstretched, took one thunderous step forward.
Chapter 24
Up the Oak Tree
Lilith and Panther ran for their lives, using bushes for cover. Rosehead didn’t seem to be very agile when it came to following her prey. She crushed after them, uprooting everything in her wake. Neither girl nor dog dared to look back as they sprinted along the alley to Ed’s cottage. At last, panting, they smashed through the gate and, slipping on the grass, reached the fence at the back where they were supposed to meet. An angry stitch poked Lilith’s side.
“Where is...he?” she wheezed. “I can’t...see him.”
“I can’t see him either, but I can smell him, most unquestionably.” Panther lolled out his tongue. “Stale, hormonal, teenage cookie-cake.”
“Where?”
“All over the place. He must’ve been here not too long ago. Unfortunately, I can’t give you his precise location at the moment.”
“What? We’re about to be eaten!”
A loud thud and a bellow indicated the fall of their chaser.
“Not anymore,” commented Panther.
“Very funny,” snapped Lilith. “Do you mind sparing me your ruminations and focus on the task at hand, namely, on not being eaten by a plant-freak and on finding Ed?”
“May I remind you that I still haven’t received my payment? Oh, and that you rudely interrupted my very important conversation with Bär? But never you mind. I will oblige, of course, the faithful pet that I am,” Panther grumbled crossly.
“Panther.” Lilith narrowed her eyes.
“What? I’m working here. Working, as I may add, on the promise of future wages.” He sniffed. “The trail of his precious fragrance indicates—”
“Indicates?” Lilith prompted.
“Indicates, that precise location.”
“You just said you couldn’t give me his precise location.”
“The atmospheric aura of his adolescent odor has nothing to do with this, madam. If one were only to apply a certain logic and use certain other senses...”
Panther scowled at the forest. It leered back with its twisted trees in place of teeth. It surrounded the entire rose garden, their only separation a tall white-painted iron fence.
“There!” Lilith squinted.
A light blinked deep in the greenery.
“I was about to say precisely that,” growled Panther. “Do you mind?” He stuck out his neck. Lilith took off the leash.
Both skinny, they easily squeezed in between the bars and disappeared into the woods just as three figures rounded Ed’s cottage—Alfred Bloom, Gustav, and an ominously woofing Bär. Two of them shouted Lilith’s name with intermittent success.
The earth shook again. Rosehead must have lifted herself and, by the sounds of it, was stomping away. Where and why, Lilith didn’t have time to ponder. She knew that if she tarried, their chances of escape would cease to exist. This thought must not have occurred to Panther, who suddenly skidded to a halt and issued several prolonged barks. Lilith, running on inertia, stumbled over him.
“Panther! What are you doing?”
Unworried, he barked again.
Barely visible through the trees, Bär howled in response, doubled back, and closed his jaws on Alfred’s ankle. He fell face forward. Gustav toppled over both of them. The wild rosebush that once saved Lilith and Panther observed the pile at its feet with the calm of, well, a rosebush that doesn’t care.
“What did you tell him?” Lilith demanded, fixing her beret and bag, both of which were astoundingly still present.
“I told him that you’re the Bloom heir now, and that you command him to stop your pursuers.”
“How very considerate of you to read my thoughts and construe them in a such public manner.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Why, thank you. How did they manage to get out? I thought I asked the mansion not to let anyone follow me.”
“Perhaps Bär pissed on it and it threw them in the air?”
Lilith scowled.
“If you don’t mind, we need to get a move on,” Panther growled.
Gustav hovered over Alfred, helping him up.
“Excuse me,” said Lilith. “A thought just occurred to me. Why would Bär turn against his master? It’s rather curious. What is he, part of the property?”
Panther smirked.
“Wait. That’s not exactly what you told him, is it?”
“It wouldn’t accurately translate from doggy to English, I’m afraid. Please, continue the uncomplicated process of putting one foot in front of the other, madam, we need to get going.” Panther nudged her forward.
“Look who’s bossy now.” Lilith stared at her pet.
He grinned.
Confusion broke out by Ed’s cottage. Alfred chased Bär with a stick, the clear intention of discipline confirmed by his shouts. Bär gamboled away, eyeing his former master’s ankles. Gustav ambled between them, arms apart.
“You’re right. It’s time to go,” said Lilith.
They stalked off, weaving in and out of clumps of trees, hopping over fallen trunks, and tearing through the undergrowth. Their journey ended as swiftly as it started.
“Owww!” cried Lilith.
In her haste to get away, she didn’t notice where she was going, and bumped straight into Ed.
He rubbed his forehead.
“Ed! You scared me. What are you doing here? Please excuse me for not seeing you. I didn’t think you’d be standing in the middle of the forest,” Lilith mumbled, inhaling Ed’s irresistible cookie aroma. “Did I hurt you?”
Ed shook his head no.
“Where else would he be standing?” Panther inquired. “In the middle of the sky?”
Ed froze, and looked down.
Satisfied with the desired effect, Panther wagged his tail.
“We’re sorry we’re late. Have you been waiting for a long time?” asked Lilith.
Ed wove his arms about, pointing one way, then another, his usual notepad and pencil absent. Lilith followed his every move, attempting to understand what he wanted to say. Grunting in frustration, he snatched her hand and led her along a trodden path.
Panther trudged behind, mumbling. “Oh, hello to you, dear Panther. How are you? Why, I’m fine, thank you very much, and how are you? Why, I’m very well myself.”
“Look, he can’t talk, so will you stop it?” Lilith snapped. She had a hard time concentrating on anything, least of all to pay any attention to her pet’s complaining.
Ed grinned and squatted next to Panther, patting him affectionately. Panther acted wounded for a little longer, to prove his point, then licked Ed’s cheek.
Lilith bit her lip. Bursting to share, she didn’t know how to begin explaining everything that happened since last night. The heads breaking through the wall, their journey over the garden, pregnant Rosehead and her mutant baby. She shuddered, thinking about the therapy session. How could she possibly tell Ed without making him hate her for life? And what about shouting the truth at her distant relatives, in the naïve hope that they will suddenly change their minds and believe her? Lilith felt so stupid, her face burned.
The path wobbled.
If they didn’t know better, they would’ve thought it an earthquake. They hastened their pace.
Soon, the trees became taller and thicker. The air smelled of damp earth. They reached a glade at the edge of which squatted a large gnarly oak, its trunk polished with use. It g
rew right by the fence, beyond which roses bobbed at them disapprovingly.
“Is this the far end of the garden?” asked Lilith.
Ed nodded.
“Wow, it’s huge.”
He gestured up.
Lilith’s heart leaped. “A tree house! Your secret place.” She stared into Ed’s eyes a little longer than required by proper etiquette, suppressing the urge to sniff him. “What about Panther?”
“I’m a dog, remember? I can stand guard. You go on,” the whippet said bravely, eyeing the tree house with obvious longing.
Ed urged Lilith to climb, throwing worried glances at the garden.
“All right. Bark if anything happens.”
Grabbing handholds, Lilith ascended with grace, until she clamped the edge of a platform and scrambled onto it. A minute later Ed joined her.
Lilith gawked, awestruck. The tree house was nothing more than a crudely put together wooden floor the size of a large dinner table, balancing on two boughs, a higgledy-piggledy of boards propped around as walls. Heaps of paper covered one corner, a pile of blankets another. There was no roof, nor was it needed. Even rain would’ve had a hard time breaking through the woven mass of leaves.
“Wow!” gasped Lilith. “Simply extraordinary.”
Ed smiled.
Lilith prodded the floor. It held firm. “Did you make it yourself?”
Ed’s ears turned pink. He nodded shyly.
“You’ve got the best, most awesome, most spectacularly lavish hiding places I’ve ever seen,” gushed Lilith. Her euphoria didn’t last long.
Panther barked in warning.
Ed perked up, listening.
A familiar reek rolled over them, causing Lilith’s eyes to water and bringing her emotions to the surface. The heaviness of her guilt, the gnawing remorse at commanding the room to stop the doctor, his cries, the sound of his bones breaking...
Lilith squeezed her head.
Ed peered through the boards, beckoning her to look, a finger over his lips for silence. Lilith scurried closer.
They were about fifteen feet above the ground. A blanket of patchy fog hovered over the garden, giving it the illusion of a restless sea. A stray crow passed by. Directly across from them, a circular wall of shrubs formed a roofless rotunda. The garden’s surface rippled. Rosehead thrashed into the clearing and collapsed, filling the air with loud snores.
Lilith whispered, “Did she just fall asleep?”
Ed slapped his forehead, fetched a piece of paper from the pile, and almost tore it with his speedy writing. SHE’S PREGNANT! Struck by this new bit of information, he pulled on his hair as he peered at Lilith.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you right away. I found out with Panther yesterday. The heads broke through the wall, and I asked them to show me.”
AND? THEY DID?
“Um, of course. I fed them water and blood, didn’t I? They said I’m rather nice to them.”
Ed calmed down enough to write. THIS EXPLAINS EVERYTHING.
“Yes. Yes, it does!” Lilith forgot herself and grabbed him by the shoulders, dying to share her theory. Apparently, Ed had the same theory, as for the next few minutes they engaged in an exchange of broken sentences that nonetheless provided them with a complete understanding of the garden’s mystery.
IS THAT WHAT THE CROWS ARE FOR? POLLINATION?
“Exactly,” confirmed Lilith. “So an heir cuts Rosehead out of a bush. The crows pollinate her.”
EVERY DECADE.
“And that makes her pregnant. With what?”
DUNNO. FREAK OF NATURE?
Watching Ed confirm her every guess by feverishly scribbling on multiple sheets of paper, Lilith talked nonstop. She managed to relay the story about how she declared herself heir, how the mansion obeys her now, how she surprised her grandfather, and what she thought he meant by calling her bait. She even mentioned her talk with her dad, carefully avoiding the topic of her therapy session.
Ed didn’t question her. He passed a hand through his hair. BAIT FOR ROSEHEAD? LET’S POKE HER WITH A STICK. SHE’LL WAKE UP, AND WE’LL TALK TO HER.
“What? No! What if she decides to make a meal out of us? We don’t even know if she’ll understand!”
WHO CARES. WE’LL TELL HER TO PISS OFF. IT’S UNIVERSAL.
He made to descend.
“Wait.” Lilith touched his hand. “There is one more thing.”
Ed grunted impatiently.
“If you decide to stop being my friend after I tell you—”
Ed shook his head so hard the tree house trembled.
“It’s okay, because...I did something horrible.” Lilith cast her eyes down. Her heart drummed. “I declared myself heir so I could order the mansion to kill your doctor. In the black tower room, grandfather’s study to be specific. I swear I didn’t mean it. But it obeyed me, Ed, it did it. I’m a murderer, just like my grandfather.” She fell quiet.
Seconds trickled by.
Lilith smoothed her skirt over and over, expecting Ed to shove a piece of paper under her nose, telling her to vacate.
MORON SCHEDULED YOUR SESSION IN THE TOWER?
Lilith nodded.
I’D LIKE TO SEE HIM SKEWERED ON A POLE. I’D LIKE TO— He chewed on the pencil, as if contemplating various ways to torture Alfred.
Lilith switched from smoothing her skirt to fixing her beret.
IT’S NOT YOU, IT’S THE MANSION. IT DOES THINGS TO PEOPLE.
She looked up timidly. “But I commanded it.”
YOU DIDN’T KNOW IT WOULD DO IT FOR REAL, DID YOU?
Lilith shook her head no. “Well, not exactly.”
ONE LESS SHRINK WILL MAKE THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE. ALFRED MUST’VE WANTED TO TEST YOU. WHY ELSE WOULD HE SEND YOU TO HIS STUDY? IT EATS PEOPLE IT DOESN’T LIKE. He paused. HE TRIED LOCKING MY DAD IN THERE.
“Oh, how horrible! What happened?”
THE MANSION LET HIM OUT. IT LIKED HIM.
“So you’re still my friend?” Lilith whispered.
COURSE.
Lilith flung herself at Ed, sticking her nose in his hair. She stole a sniff before letting him go. “I’m incredibly happy you are! I was so worried, so worried you wouldn’t be.”
Ed’s face turned scarlet. He got busy writing. IT’S COOL ABOUT THE MANSION. THAT YOU CAN COMMAND IT. LUDWIG BUILT IT WHEN HE DECIDED TO SETTLE. HE ADDED THAT TOWER TO MOURN HIS WIFE, AFTER HE FOUND HER DEAD IN THE GARDEN.
“How did she die?”
DUNNO. HE BURIED HER AND—
“Where?” asked Lilith.
UNDER THAT BUSH. Ed pointed to the glade.
Lilith stared, understanding dawning on her.
As if picking up her train of thought, Ed wrote more. AND BINGO. HIS ROSES STARTED SELLING BIG TIME.
“Are you saying she possessed the bush, turned it into a monster, and started feeding on people? Producing exceptional flowers?”
Ed shrugged. FOLK AVOIDED THIS LAND EVER SINCE.
Lilith chewed on a lock of her hair.
MIGHT BE THE PLACE ITSELF? IT TASTED HUMAN BLOOD, LIKED IT.
Panther barked.
A malicious groan came from the clearing.
Ed and Lilith peeked out.
Burned by the late afternoon sun, the fog gave way to the reddish glow of the garden, an uncomfortable shade of brewing danger.
Rosehead yawned, rose to her feet, and spotted them. They pulled in a little too late. Her flaming eyes fixed, she stomped toward the fence.
Chapter 25
The Daring Face-Off
For a second everything stood quiet. Then stillness erupted into shrill barks, high-pitched cries, and the hungry bellows of a monster. Rosehead shook the fence, beginning what looked like the laborious task of climbing over. Mortified, Lilith held on to Ed. Ed held on to Lilith. Unsuccessful, and weighed down by her enormous belly, Rosehead passed a series of screams that caused the boy and the girl to unfreeze and head for the safety of the ground.
Ed made it first, stretching out his
arms for Lilith. Her hand slipped and she tumbled the last few feet, landing on her bottom. Ed and Panther rushed to her.
“I’m all right! I’m all right! I think.” Lilith yelled over the racket. “Nothing’s broken. I’ll stand in a minute.” She flexed her arms and legs, her heart hammering.
Rosehead made another fruitless attempt. Her enormous shape looked positively gigantic from the ground level, not to mention her eyes that spun around in search of elusive food.
Lilith scrambled to her hands and knees, and all three of them hid behind the oak’s trunk.
“How do you propose we talk to her?” whispered Lilith.
“May I profess my humble opinion?” Panther interjected. “I’m quite positive that demented hedge crazies can’t talk. Dogs, on the other hand—”
“Wait! She can’t climb over the fence, can she?” Lilith exhaled in relief.
Ed waved his arms about, which seemed to be his universal reaction for everything, and ran off.
“Where are you going?” cried Lilith.
“No answer. All right. Thank you very much for offering me your gratitude for my tireless service.” Panther made as if to stalk off, but there was nowhere to stalk off without exposing himself, so he resolved to turning his back to her.
“Panther Bloom Junior, would you stop it? Now’s not the time.”
Ed returned with a large stick, holding it up victoriously.
“What’s that for?”
He made a few vigorous poking motions. Then a few more. And a few more. Lilith reached out to stop him.
“Okay. I understand. What if she decides to poke us back? You know, with one of her sharp fingers?”
Ed grunted as he energetically swung the stick about as a mighty warrior might to prepare for the battle of his life. The stick caught on the oak tree and flew out of his hand.
Lilith sighed. “Listen, you can talk, I know you can. Just say it. I won’t tell anyone. Panther won’t either. Right, Panther?”
No response.
Ed picked up the stick and aimed it in such a way that could be interpreted as an adamant wish to beat himself up.
