Rosehead

by Ksenia Anske

  “I imagine the mansion has folded for the night like a respectable flower. What did you expect, for it to wait for us?” growled Panther.

  “I thought maybe it would, yes.” Lilith’s back pressed into the gate. The garden advanced, an occasional crimson eye blinking from excitement. “I think it would be wise for us to get out of here.” She felt behind her. The gate’s bars crisscrossed into an ornament of woven roses, and the gate itself was locked. They had to shift left or right to squeeze between the bars of the fence, except they couldn’t. A thick hedge pressed in on them in a semi-circle, slithering closer by the minute.

  “Couldn’t agree more,” growled Panther. For the next several minutes he barked fiercely, holding off the bushes, until it became clear that at some point his vocal cords would give out and they’d be eaten alive.

  “Would you kindly ask your new, er, friend for help?” yapped Panther, breathing hard.

  “Who, Ed?” cried Lilith, slapping the advancing flowers.

  “No, the mansion!” Panther yelped. A cane cut his back. Another slithered under his legs and attempted to turn him over. His barking turned hoarse.

  “Okay, I’ll try! Dear mansion, excuse me for asking you for another favor, but we’re in a dire situation, and, well...” She choked, a prickly arm circling her neck.

  “I don’t think this an appropriate time to be polite!” wheezed Panther.

  “Mansion, I command you to rescue us!” shouted Lilith.

  Not a second later, the ground beneath them parted and both the girl and dog fell into a black hole. Multiple hands caught them and multiple faces peered at them, whispering something soothing. They carried Lilith and Panther to her room, gently placed them onto the bed, and crowded around, shaking their heads in disapproval.

  Lilith opened her mouth to thank them, but instead, found herself yawning. Panther yawned next to her, plopped his head onto a pillow, and drifted off to sleep.

  The heads shuffled closer, their lips blurry, their whispers drowsy. Lilith struggled to stifle another yawn. Her eyes itched. Strength rapidly drained out of her. She stretched out her tired legs and hugged Panther, so smooth and warm to the touch.

  “Dear mansion,” she mumbled, her speech slurry, “I wanted to thank you. Thank you for...” Her eyes closed. The repercussions of today’s events covered her with a blanket of sleepy exhaustion. She fought it for another few minutes, muttering, until the warmth of her pet relaxed her, and fatigue took over.

  Chapter 28

  The Generous Offer

  Lilith woke with a start and sat up, glancing around, fully expecting to find herself in her own room, in her own bed, in their cozy house in Boston. Instead, a living breathing mass of heads surrounded her like a dome. She recognized the Schlitzberger twins, their mother, Agatha, Monika, Gustav, even the blind Heidemarie Haas. Lilith closed her eyes, opened them, and pinched herself. Nothing changed. She took a deep breath. A noxious stench hung in the air, confirming she wasn’t dreaming. Lilith groped for Panther, who wheezed nearby.

  “Panther.” She shook him. “Panther, wake up!”

  The whippet stretched and rumbled something that sounded like a desire for her to please stop shaking him, to please not wake him up, so that he could please sleep in peace, because...

  As if bitten, he jumped, producing an involuntary whimper. Daphne’s head giggled, retracting its arm.

  “Can’t a dog have a nap?” he yapped and immediately fell silent, observing his surroundings with a wild expression in his eyes. “Where are we?”

  “In the beautiful Bloom mansion,” stated Lilith, attempting to withhold her usual sarcasm with little success. She blushed. There was no telling how the heads would react to anything but politeness. After all, the mansion remained her only powerful ally in defeating Rosehead.

  “Little miss iz awake?” Agatha’s head shifted closer, her sallow skin more wrinkled than before.

  “Yes, I am. Thank you for helping us escape from the garden. And thank you very much for not letting anyone follow me, like I asked.”

  “We are happy to serve, az long az you pay,” sneered Agatha’s head, passing on the appreciative rustle to the squirming, shifting congregation behind her. Lilith’s stomach twisted into a pretzel. “Anyzing else little miss wants us to do?”

  “Yes, please. Don’t let anyone out into the garden. You can let people in, but not out.”

  “We will do zo.”

  “Can I ask you a question? If you don’t mind my curiosity, how did Petra get out? And Gustav and my grandfather?”

  “Zey paid,” the head said as if it was obvious.

  “Paid with what?”

  “We don’t discuss buziness tranzactions wiz anyone but ze client,” it hissed.

  “Oh.” Lilith bit her lip. “I’m sorry I asked. Please excuse me, it’s just that, my head hurts, and my thinking is not—”

  “Your head hurts? You didn’t take your pills today, did you, missy?” said a sharp voice.

  “Mom?” Lilith looked for the source of the voice.

  “She never listens to me. Never!” shrieked her mother’s head hysterically, breaking into sobs.

  “Now, now...” Irma Schlitzberger’s head patted the top of Gabby’s. “One girl iz nothing. Imagine raising two at ze same time.”

  “Mutter!” twin heads exclaimed.

  As the heads argued, more continued popping through the wall until all of the guests were there, squabbling, grotesquely distorted without their bodies. “Will you kindly shut up, all of you!” Lilith thumped her fists on the bed, her mind reeling.

  The heads fell silent, drawing closer in one rustling horde. “Little miss wants us to be quiet,” sneered Agatha’s head; the rest of them sniggered.

  Lilith nervously stroked Panther. “Why are there so many of you?” she blurted. “Why are you here? Who are you?”

  The heads exchanged a grim look.

  “You’re part of the mansion, aren’t you?” Lilith backtracked, hoping she didn’t offend them.

  “We are. Sort of,” Daphne’s head said matter-of-factly.

  “And we sort of aren’t,” added Gwen’s.

  “We are the mansion,” said Norman’s head.

  “Nonsense. We are the garden,” contradicted Sabrina’s.

  “Mansion and garden both!” screamed Petra’s head gleefully.

  “In my professional opinion, we are ze very phantoms of zose whoze very blood ze rose garden or ze mansion haz happened to taste.”

  Lilith gulped. “Doctor Wilhelmus Baumgartner? Are you—did the room really eat you? I must apologize to you.”

  “No need, no need. We only wanted to thank you for ze payment.”

  “Payment?”

  “You have prepaid us! Very wize; very, very wize,” said the jolly voice of the unfortunate doctor. “You let us feed on a man. We haven’t tasted a man in ten yearz, and ten yearz iz a very, very long time.”

  Other heads murmured their appreciation.

  “That funeral master was too salty,” said Hanna’s head.

  “Dry and sinewy, more like it,” echoed Heidemarie’s.

  A murmur of agreement washed over the room.

  “Alfred Bloom iz a devoted rozarian, but he never fed us like zis. Never gave us his blood eizer,” said Irma’s head.

  Lilith’s thoughts were elsewhere. “Wait. If you’re phantoms of everyone that the garden or the mansion has ever tasted, does that mean that my grandmother Eugenia is here?”

  “Yes?” A new head approached Lilith. White curls framed its leathery sympathetic face, which looked exactly like the pictures on her father’s desk. “And who would you be, young lady?”

  “Grandmother!” exclaimed Lilith.

  Eugenia’s head retracted.

  “Please excuse me. I’m simply happy to meet you, although I know you’re not really real. Grandmother, may I ask you, did Rosehead eat you?”

  “She sucked me dry, young lady, that she did, but after I was dead. I died f
rom the fright of seeing her, bless my poor heart.”

  “I’m sorry. That is a dreadful way to go.”

  Panther slightly bit her ankle.

  “Ow! What?” said Lilith angrily, having forgotten his presence with all the excitement.

  Panther stuck his nose in her ear. “Didn’t you tell your grandfather that the mansion will help you stop him? I think it’s high time you ask. For help, I mean. Instead of yammering about dinner choices for the rest of the night.”

  “I remember. Just waiting for the right moment,” Lilith hissed in his ear, blushing.

  Panther squinted at her.

  “All right, all right, it slipped my mind. I got sidetracked a little. What would I do without you, oh faithful partner?”

  “Do I get extra steak for this?” Panther wagged his tail.

  Lilith gave him the look and addressed the heads. “Dear phantoms,” she began, “as heir to the Bloom property, I humbly ask you to help me stop Rosehead, newborn rosebushes, old rosebushes, well, those that are still alive anyway, the rose garden, the mansion, all of its rooms, all of its floors, all of its—”

  Panther bit her.

  “At any rate, everything carnivorous that lives inside the iron fence that defines the Bloom property. I’d like it to stop performing the abominable despicable carnage of—”

  She caught a few puzzled stares.

  “I mean, eating people. Please, help me stop it.”

  A buzz of anger filled the air. Every head voiced its opinion, shouted, cursed, and in general behaved viciously, throwing venomous glances at the girl and the dog.

  “They don’t seem to be too happy,” Panther rumbled.

  “If you have a better idea, go for it. Actually, I do,” whispered Lilith. “Excuse me! If you’re indeed phantoms of everyone, then I’d like to meet my many times great-grandmother Rose Bloom. If she’s here?”

  They hushed and parted. A new head came to a dangling stop inches from Lilith. Its stunning heart-shaped face was framed with long hair that shined through the dimness of the room like flaming copper.

  “Rosehead?” breathed Lilith, her heart thumping.

  “Rose is my name. Rose Bloom. Ain’t nobody called me Rosehead except my late husband.”

  “My apologies,” said Lilith. “I didn’t mean to offend you. It’s very nice to meet you, my many times great-grandmother. I’m in dire need of your help.”

  Rose’s head studied her. “What is it?”

  “I’d like to stop this, all of this. I’d like to stop the whole property from murdering people.”

  “Why?”

  This stumped Lilith. “Because I don’t want to inherit a killer garden. I...” She faltered. It wasn’t the real reason.

  Rose’s head waited.

  “Because I care for these people. I don’t want them to die. I love my mom. Yes, she can be a bit controlling and scatter-brained and pushy at times, but I still love her. I love my dad, even when he pays me no attention, gone into his thinking or racing or...” She talked of everyone in the mansion, every single person, including the twins.

  Panther studied Lilith with an open jaw. He couldn’t remember his friend openly expressing her opinions on people in her life to anyone but those specific people, which in itself rarely happened.

  “You might think I’m crazy, but I care for Daphne and Gwen,” Lilith continued. “I feel sorry for them. They’re lonely. I wish I could be their friend, but they’d never understand it if I offered. And I love my grandfather. I want to take away his pain. That’s why I want to stop this.” She fought the itching in her eyes, fought it, fought it, and lost.

  There was an appreciative silence.

  “We will discuss this,” said Rose’s head and then it withdrew, joining the others. They congregated, murmuring. Lilith held her breath. Panther ogled her, struck with awe.

  At last Rose’s head spoke. “We understand your desire. We will help. For a price.”

  “I’ll pay anything you want,” said Lilith, her heart pounding.

  “That’s not how you—” Lilith clamped Panther’s muzzle shut. He squirmed, trying to wiggle out.

  “Anything?” The head repeated.

  “Anything.”

  Lilith thought about her parents, about them tucking her into bed a few nights ago and how it felt like a real family. She thought about her mother’s obsession with pills and suddenly understood that her mother loved her and cared for her the only way she knew how.

  “If it’s to be our last meal, it ought to be the heir.”

  “What?” Lilith blinked, unprepared.

  “Esteemed Roze Bloom means that you will have to give yourself up. Your whole self. Willingly. To us. For our very last dezert,” explained the doctor’s head cheerily. “How very, very delicious.”

  Tongues clicked in anticipation, and the squirming mass around the bed tightened.

  “Me?” Lilith’s mouth went dry. She didn’t want to die, not if she could help it; yet given the choice of saving the lives of her family and her first true friend, she simply couldn’t do otherwise.

  Panther squirmed out of her hold. “Rubbish!” he barked. “Don’t listen to them! Let’s go wake your parents and get out of this deluded dirt-for-brains pile of nutty bricks!”

  Oblivious to her pet’s protests, Lilith made her choice, before fear stopped her.

  She looked straight into Rose’s eyes. “Deal.”

  “Are you out of your girly mind?” yelped Panther.

  “We need a yes or a no,” said the head.

  “If it will stop this absurd, atrocious slaughter, my answer is yes. Only...” Lilith thought about the way the doctor died. “Can you make it quick? And painless? Please?”

  “You have our promise. At the end of the carnival everyone will go home, everyone except you, my twenty-times great-granddaughter.”

  “So the garden won’t eat anyone anymore? And the mansion won’t either? People can go safely in and out and enjoy themselves?”

  “They can enjoy themselves.”

  “Enjoy themselves—”

  “Enjoy themselves—”

  Sniggering, sneering, hooting, and chanting the words “enjoy themselves” on repeat, the heads vanished one by one into the walls with a rapping noise like that of a firecracker. It steadily grew louder, until Lilith realized that someone was knocking on the door. With a bang, it burst open. The light flicked on, taking away the night.

  Chapter 29

  The Dramatic Reunion

  For a moment, two solitary figures stood outlined in the doorway, and then rushed inside. Gabby scooped up her daughter. Daniel hugged them both, petting Panther who attempted to squeeze into the pile.

  “Lilith!” Gabby sniffled. “I lost all hope.” She sniffled some more. “What happened? Where have you been? We were waiting by the door. How did you get in?”

  “Pup,” said Daniel, tightening his hold.

  Gabby blew her nose. “We nearly lost our minds! We couldn’t get out of the mansion. Every door lock jammed. Your father tried breaking the windows, but they’re made of some unbreakable glass. Our phones wouldn’t work. And your grandfather disappeared!” She said it like it was somehow Lilith’s fault.

  Neither of them mentioned their daughter’s outburst prior to her departure, as if it never happened.

  Lilith barely listened. Relief flooded her. Nobody was going to get hurt. She concentrated on soaking in every detail about her parents, the way their hair shined in the light, the way the wrinkles traced their faces. She let them examine her scratches, feel her temperature, and study her eyes and tongue and throat.

  “Where were you this whole time? In the garden?”

  Lilith took a long look at her father before nodding.

  “Alone?”

  Lilith thought it safe to shake her head.

  Daniel frowned. “Who were you with, if you care to share?”

  Lilith thought about retelling everything that happened since her disappearance, b
ut whatever strength she had left deserted her. She closed her eyes.

  “It’s okay, pup, it’s okay. Never mind us. You can tell us later, can’t you?”

  “Lilith, you can’t simply disappear like this ever again. We thought you died!” Gabby’s voice caught.

  Lilith wanted to say, I’m about to.

  “Gabby, would you stop, please?” There was an irritated tone in her father’s voice that Lilith hadn’t heard before. He didn’t call his wife love, which in and of itself was an entirely new development. The hushed tones of her parents’ disagreement reached her as if from the end of a tunnel. Part of her wanted to cling to reality, part wanted to be alone to shut down; the latter part won out. Her mind already stepped out of life, passing into limbo.

  Acutely aware of his friend’s moods, Panther was the only one who felt the change, licking Lilith’s face to bring her back.

  “Lilith?” Ed edged into the room.

  Lilith opened her eyes. “Ed!”

  Her friend grinned. “It is. Okay. She is. Sleeping,” he stuttered, still croaking like an old man and evidently testing his speaking ability in short declaratory sentences. “Is that. Okay. If I...?” He looked expectantly at Daniel and Gabby.

  “Hey, buddy! Where have you been? You’re talking again?” said Daniel. “How does it feel, stiff tongue, eh? Did something prompt you or...”

  “Lilith. Asked me.”

  “She did?” Daniel smiled and ruffled Lilith’s hair. “That’s my girl.”

  “See? I knew it. When you need to, you can talk,” Gabby snapped, and was about to add more before Daniel interrupted her.

  “Come in, come in. Close the door though. We don’t want people snooping. You’re a different deal. Friends are welcome. Lilith needs more friends, don’t you, pup?”

  “You could’ve told us where she went, you know,” said Gabby. “This not talking pretense was not necessary.”

  Daniel spoke over his wife in German, addressing Ed.

  Gabby closed her mouth with an audible snap.