by Liz Dejesus
“Ten years is a long time to wait for help. Your mother’s in the basement working tirelessly to help you. Just a couple of days, sweetheart. You’ll be fine. I promise. You just have to trust your mother.”
She ran her fingers through her hair and scratched her right ear. It twitched a few times, much to her horror. “I’m going to see if she needs help.”
“I’m sure she’ll appreciate it,” her father replied.
Terrance stepped aside and let Bianca walk out of her room. As she stepped past her father, he kissed her on the forehead and gave her a reassuring grin. She headed down to the basement; the wooden steps creaked and groaned beneath her feet.
“Who’s there?” Rose asked from the far corner of the basement.
“It’s me,” Bianca said softly.
Rose removed her reading glasses and rested them on top of her head. “What’s wrong? Did something happen? Oh God, please don’t tell me you sprouted a tail?”
“Mom, I’m fine. I just…I finally looked at myself in the mirror.”
“Oh, that’s what all that ruckus was about. I swear I’ve never heard so many stomping feet in my life.”
Bianca sighed and slumped her shoulders. “So, what are you working on? Need any help?”
Rose smiled and put her reading glasses back on. “Almost finished with the potion and the poultice. You can sit and keep me company if you want. I hate being alone sometimes.”
Bianca grabbed a stool and drew up to her mother. She remained quiet and watched her work. Her mother’s small, delicate hands moved swiftly and efficiently. She opened a large Mason jar filled with dirt and tiny green plants. She carefully plucked some of them out and added them into her concoction. When Rose put the jar down, Bianca picked it up and examined it. Upon closer inspection, she realized that Rose had grown four-leaf clovers. Dozens and dozens of them were in that jar.
“Are these for real?” Bianca asked.
“Yep.”
“This is amazing.”
“I know. I just planted a seed of regular clovers and got those instead. I have to sing to them once a week or they wilt. I also have to water them with special water mixed with powdered gold, which is why they glint a little in the light.”
“What else is in this thing?” Bianca motioned to the potion with her chin.
“Besides four-leaf clovers? Let’s see…wolf’s bane and mushrooms from a fairy ring. I take all of this and grind it up into a fine powder. Then I brew it as though I were making tea and add a dash of honey because this stuff tastes like crap…and I mean that in the nicest way possible.” Rose sighed and then added, “And that should take the curse out of your bloodstream. The poultice is made of the same ingredients, but I add a few more things to make it stay on your skin without slipping off. It helps remove all of the extras you don’t want.”
“I see.”
Rose made several tsk sounds and put her arm around Bianca. “It’ll be all right. I know what you’re thinking. I’m not the best chef, so naturally I must be terrible at potions.”
Bianca blushed. It was true. The thought had crossed her mind several times throughout the day.
“Trust me when I say that I do, in fact, know what I’m doing. I would never ever let you down. Ever.” Her mother reached out and tucked a strand of hair behind Bianca’s ear.
Bianca nodded and then sighed for what felt like the hundredth time that day. “It’s just…I wish this had never happened. I didn’t mean to kill her…if that’s even what I did to her. I don’t even know. I just wanted her to leave us alone. You know what I mean?”
“Yeah,” Rose whispered.
“I also swallowed one of Snow White’s black seeds. It was supposed to protect me. I don’t know what happened. I don’t know what went wrong.”
“Maybe it did work. For all you know, this could’ve been a lot worse.”
“Worse than this?”
“Yep.”
Bianca frowned and said, “Mom?”
“Yeah?”
“Have you ever…killed someone?”
“No. But I watched my mother kill several witches. Trust me, it was enough to make me respect life. She should never have let me see something like that.”
“Makes sense, then.”
“What does?”
“Why your strength is in healing magic.”
Rose grinned. “That’s right.”
Bianca took a deep breath and hopped off the stool. “I’ll leave you alone. I can tell I’m not needed here. I’ll let you know if I sprout a tail or something.”
“God, that’s the last thing we need.”
A few hours passed, when there was a knock on her bedroom door.
“Yes?” Bianca said.
“It’s ready,” Rose said.
“Come in.”
Her mother slid the broken door out of the way and stepped into Bianca’s room. Bianca closed her eyes as she hoped and prayed that Rose’s potion would work. She had learned her lesson. Never again would she use dark magic against another foe. From now on, she was going to make it her business to learn everything she could about white magic. She would learn how to defend herself. Never again would she ignore her instincts and allow herself to be the victim.
“A lot quicker than I anticipated. Not that I’m complaining. Anyway, here. Drink this.” Rose handed Bianca a teacup filled to the brim with a teal-colored tea. “It’s hot,” she warned.
Bianca didn’t care. She was going to drink it all in one swift gulp if it meant that she would be normal again.
But when she took a whiff, she gagged. “Oh God. That smells so bad.”
“I told you it would.”
“Ugh.” Bianca held her breath and took a tentative sip. She pulled the cup away. The hot tea burned her lips.
“You wanna set it aside a minute and let it cool off?”
“No,” she snapped. She didn’t want to stay like a misshapen monster for another moment.
No way was she going to back out now. She took a deep breath and drank the tea. It tasted like rotting seaweed. The tiny bit of honey that Rose had added did absolutely nothing to help. When she was finished drinking, she handed the cup back to her mother and wiped her lips with the back of her hand. The roof of her mouth burned, as though she had swallowed part of a volcano.
“You okay?” Rose asked.
“Yeah.”
“All right. Part two begins in an hour. I have to give it time to go through your whole body.”
“Wait…what?”
“Don’t worry. You’ll be fine. This is one form of magic that you can’t rush. Some magic takes time. Not everything is instantaneous.”
“That makes sense…I guess.”
“How do you feel?”
Bianca took a moment to think before she answered the question. Clearly nothing had changed in her appearance. A third of her body was still shaped like a wolf. But her blood felt…cooler. Her heart was no longer racing. “Different,” she finally said.
“Good. That means it’s working. You should see some minor changes in the next hour or so.” Rose walked out of Bianca’s bedroom and left her alone with her thoughts.
Minor changes? What the heck is that supposed to mean?
She used her tongue and ran it along her teeth. She gasped. The right side of her mouth had been covered with sharp canines and they were now as smooth and straight as they were before she was cursed. A surge of hope ran through her spirit.
Exactly one hour later, Rose walked into the room with the poultice in her hands. “Ready for part two?”
“Yeah.”
Rose placed a bowl full of light teal poultice on Bianca’s night table. She hummed a lullaby she’d written for Bianca when she was a baby. It was a song her mother had sung to her every night until she turned twelve, when she made her stop because she wasn’t “a baby anymore.” But now, as Bianca listened to her mother’s gentle hum, she couldn’t believe she had said something so completely and utterly stupid.
/>
Rose began to rub the poultice on Bianca’s arm, from her shoulder all the way down to her fingertips.
“Now what?” Bianca asked as soon as Rose finished.
“Shh. Wait, you’ll see.”
Rose dug her nails into the jet-black fur on Bianca’s right shoulder and pulled pieces of skin off. Bianca opened her mouth, ready to scream in pain, but she felt nothing. No ache. No pain. Nothing. Just a light tug, as though she had a piece of duct tape stuck to her skin.
“What the hell?” Bianca shrieked.
“You see,” Rose said as she continued to work, “the tea enters the bloodstream and purifies you from the inside out, removing the curse. The ointment helps speed up the process by removing the excess parts. Does that make sense?”
“Yeah, it kinda does.”
“Good.”
When Rose reached Bianca’s hand, she pulled and tugged until the wolf claw came out with a loud pop. Bianca stared at her hand in wonder. It was as though she was looking at her hand for the very first time. She opened and closed her fist. She had never been so happy to see her hand in her entire life. Five fingers, nails, and her skin as pale as ever. Her nails had grown in a short amount of time, but that was something she could easily forgive.
“Awesome,” she whispered.
“Now your face.”
“What about my eye?”
“What about it?”
“Is it going to stay yellow-green?”
“I think the potion took care of it, because from where I’m sitting, both of your eyes are ice blue.”
Bianca sat and waited impatiently as Rose put the poultice on her face and right ear.
“Oww!” Bianca cried as Rose pulled off the wolf skin on her face.
“All done,” Rose announced once she’d yanked the last bit of wolf skin off her daughter’s ear.
Bianca released a nervous giggle and then covered her lips. “Really?”
“Really, really,” Rose said with a reassuring grin.
“I’m me again?”
“We’ll…you’ve always been you. Now you’re a little less furry.” Rose winked at her daughter and cleaned up some of the mess the poultice had made on the bed.
“Thanks, Mom.”
Rose kissed Bianca on the forehead and said, “Don’t thank me for taking care of you. It’s my job.”
Bianca let out a sigh of relief and went downstairs to the living room.
“Look at you!” David said as soon as he caught sight of his daughter. “I told you your mom would fix you right up.”
“Yeah,” she said and shyly tucked a lock of her hair behind her ear.
Terrance stood up and embraced her as soon as she reached the bottom of the steps.
“How do you feel?” he asked.
“Relieved,” she replied with a sigh.
Prince Ferdinand smiled warmly at her and said, “You look wonderful.”
“Thanks,” Bianca said.
“I’ll have to disagree with the prince because I think you look beautiful,” Terrance said.
David rolled his eyes. “Oh brother. Please, not in front of me. She’s still my baby girl.”
Bianca chuckled, then yawned. She looked at her watch; it was already way past midnight. “All right guys, it’s been a long…weird…day, and I’m exhausted.”
She wished everyone a good night and went back to her room. She lay in her bed, listening to everyone traipse upstairs, her parents switching the lights off and making sure the doors and windows were locked. After a few minutes, the house was quiet. Everyone had gone to bed. It was strange to be in her room all by herself, knowing that Terrance was in the room right next to hers. She was moments away from falling asleep when she heard the floor creak. It was quickly followed by the soft footfalls of someone trying very hard to be quiet.
“Bianca?” Terrance whispered through the open door.
She smiled. “Hi.”
“I know this is extremely improper of me, but I couldn’t go to sleep without knowing that you were all right.”
“I’m okay. Just…lonely,” she admitted.
“I think I can do something about that. Give me one moment.”
Terrance vanished and then returned with the sleeping bag that David had lent him. He unrolled it and set it up next to Bianca’s bed. She handed him her extra pillow and smiled as he breathed in her scent.
“Smells like your soap,” he whispered.
“Really?”
“Would it be all right if I kept this?”
She giggled and replied, “If you don’t mind the fact that it reeks of me, then by all means, you can have my pillow.”
“Wonderful.”
Terrance fell into the pillow face down and took a deep breath. Bianca smiled and let out a happy sigh.
Always and forever. That’s the kind of love we’ll have. The always and forever kind.
Terrance sat up and rested his chin on the edge of her bed. Bianca laid down on her side and kissed him on the cheek.
“Tired?” he whispered.
“Exhausted,” she replied. Her eyelids felt heavy, begging for rest.
He caressed her cheek and tucked her hair behind her ear.
“I’ll be right here, should you need me.”
“I know.”
“Good night.”
“Good night, Terrance.”
He gave her a gentle kiss on the lips and lay down in his sleeping bag. She parted her lips. There was so much more she wanted to tell him.
I love you. But the words retreated back down her throat. Words that had been left unsaid. Tomorrow. I’ll tell him tomorrow.
She took a deep breath and fell into a peaceful, dreamless slumber.
Seventeen
Bianca’s eyes fluttered open. The sunlight streamed into her bedroom and landed on the corner of her pillow. She stretched and yawned, and her hand landed on that bit of sunshine. She opened and closed it, absorbing the sun’s warmth upon her skin. The sky outside her window was a robin’s-egg blue. Not a cloud to be seen. Perfect.
She rolled to the edge of her bed and found Terrance on the floor next to her. He was tucked inside a cranberry red sleeping bag. He let out a gentle snort and put his arm over his eyes.
She tried to stop herself from smiling as she gazed at her boyfriend. She studied his features. His slightly crooked nose. Thin lips that always had an easy smile for her. Long chocolate-colored, wavy hair and the way it shimmered in the morning sun. Her heart swelled with love for him.
Bianca thought about what happened in the museum. The way she basically threw herself in front of that spell to protect him from it. That was the moment she knew she would easily die for him.
“Enjoying the view?” Terrance asked. He hadn’t moved from his position, but there was a mischievous grin on his lips.
“I thought you were asleep.” She playfully threw her pillow at him. He caught it and let it rest over his face. He breathed in the smell of her pillow and threw it back at her. She tossed the pillow on her bed and sat down next to him.
He stretched his arms and let out a loud yawn.
“What’s the plan for today?” he asked.
“Guard the slipper, hope I don’t get turned into a bear, tiger, turtle, or something along those lines.”
“Sounds like a good plan.”
“Hmmm. I thought so, too. I’ll be right back. I’m going to use the bathroom.”
Terrance nodded and went back to sleep.
Bianca shuffled her feet toward the hallway bathroom. But before she could even set foot inside, her mother ran out of her bedroom, rushed into the bathroom, and slammed the door shut behind her.
“What just happened?” Bianca muttered as she rubbed the sand out of her eyes.
She then pressed her ear against the door and listened to her mother gag and then finally wretch.
“Eeeww,” she whispered.
“Everything all right?”
Bianca gasped and jumped a few feet up in the
air when she heard her father’s voice behind her. She placed a hand on her chest, as if doing so would keep it from bursting out of her ribcage.
“Little warning next time?”
David chuckled and walked past her. He knocked softly on the bathroom door.
“Rose? Sweetie? You okay?” he asked.
No response. Only the sound of the toilet being flushed let them know that there was another person on the other side of the door.
David adjusted his wire-rimmed glasses and said, “I’m coming in.”
Bianca sat by the door and waited. Her mother was rarely sick. She wondered if working on the potion had somehow made her ill. She could hear her parents’ soft whispers and murmurs. Something was going on, she was sure of it. A few minutes passed.
Her heart skipped a beat when David said, “Are you sure?”
“Yes,” Rose replied in a shaky voice.
Then David let out a loud whoop of delight.
When the door burst open, Bianca scrambled to her feet.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
Her dad looked a little pale, but had the biggest smile plastered on his face. Bianca peeked into the bathroom and found her mother leaning against the sink, staring off into space.
“Mom? Dad is catatonic. Do you mind telling me what’s going on?”
Rose turned to her daughter and said, “I’m pregnant.”
Bianca blinked a few times and recovered long enough to ask, “You are what now?”
“I’m pregnant,” Rose repeated. She was practically beaming with joy.
“Are you sure?” Bianca asked.
“I am very sure.” Rose then showed her the pregnancy test. The big black, bold letters spelled out the word PREGNANT.
Bianca got teary eyed and her lips quivered. She was going to have a little brother or sister.
Then reality quickly sunk in; they were in the middle of a magical dilemma. The Frog Queen was after them and the other glass slipper. Elda had no respect for life, save her own and the snakes that followed her every command. Marguerite was gone. As for Blair, she had no clue. But she would be dammed if she was going to let anyone lay a finger on her mother.
When Rose started down the stairs to have some toast, David followed closely behind with his hand protectively on her back, as though she were made of the most fragile crystal. Bianca went into the bathroom to brush her teeth and use the toilet. While she brushed her teeth, she came across her mother’s pregnancy test. She spat the toothpaste out of her mouth and picked up the piece of plastic that had changed everyone’s lives in an instant.
