One Black Rose (23 page)

“What the hell is going on?” he cried when he saw the sheer panic I was in.

“She, I...she....” I doubled over, gasping for breath. I hadn’t run far, but panic does weird things to the body.

Mrs. Roth came into the hall. “What is going on?” she asked, staring at me. She forced me to stand up straight and put her hand on my forehead.

But I didn’t have to answer, because there was a knock at the door.

Mrs. Roth and Holt must have known who it was, because Mrs. Roth looked stricken and Holt’s face paled.

He looked at his mother for direction. Her eyes were glued to the door, but she nodded, giving him permission to open it.

Holt opened the door for a second time. If the knob was ice cold like the one at UP UP and Away, Holt’s face didn’t show it. Mrs. Cheshire probably wasn’t as powerful on the Roths’ property, or something like that.

But she was still terrifying as she strode into the Roths’ front hall.

 Somehow I wasn’t prepared to see her again, and I gasped out loud.

“Patricia, how can I help you?” asked Mrs. Roth. I was amazed that her voice was steady. I was also amazed that both women were starting to look subtly different. Mrs. Roth’s hair became more like vines, thicker and stronger looking. Her skin had slight glittering lines just under the surface, which wouldn’t have been noticeable if I hadn’t been staring at her. Unlike Mrs. Roth, Mrs. Cheshire just looked harder, her skin more like marble than actual warm flesh.

Mrs. Cheshire pointed an imperious finger at me. “Her. She shouldn’t be here. You know that as well as I do and just as well as this good-for-nothing son that you spawned.”

Obviously Mrs. Cheshire didn’t exist in a world where if you wanted your son to marry a certain girl you at least tried to be nice to her.

“I am not going to tell Autumn or Holt what to do or who they may love. We’ve seen what happens to kings and queens when they are forced to marry against their will.” Mrs. Roth might as well have slapped the Winter Queen, but I could see that her hands were shaking.

Mrs. Cheshire got even paler, if that was possible. I could see her nostrils flaring as she fought for air, hate clear in every line of her body. The air around her had started to shimmer with cold.

“You like to throw that around as if it means something, but the fact remains that that girl” -- again she pointed at me -- “is destined to marry my son. To accept HIS Rose. Just because she can accept Holt’s as well DOES NOT MEAN HE HAS ANY RIGHT TO OFFER IT.” Her eyes blazed out as her voice rose to a scream.

Out of her robe she pulled something that was shaped like a staff but looked like a twisted vine of blue ice. With a movement so fast I could hardly follow it she pointed it at me.

“No,” cried Mrs. Roth. She stepped between me and the blue tendril of Fairy magic as it snaked towards me. Instead of hitting me, Mrs. Cheshire’s magic slammed into Mrs. Roth’s outstretched hand. From my position behind her I could see Holt’s mother shudder.

“No,” cried Holt.

“Holt,” said Mrs. Roth, stopping him. “I’m fine. Mrs. Cheshire knows better than to attack the Summer Queen at her own home.”

The realization hit me that Mrs. Roth was a queen as well, and at the moment a queen during her best time, summer, and I felt relish wash through my body.

Surely Mrs. Cheshire was not so crazy as to go against the wishes of the Summer Queen in her own house.

“It’s time for you to leave,” said Mrs. Roth to Mrs. Cheshire. “Now. Unless, of course, you want to declare war on the Summer Court.”

I could see from the look on Mrs. Cheshire’s face that that’s exactly what she wanted to do.

Instead, she took a deep breath. She continued to hold her vine-shaped staff. I would have to ask Susan about weapons next time I saw her. I didn’t remember her mentioning them during our picnic, but apparently Fairies had powerful ones.

Realizing she was outnumbered, Mrs. Cheshire changed tactics. To Holt she pleaded, “Don’t do this to yourself. You will only be unhappy and you will make everyone you care about unhappy as well. You think you care about her now, but in a few years you will get over it. You will meet the real girl who was destined for you and then where will you be? And you will have destroyed your family in the process.”

Holt stepped forward. “Get out.” His voice was low and dangerous and I could see that he was fighting to keep control of himself. “You have to go. Now.”

Mrs. Cheshire stayed fixed to her spot for another breath, then turned away. She was out the door and slamming it behind her before I had a chance to breathe. In the ringing silence that followed I looked from Holt to Mrs. Roth. I had no idea what to say.

“I’m so sorry,” I said finally. “I had no idea.”

“No,” said Mrs. Roth. “You didn’t. But it’s the sad truth that your being around only hurts my family and my son. It might be better if you took her home, Holt.”

Holt looked stricken. So did I, I’m sure. I hadn’t meant for any of this to happen. I knew that Holt’s and my being together put us in danger, but I didn’t realize the Winter Queen would try to actually kill me, even though it wouldn’t do her any good if she wanted me to marry her son. I hadn’t actually realized until now that she regarded me as her property. My knees felt weak and I started to sag. Holt darted forward and caught me up. Just his proximity, the feel of his arms around mine, his faint smell, made my head spin. I had thought that the Roths approved. Above all else they had always been kind to me, but I guess the Winter Queen coming to their door was too much.

Mrs. Roth gave me an opportunity to explain what had happened at UP UP and Away, but while I talked she wouldn’t even look at me.

“Holt,” said his mother quietly when I finished, “take her home.”

“But Mom, shouldn’t we....” Holt started to say.

“No,” said his mother. “What The Winter Queen did was unacceptable, but there’s nothing else we can do about it at the moment. Take her home!”

Holt put his arm around me and led me outside. I was relieved when there was no sign of the Winter Queen.

“It will be alright,” he whispered in my ear. “I promise, it will be alright.”

Things were getting out of hand. I was clear about that much when I woke up. And I’d reached that level of clarity because I’d been up most of the night. The other bad news was that the sky was gray and cloudy. I wondered if it had ever rained on the night of the Solstice Party before. If it hadn’t, tonight would be a hell of a time for it to start. I had a bad feeling that bad weather would only heighten Mrs. Cheshire’s powers. Not that she would do anything at the party. She probably wouldn’t even come now. I hoped.

I rubbed my eyes groggily and tried to wake up. I had barely slept, mostly because an image of Mrs. Cheshire swooping into the entryway of the Roths’ and attacking people with knives and hammers made out of ice kept me awake. Of course, I knew that was silly. Samuel’s mom would never do that. Not with her son and all the rest of the family watching. Not to mention all of the Roths. But still, I worried.

Holt had looked surprised when his mother had told him to take me home the day before, but had put his arm around me and done what she asked. On the way back to Carley’s he explained that I wasn’t in any danger from Mrs. Cheshire, that no matter what, she wouldn’t want to hurt me. It didn’t help, though, that Holt said it all in a way that sounded a lot like he was trying to convince himself as well as me. Mrs. Cheshire was most definitely a danger. She was the Winter Queen, after all, and clearly used to getting her way. I didn’t think that anyone, me or Mrs. Roth or maybe even Samuel, could stop her if she was angry enough.

With those nice relaxing thoughts in my head it was no wonder I hadn’t slept. Gloomily, I pulled myself out of bed and went into the bathroom.

A long shower later, I felt a bit better. The warm water had relaxed me, even if it hadn’t helped wake me up. I blow-dried my hair so that it wouldn’t make me colder on this chilly day. Then I put on jeans and my favorite blue hoodie and padded downstairs to check on Carley.

She was in the living room watching TV with her feet propped up on the sofa. Her toes were spread out with a tissue stuck between them as she painted her nails. Her head was wrapped in a green towel and she was still in her purple bathrobe.

“Morning,” I said, plopping into a chair.

She sat bolt upright and looked at me in complete horror.

I raised my eyebrows at her. “Who died?” I wanted to know.

“What are you wearing?” she gasped. “Why aren’t you doing your hair? Here, sit here,” she said, and cleared off a bunch of pillows from the couch. “I have the flat iron going if you want to use it.”

“Careful or you’ll spill the nail polish,” I muttered.

I knew I should probably take her advice. My hair tended to frizz like I’d stuck a finger in an electrical socket, and I didn’t want that to happen tonight. I wanted to look nice.

I sighed and got to work on my hair.

“My parents called,” said Carley. “They said they talked to your mom and that you shouldn’t go to the party tonight.”

I stopped mid-comb. “So, why are you still having me straighten my hair?”

“Psh, you don’t think I’m going to listen to them, do you? I mean, if we get caught we’ll both be grounded, but it will be SO worth it.” She grinned at me.

“Are you sure you want to take that risk?” I asked. I didn’t want my friend to get in trouble for me.

“Oh, please. I do it all the time. What parents don’t know won’t hurt them,” she said, and gave me an evil grin.

I smiled back. Carley could drive me crazy sometimes, like when she forgot to pick me up from the airport, but she really was a good friend.

“I should call my mom anyway,” I said. “She’s being completely unreasonable.”

“She really didn’t even tell you why she didn’t want you to go?” Carley asked.

“Nope,” I said. “I have no idea what’s wrong with her.” At first I had thought she had talked to Mrs. Fritters about my going and that’s why she didn’t want me to, but after my run-in with Mrs. Cheshire yesterday I wasn’t so sure it had been Mrs. Fritters.

“What’d you think of Mrs. Cheshire?” Carley asked as she continued carefully painting her toes. “Scary, huh? I think she’s a horrible woman. Maybe that’s where Samuel gets it from.”

Even if Samuel was cold I didn’t think he and his mother were anything alike, but I nodded. “She wasn’t…pleasant,” I said.

Carley snorted. “Not at all. Maybe she is if she likes you, like, maybe she’s nice to her own children, but if you get on her bad side, watch out.” Carley slammed one of her fists into the other for emphasis.

Talking about Mrs. Cheshire wasn’t helping my nerves, so I tried to change the subject. “Anyway,” I said. “Where’s Nick?”

Carley shrugged. “He said we wouldn’t see him until tonight. He said that he had big plans and that they didn’t involve spending all day watching us play with our hair.”

“Haha.”

The doorbell rang.

“Who would that be?” asked Carley, frowning. “Could you get it? I’m stuck here.” She pointed to the nail polish drying on her toes.

I got up and went to the door. Pulling it open, I was surprised to see Susan.

“Hi! Thought I’d stop by,” she said with a smile.

“Hey,” I said. Did she hear about yesterday?’

“
Carley’s in the living room,” I said, inviting her in.

“Who is it?” called Carley. We walked into the living room. Carley had pushed herself up onto the sofa and pulled her robe tighter. “Hey, Susan.”

“Hi! Oh are you getting ready for the party? I’m so excited,” Susan gushed, sitting down in one of the chairs. Carley shut the TV off.

“Yeah, so are we,” said Carley.

“Well, actually, I told Autumn I’d help her with her dress if she wanted,” said Susan, “and since you live so close I thought I’d just stop by.”

“I haven’t even seen your dress yet, have I?” asked Carley, realizing that she hadn’t gone with me to pick it out, which had turned out to be a good thing, because she had missed running into Crazy Cheshire Girl One and Crazy Cheshire Girl Two.

I shook my head. “It’s cute,” I said non-committally. “Nothing to write home about, but I thought it looked nice.” Also, after I’d run into the Cheshire girls I’d been done shopping for the day.

“Hey, you need better than okay,” said Susan sternly. “You need perfection.”

“I just wouldn’t know where to start,” I said. “I like it. It’s just one night.” It did occur to me that Susan might have an ulterior motive for being there, but I couldn’t imagine what. Maybe she was just nice.

We spent the rest of the morning and most of the afternoon working on my dress. Well, Susan did most of the work. When she asked my opinion I gave it, and then she mostly did what she wanted to anyway.

The three of us chatted while she worked, but because Carley was there we didn’t have a chance to talk about anything related to Fairies or Mrs. Cheshire or princes.

When she finished at last, it was time to get ready for the party.

I had to admit, the dressed looked stunning. Carley had seen how good Susan was at sewing and had even asked her to make a few alterations to her own dress.