The night proved uneventful. Gabby and Daniel stood over their daughter until she swallowed two sleeping pills and passed out on a guest daybed brought into their room. Lilith saw no dreams and woke to the grumble of trucks and Panther licking her face. She yawned and propped herself up, wondering about the commotion. Both her parents snored quietly. Layers of white covers separated them down the middle, their faces turned to opposite sides.
"Did you hit me with a thousand pillows? Because it feels like it," Lilith said, rubbing her eyes.
"No, only with one cow, and only because I'm a dog and don't know any better," Panther growled under his breath, to make sure he wasn't overheard.
"What? Oh, that. I'm sorry, okay? What else was I supposed to say?"
"Good morning, for starters."
"Good morning."
"And you still owe me steak." Panther curled his tail and gamboled to the window.
Lilith stumbled behind him.
It rained. The air smelled of dust and warm summer. Water seemed to have washed the stink away. Lilith took a deep breath, watching a slew of activity unfold below.
Her parents' room faced the motor court. Several large Bloom & Co. freighters occupied most of it. Workers in red uniforms loaded them with crates full of roses, to be shipped all over the world.
People paid astronomical amounts of money for Bloom & Co. flowers. While a typical rose lasted up to twelve days, a Bloom & Co. rose lived for over a month. It didn't wilt and its blossom was perfectly round, ranging in shade from light scarlet to deep ruby. Never losing its color, after a month it dried out and was reused in dry bouquets. No wedding, no funeral, no important celebration was possible without Bloom's roses. They became a legend, started in thirteenth century by Ludwig Bloom who stumbled on a wild growth of bushes and settled to culture them.
Lilith heard this story from her mother numerous times. Her father could care less. He was out of touch with Alfred Bloom precisely for the reason of not wanting to continue the family business, migrating to America to breed whippets, the very creatures his father despised.
Lilith took another lungful of air.
It was an ordinary morning, and she desperately wished for it to stay this way. First, the house wasn't moving. Second, the usual rotten sweetness in the air was replaced by the delicate fragrance of roses, the type you'd expect to dwell in a florist's shop. And third, there were no weird noises, no chopping sounds, no sighs, no—
Something, or someone, knocked on the roof.
Lilith jumped, her heart hammering. "Did you hear that?"
"I heard several things," Panther growled between licks. "One of them was your question on whether or not I heard that, depending, of course, what that in your universe means, because in my universe—"
Gabby mumbled and turned over. The mattress creaked. Both Lilith and Panther froze. Neither of them wanted to spoil the morning. It took several painful minutes for Gabby's breath to slow down, when another sharp knock made Lilith start.
She looked at Panther. He shrugged, as much as you can imagine a whippet shrugging. More knocks rained down in a rapid staccato. Curious, Lilith leaned out and craned her neck to look, which was a very bad idea, because that same moment the ordinary morning came to an end.
A huge crow took off from the roof and swooped down, cawing. Lilith shielded her face, lost hold of the windowsill, and nearly toppled out onto the trucks below. The crow nabbed her head and zoomed into the garden, complaining all the way.
"Owwww!" Lilith cried, slipping.
Panther seized the bottom of her pajamas, but only ripped them. Lilith felt her feet lift, when a hand caught her.
"Lilith! What on earth are you doing?" The wrath of Gabby Bloom came at last.
"Feeding—crows—with—my—blood," she squeezed in between gasps. "Good morning to you too, Mother." Lilith slumped to the floor.
"You realize you could've fallen out the window? What are you, five?" Gabby glared, arms akimbo. "Cut it out, or I'll ask Alfred to lock you up."
Panther whined.
"He acts like he understands."
"He does, Mom."
Panther barked again.
"I said, cut it out! Both of you."
Lilith recoiled. "You should open up a club with grandfather and call it Whippet Haters," she whispered, scooping up Panther.
"What did you say?"
"What's going on?" Daniel shuffled up, yawning. "Pup, you okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine. It's just that—"
"Your daughter managed to get in trouble before breakfast, that's what. She almost fell out the window."
"She what?"
"Your grandfather was right, missy. I think it best you stayed in your room today. No need to go out in the garden in this weather anyway." She propped up her glasses.
"But Mom—" Lilith began.
"No buts. You will stay in your room and that's the end of it, you hear me?"
"But I—"
"You're bleeding!" Daniel cried, as he kneeled next to Lilith and examined her head. "Love, did you see this?" He wiped the blood with the sleeve of his pajamas.
"Of course I saw. Not like she doesn't deserve it."
"Gabby!"
"It will teach her not to hang out of windows first thing in the morning, before brushing her teeth and getting dressed. Which reminds me..." She disappeared into the bathroom.
"Pup, can you tell me what happened?"
"I was just—"
"I told you what happened," said Gabby crossly, coming back with a glass of water and two tablets, which she shoved into Lilith's hands.
"I want to hear it from Lilith."
"You don't trust me?"
"I do trust you. Can I have a minute with my daughter?"
"Our daughter."
"Okay. Our daughter."
Both parents peered at her.
"Um." Lilith was cornered. No matter what she did, she knew they would wait until both capsules dissolved in her stomach, sending the drug to work. She decided to succumb to her fate, when a rap on the door made Gabby and Daniel look away, giving Lilith a perfect opportunity to throw the pills over her head and begin chugging the water, her face a mask of innocence.
"Good morning, Mister and Missis Bloom. Breakfast iz ready," said Agatha.
By the time her parents turned back, Lilith finished the water. It worked. They didn't ask questions.
After cleaning blood from Lilith's hair and listening to her story, Daniel disappeared into the bathroom, and Gabby launched into a lecture on Lilith's behavior.
Panther studied the ceiling. Lilith studied Panther.
The bathroom door opened. Lilith darted inside, dragging along her messenger bag. Since she declared war on her grandfather, she needed to solve the garden's mystery. A shower alone wouldn't do. A serious investigation required an emergency ballet practice. Lilith wiped herself with a towel, dried her hair, and expertly donned ballet tights, slippers, a leotard, a tutu, and her rosy beret. She checked herself in the mirror, stepped out of the bathroom, and halted.
Her parents sat on the bed. Her father rocked her mother like a child, back and forth, her face red and puffy from tears. Lilith had never seen her mother in this state. She'd seen her cry, but it was usually for show. This looked real.
They started.
Gabby looked away, wiping her face.
Daniel cleared his throat. "Washed all the blood out, did you?"
"I most certainly did." Something stirred in Lilith's chest. "Mom? Dad?"
"Yeah?" said Daniel.
"I was thinking, and, I wanted to..." She sighed. "I'm sorry I'm such a nuisance. I know it takes a toll on you, looking after me, making me take my medicine and all."
Panther gave Lilith a puzzled stare.
Daniel sighed. "You're not a nuisance. We love you, pup."
"Love you too," said Lilith, studying her mother.
Gabby sniffled, trotted to her daughter, and pecked her on the cheek. "Don't. Don't look at me like this. I look terrible." She propped up her glasses. "I'm so worried about you, you see what it does to me?"
You're worried about my physical wellbeing, you mean, Lilith wanted to say, not my emotional wellbeing, of which you have no idea. Neither of you. I wish you'd listen to me, if only once. Wish you'd believe me. But she didn't say anything. Instead, she kissed her mother back and returned her father's clumsy hug.
A few minutes later, she was in her room. Daniel took Panther on a walk and brought him back, to Lilith's immense relief. Agatha showed up with a tray of steaming waffles and a bowl of chopped up steak. Lilith was to stay locked up all day and eat in her room, while her parents sought Alfred's help in finding an English speaking psychotherapist who specialized in extreme cases of adolescent mental disorders.
On the cusp of turning thirteen, Lilith had already been through four specialists before landing on Dr. Crawford, who stuck. Lilith suspected it was not because her treatment made any difference, but because Dr. Corby Crawford adored her mother's knitting skills, which caused her mother to adore Dr. Crawford's therapeutic skills in return.
Panther licked his bowl clean and burped. "You know, I'm faced with a very difficult decision."
"What's that?" said Lilith, chewing a waffle.
"I can't decide whom I loathe more, your mother or your grandfather."
"Panther."
"You apologized."
"It's not her, it's me, okay?"
"You said you love her! And what did she say?"
"I shouldn't have erupted yesterday. Shouldn't have lost control. It was completely and utterly foolish. You know how she is, so don't give me that look. I have other things to worry about."
"Like what?"
"Like I thought for sure grandfather would take you away. Wonder why he didn't." Lilith finished one waffle and started on another.
"He's afraid I'll fart in his face and make him die of canine flatulence suffocation," Panther growled.
"Very funny." Lilith brushed the crumbs off her bed. "I know what you're thinking."
"I didn't know you're telepathic."
"You're wrong. Contrary to what you think, I don't think mom or dad told grandfather anything." Lilith rubbed the spot where the crow nabbed her, looking out the window. Rain droned on, worse than before.
"That is not what I was thinking about."
"What were you thinking about?"
"I was thinking about a nap." Panther yawned in an obnoxiously loud manner.
"A nap."
No response.
"Panther!" She shook him. "Aren't you worried? We're supposed to be investigating!"
"Your grandfather is a creep, he kills people, and the rosebush woman eats them. Done." Panther rolled away.
"These are merely guesses. You're the one who always insists on facts, whatever happened to that? We don't know anything for sure. I asked Ed if grandfather kills people. He said yes and no. I think what he meant was that grandfather lures them into the garden and leaves them there for the bushes. Or something like that. Regardless, how they die doesn't change a thing. It's the fact that they are dying that's hair-raising."
"My hair is perfectly smooth, thank you."
"Listen. We've got to stop it, period. We need to find out what big thing is going to happen. Whatever Monika meant by due. We'll be saving lives, think about that."
"Since when are you so concerned about the lives of strangers?"
"What kind of a question is that? Aren't you?"
"I'm a dog."
"Panther Bloom Junior."
"Fine. Let's investigate, in blazing squirrels. Where do we start?"
"This room is too small." Lilith slid from the bed and twirled in front of the mirror.
"Too small for what?"
"For an emergency ballet practice. I can't think properly, my brain is fuzzy. It's too quiet, like before a thunderstorm. I don't like it. Why doesn't the garden stink anymore?" She jumped, overtaken by inspiration. "Let's escape! Right now. Let's sneak out of here and find a bigger room to practice."
"I'm perfectly comfortable here. Besides, didn't your grandfather promise to take me away in case we, you know..."
"Oh, come on," Lilith said, inclining her head. "We'll be extra careful. We can swing by the kitchen to see if that cook—"
"Monika," growled Panther with affection.
"If Monika can give you the steak I promised you."
Panther perked up. "Well, in that case..."
They exchanged a mischievous glance.
As logical as Panther was, he was a dog. As much as Lilith wanted to solve the mystery of the garden, she was a twelve-year-old girl, and neither girls nor dogs liked being locked up. Overtaken by the fever of pursuit, they didn't care much about what their actual pursuit was, as long as they did something dangerously exciting as opposed to sitting idle. The only missing thing was Ed's presence, and Lilith decided to pay him a visit. The fact that she could be spotted on her way, and that neither she nor Panther had the key to the door, never crossed her mind.