Ed waited for the commotion to die, then carefully pried open the petals of their enclosure. It flattened itself back to the wooden floor and the underside of the mattress. Preceded by a puff of dust, Lilith climbed out first. Panther followed, yawning and stretching. From below came distant sobs and the tinkling of bottles. Lilith threw a mortified look at the door.

SHE'S DRINKING. Ed's hands shook as he wrote. SHE WON'T HEAR US. He watched Lilith digest the information.

"Oh. I forgot. I'm sorry," she said.

Ed shrugged.

Panther sneezed loudly, startling Lilith. Her nerves sang from tension. She didn't know what to say. Too many things had happened too fast. Ed said he's her friend. She kissed him. His bed behaved like a flower. Lilith's parents were probably calling the police this very moment, or the doctor, or both. Ed's step-mom got sacked and now he had to move. Alfred threatened him, and it was all Lilith's fault. She got him involved in this investigation. On top of everything else, Rosehead seemed to be more restless. They had to do something about it. The crows alone signified an onset of a terrible feast. Plus one more thing. Lilith bit her lip, waiting for Ed to ask about her sickness. In school, at the ballet lessons, everywhere, everyone always did.

"Where did you buy it?" Panther growled nonchalantly.

Ed stared. Panther's talking had a freezing effect on him.

"What?" said Lilith.

"The bed." Panther wagged his tail. "I'm asking where Ed bought his bed. I enjoyed it immensely. If I could upgrade my request from the doggy bed to, you know, this one, it would make me work that much harder."

"Really? Did you really just ask that?" Lilith glared.

"What can I say, I enjoy my comfort. I imagine chasing flowery monstrosities across the garden will be very uncomfortable."

Ed smiled.

"That's Panther for you," said Lilith with exasperation, although secretly she was grateful to him for pulling her out of her stupor. "Ed, I'm...look, I apologize I was afraid to trust you."

Ed shook his head no.

"Thank you for covering for us. You have the wickedest hiding place ever." She bit her lip. "And I'm sorry your step- mom got sacked. It's my fault. I should've never—"

Ed put up a hand to silence her.

"Are you mad at me?"

Ed waved his arms so hard he knocked a pile of papers from his desk and sent them flying.

"You're not? Oh, okay. I thought you were. It's hard to tell...well." Lilith sighed. Words deserted her, causing her usual polite demeanor to crumble and her logic to backfire. "My parents are worse, if that makes you feel any better," she said quickly, pondering a second too late why she said it in the first place. "My dad only cares for his dog racing, and my mom...she knits. Day and night. She's obsessed with knitting." And with feeding me pills, Lilith wanted to add. "I don't think it's healthy. At least drinking makes you get out of your skin. I mean...oh, that came out wrong. Excuse me. I'm so sorry." She covered her mouth in horror. Her face flushed. She positively didn't feel like herself around Ed.

IT'S OKAY. I'M GLAD YOU DON'T KNOW. LIVING WITH A DRUNK IS HELL.

"I can't imagine. Please excuse my temporary lack of manners," Lilith whispered, thinking that in another moment her face would simply boil off her skull.

"I think chasing squirrels is a much better alternative to getting out of your skin. If my humble opinion matters here, of course," came from below.

Ed froze, but only for a moment.

He glanced at Lilith. She held his gaze. Both friends communicated something important without words. Panther looked from one to another, scratching himself nervously.

"We need a plan," said Lilith, at the same time as Ed flipped his notepad and wrote, WE NEED A PLAN.

They gasped.

"Did we just..."

A curious tension spilled in the air, the kind that transcends staring contests into the anticipation of a kiss.

Panther coughed.

The friends jumped apart, looking down.

Unable to read or see what the deal was, Panther desperately tried to be a part of the conversation. "Don't you think, madam, that before we come up with any plan whatsoever, perhaps it's time for you to part with your lovely habit of wearing various berets? Incidentally, they tend to land us into all sorts of trouble. Incidentally..." He fell quiet, miffed by the fact that the object of his reverie stopped paying him any attention. He rolled into a ball, curling his tail in defiance.

Lilith and Ed were back to gazing at each other. Their wordless exchange came to a breaking point. Notepad tossed aside, Ed opened and closed his mouth, emitting a frustrated groan.

"Were you going to say something?" Lilith held her breath. "Please? Just for me? I won't tell anyone, I swear."

Ed shook his head dejectedly and rubbed his nose, leaving charcoal smudges. He grunted and started picking up fallen papers.

"Sorry I asked. So sorry."

Panther snapped his jaws. Lilith thought if she said sorry one more time, he'd probably bite her.

"A flummoxing hiding place. Your bed. Awesome, I mean," she added hastily, prompted by Ed's puzzled look. "My house in Boston, it also moves, but it can't do things like that."

Ed's face lit up.

"Your cottage is like a rose, isn't it? A wild rose?"

Ed grabbed a notepad. YES. I THINK—

Lilith couldn't stop herself now. "And grandfather's mansion, it's more like a groomed rosebush, right?"

RIGHT. BUT—

"When grandfather said, Do you want to see your friend again...alive, what did you tell him?"

TO PISS OFF. HEY, WE NEED TO—

"Do you think I'm sick?" Lilith blurted, her heart going wild. 

NO, I DON'T. LOOK. IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT YOUR MOM SAYS. YOU DON'T WANT TO KNOW WHAT MY RELATIVES SAY ABOUT ME. RIGHT NOW THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IS—

"So you're still my friend?" Lilith interrupted.

OF COURSE I AM. BUT WE NEED TO—

"I'm still your friend, too," Panther grumbled. "I was your first friend, by the way."

"Panther, cut it out." Lilith took him in her lap. "Ed, can I ask you about your doctor? Is he..."

HE'S A CLOWN. TRIED MAKING ME TALK. YOU'LL HAVE A FIELD DAY WITH HIM. LISTEN, WE REALLY NEED TO—

Lilith's mind slipped into an anxious frenzy. "Do you think grandfather is planning to feed me to Rosehead? To hang my portrait in that gallery?" Her eyes widened.

Ed dropped the pencil and pulled his hair, looking at Panther, who shrugged with a knowing grin. "What can I say, that's Lilith for you."

There was a loud bang and a yelp, as if someone tripped and fell. "Ed? Ed!" The rest Lilith didn't understand. The dreamy voice of Rosalinde Vogel was now a drunken drawl.

"Your step-mom."

Ed dismissed it with a wave of his hand. WRITING TAKES FOREVER. UGH. He groaned. WE NEED A PLAN. I THINK ALFRED WANTS TO USE YOU FOR SOMETHING.

"For what? You said an heir can control Rosehead. It seems only prudent for me to become one. Although...I don't understand. Grandfather doesn't strike me as idiotic. He'd have figured out by now that you told me everything you know." She stared into nothing.

"I can just see you strolling up to that leafy hippo, saying, hey, Rosehead, care to become a vegan?" Panther yawned.

Ed stared at him, but only for a moment. LET'S ASK HER.

"Ask who?" Lilith exclaimed.

ROSEHEAD.

"Ask her? Can she talk?"

Ed migrated to his desk.

Lilith carefully slid Panther onto the bed and trotted over. The whippet promptly turned away, pretending to be very upset. It didn't have the desired effect.

Lilith watched Ed work. He held his pencil the way one holds a feather. It flew across the page, covering it with rows and rows of words.

Neither of them noticed dusk advancing. It was too quiet in the garden, with not a soul in sight. Even the crows sat still, dosing.

HERE IS WHAT I KNOW. ROSEHEAD GETS REBORN EVERY DECADE. SHE REQUIRES A CERTAIN AMOUNT OF PEOPLE TO SATISFY HER HUNGER.

Lilith's stomach clenched. "How many?"

DUNNO.

"And you propose we ask her? Like, hello, Rosehead, nice outfit. Hey, I was wondering, for what purpose do you think grandfather wants to use me, exactly? Oh, and how many people would be enough for your breakfast today?"

Ed grinned. WHY NOT?

"Did you talk to her before?"

NO, I DUNNO IF SHE CAN. IT'S WORTH A TRY. I ONLY KNOW THAT SHE NEEDS PEOPLE FOR SOME PURPOSE. DAD SAID TO WATCH FOR THE STINK, THE SCREAMS, AND THE CROWS. I WAS FOUR LAST TIME IT HAPPENED. HE WOULDN'T TELL ME MORE.

"Wait, were you at grandmother's funeral? I don't remember seeing you."

I DO. YOU WERE SNIFFING ROSES. He tilted his head.

"Oh, was I? I suppose I was. They stank."

THEY STILL DO.

Lilith's eyes widened. "Her casket was sealed. What if...what if it wasn't an accident. What if my grandmother died from...could she have been..." Lilith stopped breathing, mortified.

Ed raised a brow.

"You figured this out already, didn't you?"

Ed nodded.

"And you didn't tell me?"

Ed slapped his forehead.

"All right, all right. Sorry. It's just that...it's so unequivocally and morbidly fascinating. So terrible. So absolutely and unashamedly disgusting." A choking noise escaped her throat. "So, does this mean that grandfather..." Lilith couldn't say it. She mentally added one more reason to hate Alfred. Her top reason. A brute, a book hater, and a liar paled by comparison. He was a murderer. Her heart drummed. "I can't believe this. You think it's true? That he could've fed grandma to Rosehead?"

"Wouldn't surprise me," growled Panther.

"Is that why you hate him so much?" Lilith addressed Ed in a shaky voice. "You planned on stopping this outrageous massacre yourself, didn't you?"

Ed nodded. SINCE DAD DIED. THEN YOU SHOWED UP.

Panther scowled and turned away as noisily as he could, fluffing up the blankets and taking time to curl his tail.

Lilith chewed on her hair, thinking about her parents, little Petra and her brother, the Schlitzberger twins, their mother, the blind lady, her daughter, and all the other guests. They had no idea what danger they were in, and they wouldn't believe her if she flat-out told them.

THERE IS THIS SECRET PLACE—

"We have to stop him," croaked Lilith.

YES. TOMORROW MORNING. I HAVE A PLAN. MEET ME AT THE BACK OF THE COTTAGE. 

"What plan? Oh, to talk to Rosehead? Why not now?"

IT'S ALMOST NIGHT. YOUR MOM WILL CALL POLICE IF YOU DON'T SHOW UP SOON.

"Let her. I hope she does. I hope they turn this entire place upside down."

BUT ROSEHEAD WILL SUCK THEM DRY. POLICEMEN.

Lilith never blushed so hard in her life. "Right. You're absolutely correct. My head has not been functioning properly, please excuse me. Tomorrow, then." She paused. "Wait! What if they lock us up again?"

Ed pointed to the whippet, who turned around with aplomb. "Not to worry, madam. I will pee, and we will fly."

A particularly loud crash echoed from below, followed by stomping up the stairs.

All three of them jumped. Lilith had enough time to press Panther to her chest. The door swung open and a leering figure of a disheveled Rosalinde barged in. Her heel caught on the rug and she crashed to the floor, pumps flying.

Ed pushed Lilith and Panther out of the room.

"Does she get like this often?" whispered Lilith.

Ed averted his eyes.

"I'm sorry," said Lilith and, before her girly cowardice seized her, she leaned in and pecked Ed on the lips, then scurried down the stairs so fast she nearly fell at the very bottom, her ballet slippers sliding this way and that on the polished wood.

"You never kissed me on the lips," came a disgruntled growl from between her arms.

"Oh, shut it, Panther." Lilith closed the front door and lowered him to the ground. "If you want to be jealous, now is not the time. It might be possible that my grandfather sent my grandmother to death ten years ago. Can you believe it? Do you understand what this means? I need to tell Dad."

Panther rumbled something sounding like silly speculations again.

Lilith stood, fuming.

The Bloom mansion had on its every light, plunging the garden into darkness. The sky turned purple. It was beautiful, if not for the sickening stench that oozed around her.

 "The crows must know what's coming," whispered Lilith grimly. German swearing floated from Ed's bedroom window, then another thud. Lilith's insides twisted.

"I did say that your grandfather is a bloody creep, didn't I? This question has been consuming me lately, if I may? Do you have a single normal relative, or are they all, dare I say it, a bit unbalanced?" Panther growled crossly.

"How can you be so insensitive?" Lilith flared up. "What if your mom was—"

"What? Crazy about squirrels?"

"Very clever." Lilith glared.

"I'll take it as a compliment. So, what's the plan?"

"The plan is to get back to the mansion. It's not my fault you decided not to participate in our discussion."

"It's not my fault I can't read." Panther stalked off.

Lilith marched after him.

The garden parted in a clear path, as if directing them to the front of the mansion. Deep in their own thoughts, they hardly noticed, walking along in silence, emerging in the motor court and halting by the front doors.

"Hey," Lilith said, as she leaned in and held Panther's front paws. "I'm sorry, okay? I promise I'll read Ed's notes for you next time." She gave him a smooch. "There, I kissed you on the lips. Friends again?"

Panther rolled his eyes, but his tail betrayed him, wagging like mad. "Only I was your first friend."

"Yes, of course. You were my first friend." Lilith stood. "Ready?"

Panther pawed at the door.

Lilith took a deep breath and reached for the handle.