Only a short while ago, Lilith thought that facing Rosehead was the scariest thing she ever did. She changed her mind. Rosehead was only a mutant bush, a giant creature worthy of children's nightmares. The true horror lay ahead of her. She had to confront her grandfather out in the open, in the dead of night, armed with nothing but her wit and fury, painfully aware of the fact that he was both a killer and a Bloom, which made him family. Part of his blood coursed through Lilith, and she hated him for it.

"You're a monster," she said, her face contorted, fists clenched. Panther snarled his approval. Lilith thought about her mental list and recited it. "You're a brute. A book hater. A murderer. And a liar. You tricked me." This was fair game, she thought, not gossiping your opinions about people behind their backs, but relaying the truth to their faces.

"Is that so?" Alfred inquired, lowering the lantern. "Please, kindly explain what you mean."

"You think nobody will believe me," said Lilith, struggling to control her voice.

"Hmm. I thought we established this fact earlier today, didn't we?" Alfred exuded his usual charm.

 "Petra and Ed saw Rosehead, too. Oh, and Ed started talking, for your information. He'll back me up. I'll tell my dad you fed grandmother to her. I'll keep telling everyone until they believe me, or I'll come up with a story to make them leave. Either way, there won't be anyone for you to feed to the garden tomorrow. The mansion will help me."

"Remarkable. I see you know everything better than I do. You've got it all under control. I'm impressed," said Alfred smoothly.

"Hello. I apologize that on our first encounter I didn't introduce myself properly. Let me correct my grievous mistake," Panther yapped, his head held high. "My name is Panther Bloom Junior. I will proudly join Lilith in spreading the word about recent events, you money-thirsty, slow-witted creep."

Lilith gaped at her pet, barely discerning him in the dark. "You talked? In front of an adult?"

"Can't a dog change his mind?"

Grandfather chuckled in surprise, surveying the speaking hound miracle. "Well, well, well. Wouldn't you say. Bizarre. Truly bizarre. I thought I've seen things in my life. Turns out, I haven't. I suppose I wasn't mistaken in my assessment. A whippet is not a dog; it's a joke, a breeder's mistake. You, my dear, belong in a freak show, in one of those exhibitions of biological rarities as a specimen of canine intellectual deformity. You might earn my son some real money finally."

He poked Panther with his boot.

Panther twisted to avoid it and snarled.

"You try biting me, and I'll cut you into a kitty. Understood?" He snapped his shears for dramatic effect.

Panther mumbled something incoherent, retreating.

Satisfied, grandfather turned to Lilith and spoke directly into her face, his putrid breath coming in waves. "As for you, my dear, please, correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought I just heard that a girl and a...talking mutt...will accomplish what generations of men were unable to do. Be my guests, my dearies. You have approximately thirteen hours to fulfill your goal. I'll be watching you with avid interest."

He straightened.

Lilith felt her tongue turn to cotton. She couldn't produce a single word. Panther grunted. Bär grumbled. Newborn bushes shifted restlessly around them, creeping closer. Alfred threw a command in German. Gustav prodded the mastiff to work. His brooding woofs caused a scuffle and a shuffle. The bushes retreated, jostling in disappointment.

"Who, I'd like to know, will believe a twelve-year-old mentally unstable girl, a fourteen-year-old psychotic boy, a seven-year-old, and a yakking pooch?" said Alfred, clearly enjoying himself.

"You think just because you're big, you can piss on those who are little?" rumbled Panther.

"You keep talking to me in that condescending tone of voice, creature, and I'll make sure you don't say another word," Alfred said pleasantly.

Panther snapped his muzzle shut.

"I'll tell everyone that the doctor is dead," Lilith interjected. "I'll tell them how I ordered the room to murder him. They'll call him and they'll find out that he's missing."

"Will you? Quite commendable." Alfred sneered.

"So you admit to it!" Lilith shrilled.

"Admit to what, my dear?"

"I thought I asked you to stop calling me ‘my dear!' And stop pretending like you don't understand what I'm talking about!" Lilith's voice caught. "Stop making me think I'm crazy! Because I'm not! I commanded the mansion. And it listened. I heard it do it! I HEARD IT BREAK HIS BONES!"

"Did you now?" Alfred raised a brow.

Lilith decided to push a little further. "I figured out the bait thing with Rosehead. Guess what, you're bait for her now. Didn't see that coming, did you?" Lilith realized she sounded rather immature, but she didn't care at the moment, hoping to squeeze more information out of her grandfather by shocking him into it.

It didn't work. He lost interest and made to walk away.

Desperate, Lilith reached out to him. "Why do you keep doing this, Opa?" She was on the verge of crying. "Why don't you want to stop this stupid massacre? How could you not? Is that why you want me as heir? You got tired of it and you wanted to pass it on to someone else? What kind of a—"

Alfred grabbed his granddaughter's shoulders and shook her, kicking Panther hard when he tried to bite. "You're an annoying know-it-all, aren't you? Well, in that case, please fancy your dear grandfather. Tell me, what else do you know about me that I don't?" Bits of spit flew from his mouth.

Panther received another kick and flew into the darkness, yelping. Bär tore at the leash, Gustav shouting in an effort to hold him back.

If Lilith thought she was frozen before, she was wrong. Her body turned to brittle ice. She stared at her grandfather's face, eerie in the glow of the lantern.

"TELL ME!" he shouted, giving her another shake.

"You're scared," Lilith said quietly. "I know what you're scared of. You're scared of dying."

Alfred let go of her so fiercely, she fell to the ground. He threw the beret in her face. "I'd appreciate it if you stopped littering my garden with your things. Now, get out of my way."

He yelled at Gustav, who answered back hastily. They huddled together and took off.

Lilith slowly picked up the beret, her heart fluttering like a caught bird. The rustle and bustle about her intensified. The bushes rapidly closed in. You're nothing to me, rang in her ears. You're bait. She understood the meaning of it now. Nothing special hid behind these words. Her grandfather truly didn't care. He simply designated her as yet another body to feed to the garden, albeit extra tasty because she was a direct descendant of Rose Bloom, the first human this place feasted on.

Panther limped toward her, baring his teeth.

"Don't," said Lilith. "Not worth it."

A burning wish to hurt her grandfather flooded her, yet she suppressed it. He was clearly blind to anything but his own gruesome self-preservation. Lilith had to finish her task, to get everyone safely off the Bloom property; and the sooner she did it, the better.

"I can't believe you talked," she told Panther.

"I'm still pinching myself. And you're welcome."

"Thank you."

"It's that German flea—must have bitten me." He scratched his ear. "I'm rather proud of you for confronting him like that."

"Do I get a medal?" asked Lilith.

"How about I rip out his throat?"

"Don't waste your breath. I'd rather you work a slightly different angle at the moment. How about you keep these fantastically hungry and miniature elephants out of our way before they eat us alive?"

While they talked, a dark mass of shrubs surrounded them. Leaves and twigs and flowers wobbled and hobbled, slowly scuttling closer.

"Why, you don't want to pet them? I think they're rather cute," grunted Panther, his fur bristling.

A hushed clatter came from all sides, as if pincers of giant insects rubbed and rattled against each other. 

"Which way would you like to go?" inquired Panther. "You better decide quickly."

"Er...out?" Lilith pointed at the light shining through the gaps in the hedge. "Let's follow them." She pushed away stems, even as one of them swiped at her face. "Now!"

"As you wish," growled Panther. The slithering mass hurried apart, screeching in frustration.

They dashed, weaving in and out of rose clusters, knocking moving canes aside and avoiding what looked like thorny welcome hugs from all sides. As quiet as Lilith tried to be, twigs crunched under her feet. They came within about twenty feet of her grandfather when he suddenly turned around and flashed his lantern at them. "I said, go!" He opened his shears and set off toward them.

Lilith and Panther didn't need to be asked twice. Without any sense of direction, they broke into a blind run, dodging newly grown bushes, skidding along pathways, darting under overgrown arbors, and rousing croaking crows in their wake. After a few minutes, they abruptly ran into the fence on the other side of the garden, its gate closed. Dark Rosenstrasse stretched into the night behind it.

Lilith wheezed, a stich tearing at her side. "We're late."

The garden stretched seamlessly from fence to fence, rustling ominously. Not only was there no sign of the mansion, the motor court disappeared as well, as if the whole thing never existed.

"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.