Rosie Oakhum's Arc

Chapter 3 of 3

Rosie needed a place to work the flower without eyes on her. Her own yard wouldn't do. The woman next door hung wash at all hours and watched every gate. If any neighbor saw her cutting and crushing the strange bloom, word would race back to the village before noon. She wrapped the lily in her apron and walked out past the last houses, looking for somewhere quiet. She found a beekeeper's hut at the edge of the fields. It was painted pink and black, cheerful as a toy, with hives stacked on the porch. No one answered her knock. The door stood unlatched. Rosie stepped inside, set the lily on a bare table, and pulled the door shut behind her. At last she had walls and no windows facing the lane. She went to work. She peeled back the furred red petals and pressed them between her fingers. A sticky film coated her skin. She crushed a leaf and sniffed it. Sweet, almost like honey. She rubbed the paste on the back of her hand and waited. The skin went numb. She flexed her fingers and felt nothing there at all. So that was its use. The lily dulled pain. Someone had grown it in secret to make a medicine, or something worse. The door swung open. Hazel Derry stood there in her yellow apron, a basket of cut stems on her arm. Her face went white when she saw the flower on the table. "You followed me here," Rosie said. It wasn't quite a question. "I keep bees out here," Hazel said. Her voice shook. "I saw you cross the fields." She stared at Rosie's numbed hand, at the crushed petals. "You tested it. You know now." "I know it kills feeling," Rosie said. "That's all. What's it really for, Hazel?" Hazel set the basket down slow. She looked at the door, then back. "You shouldn't have found this place. It's mine. Now they'll know you got this far." She pressed her hands together. "Please. Just tell me one thing. Did anyone see you come?" "No one," Rosie said. Hazel let out a breath, but her fear didn't leave. "Then there's still time." She grabbed the crushed petals and threw them in the cold hearth. "Take the flower and go home. Don't come back out here." Rosie gathered the lily. She had her answer and a new thread. This hut was Hazel's secret, tied to the bees and the flower both. "You're growing it, aren't you," Rosie said at the door. "You and the bees." Hazel didn't answer. Her silence was answer enough. Rosie walked back toward the village with the numbness fading from her hand. She knew what the lily did now. She knew Hazel was in it deeper than the shop. But she still didn't know who else stood behind it, or why they'd fear one nosy woman knowing. The hut had given her a use and a name. Now she needed the reason.