The trees pulled partly away from the path some ways down it, so it was bright and sunny. The path was well worn, though she didn't see any evidence of recent use. From within the forest, sounds of odd animals could be heard. The wind made the leaves and branches on the trees move restlessly. Diamond, already on edge about being in a place where she knew nothing about anything, jumped at the slightest of sounds, whirling 'round, sure she was being pursued by enemies. Eventually she calmed herself down enough to continue without violently killing leaves that fell behind her.
Aside from her guarded attitude towards everything that moved, she was able to make the long trek more or less calmly. And a long trek it was. The path seemed to go on for miles, branching off in odd directions that put you back in the same direction you began in. The terrain changed multiple times from grassy to rocky to sandy at one point, yet all the trees remained.
Finally, after a change to terrain once again, this time to gray bricks, Diamond came upon a mansion. It was large, more a castle than a mansion. She gazed at it without much awe, seeing as how for her earliest years, she spent her time sneaking into homes like this to kill the inhabitants. Her keen eyes suddenly picked up movement from one of the many curtained windows. Suddenly, another other one moved. Then another. It seemed as if everyone from the house was flocking to the windows to look out at her. It unnerved her, knowing that so many people knew that she was there, and that they were watching her. She started to fidget under their indirectly seen scrutiny.
All the curtains suddenly fell at once. It made her jump. Her eyes flashed to every window but no more curtains were moving. The front door suddenly was violently thrown open and a large horde of women dressed in the oddest clothes poured out. Their dresses were all different colors, strapless, and almost looked like they were made of giant flower petals. And all these flower-wearing women were heading straight towards Diamond!
She took a step back, confused by the unexpected attack by these women. They were all shouting strange things as well, like, "Let me touch her hair," "Yes, it's so pretty," "Her clothes are so strange," and most strange, "Is she Alice?" Their arms were outstretched to grab at her.
Diamond was about to grab for her knives when a woman who had been loitering by the door suddenly yelled, "Stop!" All the women stopped and let out a collective groan of dismay.
"Now don't be like that," the woman scolded. "You'll frighten her, and you don't want to do, now do you?" This woman appeared to be the leader, though she looked no different than the other girls. She was dressed the same and seemed to be only a few years older than the rest. Nothing about her would ever let on that she was the leader. The girls let out small mumbles of agreement and statements of not trying to scare her.
Diamond took this moment of confusion to inspect the girls more closely. Once again the people of this place brought her to a state of shock. Her first dismissed assumption that the girls' dresses were made from flower petals turned out to be right. The dresses also appeared to be a part of the girls, but Diamond dismissed that faster than she had her first thoughts about the dresses. After all, that wasn't possible, was it?
Their faces and uncovered flesh seemed to have some type of golden glittering substance, almost like shining pollen. There was something strange about their hair as well, but Diamond couldn't place what it was, aside from the fact that the color matched that of the dresses. It just looked…odd, like it wasn't real hair.
Before she could take in any more about the girls, the one from the door beckoned to her and said, "Come in dear, come in! We always have room for strangers." The other girls rushed forward again, not grabbing at her this time, but surrounding her and herding her towards the grand house. Before Diamond knew it, she was in the house and the great front doors were swinging shut behind her with a loud bang of finality.
"You must have been so frightened," the leader of the girls said, "wandering around in an unfamiliar place. And in the woods no less."
"Yes, in the woods," a few of the other girls echoed.
The woman suddenly blanched. "Girls," she clapped her hands together harshly, "go and get this poor girl some refreshments." Some of the girls curtsied quickly and hurried off to do her bidding.
Diamond watched them run off, and them warily glanced at the remaining girls, who were smiling too brightly at her, with an almost hungry look in their eyes. They looked as if they had never seen another female before, but that would be stupid, considering that they lived in a house full of them.
"Forgive them," the same woman continued. "They are not allowed out very often, and people rarely come here, so a new person is quite a spectacle for them."
Diamond raised and eyebrow at the woman. "And may I ask why they are not allowed out? Is it some man here who is-" She was cut off by a quick bark of laughter. Her gaze turned sharp at the idea of this woman laughing at her genuine concern.
The woman quickly registered her anger and calmed herself and then replied, "There are no males allowed here. We live alone, happy as can be. We are the Flower House. We need no men."
Diamonds eyebrows raised in appreciation. "Many from where I come from would be appalled to hear you say such things, let alone actually act on them." She stopped remembering her question of where she was. "By the way, where am I exactly?"
"Why, I just told you, the Flower House!" Some of the girls giggled. Diamond shot them a murderous look, her blood boiling at them mocking her. She did not take well to being mocked.
"That, Madam, is quite obvious. But where, exactly, does the Flower House reside? For I know for a fact, that this is NOT America."
"Where you are is where you wish to be," the woman replied cryptically with a matching cryptic smile. The girls giggled again annoyingly, and Diamond had to resist the urge to kill them then and there. Her hands were itching for her knives, which she knew would be the easiest way to silence them.
"Now," she said suddenly, "to the drawing room. We shall take our refreshments there."
Once again Diamond was herded against her will to where the other woman wished her to be. The drawing room was gorgeous, with woods that Diamond had never heard of and sizes of gems that she had never seen before in her life. The windows were pristine and set the dying colors of the sun flaring around the room in a way Diamond had never seen before, even from her richest targets.
And there beside a table set with the most amazing tableware she had ever laid eyes on, were the girls who had rushed off in search of refreshments. Between them was the most fantastic food Diamond had ever seen. Little sandwiches full of exotic meats she couldn't place, bowls of exotic fruits and even candies, drinks that frothed yet smelled heavenly, and so much more.
Diamond could only stare and allowed herself to be dragged towards the table as another girl pulled her chair out for her. She continued to stare until the woman, who had seated herself across from her began to speak.
"Now, I believe I have been very rude once again, seeing as how I haven't told you my name yet, and I can hardly ask for yours without telling you mine." She smiled kindly at her. "My name is Rosemary." She made to take a sip of the drink.
Diamond returned the smile, "Mine is Diamond." Her smile turned wry, "At least someone remembers that common courtesy. I met a child not long before I found my way here who continuously asked me my name, and never gave me his..." She allowed herself to drift off into thought for a moment, absently picking up a sandwich and biting into it. "He had the strangest hair and eyes. His hair was a deep blue, but not deep enough to ever be considered black, while his eyes were nothing more than endless voids of black."
Rosemary chocked on her drink and the girls surrounding her gasped. "Stay away from that creature," Rosemary spat out between the coughing fit started by the choking as the girls started whispering among themselves. "He destroys my precious flowers, eats them beyond repair!"
"What are you talking about?" Diamond exclaimed. "You make it seem as if these girls are real flowers!"
Dead silence met her statement. She glanced around at them, and they stared blankly back. Rosemary suddenly began to laugh.
"But of course they are," she said, recovering from her fit. "What else would they be?" The girls nodded stupidly, like puppets on marionette strings.
Diamond looked around at them in disgust. Her gaze settled back on Rosemary. "You, are a monster. Convincing these girls that they are real flowers! How sick can you get? Keeping them cooped up inside with no freedom." Her anger twisted her face into a sneer, "You're even a bigger monster than myself, and I ended up on death row!"
She turned on her heel to storm out. "And I refuse to deal with you any longer." The girls were suddenly in front of her, blocking her way.
"Don't go," they whispered at her, face as blank as the puppets she found herself comparing them to. "Be a flower." There faces suddenly lit with life. "Yes, join us be a flower, be a flower." Their words began to echo around her as the girls closed in.
"You'd make such a pretty flower, so pretty, so red. Be a flower, be a flower."The suddenly lunged at her, grabbing at her hair and clothes, their chanting voice driving her to see red and then black.
When her vision cleared, she saw the girls who had surrounded her, dead. Even reinforcements that she hadn't known had come. Looking closely at their blood stained forms, she realized that it wasn't blood they were covered in but a very red sap-like substance. The feel of it on her skin was stickier than blood, but just as warm, and just as wet. The golden glitter on their skin WAS pollen, and their hair was made of filaments ending with little anthers. They really HAD been flowers...
She started to giggle, louder and louder and faster and faster, until she sounded as mad as they had all accused her of being, as she truly was. Through her laughter she heard a soft footfall behind her. Her laughter ended abruptly and she swung around, knives in hand, and slit the throat of Rosemary. She same sappy liquid squirted out at her, and Diamond smiled cruelly down at the body of the fallen flower mistress. The feel of blood, or whatever it was, on her skin was making her high, making her want to kill again, and again.
No, she told herself, none of that. Not yet at least. Casting one final glance at the dead flowers, she quietly made her way out of the mansion.
As she left, she never noticed the 'flower mistress,' as she had so rightly called her, stand up and stare off after her, the gaping wound in her neck slowly pulling itself closed. For she truly was the Flower Mistress, ruler of all the true Flowers of Wonderland. Looking down at her fallen children, her only thought was that she had to move on, gather new children, and wait for this 'Alice,' to fall, so that a new one may take her place.