Chapter 9: Sweet Jelly and Old Blood

The next day after breakfast, Ima went out to harvest more rose petals while Violet cleaned up the kitchen. Determined to find out if what happened with the crocks the day before was because of her spell or the pendant, she removed the pendant from her pocket and set it on the counter as far away from the dirty dishes as she could get it, but still keep an eye on it.

Standing in front of the dishes, Violet closed her eyes and sought her core of inner peace. She hadn't done this yesterday, but it was part of her magic ritual and habits were hard to break. That inner peace proved elusive, however. After trying unsuccessfully for several minutes, Violet huffed with irritation.

"Goddess give me peace," she implored.

Like a blanket that had been draped around her, she felt peace settle within her. Saying a quick prayer of thanks to the goddess, she turned her attention to the task at hand.

"Èist sgiobalta glan," she pronounced forcefully while mentally envisioning what she wanted to happen.

Her jaw dropped open as the food residue from the dishes, pot, and utensils disappeared and a shine replaced them.

"It worked," she whispered.

Not only were the breakfast dishes perfectly clean, but the counter around them shone as if it had been polished. Violet shot a glance to verify that the pendant was still on the counter where she placed it and caught sight of the pots and pans hanging from the rack on the wall beyond it. Before, most of them were dusty, rusted, and had bits of food still stuck on them. Now, the cast iron was perfectly black, without a speck of dust or rust. The cobwebs that had gathered around the top of the rack were gone.

"Whoa," she breathed.

Turning slowly in a complete circle, she saw that the entire kitchen had been affected by the spell. How was she going to explain this to Ima? There was no way she could have done this while the woman was out picking her roses. Well, she thought, she was just going to have to hope Ima didn't notice.

"Fat chance," she muttered.

She had just finished putting away all the dishes when Ima came through the door with her basket. Dumping the roses on the table, Ima stepped back and appraised the pile.

"Violet," she said without turning, "can you fetch the large basin?"

"Sure," Violet answered. The large basin, basically a large square pan with high sides, was stored under the counter. Violet pulled it out then removed the other bowls and miscellaneous items piled in it.

"It's been there since last year's harvest, so it will need cleaning," Ima said.

Or not, Violet thought, looking at the brightly shining pan.

"It looks fine to me," she answered.

Ima turned around and squinted at the pan.

"How?"

"Don't ask me," Violet lied yet again, "I just pulled it out."

Ima raised an eyebrow and Violet struggled to keep an innocent face. The woman finally grunted and directed her to put the pan on the table.

For the rest of the morning, Ima kept Violet busy fetching and doing little things for her. She wouldn't let Violet touch her precious roses this time and did all the work herself, which amounted to sitting in her chair, sipping a cup of tea that Violet kept filled, and dipping the rose petals into the pan of water to wash any dirt and insects off. After that, the petals were laid out on towels until Ima was ready for the next step.

The next step had Violet filling multiple large bowls with fresh water from the well and Ima immersing the petals in the water. Each bowl received a drop of clear liquid from a small jar that Ima retrieved from her room. When Violet asked what it was, she replied that it was a serum that leached the color and flavor from the petals but wouldn't say what was in it. Afterwards she set a plate on top of each bowl to weigh down the petals and keep them under the water. This was completed well before lunch and Violet thought she would have time to go out and ask around for someone to take her to Highmoon.

That was not to be. Ima announced they had time for another batch before lunch and went out to harvest more roses. Violet scrubbed out the basin and readied more bowls. By the time she had everything laid out, Ima was back.

After lunch was more of the same. By dinner time, every flat surface in the kitchen was covered with bowls holding the water and petals.

"What's next?" Violet asked, interested in the process despite herself.

"I let them soak overnight. By morning the serum will have done its work and I can strain all the water. Then I start reducing it until it is a tenth of the volume it is now." Ima smiled, "then the real fun begins."

The way she said it made the hairs on Violet's arm stand on end and she absently clutched the pendant in her pocket.

"What's that?"

"You'll see," Ima smiled again. "I'll need your help at that point."

Like she hadn't been helping this entire time, Violet thought crossly, tightening her grip on the pendant. The pulse of her heart against it helped tamp down her temper until she was able to bid Ima a polite goodnight and retire to her room.

Pacing back and forth in the small space, Violet considered her next move. Ima had thoroughly thwarted her plans for the day. It was almost as if the woman knew what she planned, which was ridiculous. The woman was selfish and lazy, but that was all.

Removing her apron, she pulled the pendant out of the pocket to place it on the nightstand but stopped. A sudden urge to get out of the house gripped her. She didn't know if it was coming from the pendant or not, but she wasn't going to argue about it. Tucking into the pocket of her overdress, she hurried out of the room.

Out in the forest, the urge abated, and she was able to relax. In fact, the further she moved away from the house, the better she felt. She didn't dare to venture too deep into the woods, though. She might get lost and not be able to find her way back.

Would that be so bad, as tiny voice in the back of her mind asked.

"Now you're just being paranoid," she admonished herself.

Finding a comfortable spot to sit at the base of a large oak, she settled down and waited. Before long, Nori and Chi-chi joined her, and she spent a while petting and talking to them. Once they settled comfortably around her, she thought about her plans to leave Hobbs Dale. From what Ima told her, tomorrow would be just as busy as today, so she probably wouldn't get the chance to go out once again. Plus, she kind of felt she owed the woman a little loyalty. After all, Ima had taken her in without batting an eyelash. Which was odd if she stopped to think about it. If a strange woman showed up on Violet's doorstep and claiming to be sent by her brother, would she have welcomed the woman into her home? Given her clothes?

Violet hoped she was a good enough person that she would, but Ima wasn't a good person. There must have been an underlying reason.

"Well, she certainly got a maid out of the deal," she huffed.

Nori raised her head, "Mrrrow."

"Sorry," Violet stroked her silky head, "I didn't mean to disturb you."

Feeling renewed from her time with Nori and Chi-chi, she picked her way out of the forest and let herself back into Ima's garden. As she crossed to the door, she caught a movement out of the corner of her eye. Stopping, she stared into the gloom but, with no moon, she couldn't see anything. She shook her head and started back towards the house. What sounded like a whimper came from the direction of the rose bushes. It sounded like an animal in pain, and she couldn't bring herself to ignore it.

Getting on her knees in front of the bushes where she thought the whimper had come from, she lowered herself on her elbows and crept forward to see underneath. At first, she didn't see anything, but, as her eyes adjusted to the darkness, she saw movement to her left and hear a soft groan.

"It's okay," she cooed, "I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to help."

She edged deeper under the bushes, feeling the scrape of the rose's thorns against her overdress. At least the thick material was good for something, she thought.

She got as close as she could without having to get on her belly and squinted at the animal. At first, she couldn't understand what she was seeing. It seemed to be laying on its side, but the shape was all wrong and it appeared to be convulsing. She wished she had some light.

What were the odds? She wondered.

"Èist soillsich," she said softly.

Astonishingly, a soft light bloomed under the bush with her and the animal. Violet sucked in her breath violently. There was a raccoon laying on its side, its eyes now vacant and lifeless. Covering it was at least a dozen rats, chewing through the hide to pull out mouthfuls of meat. As she watched in shock, one of the rats attacked an eyeball and plucked it from the raccoon's skull.

Swallowing back vomit, Violet wiggled out from under the bush, heedless of the thorns that tore through her hair, and ran back to the house. Back in her room, it took a moment to squash the panic. Her heart pounding, she reached for the pendant in her pocket and wrapped her hand around it.

In just a few seconds, the rhythmic pulsing calmed her. When she felt like she could function again without screaming, she pulled her hand out of the pocket and untied the belt that held the overdress closed. When she reached up to pull it from her shoulders, she noticed that she had dirt from the garden caked on her fingers.

"Great, now I'll have to wash this dress sooner," she moaned, dreading wash day.

Going over to the basin she poured water into it from the pitcher and dipped her hands in. As she washed the dark goo off, the water in the basin turned bright red. Blood red. She backed away from the nightstand, her bloody hands dripping on the floor.

"What in the name of everything good and natural is going on here?" she asked.

She spent a restless night and was hardly refreshed when she dragged herself out of bed in the early morning. It had taken her a while to clean up the mess she had made, and she worried about the incident throughout the night. She remembered Ima telling her that the fertilizer for the garden was a special recipe. Well, Violet now knew what the main ingredient was. The next question was where the blood came from. She supposed she could just ask Ima, but she would have to explain how she found out. That would lead to questions about why she felt she must get out of the house. Which led to still more questions that Violet wasn't prepared to answer. She would have to come up with a way to bring it up casually.

At least the blood in the garden explained all the rats. They must be following the smell. But why were they inside the house as well?

"The crocks," Violet had realized, staring up at the dingy ceiling above her bed. The crocks in the cellar were full of the fertilizer. That must be what was drawing them into the house also.

In the kitchen, she made herself a cup of tea to help her wake up. As she sipped the hot liquid, she pondered her dilemma. As the warmth filled her, she started second-guessing herself. Maybe the blood was just from the raccoon and she was over-reacting. The rats weren't being too fastidious with their eating, after all.

By the time she finished her tea, she had almost convinced herself of it. But that little nagging voice in the back of her head was still arguing. There was only one way to know for sure.

Setting down her cup, she went outside and to the cellar doors. Pulling them open, she descended into the cellar. The spider webs were still thick overhead and gave her the creeps, just what she needed while she was checking to see if Ima's special fertilizer was made from blood.

Realizing she needed to hurry up if she was going to get this done before Ima woke up, she forced herself to ignore the webs. Approaching the shelf, she picked up one of the crocks and went back to the light that spilled down the stairs. Popping open the seal, she opened it.

A sickeningly sweet smell wafted up to her nose from it; the same smell that came from the garden. It had a metallic twang to it also. Peering down at the liquid in the crock, it looked black, even in the light. Making herself touch it with her finger, she realized that if it was indeed blood, it wasn't coagulated at all. Holding her finger up she rubbed the drop of liquid between her thumb and finger. It shown a bright red in the sunlight.

Yep, it was blood alright.

Closing the crock quickly, she replaced it on the shelf, not noticing the slight smear of blood she left behind on the side of the crock. She climbed back up the stairs and closed the cellar. She got back into the kitchen and had the oatmeal almost finished by the time Ima came in.

"Ready for another busy day?" she asked rubbing her hands together.

"Absolutely." Violet was quickly becoming an adept liar; not something she was proud of.

As Ima promised, they stayed busy all day. The water they drained off the petals was bright red, and the petals had bleached out to a pale, sickly pink. They had to be careful not to get the liquid on anything because it would stain. After straining, the water was put into two large cast iron pots to start reducing. Only about a quarter of the water would fit for now, the rest would have to be added slowly throughout the day.

Ima had said they would take turns stirring the rose water, but once they started simmering, Ima found other tasks that kept her out of the kitchen. She came through from time to time in order to check on the progress and to criticize Violet's stirring technique. Apparently, she stirred too vigorously and was bruising the water.

Sometime after dinner, Ima declared the rose water reduced enough to stop for the night. All the bowls were empty and had been boiled down to half the volume of each pot. The liquid was still the consistency of water, but the color was a deep, blood red now, reminding Violet of the blood in the crocks down in the cellar and filled the kitchen with the heavy, cloying scent of the roses.

She had mulled over how to ask Ima about them all day but was still coming up blank. When Ima declared tomorrow was the fun day and she would start with the actual jelly making, Violet decided to wait another day.

"I'll be adding the secret ingredient tomorrow," Ida told her as they sat in the kitchen sipping tea that Ima had made for a change. "You'll be a big help then."

Violet just sipped her tea and didn't reply. The tea tasted different; it left a slight woodsy flavor behind at the back of her mouth that she couldn't quiet put her finger on.

"Is this a different tea?" she asked.

"Again, with the refined palate," Ima nodded with approval. "It's a blend that I save for special occasions."

Violet took another sip, trying to figure out the flavor.

"What is it?" she asked. Despite just taking a drink, her mouth felt dry, so she took another drink.

Ima shrugged, "it's just our normal blend, but yours has an extra ingredient in it."

"What?" Violet asked slowly. The teacup suddenly felt heavy, and she lowered it to the table.

"Extract of valerian," Ima said casually, moving the teacup away from Violet. "I distill it down to make it extra strong. It took me a couple tries to get the dosage right, though. It was a shame about the first two girls."

Violet swayed in her chair. She could barely keep her eyes open.

"You…, you," she tried to speak.

"There now, dear," Ima stood and went to stand by her side. "Here, let me help you. We don't want you to fall and hurt yourself."

Sure enough, Violet was sliding out of her chair. Ima eased her to the floor. She tried to speak but no words would come out, just a groan.

"Don't worry, the valerian won't harm you. But you will have an awful headache when you wake up."

Violet tried to fight it, but her eyes closed, and everything went black.