Her head no sooner hit the pillow than her eyes opened to the garden. She was laying on the stone bench, wearing a golden gown trimmed with scarlet roses that was even more lavish than the previous one. Touching her auburn locks revealed a ruby and gold tiara trimmed with more scarlet roses. The white moonlight made the rubies adoring her neck nearly glow.
“Hilary?” Betty ran over to her, Maple on her heels. “There you are! I’m so glad we’re here.” She twirled in her soft white lace gown with the pink ribbon trim, another pink rose in her hair.
“And listen!” Maple, clad in emerald green satin and jewels that clung to every considerable curve, stopped. “There’s that organ music!”
HIlary nodded. “You’re right, Maple.” She pointed at a sweetly plump blonde woman in a draping lavender satin gown playing a lovely old wooden organ under one of the shady trees. One lavender rose nestled in an ear. “There’s where it’s coming from.”
“Hey, look!” Maple grinned as a little man in a black and white tuxedo that hung slightly off his slender frame joined her. She couldn’t see much of him in the shadows, only his gentle smile and twitchy little mustache as he handed her a lavender rose. “Awww!” Maple grinned. “That’s so cute.”
Hilary sighed. “It smells so good here.” She sniffed, letting the heady scent of roses wash over her. “It’s like that garden we had on the roof of the penthouse before…well, before last fall.”
“I wonder where the men are?” Betty looked around as the wind ruffled her brown curls.
“Hilary.”
Hilary turned around…and smiled. “Jeff! Jeffrey! Oh, thank goodness, you’re here!”
She ran straight into his arms this time. “Hilary,” he murmured into her ear, “we don’t have much time.” He handed her a scarlet rose. “Here. I know you love them.”
“But how?” She stroked one of the vibrant red petals. It felt so soft, so real. “Jeff, where are you? We’ve called everyone. No one has seen any of you.”
“Hilary,” he whispered as the two silhouettes emerged behind him, caught in the shadows under the fluttering oaks, “we’re right here. We’re all here.”
“Guys!” Maple ran to the first one as the shy peach smile emerged under the slightly beak nose. His black silk tuxedo nearly blended into the darkness. “It’s you! I was hopin’ to see you again. Ya look so darn dashin’ in what I can see of that suit, I just can’t stand it!” His high cheekbones turned even redder under the wisps of dark brown hair as he thrust a yellow rose into her hand. “For me?” She fluttered her eyelashes. “How gentile of ya.”
Betty ducked over to the other shadow, the one whose white tuxedo nearly blended with the moonlight. His big roguish grin was incandescent as he handed her a pink rose. “Thank you. You’re so sweet.” She gazed up…and into familiar amber eyes under tousled black-silver locks. “I’ve seen you before. I know I have!” He managed to reach up and kiss her fingers, just barely brushing his lips to her knuckles, as courtly as a knight in white armor.
“Jeffery,” Hilary started as the wind picked up, “before all of this ends, please tell me more about the curse. No one else around this place will. I’ve asked and asked, and they either end up choking, or avoiding the question.”
Her ex-husband’s face turned nearly as white as the moonlight. “I’ll tell you what I can here, before she…before they come. This house isn’t hers, Hilary. It was never meant for her. It was meant for us. For you.” He grasped her hand, then nodded at the taller man. “Hilary, we were working on something important. That’s why I did those news broadcasts overseas and at KDKA. We found out something about…her.”
“You too?” Maple managed to lean over and grab the taller man’s hand. “Dang, you’re a real spy network!” His long face glowed red in the darkness as she gently took his arm and leaned on his shoulder. “I don’t mind that ya can’t talk. This is kinda cozy, too.”
“Jeff,” Hilary insisted as the wind picked up, “what’s going on? What’s this curse about?”
“I wish you could tell us!” Betty leaned into the shadow…and was surprised when she felt a beating heart under her curls. “What did you find?”
“She doesn’t want them talking. They always did the talking.” Jeff gently took her arms. “Hilary, listen. She’s trapped us here. She doesn’t want us telling the truth about her. That’s why she did it. The way to break the curse,” he gently put his hand on her heart, “is to look in here. Don’t trust what you see, Mittens. Trust your heart.”
Her voice caught in her throat. “Jeff,” she gasped, “it’s been so long…I’ve so missed you calling me that!”
“Hilary!” His voice screamed louder over the raging wind. “Hilary, please, listen! Don’t be fooled by appearances!”
“You keep saying that!” She winced as the growls of trolls…and not the one in the house…carried over the raging wind. “I don’t know what you mean!”
He pulled her close to him. “Hilary, just…listen! Please!”
She turned to the organ, whose music had been drowned by the raging winds. The plump organist grabbed hold of the little man, squeezing him to within an inch of his life as he gasped and the shadows closed in around them.
The monsters, the trolls that were much bigger and meaner and stronger than the one in the house, dripped with slime that glowed like the sickly neon marquee on the Nixon. Hilary immediately pushed Jeff behind her. Maple shoved the taller man behind her, and the largest stepped in front of Betty.
“She,” snarled the largest, “wants her property back. These men are under her power. They belong to her.”
“Like hell we do!” Jeff growled, clutching Hilary. “I want out of that contract! I never wanted to be married to her! I did it for them!”
“You say that, pretty boy,” the largest hissed. “But what about your friends here? These lovely ladies…those friends of yours. She instructed us to do so much more to them than merely stealing their voices.” He nodded at the other sickly green monstrosities behind him. “Bring me the men. She wants them. Do what you want with the women.”
“Oh no! Not this time.” Hilary nodded at Jeff as she put up her fists, glad she was wearing two rings with large, sharp rubies. “Ready, Pumpkin?”
Jeff frowned. “Hilary…”
“Oh no, you don’t!” Maple threw her arms in front of the taller man. “Don’t you walkin’ slices of stinky old cheese get ideas! You ain’t takin’ this one!” His gentle whiskey-brown eyes widened with something between terror and pure admiration.
Even over at the organ, the plump, sweet lady’s eyes widened as the shadows closed in on her and the terrified little man. Hilary gasped as they vanished all together. When she looked back, only the organ and a rabbit with a twitching nose and thick bristly whiskers remained.
“Oww!” Betty screamed as one of the larger creatures grabbed at her, throwing her over its bony shoulder. “Put me down, you…you creep! This isn’t very comfortable!”
Hilary thought she recognized the look of pure rage in the amber eyes of the man in the white tuxedo. This time, he managed to take down two monsters, his fists flying before the largest slammed his claws across his cranium with a sickening smack. He collapsed to the concrete as two more monsters held him down.
“Hey! Watch it!” Maple yelped as one of the monsters yanked her arm behind her back and dragged her away. “Geddoff, ya ugly excuse for horror movie leftovers! Watch where ya stick your claws! You’ll snag this nice dress!”
Her eyes widened as the taller man narrowed those whiskey eyes and launched himself almost head-first into the nearest monster. It grabbed him by the neck, crushing his windpipe as he struggled wildly. “Let him go!” She shrieked, kicking at the creature. “You’re gonna hurt him!”
“Jeff!” Hilary screeched as two of the monsters dragged him away. “Don’t you dare, you overgrown excuses for nightmare fuel!”
“Hilary!” He struggled wildly in the monster’s arms as they shoved him to the concrete with the larger man. “You have to learn the truth! Don’t forget! Look into your heart, not your eyes! Don’t let your eyes fool you!”
“You keep saying that!” She screamed as the shadows closed in. “No! NO!” She wanted to go after him, to rescue her screaming sisters, but the shadows forced her back down to the stone bench. “No!” She sobbed, her voice catching in her throat as the shadows closed in on all of them. “No…Jeff…oh god, no!” She was still sobbing as the shadows enclosed her, and she passed out, sobbing on the stone bench.
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