The Girl in the Garden

Chapter 23

The news of his mother's death, and the absence of Sparrow, lead to Ben spending much more time in bed than he should have over the next couple of weeks. He would trudge down for meals, and Lolly and Ms. Herrier would pat him and hug him. Then he would shuffle back upstairs.

Rani was so busy preparing for the eventual reopening of the school that she didn't even have time to teach him, so he had no reason to do anything else. Shortly after the night with the demon in the garden, Ben sat in the window of his common room and watched as contractors tore down the decrepit conservatory. It took them seven days, and when they were done, there was no sign that a building had ever been there before.

The day after the contractors were done, Ben watched through the window as Ms. Herrier, Rani, and Lolly joined Mr. Willoughs in the grounds. They were standing where the conservatory once was, the women forming a triangle around the groundskeeper. He reached into his stringy beard, dislodged something, and buried it in the ground at his feet.

They all patted the ground together, and as they walked away, Ben could see that something was already growing in the spot. A skinny wisp of a tree that grew tiny green leaf buds as he watched.

Not much longer after that, there was a knock on his door. When he opened it, Rani was waiting on the other side.

"Hi, Ben," she said, "I haven't seen you come out in a while."

"Well, I guess depression does that."

"I would love to let you wallow, but we need your help."

"With what?"

"You're the only one who can open the door to the garden."

Ben shuddered at the thought of that place. "Why would I want to go in there?"

"Mr. Willoughs is about to go back to work. I promise you'll want to see."

Ben consented, partly because he felt like it was past time. He got some fresh air and followed Rani outside. As they approached the garden door, Ben noticed that Mr. Willoughs and Ms. Herrier were both holding heavy loads in their arms. Drawing closer, Ben realized that they the lifeless bodies of Sparrow and Wish, wrapped tightly in black shrouds.

"Is this a funeral?" Ben asked, "I thought they didn't die?"

"They didn't," Rani said, "But we still need to give these bodies back to the earth. I thought it might also be a nice time to say goodbye to your mom?"

Ben shook his head. "No, I'll pass on that."

"You sure?" She asked him. The look on her face told him that she did think he was making a very smart decision.

"I know they said that fire was really bad," Ben said, "But I don't know... I don't think it's time to say goodbye to her just yet."

Before they reached the others, Rani said, "It's okay, I get it. No goodbyes today. That's the new rule. Who needs Wish around to make up rules? We can do it ourselves."

When Ben got to Lolly's side, she quickly wrapped him up in a big, fleshy hug. "Good to see you up and about again," she said, and he tried to flash her a meager smile as he pulled away.

With a sigh, Ben reluctantly opened the door, revealing the leftover horror from their evening with the bloodmother. None of the walking paths remained. Rani's arcane magic had destroyed everything as she fought off the demons. The bodies of the blood spawn left behind had dissolved away into puddles of gore, most of which had soaked into the exposed dirt.

And flies had been drawn to the mess, hundreds of flies.

"You told me I'd like coming in here today," Ben said to Rani, "I'm not entirely sure you have any idea what I like."

Rani smiled and ushered him deeper into the garden. "Just watch."

When they reached the middle of the garden, Mr. Willoughs and Ms. Herrier broke away from the group. They set Wish and Sparrow's bodies down on the ground, then Ms. Herrier hugged Mr. Willoughs and rejoined the others. For the first time since Ben saw him hiding in that burned-down building, Elmer Willoughs was smiling. He took off his boots and squeezed his toes into the dirt.

"The music box the bloodmother used to open the portal was an old arbor magic tool that a human forged to try and match the magic of the tree fairies. They're the guardians between realms, and this garden is at the epicenter of many overlapping worlds. When Wish locked the garden in a ring of iron, Elmer didn't need to be in here, but he was needed to guard the place where Alice had opened the portal to the Inferno.

"Since we're reopening the school, we'll need to reopen the garden, so he planted a new tree fairy where the conservatory was, and he can finally go back to where he belongs."

Mr. Willoughs stepped into the exact spot where the portal had opened and reached up towards the sky. Ben watched as the old man's legs fused into a solid tree trunk, propelling him higher into the air as his arms transformed into the vast canopy of an overly large elm tree, easily dwarfing the wall around the garden. The ground at Mr. Willoughs' roots split open to embrace the bodies that had been laid there, each marked with a bed of flowers that sprouted before his eyes.

Ben was so consumed by the sight of Mr. Willoughs' transformation that he overlooked the garden changing as well. As the old tree fairy returned to his proper place, the garden was revitalized. The earth stitched itself back together, and the overgrown jungle of thorny branches retreated. Even the puddled gore of the blood spawn disappeared as patches of red poppies erupted from them.

Then Ben noticed other life spring up from the flower beds. Pink, and purple, and blue blossoms. Bushes with berries, vines with big tomatoes and cucumbers.

The garden was coming to life before Ben's eyes from one end to the other.

"Still depressed?" Rani asked.

Ben scanned the now luscious scenery around him. Every memory of his bloody battle was erased, the physical ones anyway. Even though he couldn't see the blood, even though the charred scars in the earth from Rani's magic were gone, he still saw the events of the evening playing out when he closed his eyes.

For now, he tried to put them aside and focus on the display of glorious magic all around him. "I guess I'm a little better," he said.

"You think you could still be comfortable living here? Maybe even happy?"

Ben gave her a nod. "Yeah, probably."

"We'll get back to your lessons soon, and Kestra might even teach you some music."

"It would be my absolute pleasure," Ms. Herrier nodded. "I can teach you how to communicate with animals through your guitar if you like."

The thought of it made Ben smile. He realized that even though he'd lost so much, there was still a world of possibilities in front of him—several worlds, apparently, each more magnificent than the last. "I do think I'll be happy here," he said, leaning against Rani. "Eventually,"