Page 16 of Curse of Immortality
Anne stopped in her tracks and stared at her friend in disbelief. “You never told me you liked someone. Do I know him?”
Rose’s cheeks flushed red because Anne did know the person Rose loved, but it wasn’t a man. Unwilling to tell Anne that her crush was a pretty girl with brown hair and brown eyes who had been her best friend since childhood, Rose did something she’d promised to only ever do if she was left with no other option–she lied.
“No, you don’t know him, I met him in another village when I went with my father to heal an old lady.”
When Rose didn’t volunteer more information, Anne turned the conversation back to herself. “Oh, alright. It’s just that I never hear you talk about him. I think about my future husband and the children we will have all the time. I can’t wait to start my own family,” Anne rambled on. It never occurred to her that Rose might be in love with her and so she was unaware of how, to Rose, her words felt like daggers to the heart.
“I want a large family and I know exactly what I’ll name my children.”
Knowing this was a future they could never share, Rose hid her emotions and asked, “What will you name them?”
“Margaret and Jane for my girls.” Anne bent down to pick up a wild yellow flower and put it in the basket that Rose carried. “And Peter and Simon for my boys. What about you, Rose? What will you name your children?”
Rose, who loved children, was painfully aware of how they were made, and the thought of sleeping with a man disgusted her. Still, she had fantasized about motherhood and said, “I once had a dream that two young girls with the same orange hair color as my brother and mother sat in front of me and they told me their names were Althea and Maeve. Althea means healer, and Maeve means the intoxicating one. I thought those were beautiful names. So, I suppose if I had two daughters those are the names I would choose.”
"Maeve and Althea.” Anne tasted the names and gave an approving nod before brushing her hands. “Do we have enough now?”
Looking down at the basket in her hand that was filled with wildflowers, mushrooms, leaves, bark, and herbs, Rose nodded. “Yes. This is plenty. Let’s head back.”
Walking side by side, they tried to avoid the mud holes and yanked their dresses up when needed. When their paths separated, Anne sighed. “I’d better get back to help Lola with my mum and the little ones.”
Rose rubbed her friend’s arm with soothing strokes and assured her, “I will prepare the remedy for your mother and bring it as soon as I can.” For a moment she stood watching Anne walk off. Her heart hurt for her friend, whom she loved deeply. Anne’s mother coughing up blood was a bad sign, but as long as she was alive there was still hope.
When Rose got home, she hurried to make the strongest medicine nature gave access to, but quickly realized they were running low on a few items that weren’t found locally nor did they have very many rootlings left. Sprinkles of a crushed-up rootling mixed into a potion were one of the strongest substances and one that should only be used carefully by an Earthen. But rootlings grew underground, protected in the root of certain flowers, and it was time-consuming to find and harvest them. It took her father a long ride to collect Mullein Weed and her mother worked with her into the wee hours of the night chopping, extracting, and mixing every ingredient until Rose fell asleep at the table.
When she woke up in the morning she went back to working on the medicine and by late afternoon it was finally ready. With no time to waste, Rose hurried to Anne’s house with the small flask in hand. Excitement made her strides long because this was her chance to prove to Anne that Earthens were kind-hearted healers. Anne’s hints that Rose’s parents might be performing witchcraft had been particularly hurtful because, for years, Rose had feared that Anne wouldn’t want to be friends anymore if she found out how different Rose and her family were. Over the years, Rose had had nightmares about losing her best friend. Curing Anne’s mother would no doubt bring them closer, and it would be a relief to Rose that Anne knew her healing powers and she didn’t need to hide them.
Hurrying down the narrow Bakers’ Street, Rose sniffed in the lovely scent of baked goods that always hung in the air around Anne’s house. She made a right turn and walked through the gate to get to the outbuilding of the bakery where Anne lived with her family. With a smile on her face, Rose was just about to knock on Anne’s front door when she heard a giggle coming from the other side of the house. Recognizing it as her friend’s voice, Rose walked around the corner to show Anne the medicine that she and her parents had worked on all night long.
The moment she turned the corner and saw her closest friend, her smile vanished. It was a strange thing that a person’s life could crumble in a mere second, but that’s what happened when Rose saw the girl whom she was in love with kissing a red-haired boy she knew all too well. When Anne opened her eyes and saw Rose staring at her she quickly pushed John away and dried off her mouth to remove the evidence of her betrayal.
John had a look of confusion until he saw his sister standing behind them. For a moment the three of them stood there waiting for someone to break the silence, and then John said, “We’ll speak later.” He leaned in and gave Anne a quick kiss on the cheek. “Best of luck to your mother.” Leaving with his head down, he didn’t greet his sister.
When John was gone and Rose broke the awkward silence, her throat felt as dry as if she had tried to swallow the flour from the bakery. “How long?”
“A few months,” Anne answered honestly.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Rose tried hard to suppress her feelings. The girl she was in love with was with her brother and hadn’t told her about it despite them supposedly being best friends.
“I tried to.” Anne’s gaze was glued to the ground, and she quickly changed the subject. “Did you make the medicine for my mother?”
Rose answered by lifting the basket with the flask. Following Anne into the house where her mother lay in her bed coughing, Rose tended her as well as she could. Her body was burning hot, and her throat was torn up from the inside because of all the coughing. For hours Rose nursed Anne’s mother, healing her and cooling her body down with the elements of air and water. Sadly, it proved difficult to give her the medicine because of her constant coughing. And with her advanced state of sickness Rose doubted it would have helped much anyway. The poor woman had sadly been without treatment for too long.
Eventually Rose told Anne that there was nothing more she could do.
“Will my mum be alright?” Anne asked with glassy eyes.
Rose sympathized with Anne and wished she had better news, but she wouldn’t lie to her friend no matter how much she wanted to tell her that her mother would be fine. Sucking in her lips, she shook her head.
First Anne stared at her and then she burst into tears. With an accusatory tone, she thundered, “You… you…lied to me. You said you could heal her!”
Rose looked down. “I eased your mother’s pain and she’s sleeping now. But you should get the others and stay close because she doesn’t have long, Anne.” Sadness dripped from Rose’s tone, but it was as if Anne couldn’t see reason, and instead, she directed all her sorrow and fear onto her friend. With eyes wet from tears and her voice blazing with anger, she sneered.
“Get out of our house. I know what you are. I should have never let you come close to my mum,witch.”
The shock of hearing her best friend call her the feared word had Rose stumbling back. “What did you say?”
“You heard me.” With her eyes narrowed, Anne repeated the horrible word. “Witch!”
