Gothel sighed. “Primrose and Hazel are going to freak out when they see this!”
“Primrose might. How about telling me what’s going on?”
Gothel turned around to find Hazel standing at the edge of the burnt conservatory.
“Hazel, hi! Where’s Primrose?”
“She’s running around like a little maniac, deciding how she’d like to decorate the mansion. I’m assuming that’s why you gave us our various tasks, to keep us busy while you were ordering Mother’s minions about? You know Prim is going to be furious you’ve awoken them.”
“But I didn’t! Sir Jacob did!”
“How is that possible, Gothel? Did you wake him?”
“Well…”
“Gothel!”
“I didn’t have a choice! It turns out he handles everything around here, Hazel, everything!”
“That makes sense. But I think you’d better tell me everything so I know what to say to Prim.”
And so she did.
After searching the entire house, Hazel found Primrose in their mother’s room. She was lying on her back, looking up at the ceiling.
“Prim! What are you doing?” asked Hazel.
Primrose sat up. “It’s so sad in here, isn’t it?”
“Why don’t we go down to the library? I hate it in here.”
“Don’t daughters usually go into their mother’s room after she dies, look through her things, and reminisce and think about how much they miss her?”
“In storybooks, sure. Prim, no matter how many hearts you put in here, it’s never going to give us good memories about Mother, or give us the mother we deserved. Come on. I need to talk to you. Let’s go down to the library, or the kitchen.”
“No, let’s talk here. What’s going on?”
&nb
sp; “Please don’t freak out, it’s about Gothel.”
“Where is she?” asked Primrose.
“She’s with Sir Jacob.”
“Okay, who’s that?”
“Before you say anything at all, can you just promise to listen to me, Prim?”
“Okay…”
“Sir Jacob is Mother’s creature. Her ‘love.’”
“Wait. Didn’t we decide she wouldn’t talk to him?”
“Well, it was you who decided.”
Primrose rolled her eyes.