Chapter Text
Once upon a time, when my grandmother was young, a cruel woman was cursed by an enchantress.
The woman, Odile, was intelligent and beautiful above all, but was also cold and heartless. She lived by herself in a bone white tower far from town where no one, not even her beloved sister, could reach her easily. The only way to the top was walking up 200 stone steps.
She spent her days studying the arts of poisons and chemistry. Though many loved her, she had no desire to even try to reciprocate their feelings. She ignored them and only thought about her work.
However, the person who loved Odile the most was the woman who delivered her weekly supply of chemicals.
Though there was a dumbwaiter in the walls of the tower where she could send up the basket of supplies, the woman chose to walk up the two hundred steps just to see Odile’s face.
Odile ignored the woman for the most part, only seeing her as the vessel from which her beloved chemicals came.
But the woman didn’t care, she would do anything just to have Odile smile kindly at her.
One day, Odile realized she needed a special rose, one that was forbidden in her country. The rose’s roots were so poisonous, one bite could kill an ox.
Odile wanted a specimen for her collection.
She sent notices to the menagerie and to merchants and to other scientists in the region, but they all denied her, for it was too dangerous to import the rose for her. They’d be fined, banned, or have their permits revoked.
All denied her except one, a poison enthusiast in a land that was far away.
The poison enthusiast was willing to send one of her own homebred roses, since she respected Odile her and her scientific research, but under one condition. Odile would have to travel to her and bring the rose back herself. It was too risky any other way.
The journey would be hard, requiring boats, and trains, and caravans. It would become especially difficult once the rose was acquired, for she’d have to water it and keep its well heated as she traveled.
Odile didn’t want to do it. She detested travel, and couldn’t stand to be away from her work for more than a day.
The day after she received the letter from the enthusiast, the woman came by with her weekly delivery. She walked up the two hundred steps and stopped at the tall, heavy ebony doors of the upper apartment. Before she could lift the brass knocker, the doors opened and there was Odile looking down at her.
Odile stepped aside to let her in, took the heavy basket from her hand.
“Nora,” Odile said in her low voice. “I need to ask something of you.”
“What is it?” Nora asked, startled for she hadn’t been sure that Odile even knew her name.
“There’s a specimen I’ve ordered from overseas. I’d like you to retrieve it for me.”
“Of course,” said Nora. “When does it get here?”
Odile turned and walked through the halls to her study, forcing Nora to follow.
Nora had only seen the front sitting room of the apartment at the top of the tower. She had never once seen the study.
“That’s all dependent on you. The specimen I need is officially not allowed across our borders, but unofficially, it can come across if escorted and well hidden.” She opened the doors and walked in.
Nora stopped at the threshold. The walls were lined with books and bottles of animals floating in liquid. Fires burned under glass vials that sent puffs of white smoke to the ceiling, and bubbled in vibrant, frightening colors. A machine hummed in the corner next to a row of shelves.
Odile set the unassuming wicker basket on a cleared desk and began to unpack it.
“It’s illegal?” Nora asked. “What is it?”
“Distrigam salum. It’s quite small so the pot-”
“Those are invasive! And dangerous! I’d be sent to court if I was caught.”
“I’m aware,” Odile said with a slight chuckle. “But I’ve secured a way, and can assure you the utmost in privacy. Only first class cars and private cabins for you. My correspondence has told me of several people who can be trusted or bought off to allow you through.”
“Cabins? Where do you want me to go?”
“Veselka,” Odile said, avoiding her eyes.
“Veselka!? It will take me a week to go there and come back at best. I can’t do that. I’m sorry, Odile. You’re asking too much of me.”
“I know you’re scared, but this is very important to my work.”
“You’ve got to understand. It’s too dangerous.”
“I’ll pay you ten times what I pay you now. You can completely pin the blame on me if you’re caught.”
“Oh, it’s not about the money,” Nora said. “This is a lot to ask of me.”
Odile removed her glasses and rubbed her eyes with a sigh.
She pushed off of the desk and walked to Nora.
“Please, Nora. This is very important to me.”
Before Nora could protest again, Odile brushed Nora’s long hazel hair off of her forehead and bent to kiss her lips.
Nora froze, all the thoughts in her head going silent.
“Will you do this for me?” Odile whispered against her lips. “Please?”
Nora searched Odile’s starry night eyes and with a swallow, nodded.
“Excellent.” Odile pulled back and went to her desk to pull out papers and money. She gave Nora a full wallet and an address book of where she needed to go and who she should talk to.
Nora took the things silently, her body still in shock, and then she left.
~~~~
Nora came back after five days. Her eyes were dark and swollen from the lack of sleep she had gotten. She had spent most of her days travelling, not bothering to stop in hotels or restaurants, though Odile had given her the money for it.
She was too excited to return.
She ran up the tower steps, all two hundred of them, carrying the rose’s tank in her arms. The trip was uneventful, though frightening. She had paid off the right people, and was unassuming enough to pass under other’s radars.
She knocked on the door rapidly, breathing hard.
Odile opened it, and cocked her head. “Back so soon?”
Nora nodded excitedly.
“How was the trip?” Odile asked as she walked back to her study.
“It was fine. Your notes were extremely detailed and helpful. I couldn’t have done it without them.”
“So nothing suspicious happened? No one asked you any questions- you can set it right here.”
Nora slid the tank onto the table and removed the sheet. The rose was under the automated heat lamp.
Odile knelt to inspect it through the glass.
“None at all. Everything was perfect.”
“I’m glad. I had thought I’d have to wait the full seven days, but now that this little one is here, I can get to work immediately,” Odile said, more to herself.
Nora stood there, watching her.
“Oh yes,” Odile said. She went to the desk and rifled through a drawer. She took out a checkbook. “I’m afraid I wasn’t expecting you so soon. I don’t have any cash. I hope this is alright.”
She handed it to Nora, but when Nora didn’t take it, she set it on the desk.
There was a silence. Nora hadn’t moved.
“What’s the matter?” Odile asked. “Is it not enough?”
“N-no...I thought that...that…”
“You thought what?” Odile asked, rather harshly, for she had work she wanted to continue.
“That we...that you felt…”
“Is it another kiss that you want?” Odile asked. She stood with a sigh, rubbing her knees. “If you insist.”
She walked to Nora, and put that same hand on her cheek.
“Stop!” Nora slapped the hand away and stumbled back. Her face had gone red, and her eyes watery. Her chest was heaving with short, gasping breaths.
“What?” Odile asked, stepping forward.
Nora bit back a sob and ran out.
Odile stared down the hall, perplexed. With a final sigh, she turned and went back to her work.
~~~~
Days passed, and then a week, and Nora did not return. Odile was slightly annoyed at her for not scheduling her absence, but knew that some things could not be prepared for. She had completely forgotten about the previous week’s incident.
She sent a note to the courier’s office asking for a few items to be picked up from the local pharmacy, and she went on with her week.
In the middle of the night, Odile woke up.
A young girl was sitting on the edge of her large bed, barefoot.
The moon was glowing through the open window, highlighting the girl’s hazel hair and long neck.
Odile saw the girl, saw the power and coldness seeping out of her skin, and knew that she was in trouble.
“Do you know why I’m here?” the young girl asked, her voice high and airy.
“No,” Odile said.
The girl looked at her, her hair pooling over her lap.
“My sister begged me not to hurt you. She thinks that become I’m young, that I need to be told not to hurt, I need to be taught, but that’s not it all. I just have no patience for people like you.”
“And why would you hurt me?” Odile asked.
The girl laughed. “At least you didn’t say ‘b-but I’ve done nothing wrong!’...I’m not going to hurt you. My sister asked me to just leave you alone, just forget about everything. Don’t worry about me, she said. It’s just a stupid crush. And I was going to listen to her, especially when your sister-”
Odile hadn’t even realized she moved before she was frozen in mid air, her arms outstretched and fingers cracked against and invisible wall.
“So you do have a heart in there,” the girl said. “Your sister was one of the first to come, apologizing fiercely on your behalf, weeping for you. You had your quirks, yes, but deep down you were good. She’d talk to you, make you apologize, whatever. As long as I didn’t hurt you. She almost got to me. I was going to leave, but...then the others came. Don’t worry, no one spoke against you. It was just a long line of ‘Don’t cry, Nora. I know how you feel.’ ‘She’s the same with everyone, it’s nothing against you.’ ‘The same thing happened to me.’ The same the same the same. Even if I wanted to forget about my sister, how could I forget about them?”
“Nora,” Odile said. She had reclined against the wall, her knees to her chest. This was Nora’s sister then. She had been wracking her brain wondering on whose behalf vengeance was being sought.
The girl laughed again, more wildly. “My god, who is this girl talking to...Yes, Nora. Could you really not guess? Who else’s heart have you broken this week, hm?”
Odile stayed silent.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” the girl said. “I promised my sister I wouldn’t.”
“But,” said Odile.
The girl smiled. Odile watched her warily as she stood, walked to the head of the bed and bent over her, her long hair creating a curtain around Odile’s head. She pressed a kiss to Odile’s cheek, then to the other one. “Are you scared?”
“Yes.”
The girl looked regretful for almost a moment. “You just need a pure, guileless kiss for five seconds. Neither of you can be thinking about curses or curse breaking or manipulation. Just a kiss.”
“Curse?” Odile asked. She looked down at her hands. They looked the same as before. She didn’t feel any different. She hadn’t noticed any change in the atmosphere.
The girl looked away, her arms entwined behind her. “Maybe your sister did get to me. Remember this last night. Remember that I gave it to you. Good night.”
The girl walked out of Odile’s bedroom and closed the door.
~~~~
Perhaps it was part of the curse, but Odile slept deeply and dreamlessly that night. She woke up a few hours after sunrise, as she normally did, when the air was still misty and cool.
Things were normal as far as she could see. Her skin was all still on her body. Her head still had hair. She could see and hear and walk. She wasn’t extraordinarily tiny or extremely large.
She pressed her back into the quilted leather bed frame, her knees up under the sheets. Last night hadn’t been a dream, she knew that must. Before anything else, she trusted her mind.
A slow cold feeling washed over her. What if that was the curse? Her slowly losing her mind or her memory or her intelligence? Slowly becoming dumber and dumber until she was a brain dead? She’d never realize it until it was too late to retain anything useful.
She pressed a hand against her mouth, forcefully breathing through her nose. There was no need, or time, to lose her head. Wouldn’t it be hilarious if there was no curse at all and this was all just to work her into a lather, forevering doubting herself.
She threw the covers back and stepped out of bed. Until she showed symptoms, she would declare herself curseless.
She stood, taking slow deep breaths. She should go to town today. Nora would know where her sister was, or at least what to do for Odile. It technically was her fault, after all.
Odile blinked a few times. There was a white haze growing in front of her eyes. She fanned her hand violently, hoping it was the air and not her eyes.
It wasn’t.
There was smoke misting up in front of her for some reason, but it didn’t smell like smoke. It didn’t smell like anything.
She looked down. The smoke was curling up in small, but thick white billows from under her bare feet.
She jumped back, tumbling onto the bed, but she wasn’t standing on anything.
She stretched her leg up, and the smoke seemed to be seeping from the very pores of her feet.
So not curseless apparently, though she couldn’t decipher what the purpose of the smoke was.
There was more smoke appearing, now misting up through her pajama pants and shirt. Tentatively she inhaled, then breathed in deeper. Still scentless, and it didn’t choke her. It was like steam. She stuck her tongue out. No taste, obvious considering that it was scentless, though it did condense a little against her tongue. It didn’t hurt either.
Was she dissolving? Like chalk in water, was she going to become tinier and weaker until she eventually disappeared?
That was a gruesome fate just for kissing someone who has been wanting to kiss you for a long time. So much so that Nora’s longing became a palpable, heavy thing that disrupted Odile’s concentration every time she came stomping up those steps.
Why she didn’t just use the dumbwaiter instead of climbing the stairs was far beyond Odile, but Odile chose to let it go. Nora was good at her job. Efficient and accurate with a good intuition. She had also studied chemistry in school, that much Odile knew.
As long as she continued to be good at her job, Odile would ignore any idiosyncrasies she had.
Though, perhaps she had quit?
Over what? A stupid kiss?
The witch had asked ‘how many other hearts have you broken last night?’
The answer was zero
The one time she decides to indulge Nora in her stupid little infatuation, she gets punished for it. Did Nora really believe that she just suddenly fell in love with her? Totally out of the blue? The idea was preposterous.
The more she thought about it, the more upset Odile got, and the more she wanted to march into town and demand that that hateful little bitch remove this pathetic excuse of a spell from her at once.
She threw open her closet doors, but just at that moment, the downstairs doorbell chimed.
Someone had opened the door to the tower.
She waited for the second bell, the one attached to the stairwell door to chime, and it did.
That meant it was either her younger sister Iris, or Nora, come to apologize. She went down the hall, through the parlor and the front room and opened the door.
She could usually see who was coming up if she looked over the top balcony. Whoever it was was running up, stopping every few seconds to breathe harshly.
“Iris?” Odile asked. “Why are you running?”
“Odile?” Her sister’s voice echoed up shrilly. “Odile!”
Her sister didn’t stop running this time, calling out her name every so often.
Iris reached the last landing and looked up at Odile.
“What on earth is the matter?” Odile asked.
“Odile!” Iris yelled. She skipped up the last few steps and flew into her sister’s arms. “I’m sorry! I’m so sorry! I tried to stop her, I begged! I couldn’t come earlier, because the wagon wheel burst. What did she do to you? Are you alright?”
“Oof, Iris,” Odile said. “I’m fine, as you can see. She didn’t do anything of note. Just this- steam.”
Still, her arms closed around her sister’s shoulders, glad to touch someone familiar.
“Oh no, I don’t-” Iris coughed. “I don’t like the-” coughed again. “L-loo- looks-”
Iris devolved into a coughing fit, hanging off of Odile’s shoulder while she doubled over.
“Iris?”
Odile touched Iris’s face, but then quickly drew back. Iris crumpled to the ground, choking.
Iris’s face, where it had been resting on Odile’s neck was red and blistered. As she looked, a swollen, yellow blister formed below her sister’s ear.
“Oh,” Odile breathed. “Oh.”
Odile shut the door and locked it.
She closed her eyes against the sound of her sister from the other side of the door. Her breaths stuttered in her chest and she counted.
‘2...2...4...5...3...5...10…10...’ Her sister had finally stopped coughing.
“Odile? Odile, open the door! Open it! Now!”
Odile didn’t answer. She rested her head against the door and just breathed.