Chapter 3
Ivy's POV
"Really? Ivy, you're seriously the best friend I could ask for." Bella's eyes go a little misty.
"Of course it's real." I smile back at her.
In my head, I'm cackling. Grow. Grow faster.
Over the next two weeks, the mushrooms on Bella's back grow at a rate that shouldn't even be possible.
What started off the size of a coin is now the size of a fist.
At night, the colors glow bright enough to light up a room. But along with that comes a smell that multiplies by the day.
The whole block suffers for it.
The older werewolf next door packs up and leaves in the middle of the night because he can't take it anymore. A stray dog passing under our window rolls its eyes back and starts foaming at the mouth. Even the goblin merchant, famous for shrugging off poison like it's nothing, has to wear three layers of gas masks just to walk down our street.
And me, being Bella's most "devoted" best friend, there's no way I'm going to spend every day marinating in a cesspit.
So while Bella's off showing her masterpiece to anyone who'll look, I sneak out to the dark woods at the edge of town and find my other friend, the witch, Serena.
The second Serena opens her door, the leftover smell clinging to me sends her stumbling backward, and she nearly drops her wand.
She gags and says, "Ivy, did you fall into a ghoul's septic tank or something? Get away from me."
"Skip the commentary and just hand over your best scent-blocking potion." I push my way into her cabin, slap a silver coin down on the table. "I need something strong enough that I could stand in a pile of rotting corpses and only smell roses."
Serena pinches her nose, digs through a dusty cabinet, and pulls out a tiny green glass vial, handing it over like it physically pains her. "This took me three days and three nights to brew. One drop on your nose and you won't smell anything foul for a month. What are you even doing over there? Because whatever it is, it's killing me just standing near you."
"Don't ask. Let's just say I'm here for the show." I dab the potion onto my nose right away. A cool wave of mint fills my head, and just like that, the suffocating stench disappears completely. I let out a long breath, feeling like a whole new person.
With Serena's potion backing me up, I get a lot more comfortable playing my part.
"Bella, you look amazing today. That color is getting so much richer. Lord Lucas is going to lose his mind when he sees this." Every day, I stand less than two feet from her without flinching, gushing over that disgusting, oozing mess like it's the best thing I've ever seen.
Thanks to my constant watering and flattery, Bella writes off every complaint and curse from the neighbors as nothing but jealousy from people who'll never understand.
She struts through the streets every day like a proud peacock showing off its feathers, chin up, like she's already wearing a viscountess's crown.
But no amount of vanity can fully cover up what's happening to her body.
As the mushrooms keep growing, their roots dig deeper into Bella's flesh. Her skin starts breaking out in swollen, oozing patches, and the green mucus running down her back leaves it raw, itching and burning.
By day thirty, Bella's starting to crack.
Late that night, a rustling sound wakes me up.
I open my eyes, and in the moonlight, I see Bella twisting in pain, her hands clawing at the air, not quite daring to actually touch the thing on her back. Her face is pale as paper, her eyes sunk deep into her skull, her once-full lips cracked and peeling.
"Ivy..." she calls out weakly, her voice breaking. "It hurts so bad. It feels like there are ants biting into my back. It itches, it burns, I can't take it..."
I sit up right away and rush to her bedside, putting on my best worried face. "Bella, what's wrong? Is the Bloom pulling in more energy? Is it changing?"
"I don't know... I really can't take this anymore..." Bella's face is a mess of tears and snot as she struggles to sit up. "I feel like it's draining my blood. Ivy, I want to take a shower. Just warm water, just around it, not touching it. Please, I'm losing my mind."
