A Pocket Full of Posies by Shawn Sarles

Author:Shawn Sarles
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scholastic Inc.

The porch swing creaked underneath Parker as she swayed in the early-evening air. She used her tiptoes to keep herself rocking while she sipped on a glass of lemonade, the cool droplets of condensation slipping down and chilling her fingers. She was lost in her thoughts, staring into the rosebushes that buffeted the porch, their blooms on full display, peppering the air with their sweet perfume. An undercurrent of smoke seeped through the aroma, and Parker wrinkled her nose, her hand squeezing the glass of lemonade tighter.

She stared harder at the flowers. But something changed. Their blossoms turned into eyes. The crimson petals blurred, weeping blood. A scream welled up from somewhere far away, growing louder and closer until it was right behind her, filling her ears, coming from her own throat.

She startled and nearly fell onto the porch. The swing rocked precariously underneath her, and it took her another moment to steady herself. She looked back at the rosebush, but the eyes were gone. The screaming had stopped.

Had she fallen asleep?

She shook her head and tried to wake up. Tried to forget the nightmares. To forget what she’d seen in the hedge maze.

No. What she thought she’d seen.

Because it still seemed impossible. She’d been dehydrated and exhausted. She’d felt disoriented and panicked after getting lost. Her imagination had spooked her. It made her see things that weren’t there.

She closed her eyes and the images flashed in front of her again. The fire. The roses. The statue of Rosamund bearing down on her. Snatching at her wrists. Pinning her in place. Burning her at the stake.

It’d seemed so real. A waking nightmare to go with all her sleeping ones.

That was why she’d been setting her alarm to go off every half hour, to wake her up in the middle of the night. She had to stop the nightmares before they got out of hand. Before they pulled her too far under. She hadn’t had a full night’s sleep since the Bloom Festival. Since being named Rose Duchess. Which was over a week ago.

She rubbed at her eyes and pinched her arm. She didn’t know what was bothering her, but enough googling told her that nightmares were a symptom of stress. The move. Or maybe the way she’d lost Dani.

She pulled out her phone and scrolled through her social media feed, stopping as Dani’s face popped up on the screen. The girl was standing arm in arm with Callie, the two of them holding their rackets high in victory. The caption read: New partner, same winning ways.

So Dani hadn’t gotten suspended from the team. She hadn’t lost her scholarship.

A part of Parker was happy. Relieved. But she still felt a stab in her gut. A tightening in her chest. Her fingers hovered over the screen. And then, before she could think better of it, she tapped out a comment and posted it.

I knew you could do it.

It would be up to Dani to decipher what Parker meant.

I knew you could win. Or, I knew you would move on without me.

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