Week 2 Story: The Three Roses

Dear Diary, 

It's only been one week since I married Josef, the basilisk who turned into a serpent with golden keys after I cut its head off and then into a handsome man after I cut its head off again. I still don't know what his original form is. He said that he was a originally a man, but a witch cursed him into a basilisk when he refused to offer her shelter. 

Somehow I reversed the curse. Apparently, only a woman with a pure heart could help return him to his normal state. Only, I'm not buying this story. The reason why is because I went into the forbidden west wing last night. I was curious and still had my suspicions of Josef. I felt like he was hiding something. Well, the fact that the west wing is off limits to me definitely meant that he was hiding something. 

Anyway, after he was fast asleep I quietly got out of bed and walked across the palace to the west wing. The room was locked of course. However, after a week of observing Josef's routine I knew that he went to the West Wing every morning at 5. He would usually come back around 7 and put the keys to the wing in this huge treasure chest and locking that chest with a padlock that needed a specific combination of three numbers to open. 

This part was hard to figure out because I always pretended to be asleep when he got back from the wing to lower any suspicions. So, there was no way I could look over his shoulder to see what the numbers were. I started spending my afternoons while Josef was away on his "business trips" trying to figure out what the combination to the lock was. I tried the typical combinations of 1, 2, 3 and 0, 0, 0. None of those worked. 

I'm very persistent so I kept trying each day. On the third day, I was actually caught by the maid. There was no way I was getting out of this one. The maid was loyal to Josef. It also seemed like she hated me ever since I started living at the palace. I thought I was done for. But to my surprise, she just gave me a look of pity and walked away. 

I was paranoid for the next whole day. I thought she surely told Josef about what she saw. But, Josef never mentioned anything. Anyway, I went back to the chest that afternoon and found a book laying on it. The book was called "Shape Shifting 101". I opened the book and found three numbers scrawled across the inside of the cover. They were 034. 

I quickly tried putting these numbers in the lock and it worked!

Now that you're all updated with HOW I got into the West Wing. Let me update you on what I found IN the West Wing. 

Hundreds and hundreds of books on shape shifting. But what really caught my attention was in the middle of the room stood a glass case. And in that glass case was a withering rose. Only three petals were left on it. What would happen when all the petals fall off? I quickly found the answer when I opened up this large book sitting by the glass case. On the first page it read "BEWARE, if shape shifting potions are taken too many times the forms taken can remain PERMANENT" 

On the next page, it read "The only way to get rid of a permanent form is for a woman, pure of heart, to behead you. Take the potion of the next form you wish to take before you are beheaded. WARNING. It may take multiple beheadings before you are in the form you desire."

The next page read, "Finally, the form taken will only last one rose's lifespan. After the rose loses all its petals, you will revert back to your original form. WARNING. The woman must remain pure during this time. If she becomes impure, then your original form will take over even if the rose is still alive."

My heart was racing at this point. What exactly was Josef? Was he a wizard? Was he a dark wizard or a good wizard? I never got to know. because the door to the room opened. And there stood Josef, looking very very angry and very very unhuman-like and more basilisk-like. I'll never forget what he said to me, "You shouldn't have read that. Now you're not pure anymore."

Then, he called over his maid. She gave an evil smile to me. I was so confused. I still am confused. Anyway, they locked me up in this dungeon. Not sure how long I've been here for. All they gave me was this empty diary that I'm--

"Psst." whispered a girl in the cell next to mine. 

I almost had a heart attack. I thought I was alone down here. The other cells looked completely empty. 

"H-hello?" I said timidly. 

"I'm over here!" the girl whispered loudly. 

"We need to get out of here now!" she said

I turned towards the voice and saw a frail girl. She looked sickly. 

"What do you mean? What's happening?" I said. 

"Josef will be on his way here soon. He needs our blood to make the next potion. We're gonna die unless we-". 

She never got to finish her sentence. Josef killed her. His fangs sinking into her neck sucking in her blood and spitting it into the chalice the maid was holding. 

Where did they come from? It was so dark in this dungeon. Were they hiding in the shadows the whole time? 

"Sorry Mary, this is your own fault. You really shouldn't have read that book." said Josef. 

I felt fangs sinking into my neck. I was getting light headed. My last thought was an image of three roses. 

Author's Note: I decided to add a sequel to "The Three Roses" story. I wanted to tell the story from Mary's perspective so I thought her writing a diary would be best for that. Since, the story was similar to "Beauty and the Beast" I wanted to add more similar aspects such as the forbidden west wing and the withering rose. The story never gave the basilisk a name so I decided on Josef, the name of the author. I also wanted to make Josef, the Basilisk an evil shape shifter. This will help me use him as a character for my storybook project later on that will be about shape shifters. 

Image Information: Three Roses (pixabay)

Bibliography. "The Three Roses" from "The Key of Gold: Czech Folk Tales" by Josef Baudis Web Source.