Ladle Rat Rotten Hut ( A Grimm Diaries Prequel #4 )

by Cameron Jace

  “Close,” She nodded. “And if you play the cards right, that movie becomes the truth for the hundred years after.”

  “Pretty damn confusing, I must say.”

  “Do you understand why I am looking for the Lost Seven now? If I find them before Snow White does, I can rewrite the new truth in the Dreamworld my way. So, do you still think this is Cinderella’s mug?”

  “Second thoughts, it’s doesn’t have to be?” I dribbled and walked closer to her. “I think it is not about the mug. It’s about what was in the mug.”

  The Queen’s face shone brighter. “That’s the first thing you say that makes sense. The mug might have been filled with a potion, a drink, or any other item that could lead me to its owner. But how can I know?”

  “Can’t help you with that,” I said, turned around, and swooshed again. Damn, that was brilliant. “Which brings us to the magic beans,” I said impatiently. I wanted her out of my castle before midnight. “I don’t remember the dwarves in the book talking about magic beans.”

  “Remember the phrase, ’Who ate my vegetables?” Beans are vegetables.” The Queen explained.

  “Oh. Then that’s an easy one. Who else has magic beans in his pockets all the time?” I cocked my head happily.

  “Jack,” The Queen mumbled. “That little crook.”

  “He is a thief and a crook, but he is very lovable.”

  “You sound like you know where he is. In fact, you sound like you have seen him recently.”

  “Of course, I did. But I can’t get him for you. Jack is becoming so important in the Dreamworld these days.”

  “Why is that?”

  “He is the only one who can climb out of a dream,” I mentioned. “You know how many Dreamhunters need a guy like Jack? He is all business, and he is doing fine. I don’t think that waking up every one hundred years tempted him at all. He is still in the Dreamworld, getting paid very well to save Dreamhunters who get stuck in dreams.”

  “But climbing out of a dream is prohibited in our Dreamworld.”

  “Yeah. So is eating a young girl's heart and liver.”

  “At least I know where he is now.” The Queens looked happy.

  “But please, when you find him, don’t squash him like a giant would do to him?” I threw the basketball away. I got bored easily, just like Dracula.

  “Which brings up to the last item, Peter,” Suddenly the Queen sounded creepier. I knew when she got into that mood. She was holding a cool knife in her hand.

  “And now we come to the last item, Pete,” The Queen said in a rather intimidating way. “A knife. One that really looks like yours.”

  “Wow,” I said. “Are you saying that you think I am one of the Lost Seven?”

  “I don’t know, Pete. You tell me.”

  “Well. It does look like my knife, but I could have dropped it anywhere, and someone might have picked it up. Aren’t there any other fairy characters with knives but me?”

  “Not that I know of.”

  “Come on, please. Do I look like give a damn about Snow White? Do I look like I don’t want her dead? She is a threat to everyone.”

  “She is a threat to us, but not necessarily you.”

  “But she is a threat to the one I love.” I said firmly. It was time to show seriousness in my voice. I could play, dance, and fly all day, but when it came down to the one I loved, I wasn’t a nice boy anymore.

  “The one you love is dead.” The Queen said.

  “Not dead,” I waved my hand. “She is just taking a nap. A long nap. Thanks to the Brothers Grimm for placing that ridiculous curse upon you guys.”

  “So?”

  “She won’t be sleeping anymore,” I said. “I will resurrect her tonight. And if you could just leave, I could happily start my ceremony.”

  “What?” The Queen wondered. “You’re bringing Sleeping Beauty back? Sheis a mischievous brat. All she causes is trouble.”

  “A beautiful mischievous brat,” I corrected her. “I have been living without her for a hundred years. And I am feeling kinda lonely here.”

  “Isn’t Hunchy entertaining you enough?” The Queens teased me.

  “He is alright. But it’s not him. It’s me,” I teased her back. No one makes fun of the boy who wouldn’t grow up. “I broke up with him, on his birthday, so it’s most painful for him.”

  The Queen chuckled. “Oh. Peter. You still can’t live without love, even if it’s with one of the most wicked girls in the world.”

  “Why do you say that about her?”

  “Don’t you remember, Peter? She’s always been cursed, even before the Brothers Grimm. We needed to put her to sleep for long times because she likes to kill people, make a mess, and bring down the sky for the fun of it.”

  “I like my girls naughty.”

  “That’s not naughty. That’s nuts.”

  “She loves me. That’s why I like her. And she doesn’t have a specific agenda like all of your fairy tale folks. And please, don’t call her a Grimm. She belongs to both worlds. You know what I mean.”

  “Do whatever you want, Peter. It’s not like we’re back in the real world for long. All I am saying is that she brings out the worse in you. Is that why you brought Dracula back ?”

  “How do you know that?”

  “I can smell him. I can always smell my family.”

  “You want to meet him?”

  “Oh. No. He is a douche bag. And I don’t need him. Did you tell him about his ancestors?”

  “I did, but didn’t believe me.”

  “Didn’t I tell you he is a douche bag? So you need him to help you with resurrecting her?”

  “Yes,” I nodded. “Now, if you please, could you go? Poof. Like a Genie back in the bottle? I believe you have to hunt down seven lost young people.”

  “I will certainly go now,” the Queen packed her items. “I don’t want to be here when she wakes up. She will turn this castle into a circus.”

  “Kids love the circus; adults don’t. That’s what I love about her.” I smirked.

  “Peter,” The Queens stopped on her way out, putting a finger to her lips. “You’re not just waking her up because you’re lonely. There is something else on your mind. Trouble in Neverland?”

  “None of your business, Evil Queen.” I stuck out my tongue. She hated that name: Evil Queen.

  “So there is trouble in Neverland,” She looked happy, knowing that I was suffering somehow. “Even though the Snow White war isn’t exactly yours, you know you will be joining my army soon, Peter. Even the safety of Neverland depends on Snow White’s death.”

  I didn’t comment, listening to the clock strike midnight in the halls of my castle.

  “Shall we begin?” Hunchy came out of the shadows.

  “We shall,” I said. I didn'’t mind saying shall. It’s better than him calling me master. “Would you show the Queen the way out?”

  As they left, I could hear the Queen taunting Hunchy about his bad teeth as if this was the only bad feature about him.

  I burst into Dracula’s chamber, expecting to get into a lame conversation about zombies. Surprisingly, I found him reading Harry Potter. The way he laughed while reading, he looked like a goblin.

  “What the hell are you doing?” I protested. We had to get going.

  “This book is awesome,” He said. I had to blink twice, making sure I am not in the Dreamworld anymore. “This Draco boy kicks butt. You say his character is based upon me?”

  I was tongue-tied. Sometimes comedy is most appalling.

  “Slytherin.” He said aloud and laughed like kids.

  “Please stop this,” I said. “You’re destroying everything I love about vampires.”

  “Oh?” he frowned, suddenly aware of himself losing his prestige. “You’re right. What has gotten into me?”

  I grabbed him by the arm. “Don’t you want to feed?”

  “I had enough of those ugly boars.”

  “I mean to feed on people, on a most beaut
iful princess?”

  “Now we’re talking.” He said as his eyes turned demonic red. That’s the Dracula I knew.

  “Now we’re talking? Where did you even here that? These books will spoil you.” I pulled him out of the room to the hall, where Sleeping Beauty lay.

  There was no sound to be heard outside, except of the ticking clocks on the wall. Sleeping Beauty loved to listen to them in her one hundred year sleep. She said she could hear the ticking in the Dreamworld, and it kept her company.

  Approaching the bed in the middle of the hall, Dracula looked taken by her beauty. She was lying on her back in an open glass coffin filled with water. She had been floating above the water for years. It’s the way she liked her bed.

  The curtains fluttered to a breeze of wind as we approached her coffin.

  Dracula couldn’t take his eyes off her. She had her hands rested on her chest, and her eyes closed. Her golden hair floated around her head, just like her white wet dress.

  “She is so … “ Dracula shrugged. “Serene and beautiful.”

  “Wait until she wakes up.” Hunchy chuckles, reminding me of Dr. Evil in Austen Powers.

  “Don’t scare him, Hunchy,” I interrupted. “She is all right.” I assured Draco.

  “How long has she been here?”

  “What a silly question,” I tilted my head, picking up a white apple floating on the water. “Even if you don’t know about the Brothers Grimm curse, you must have heard about Sleeping Beauty—“

  “The princess who was cursed for a hundred years—“ Hunchy felt the need to explain before I shushed him.

  “Sleeping Beauty is real?” Dracula estranged.

  “We’re not going into that conversation again, are we?” I said. “We’re all real.”

  “Think of it,” Hunchy couldn’t stop himself from educating Dracula. “If you are real, then all the characters in books are real.”

  “He has a point,” I raised an eyebrow at Dracula. “He is an ugly pain in the butt, but this time he is right.”

  “Was she cursed by the Grimms as well?”

  “Hmm,” I rubbed my chin. “That’s a question I can’t answer. I don’t think I really know what’s going on. All I know is that I like waking her up every one hundred years when we’re allowed to surface back from the Dreamworld.”

  “But she isn’t staked,” Dracula wondered. “In order to send vampires to the Dreamworld, they have to be staked in the real world. That’s how you woke me up.”

  “He is getting smarter.” Hunchy, the annoying, chuckled.

  “Stop it,” I told Hunchy firmly, then turned back to Draco. “That’s right. I think her curse is a little different from ours. Frankly, this curse thing confused me. It’s a long story, really. That’s why we need you.”

  “What do you need me for?” Dracula gazed back at her, distracted by her beauty.

  “She needs your blood to wake up,” I said. “Actually, she needs you to bite her to wake up.”

  “Your blood is Royal blood,” Hunchy explained. “Nothing else can wake her up.”

  “I thought Sleeping Beauty woke up with a kiss.” Dracula wondered.

  “Well. For one, you are not capable of kissing. We both know that you don’t feel anything when you kiss a girl—“

  “Is Dracula gay?” Hunchy wondered.

  “No, Hunchy,” I raised my voice a little. It echoed. “Dracula is not gay. He just can’t feel kisses,” I gazed back at Dracula from top to bottom. “You’re not gay, are you?” I had to ask.

  “You’ve got any problem with that?” Dracula replied.

  “Oh,” I shrugged. My best friend in Neverland was gay, and I loved him. “Of course, not.” I said. Even Hunchy – whom I am not sure about his sexual orientation – raised an eyebrow. I am not sure it was an eyebrow. Hunchy’s features are so cramped up, I don’t know which is which sometimes.

  “I was just messing with you,” Dracula laughed. “Can’t you take a joke?”

  Playing video games and reading Harry Potter turned out to be useful for Draco after all; a better sense of humor that could really hurt his reputation as a fang-master.

  “So what are these?” He pointed at the white apples, reaching for one.

  “Don’t touch those,” I stopped him. “They are hers, and they are rare.”

  “I’ve never seen white apples before.” He commented.

  “You’d call me a liar if I tell you that the lord has created apples white, but then something awful happened in the fairy tale world, and he decided to turn apples red. But that’s another story. So are you ready for her?”

  “All I have to do is bite her awake, right?” Dracula brushed her cheek. I felt jealous, but I couldn’t do anything about it.

  “Exactly,” I said as I turned to walk away with Hunchy. “I’ll be in my chamber.”

  “You’re not going to be here when I wake her?” Dracula wondered.

  “I prefer to wait for you two in my chamber,” I said. “She is kind of feisty when she wakes up, and you too are vampires. You’ll get along.”

  Entering my chamber, I sat on my lazy-boy chair – which totally killed the gothic feel of the castle. I leaned back, drinking carrot juice.

  “I don’t feel good about bringing her back, Pete.” Hunchy said, looking awfully scared. He couldn’t get his eyes off the oaken double-door, waiting for her to enter any moment.

  “Be cool, Hunchy. Why do you fear her that much?”

  “She is a brat, Pete. She likes to make a mess for fun. She kills for fun. With no purpose. Just a sixteen-year-old bad girl. Last time she lit my toes on fire when I was asleep.”

  I tried to see if Hunchy actually had toes, but I couldn’t make them out. “Sure it was your toes?”

  “Ok,” He bowed his head. “It was my … ass. She lit my ass on fire, and it took me two years to heal.”

  “You have an ass?” I wondered.

  “Not funny, Pete.” He looked hurt, and walked out of the chamber through a back door. It was time for me here all alone, waiting for her when she wakes up.

  The truth was that I was a little intimidated. She tended to scare me sometimes. But I loved her. She is my Darling.

  As I a stard at the closed door, I wondered what her childhood was like. What part did the Brothers Grimm alter? All that talk about the spindle, pricking her finger, and the curse. Was it real?

  I didn’t know a lot about her previous life, because I met Sleeping Beauty when she was lost in the streets of Paris, just all the other kids I pity and save. I comforted and sent her to work for me in Neverland, so she repays me. But I couldn’t help but fall in love with her chaotic moods. If she were a princess before, then she was one hell of a spoiled brat.

  She was different from the rest of the fairy tale crowd, for many reasons. She didn’t have a war or a purpose. She just lived day by day the way she wanted to live. Even when she helped the Queen in trying to get rid of Snow White, she didn’t for the fun of it.

  I had no idea why her hundred-year sleep was different from the others. But she was damn special. People thought she was a Brother’s Grimm or Charles Perrault character, but they were wrong. Sleeping Beauty was also a Sir James Mathew Barrie’s character, and her real name was mentioned in my altered story. She was one of the few who were mentioned twice with different names in different books.

  My thoughts were interrupted by a sudden scream behind the door, followed by sounds of chaos of broken glass and vases in the hall. This time it wasn't Deacula making a mess.

  She was awake.

  That’s why I didn’t want to be in there. I heard Dracula scream. She was feeding on him. I know he was a big boy. He will survive. She tended to be out of control when she was unfed, like a bratty princess demanding a new toy.

  The screaming stopped, and I waited for the door to burst open any moment. I stood up, as if to pay my respects. It took some time before the door flung open, and she stood by it.

  My God. She was so beautiful
. Well, she needed a bath from the blood drooling from her lips. But except that, she was totally all right.

  “Pete,” She smiled. Her eyes glittered with silver stars. Her blonde hair danced behind her in the air as if it had a soul of its own. “I missed you.” She said.

  “I—“ The smile on my face stole the words from my mouth.

  She approached me, barefoot, wet, and seeping blood. Then she threw herself into my arms. I felt alive. Her touch was warm, like an imminent memory you could never forget. I felt as if I didn’t know who I were before she touched me. I blew out a sigh, long and easy.

  “I was worried you’d be upset with me and never wake me up again.” She whispered in my ears, her breath all over my neck.

  “How could I?” I pulled her tighter. I needed this. Damn this curse. How did I breathe without her for the last hundred years?

  “Pete?” She looked into my eyes like a pleading child. “Are we going to have fun this time?”

  “Of course we will, Darling.” I said.

  “I mean,” She shrugged. “Is she dead?” Even with Sleeping Beauty’s chaotic behavior, she was afraid of her. She was talking about Snow White.

  “She isn’t exactly dead.”

  “What?”

  “Don’t worry. The Queen got her. She will not harm us.” I brushed her hair.

  “That’s awesome. So we could have real fun. We could bring down the sky, Pete.”

  I laughed and hugged her again. “Yes, Darling. We could bring down the sky. Whatever you want.”

  Without my permission, she bit my neck. She wanted to taste my blood. It’s been long. Even though I hated that, I let her.

  “I love you, Pete.” She whispered in my ears.

  “I love you too, Beauty.”

  “Don’t say it like that. Say my real name.”

  “I love you too, Darling.” I whispered.

  “My full, real name, Pete. I want to hear my real name on your lips.”

  I hesitated for a moment, but then smiled. “I love you too, Wendy Darling.”

  Ladle Rat Rotten Hut

  A Grimm Diaries Prequel

  A teaser story for the upcoming release of