The Grimm Curse (Once Upon A Time Is Now)

by Stephen Carpenter

  “Come here,” the woman took Madeleine’s arm and started to lead her away, then she stopped and looked at me. “You, too. Come on.”

  The woman—apparently Madeleine’s mom—led us to an ambulance parked beside a sheriff’s patrol car at the edge of the crowded square. She made Madeleine and me sit on the tailgate of the ambulance and wrapped a blood pressure cuff around Madeleine’s arm.

  “Mr. Smith told me that you’re Jacob,” Madeleine’s mom said to me as she pumped up the blood pressure cuff. “Eustace’s nephew.”

  “Yes,” I said.

  “I’m Jenna,” she said. “I’m Madeleine’s mom.” She looked at the dial on the cuff. “Good lord, Maddie, your pressure’s through the roof. What happened?”

  “Nothing, mom,” Madeleine said again, in a distracted way.

  “Don’t give me that,” Jenna said, the stripped off the cuff and looked at me. “Hold out your arm,” she said to me. “You look even worse than her. Why are you shaking?”

  As she pumped up the cuff on my arm, Madeleine looked at me and shook her head—which I took as a signal that I should keep my mouth shut. She didn’t have to bother. I wasn’t about to tell this woman—a paramedic—that I had just seen a talking wolf. For all I knew she would have me checked me into a nut house right then and there.

  “I’m just…cold,” I said.

  Jenna pulled the cuff off of my arm and climbed up into the back of the ambulance to get a blanket. Madeleine leaned close to me and whispered.

  “Don’t tell her anything,” she said.

  “Don’t worry,” I whispered back.

  Jenna came back with two blankets and draped one over me and the other over Madeleine.

  “We’re just…upset about the Peytons,” Madeleine said to her mom.

  “We all are,” Jenna said. She stroked her daughter’s hair. “Just take slow, deep breaths and try to calm down—both of you,” she looked at me. “When was the last time you had something to eat?”

  “Um…” I tried to remember, but couldn’t.

  “You two stay right here, I’ll get you something,” Jenna said, then headed off, into the crowd.

  “You were supposed to take over for Eustace,” Madeleine said to me in a quiet voice. “To be the new Huntsman.”

  “What does that mean?” I said.

  “You’d know if you had read the will like you were supposed to,” she said, glaring at me.

  “Alright!” I said. “I didn’t read it. Tell me.”

  “The Huntsman is the one who keeps all of the Otherworld creatures from doing all of the things they do—like eat children,” Madeleine said. “All of the terrible things from the fairy tales, they’re all real. Rapunzel’s prince blinded, Snow White in a coma… The Huntsman’s like a kind of gamekeeper, keeping all of the Otherworlders from doing what they’ve done for centuries.”

  “But those are fairy tales,” I said. “They aren’t real.”

  “Hello??” Madeleine said. “You just saw the wolf. Did you forget already? Are you irresponsible AND stupid?”

  I was about to answer when two high school kids, a guy and a girl, came up to us.

  “Are you okay, Maddie?” the girl said.

  “Yeah,” Madeleine said. The girl looked at me. “This is Jacob,” Madeleine said.

  “Hi, I’m Kara,” the girl said. She was short, with close-cropped blonde hair, wearing a cheerleader outfit with an oversized letterman’s jacket over her shoulders. I guessed that the jacket belonged to the guy she was with. He had longish hair and no coat, and he was holding Kara tightly around the waist.

  “I’m Rick,” he said.

  “Hey,” I said.

  Kara gave Madeleine a hug.

  “I’m freaked out, too,” Kara said. “I heard they found a body.”

  “It wasn’t a body,” Madeleine said. “It was just…some bones. Could be an animal, they’re not sure.”

  “I heard they found Greg Peyton’s body, right in front of the school…” Rick said, but he was interrupted by Jenna, who had returned with two brownies in paper napkins and two cups of hot cocoa.

  “Rick,” Jenna said sharply. “That’s enough of that. Why don’t you and Kara go get something to eat. Go on.”

  “See ya later,” Kara said to Madeleine and me, then she walked off with Rick, their arms around each other.

  “Eat,” Jenna said to Madeleine and me, as she handed us the brownies and the cocoa. I took a sip of the warm cocoa and felt a little better. Then I took a bite of the brownie, which was the best brownie I’d ever tasted. I scarfed it down in three big bites.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Rachel Has Her Cake And Eats It Too

  Rachel watched from the back of the Range Rover as the boy ate the brownie. She could see him clearly, across the crowd, but he couldn’t see her. She couldn’t risk him spotting her, so she stayed at the back of the Range Rover, with the rear door open, handing out her brownies to the kids at the vigil. She was wearing a heavy parka, which hid her swelling belly, and she had tucked what was left of her brittle, graying hair under a bright stocking cap. She felt something slithering out from under the cap—a tiny yellow worm-like thing was slithering out, but she shoved it back under the cap, and pulled a bandana from the pocket of her parka and tied it tightly to keep any others from slipping out.

  Rachel knew who the boy was now, she was certain of it. He was a Grimm, there was no doubt at all in her mind. She could sense the hatefulness and fear from all the way across the crowded square. She sensed no power from him, though. With any luck, he was not yet the new Huntsman. But he was with that wretched little Madeleine, Eustace’s dirtgirl apprentice, and Rachel had to assume the boy would be initiated very soon.

  Despite the fact that she felt no power from the boy, Rachel stayed out of the boy’s sight, just to play it safe. Rachel had survived for hundreds of years by always playing it safe. She didn’t think the boy would recognize her in human form, but she couldn’t take any chances. She had stayed alive by being extra cautious, extra vigilant, and she wasn’t about to start making stupid mistakes now…not when she was on the brink of victory. She had avoided all contact with Eustace while in human form. He had never laid eyes on her as Rachel Eaton; he had only seen her twice, both times in her true form—the first time was when he murdered her two friends, and the last time, when she gleefully watched him die.

  Rachel was more clever than her two friends had been—they had underestimated Eustace’s strength and stupidly shown themselves to him in human form. Eustace was young and strong then, and he followed them back to their meeting place and murdered them. After that, Rachel took every precaution—she hadn’t feasted, and she had taken on the ways of the dirtfolk. It was painful and indescribably frustrating, but yoga helped. The concepts of self-restraint and the elimination of desire tamed her hunger—a bit—and she even came to appreciate her emaciated human form, the way a prisoner comes to make his wretched cell his home. She developed the quality of patience, which was hateful to a Gorgon, but she was able to cultivate it because she knew it would keep her alive, long past the brief life of any dirtfolk—even Eustace, who had been the strongest, cleverest, most skillful and enduring Huntsman she had ever encountered.

  Such is not the case with this young clod, she thought as she looked at the Grimm boy. He was a skinny, frightened, confused bit of clay, and—best of all—uninitiated and therefore powerless. And here she was, with her special brownies…she could scarcely believe her luck! She could STOP the whole damned curse of this family forever, right here, right now…

  But it hadn’t worked out that way. Madeleine’s mother Jenna had refused the brownies with the glowing sprite-green frosting, choosing the white-frosted brownies instead. Rachel held her tongue. Don’t press it…there will be another chance. So she stood behind the Range Rover and watched the boy eat the harmless white-frosted brownie, biding her time, biding her time…

  But the hunger.

  Desperate, raven
ous, needful; eating her from the inside out, until she thought she might cry out in frustration and fury. She scanned the crowd, and her eyes eventually found Rick and Kara. She knew Kara from yoga class—a young cheerleader with fine, full haunches and a smooth silky coat of hair…a well-marbled young calf.

  Rachel picked up the tray of sprite-green brownies and approached Rick and Kara as they passed near the Range Rover.

  “Here, you two,” Rachel said, forcing a sweet, consoling tone as she held out the tray to them. “Comfort food.”

  Rick looked at the brownies, their frosting glowing green in the darkness.

  “Cool,” Rick said, and picked one up and took a bite. “How’d you make ‘em glow like that?”

  “Magic,” Rachel winked at him, and tried to contain her glee as he ate the whole thing. She picked up another brownie with a paper napkin and handed it to Kara.

  “No thanks, Miss Eaton,” Kara said, eyeing the sweet. “I’ll just have to work it off in yoga class Saturday.”

  “No worries,” Rachel said. “These are totally macrobiotic. No sugar, no carbs. They actually burn calories.”

  “Really?” Kara said. “How do they do that?”

  “It’s a secret,” Rachel gave her a coy grin. “Old family recipe. Eat one of these and I guarantee you’ll be dropping pounds before you know it, hon.”

  Rachel watched, containing her glee, as Kara took the green-frosted brownie and sunk her dull little dirt-teeth into it.

  Bingo, Rachel thought.

  “Thanks,” Kara said, as she and Rick walked off.

  “Enjoy!” Rachel said, and almost immediately, a plan burst, full-blown, in her mind.

  She could have her cake and eat it too, and she could make it all happen in the next 24 earthly hours. One…single…full spin of this wretched dirtball of a world…

  She slid the brownies back into the Range Rover and slammed the door. She had to hurry. The brownies would take effect within the hour and, with any luck, she could have the chubby little calf and her boyfriend in the well shortly after that.

  But far better—if she hurried—she could have the Grimm boy and the dirtgirl Madeleine as well—and she could have them tonight. And then the whole thing would be over…the Grimm curse would be gone forever. Centuries of suffering and restraint would finally come to an end, just as the Otherworld had dreamed of for a long, long time.

  IF a lot of things broke her way…if she hurried…if she was careful…if you can keep your head while all those about you are losing theirs…

  She chuckled at her little joke, then climbed in behind the wheel and started the Range Rover and pulled out, her mind racing, planning...

  If, if, if.

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  I Learn About The Dirtfolk And How My Father Died

  I had barely finished the brownie when Madeleine slid off the tailgate of the ambulance and said, “Come on, we have to go.”

  “Where?”

  “To Eustace’s house. We have to look in the will for some kind of a way to perform the Initiation. There’s got to be a way.”

  I followed her across the street, leaving the square, passing in front of the old library.

  “Even if we can’t perform the Initiation properly, there has to be a way—Eustace would have left enough information somewhere, somehow,” she said. “We have to try, or more kids will get…”

  She stopped herself, as if she didn’t want to say it out loud.

  “The twins—the Peytons,” I said. “What exactly happened to them?”

  “They were eaten,” she said.

  It wasn’t just what she said, it was the way she said it. “They were eaten.” Just like that. Like she was telling me what time it was, or what day it was, or what the weather was like.

  “By what?” I said.

  “That’s what we have to find out,” she said. “There are dozens of creatures that eat children. Could be a wolf, a witch, an ogre…there’s no way of knowing what did the actual eating without…”

  “Without what?” I said.

  “Without a Huntsman,” she said, with bitterness in her voice. “Eustace would have known, but you’re not Eustace, you’re…useless.”

  I stopped. “You know what?” I said, angrily. “If I’m so useless and irresponsible and stupid, what do you need me for? In case you haven’t noticed, I’ve had kind of a WEIRD DAY, and I’m hungry and tired and freaked out and I’m getting tired of you insulting me all the time!”

  Madeleine’s eyes flashed with anger, but she stopped, took a deep breath, and spoke calmly to me.

  “I need you—WE need you—this whole town needs you because you’re the last living descendant of the Grimm family,” she said. “Please come with me and I’ll explain as much as I can to you before we get to the house. It’s all in the will, but you haven’t—”

  “I haven’t read the will, I know,” I said. “You’ve mentioned that several times and we both know it. Just give me the basics for now and I’ll read it when we get there.”

  Madeleine turned a corner and kept walking. I walked beside her as she began talking, forcing herself to stay calm and speak softly.

  “Your ancestors, the Brothers Grimm, were cursed by a gypsy,” she said. “The stories about the Otherworld—what we know as the Grimm fairy tales—were never supposed to be known by the dirtfolk…”

  “Who are the ‘dirtfolk’,” I asked.

  “Us,” she said. “You, me…humans. That’s what the Otherworlders call us. Man was formed from the dust of the ground—ashes to ashes, dust to dust—so the Otherworld calls us dirtfolk.”

  “Who or what created them?” I asked.

  “No one really knows,” Madeleine said. “Eustace had his theories, but all we know is that they are not of this earth. One of the early Huntsman thought that they were angels who collaborated with Lucifer when he fell from grace, but later Huntsmen disagreed. Eustace was working on it…he was hoping to end the curse before he…” her voice caught in her throat, and she stopped talking for a moment. “Before he died,” she said. “But it didn’t work out that way.”

  We turned a corner and Madeleine headed across a vacant lot. We had been taking the same path to the Grimm house that I had taken alone, but Madeleine apparently knew a short cut.

  “Once the fairy tales were published, the Grimm brothers became rich and famous, and people started looking out for the witches and ogres and the rest of the creatures that were all around them,” Madeleine continued. “This made the Otherworld furious, so they forced a gypsy to curse your entire family. They gave every generation of Grimms the ability to see the creatures for what they were, but they didn’t have the power to stop them until one of the witches made a deal with a Huntsman. In exchange for her life, the witch gave the last living Grimm descendent certain powers and secret bits of information to fight back. All of it was recorded in the will, which has been passed down from every generation of your family. That’s why the will is so important. That’s why I’m making such a big deal out of it.”

  We came out at the other end of the vacant lot, and I recognized the entrance to Wroughtwood Place. We headed down the dark, rough road, until the Grimm house—my house now—came into view. Madeleine hurried toward the house, ahead of me.

  “Your ancestors have made terrible sacrifices to protect and preserve the will,” she said, as we reached the iron gate and headed up the broken brick walk to the dark house. Then she dug in her pocket and took out a key and opened the door. She turned and looked at me before we entered the house.

  “A lot of your ancestors died protecting the will,” she said. “Including your father.”

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  Rick And Kara Fall Under The Spell

  “Life is so unpredictable,” Rick said, tucking Kara under his arm as he steered his truck away from the vigil. “You never know what can happen.”

  “Yeah,” Kara said sadly, staring at a passing flyer, nailed to a tree, with the Peyton twins�
� pictures. Beth Peyton had been in music class with Kara, and they had been friends for a while when they were younger. Well, not friends, but they had shared an interest in the same music for a while, and traded songs with each other, and they had gone to a concert together in Medford once. But Kara was a year older, and when she started hanging out with Rick, she and Beth Peyton had drifted apart. Rick was sixteen, and the star running back on the Woodland High football team. This gave Kara special status—a boyfriend who played football and had his own truck.

  “Makes you want to, y’know, make the most of what you’ve got while you’re here,” Rick said, and held Kara a little closer.

  “Yeah,” Kara said again, then noticed Rick had passed the turn for her house. “You missed the turn,” she said.

  “I was thinking maybe we could go somewhere, get away from all this for a little while…just us,” Rick said, and leaned over to nuzzle Kara’s neck briefly.

  Kara knew what Rick meant, and she knew where he was heading: to the woods; to the special spot where they had gone a couple of times before. On their second trip into the woods, things had gotten a little too heated between the two of them and Kara had become uncomfortable. Kara liked Rick, she just wasn’t sure if she liked him like that. But he was on the football team and he did have his own truck, so she had come up with the perfect solution.

  Kara entwined her fingers with Rick’s, and held up their hands as they rode in the truck. On their wrists were matching bracelets with the words “TRUE LOVE WAITS” printed on them. After their second trip to the woods, Kara had insisted that they save themselves for marriage.

  “We made a pledge,” Kara said. “Remember?”

  Rick looked at her and, after a moment, he nodded. Of course he remembered making the abstinence pledge, but at that moment he regretted it like hell.

  Kara yawned.

  “I’m so sleepy all of a sudden,” Kara said, and leaned her head back against Rick’s arm and closed her eyes. In an instant, she was fast asleep.

  Rick was suddenly feeling sleepy as well. He yawned, and before he could stop the truck, he fell asleep too, his head tilting against Kara’s head beside him. The truck coasted off the road and bumped into a tree and came to a stop.