The Grimm Chronicles, Vol. 1

by Isabella Fontaine

Inside, my bedroom was empty. My lamp light was on, though, and my laptop was open. I turned on the overhead light.

  “Ah, just like I remember it,” Seth said, stuffing his hands in his pockets and admiring the random clutter. He walked over to my pink dresser, examining the dozen or so brushes and combs. “No more David Hasselhoff posters?”

  “They were posters of rock stars!” I exclaimed, embarrassed. “And seriously? Who even knows what Baywatch even is anymore besides you?”

  “I have the DVD’s,” he said defensively. “And the guys in your posters all looked like the guy from Baywatch.” He flexed his non-existent muscles, strutting around the room. “Everyone with their shirts off, staring at the camera with hungry eyes. Oooh, look at my pecks! Oooh, that shirt was chafing me! Now my pants are chafing me, too!”

  I laughed. “Well they weren’t from Baywatch. And they’re gone now so don’t even worry about it.”

  OK. The posters were in my closet. But he didn’t need to know that. To be safe, I closed the closet door.

  “So how are we gonna do this?” Seth asked, sitting down at my desk. He tapped a few buttons on my computer. “Hey, what are these?” He grabbed two slips of paper.

  I walked over and sat on my bed, holding out my hand. “Give.”

  “The Milwaukee Public Museum Fundraiser Gala?” he asked. “Are you actually going to this thing?”

  “Yeah …” I looked around again. Was Briar here right now, invisible? I glanced at the floor, looking for an indentation in the blue carpeting where the rabbit might be standing.

  “Who are you going with?” he asked.

  I turn back to him. “What now?”

  “Who are you going with? There are two tickets.”

  “Don’t worry about that. Worry about the Castle Cats.”

  “OK, gimme your phone.” Seth went online, typing in an obscure Web site. A little bar showed up on the computer with a percentage. 10%. 45%. 75%.

  “What are you doing?”

  “I’m downloading a program I need to see the code,” Seth explained. “I’m also backing up your hard drive so that you can recover all your files after Castle Cats sabotages your computer.”

  I watched him connect my phone to the laptop with the white cord that I usually used to put songs on my phone. I don’t think the makers had this type of use in mind when they packaged the cord with my phone. Seth had his program open, and on my phone, Castle Cats was being downloaded directly to the computer. With a click of a button, the screen went black. Lines and lines of strange characters and numbers and words appeared on the screen.

  “What is all that?” I asked.

  “It’s the code,” Seth said. “This is what every computer program is made of. It’s basically like a word document and on each line is a command. The command tells the program what to do if you press your finger on the screen. Or what happens with a cat is cleared from the castle. Or how to restart the game after the stupid cats take over the castle.”

  “It’s confusing,” I said. “I don’t know what any of this means.”

  “Even I don’t know what all of this means,” Seth said, “but that’s not important. What’s important is the new code that’s been inserted near the bottom. The code that I can’t read without causing the computer to crash. Get ready.” His finger pressed down on the mouse and the cursor on the screen began scrolling down through the lines of code. The strange numbers and words flitted by, as if he was moving quickly through a Word document with white text on a black background.

  “Here!” Seth said, taking his finger off the mouse. All of the code on the screen flickered, then disappeared. The screen went black, save for a little white rectangle blip on the upper left-hand corner.

  “What happened?” I asked.

  Seth leaned back in his chair. “Same thing that happened when I tried it.”

  “Well what was it? What did it say?”

  He crossed his legs. “I saw a little more of the code that time, and you’re totally right about the whole subliminal message thing. There’s definitely something in there that’s telling people to buy those candy bars. And that’s just the beginning. I recognized a ton of other products, too. It could be happening all over the country. All over the world, even!”

  “So …”

  Seth said nothing. He was giving me a weird look. A pitying, worried sort of look.

  “There’s more,” I guessed.

  He nodded.

  “Just spill it. What was it?”

  “New code,” Seth said. “I … didn’t see it last time. It caught my eyes because the text was blue.”

  I was starting to get nervous. I didn’t like this look he was giving me. It was as if he’d seen my death on that computer screen. “More explanation, please.”

  “It just, well, I’m pretty sure I saw your name. Not just your name, but code for a picture, too. Commands, too.”

  “I knew it!” My fist pounded the bed. “Commands for what?”

  “Oh, you know. The usual. Keep an eye on her. Text an update. Take pictures of her. Kill her.”

  My heart nearly stopped in my chest. Those bastards. They would more than happily send someone else to do their dirty work. And it was just so perfect, wasn’t it? Hypnotize some innocent fool who likes playing phone games, and then once I’m dead the innocent fool gets hauled off to prison and those stupid dwarfs keep raking in the money from their super hidden candy bar commands and whatever other devious schemes they had planned.

  “So what do we do?” I asked. “How do we stop it?”

  Seth shook his head. “It’s impossible. I can’t get inside the code. We’re lucky it didn’t blow up your laptop.”

  I stared at him.

  “I’m not kidding,” he said. “I mean, unless I can sneak into their server room and access the code locally … and even then I might not know how to delete it without damaging the game, which would then of course cause all sorts of trouble if we got caught. I mean, they could sue me.”

  “Or kill you.”

  Seth took a shaky breath. “Oh man, this is so crazy. I mean, why do they want you? And how did they figure out how to make subliminal messages work in the first place?”

  I fell back on my bed. “Because they’re evil.”

  “We should go to the police,” he offered. “Yeah. Yeah, dude! That’s such a good idea. Alice, that’s like, the best idea ever. We just go to the cops and show them this.”

  “Oh perfect!” I said, sitting up. I stared at him with wide eyes. “And then after you break into the game and it fries their computer just like it did to mine, the two of us can spend the night in jail!”

  “Alice, this is some serious stuff. There’s nothing else we can do.”

  “Oh yes there is.” I nodded to the two tickets.

  He looked at them, then at me. Then back at them. He narrowed his eyes, reading the address. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

  “I can make sure you’re safe,” I said. “And we won’t get caught.”

  “Alice, I’m just a dude!” he exclaimed. “I don’t actually know much about what I’m doing. We don’t even know, like, where the server room is!”

  I reached over and opened the top drawer of the desk. Briar’s drawer, as I liked to call it now. On the top of a stack of folders containing who-knows-what sat the floor plan for Grayle Tower.

  Seth’s eyes widened. “Holy crap.”

  “One page per floor,” I said, setting the stack beside the laptop. “Find us the server room and I’ll do the rest.”

  “This is insane,” he mumbled, grabbing the paper. He began shuffling through each floor. “This is insane … this is insane … got it! It’s on the thirteenth floor. Huh.”

  “What is it? Are you superstitious?”

  He shook his head. “Not me. Most office buildings skip the number 13 for good luck. They have a twelfth floor and then the next floor is the fourteenth. This is weird.” He studied the floor plan. “I have no idea what any of
these lines mean. I’ve never seen a floor plan. Why is it all in blue?”

  “I don’t know,” I confessed. I glanced around, expecting Briar to magically appear and explain it all to us. But of course he wouldn’t. He knew better than to reveal himself and risk blowing my cover.

  So what was I going to do about Seth?

  “There’s no way we can figure this out,” he mumbled, turning the floor diagrams around again and again.

  “Look,” I said. “I need you to help me with this. If we don’t stop these Corrupt—I mean, these people, they’re going to keep using this game to control people’s minds. And no one’s going to figure it out!”

  “Man oh man,” Seth said. “I’m so freaked out I’m sweating. Give me a pillow.”

  I tossed him a pillow. He got off the chair and stretched out on the floor, bundling the pillow under his head.

  “What are you doing?” I asked.

  “I’m going to sleep,” he said. “If we’re going to risk our lives infiltrating an evil corporation tomorrow, I’m going to need to be well-rested.”

  I smiled. “We’re going to pull this off. I promise.”

  “I hope you’re right,” Seth murmured.

  I turned off the lights, getting back into bed. Seth began snoring almost immediately, as if he was sawing logs on the floor. The house was quiet. My parents were in their bedroom, and outside an owl called out from one of the maple trees in the forest behind the house.

  Get up, urged a voice in my head. Go downstairs. Make sure the house is secure.

  I went downstairs, searching the darkness for signs of life. I felt on edge, as if there was some danger lurking behind the couch, behind the window drapes, underneath the kitchen table. I checked the locks on the front and back door. The back door was unlocked. It was always unlocked but it felt different now. Anything could have come in here. That horrible hedgehog creature could have snuck in. He could have killed my parents and Seth before I even woke up.

  “Trouble?”

  I turned. Briar was standing in the doorway to the kitchen. He looked strange in the darkness. Shadows covered his furry flat face, and his buckteeth were sticking out just a bit. He looked downright sinister, and I felt a twang of hurt: he was, technically, a Corrupted. He could turn evil just like the others, even though it was his sworn duty to help me.

  “I wish I was a superhero,” I whispered.

  Briar nodded, taking a seat at the kitchen table. “You are certainly not the first hero to voice such a desire. Unfortunately, we must rely on brains rather than brawn. Lucky for you, you’re not alone.”

  I went into the fridge and poured Briar a glass of milk.

  “Thank you so much,” he said, grabbing the glass with both paws and taking a long gulp.

  “How did you get the tickets to the fundraiser gala?” I asked quietly.

  Briar wiped the stray milk from his face with one furry arm. “Well, now that’s quite a story. It all began a good forty years ago …”

  “Forty years ago? Just give me the shortened version so I can get some sleep.”

  “Ah, right then. Let’s see … well, I do confess short stories are hardly my forte. I prefer a good yarn that unspools slowly so that my listener may enjoy the many creative nuances at my disposal …”

  “You met a guy who owed you a favor and he got you the tickets?” I guessed.

  Briar’s whiskers twitched. “I suppose that is the gist of it. But your storytelling skills leave something to be desired. There was no drama! There was no passion! No conflict! I’ll have you know that the very man who owed me a favor—as you so simply put it—just so happens to have been a protégé of the great Houdini.”

  My heart raced. “I love Houdini!” I whispered harshly. “Why didn’t you tell me any of this?”

  “Ahem.” Briar took another sip of his milk, taking his sweet time. “I didn’t know you loved Houdini, for starters. And secondly, I was about to spin you a yarn comparable to the Greek classics. The story itself would have dropped your jaw and drawn applause. I dare say, it was an Oscar-worthy tale.”

  I crossed my arms. “A story about a guy giving you two tickets to a fundraiser gala?”

  “Yes.”

  “Well, thank you anyway, but I’m not convinced.” I shivered, glancing at the kitchen door that led to the backyard. Beyond the backyard was the forest and beyond that: who knew? “What’s waiting out there?” I asked quietly.

  “A great many things,” Briar said.

  “The dwarfs could come for Seth. Or they could kill him tomorrow night.”

  “They could. This is a danger and I don’t recommend it.”

  “It’s the only way,” I said. “Unless you know how to write code.”

  “I fear I’m not familiar.”

  I turned back to him. “Then we have no choice. Every day that passes is another chance for them to get at me with that stupid phone game. Everyone’s playing it. The dwarfs can mind-control anyone they want. They can do anything they want and get away with it.”

  Briar nodded. “I do fear that this is …”

  He paused. I waited. The only light was coming in through the window over the sink. Moonlight. Cold and blue.

  “Well, finish your sentence,” I said finally.

  Briar sighed. “I know little about electronic devices, but I understand the ramifications of the dwarfs’ deeds. The dwarfs have always been dangerous. I dare say they are more dangerous now. Perhaps the most dangerous Corrupted I’ve ever come across.”

  “What about Death?” I asked.

  Briar shook his head. “Death is nothing more than a vessel that moves from victim to victim. Death does what the Brothers Grimm wrote it to do. These three dwarfs have a strong desire to not just survive, but thrive in the world of mortals. They will defend that at all costs, no matter who they end up killing. Which is why, perhaps, we should consider reaching an agreement with them …”

  “What?” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “Are you insane? Deal with the dwarfs? No way. We’re ending it tomorrow night. Seth has to get inside that server room no matter what. He’s the only person who knows how to delete that code.”

  “I assume you’re telling me all of this because you want me in there as well, bravely taking command in the heat of battle and devising all manner of schemes to ensure victory.”

  I grinned. “I was kind of hoping you’d be willing to crawl back in the ventilation system.”

  Briar’s ears dropped.

  Chapter 7

  “I can’t believe we’re doing this,” Seth said. He parked the car in a parking structure two blocks away from Grayle Tower. It was seven o’clock, thirty minutes after the fundraiser gala officially began. During our afternoon of preparation, we’d decided that arriving at the gala “fashionably late” would make it easier for us to blend in with the crowd. Showing up on time carried the dangerous risk of being the first to show up, meaning we might potentially be greeted by the hosts.

  Before I was ready to kill them.

  Seth got out of his car and adjusted his bowtie. “This thing’s choking me.”

  “It looks good, though,” I said. I adjusted my blue maxi dress, kicking shut Seth’s passenger door. It was the only way to close the old thing.

  “Ditto yours,” Seth said. “It looks a lot more comfortable than my outfit.” He was wearing a near-perfect suit combo we’d picked up at the local Goodwill. The black pants didn’t perfectly match the slightly less black jacket, but it was close enough.

  “We could switch,” I offered with a sly wink. “You’ve got the figure to pull off this dress, too.”

  He pretended to think about it, then shook his head.

  “Good. I’ve been waiting to wear this ever since I bought it.” I looked inside my glittery black evening bag for the fountain pen. Check. There was nothing else inside the purse, another Goodwill score, so I could ditch it if necessary. On my feet, thanks to the twin miracles of online shopping and free overnight sh
ipping, were a pair of new black suede booties with studded heels... maybe not the optimal footwear for kicking Corrupted butt, but at least I knew they wouldn’t go flying off my feet at an inopportune moment. And they did look pretty awesome with the dress. As did a pair of black rhinestone earrings that had belonged to my great-grandmother. I hadn’t worn them since playing dress-up as a child.

  I also had a vial of very special liquid hanging from a silver chain around my neck. The strange liquid had been given to me by a Corrupted who’d been tasked with giving me a special message from a previous hero. Remember him? The one living by the beach who wanted me to kill him? The message had been a warning: avoid Death. He’d also said a drop from this vial was capable of saving someone’s life. I just hoped I didn’t need to use it tonight.

  “How’s my hair?” Seth asked.

  I examined his hair. He’d trimmed his sideburns and dyed his hair a dark black. I’d also gone over his cheeks with a little makeup to hide his pimples. “It’s fine. You totally don’t even look like the old Seth.” I gently touched my hair, which was now a few inches shorter. “How’s my hair?”

  Seth eyed it with a mixture of suspicion and malice. “Weird. It’s really, really blonde. And the glasses make you look like a nerd.”

  I ran a hand through my hair. It felt damaged and broken. Well, hair dye will do that for you. Thank god my parents had decided to shoot 18 holes of golf instead of nine so they wouldn’t see me during the afternoon. I could deal with their questions tomorrow, once I had some time to think up a plausible lie.

  “Heh,” I laughed as we walked down the empty parking structure ramp.

  “What is it?”

  “I was just thinking about how I’m going to explain this new hair color to my parents tomorrow. I’m pretty optimistic it’s the only thing I’ll have to explain to them, despite the incredibly slim odds we’ll be able to actually pull this off.”

  He shrugged. “You’ve always been pretty optimistic. Me? I’m more or less expecting to die here tonight. Or be arrested. If the cops come, I have every intention of crying like a baby.”

  “We’re going to be fine,” I said. Even I didn’t fully believe it, but the words came out easily, like this was all old hat. It wasn’t. I didn’t even want to know what was going to happen when we got inside.