by Chanda Hahn
Constance opened another door, and they entered a large gathering area filled with Fae of all sizes, colors, and shapes. They were eating at long tables filled with food that smelled heavenly. When they saw Mina, the bustling stopped, and every one of them stared. After a few seconds, a furry cat about knee-high came up and pressed against Mina’s leg, looking for affection.
Her hand immediately went to pull him off, but she changed her mind, and she decided to bend down and pet it instead. There was a large sigh, and the silence was broken as Fae after Fae began to clap and call her name. Mina’s hand couldn’t help but stroke the small furry head pressing into her knee. She looked down to see that it had disappeared, but her hand was still gripped in a headful of fur.
“Whoa!”
Hearing her confusion, the small cat reappeared briefly…only to change again into a dog, then a goat, and finally a squirrel that decided to run up her pant leg and settle on her shoulder.
“I see that you’ve made friends with our resident Baldander.”
“What’s a Baldander?” Mina asked, trying to hold still under the onslaught of the squirrel’s curious hands.
“I think it’s pretty obvious. That.” Mei chuckled.
Mina reached up to try to pull it off, but it disappeared again and moved to her other shoulder.
“They’re extremely rare. Give him a moment, and he’ll settle down and stop shifting and disappearing on you. He’s just excited to meet you and that you see him.”
“Can’t everyone see him?”
“No, not everyone,” Mei answered.
A small furry hand patted her cheek in affirmation, and she could feel him settle down on her shoulder. He started petting her head as if she was his pet.
Constance motioned for them to continue on through the kitchen, and as she passed through the Fae, she could feel a few of them gently touch her arm, wish her luck, pat her on the back, all while the Baldander rode her shoulder, chittering in excitement.
“I’m not a pony—rides aren’t free,” Mina whispered under her breath.
The Baldander shifted into a mini Pegasus and flew around her head instead, still never leaving her vicinity.
They’d gone through the door and down another long hallway when she felt something odd. A change in mood, a coldness in the air. It was subtle, and maybe it was her imagination, but she felt like she was being watched. There in the corner was a large giant statue of a troll that blended in with the gray stone of the wall. It wasn’t just blending with the color—it was actually half encased in the stone of the wall.
She paused and stared. It was so real-looking, very lifelike.
“Are you okay?” Mei asked.
“Yeah, I just—”
The troll opened its eyes focused on Mina. They were filled with such hate and anger that she began to tremble. Its gaze was powerful and intense, and she felt rooted to the spot, unable to move. The Baldander squeaked and disappeared off her shoulder to disappear who knows where.
Constance came between them, cutting off the troll’s gaze with her body.
“Mina, it’s okay. Don’t look in his eyes. He can’t hurt you unless you make eye contact. We’re so used to him that we no longer see him, which is why he is disappearing into the wall.”
Mina felt herself begin to regain control of her body and breathe easier. “What is he? Why is he there?”
Mei was the one who answered. “He was sent by the dark prince to destroy our headquarters over twenty years ago, and he’s been frozen there ever since. It happened on an October morning. All but three of the GM headquarters were destroyed. He’s been imprisoned since then.”
“That’s horrible.”
“Would you rather we kill him?” Constance asked. “He can’t do anyone harm there, and he’s alive, which is more than I can say for the hundreds of Fae he killed years ago. Right now, he’s frozen, and slowly he’ll turn to stone.”
“Are there more like him?”
Constance nodded. “The troll in Seattle is almost completely stone. He’s under the Fremont bridge. Just don’t look them in the eye, or you’ll crumble under their hate.”
Mina was able to pull her gaze away and follow the two Fae women back into a small office with round table. She sat in the closest chair and felt as if her feet were encased in stone. She looked around and saw that there was a giant map on the wall covered with glowing dots that she could only assume were Grimms, or persons of interest. Large pictures lined the wall, and she recognized them as her family tree. She saw her Uncle Jack, her father, and others—all strangers, but she could still see a familial resemblance.
Mei saw where Mina was staring and pointed out a blank spot proudly. “Your picture will eventually go here.”
“What is this place?”
“These pictures represent all of the Grimms who have been cursed. It represents our call to action. Our call to help.”
“Why are there so many?”
Mei look disturbed and refused to make eye contact with Mina.
Constance cleared her throat, and her hands fluttered nervously. “These portraits don’t represent the living, Mina. These portraits represent the Grimms who have passed because of the curse.”
“So you’re saying that spot…that blank spot…is for my portrait—when I DIE! You people are disturbing.” Mina shot up from the table and knocked over her chair, getting ready to make a beeline out of the door.
“Stop, Mina. You know more than anyone that you can’t run from your destiny. Yes, many Grimms have come and gone. Most of them didn’t make it past their first quest, mostly because they didn’t have what you had. They didn’t have the Grimoire. Have you not been studying the tales? Has Jared not been explaining things to you?” Constance asked.
“Yes and no,” she replied grudgingly. “Can a Fae ever say anything outright without hiding it behind innuendos and half-truths? Sometimes I’m not even sure I should trust him.”
“You’re absolutely right—you can’t fully trust him. But never mind that for now. The Grimoire came to you. You have an even bigger chance of beating this because you have figured out the Grimoire’s secret. You’re stronger than the rest.”
Mina had to close her eyes and calm her heart and listen to them. She came here for help. She was probably the first mortal to ever step foot in the GM’s headquarters.
“Okay, tell me about the Grimm curse, from your side.”
Constance leaned forward and let her hands rest on the table in front of her. “Well, you already know that the Story prefers males. We believe this is because he thinks they’re the stronger adversary. And the Story tends to choose the next Grimm from the closest living male relative, which is why it went from your grandfather to your uncle to your father. After your father died, the Story would have to pick another male Grimm, so Sara thought it would go after some distant second or third cousin, and that you two would be free from the curse. But you know as well as I that a few weeks after your father’s funeral, your mother found out that she was pregnant.
“Sara was extremely frightened and worried, and told Terry all of her worst fears of it being a boy, and the curse never leaving her family alone. Terry, using magic, was able to determine the sex of her unborn child. When your mother learned that she was carrying the next boy Grimm, she became hysterical, refusing to eat, sleep, and work. Finally, Terry, tired of watching and being unable to help her charge, begged us to intercede, and we did. We did something we promised we never would do. We intervened on an unborn Grimm. We cast a spell to make him invisible to the Story, to make the Story look elsewhere for his next Grimm.”
“That’s why Charlie is the way he is?” Mina gasped, and started to cry in relief. “I knew he was special, I knew he…” she sobbed, and Mei came over and hugged Mina and let her cry out all of her worries and frustrations.
“Yes, it is our fault that Charlie is different. He is harmless and of no interest to the Story, but the Story knew he had been duped. He always c
ame back year after year to see if there had been a change. To see what had happened to his next Grimm. I think that is when he became interested in you, Mina,” Constance said sadly.
Mei joined in excitedly. “He kept testing you when you were growing up, and your mom saw it and became frightened, and moved a lot. But I knew. I knew it would choose you.”
“What about the house?” Mina asked.
“What about it?” Constance didn’t seem worried.
“Where did that come from?”
“It’s the same house the Grimm Brothers lived in hundreds of years ago. It’s been invisible, hidden for years until the next Grimm needed it. We had to gather enough fairies and convince them to use a fairy circle to move it here, and each time it’s moved it changes a little to fit the new surroundings. Your grandfather lived there, but your father just used it as his office. He refused to move your family there. He wanted to try to keep as normal a life as possible. And now it belongs to you.”
Mina meditated on what she’d just been told. She had a house that was protected from Fae, a whole Guild of Godmothers that were of no help to her because they wouldn’t fight, and a blank spot on their wall for when she died.
“What about the Grimoire? How did Jared and Teague get involved with the quests that originally started out between the Fates and the Grimm Brothers? Jared already told me that a sprite split the Fae book in two, creating the original Story and its doppelganger, the Grimoire, and that one is evil, the other good. But how do Jared and Teague fit in? When did they become so…attached?” Mina couldn’t help but smile at her own joke.
Mei blushed and refused to look at Mina. “Well, that is a tender subject.”
Mina could easily read between the lines. “It has to do with a girl, doesn’t it?”
Constance interjected, “There’s not a whole lot known about the Royals. A very secretive family, but there are always rumors. That something happened and someone cursed the princes into servitude to these books, and over the many years their personalities have changed and merged. One prince struggling to not become a slave to the book, while the other succumbed faster and became darker and more obsessed with power and the role of the tales.”
It made so much sense now that she had more puzzle pieces and could finally see the whole picture. She began to feel sorry for Jared and his brother. “Is there nothing to be done to break their curse?” she asked.
“Oh, Mina. No wonder he chose to come to you. Only you would be worried about breaking someone else’s curse over your own.”
Mina sat down at the table and felt something brush against her calves before scrambling back into her lap. She didn’t have the energy to push the Baldander off, and in fact was finding comfort in his nearness. It was soothing stroking his fur and thinking through all the new information she just learned.
Constance cleared her throat to get Mina’s attention. “But we need to focus on your problem, not theirs. So back to the problem at hand. What kind of Stiltskin were they?”
“One was young, a teenager like me. The other was older. He looked like he just walked out of a comic convention.”
“No, Mina, not what were they wearing—what was their element? What form did they work in? Was it tin, iron, bronze, silver?”
“Oh! Uh, copper. Reid kept changing everything to copper.”
Mei looked relieved. “Copper means he was probably the youngest-born sibling. The one who you made a deal with…?”
“Gold,” she answered excitedly. “Everything he touched turned to gold.”
Constance let out a long sigh and rubbed her forehead wearily. “That’s what I was afraid of. He’s the oldest son, then, probably from the original family. If only you had met a nickel or bronze. We could have handled one of those—but gold? That goes back to the original Stiltskin family, to Rumple himself.”
“Well, in that tale all the princess had to do to save her child was guess his name, so shouldn’t it work the same way? He already told me his name. It’s Temple.”
“They’ve wised up, changed their bargains and deals. Names used to hold a great deal more power. I think our best bet is to try to do what he wants, although he will more than likely try to trick you into becoming his slave either way. So the first order of business is, what did he want?”
All of a sudden, something told her not to tell them. A small voice warned her away from the GMs. If she told them she was going after the Fae book, they might refuse to help her, just like Jared. So, out of self-preservation for her quest, she lied. “He didn’t say yet. He wanted me to cross over to the Fae world first, and then he would find me and tell me what my task is.”
“Are you kidding me? There can only be one reason he wants a Grimm to cross over. He’s going to send you after the Royal Family,” Mei said nervously.
“You’re right. You can’t do it. I doubt you could get to the palace without getting killed. So you only have one other choice. You have to kill Temple first,” Constance said.
Chapter 16
“No, no way. Do you see what he did to me!” She pointed to her golden stripe of hair. “And this was when I was sleeping. Uh-uh. Not happening.”
“That is exactly why you have to kill him. You are the only one who can. You’ve already started connecting to the Fae plane,” Constance said.
“I have?”
“You did, in your sleep. The Fae plane is somewhere between the physical plane and the spiritual one. Jacob and Wilhelm were the only Grimms to successfully go there of their own free will. No other human has done it since. But you can. Temple didn’t come to you in your sleep. You went to him, or at least connected with him in a dream, and the power that continues to grow around you helped make it real.”
“So how do I do it again?”
Both of the women looked at each other and shrugged. “We don’t know.”
“Jared brought me here promising that you would help me,” she cried out.
“We want to help you, but this is a gift we know very little about,” Mei said.
“But if you can get there once, you can get there again. You may have to wait until you solve more quests. It’s not just the Story who is growing stronger and more powerful the more quests you complete. You are as well. So maybe in time you will have more control over this ability. But at the moment we don’t know what else to do.”
“Is there no other option? That can’t be the only way for a human to cross over. What about all of those tales about the Fae stealing children?”
“Children are smaller and take less energy, but it takes a very strong and powerful Fae to cross over with an adult human. Most are barely strong enough to come by themselves. I assume you asked Jared.” Constance looked at Mina carefully, already knowing the answer.
“Of course, he won’t go to the Fae plane. I don’t understand why.”
“It’s because it is more dangerous for him to cross over than it would be for you. Jared’s been banished, and if he goes back, he risks losing his life.”
“I wish he would tell me these things,” Mina fumed.
Mei kept chewing her lip in thought. “Maybe if you had a seam ripper?”
“Is that a small silver tube thing?” Mina asked, feeling her heart race with excitement.
“Why, yes, a wizard gave one to each of the Fates. Do you think you know where one is?” Constance asked.
“I think I know someone who has one.”
When Mei took Mina back to the library again, Mina was completely discouraged. She had more questions than answers. The Godmothers said they would try their European contacts and find out what they could about jumping. That’s what they were calling it. Jared was sleeping in the armchair by the fireplace and didn’t stir at the sound of their entrance.
Mei held Mina’s hand and whispered encouragement to her.
“Mina, I truly believe you will be the one to break the curse. You have something that none of the other Grimms had.” She looked toward the sleeping Jared.
“Never before has the Grimoire shown its human side. There’s something special about you, Mina. Something that I saw years ago, something that our young prince saw. Trust in that.”
Mina turned to stare at the sleeping Jared and felt consumed with conflicting emotions and questions. The first day she found the Grimoire and was attacked by Grey Tail, Jared could have just stayed within the book, but he interfered. He showed his true self to her, and on numerous times before. Yes, he wasn’t always truthful, but he was protecting himself and his family. Wouldn’t she do the same if she was in his shoes?
A soft click of the door told her that Mei had left the library, but it was followed by the soft clicking noise of nails on the floor. Mina grinned, knowing what was running toward her. But the Baldander didn’t jump onto her; instead, the invisible fur ball jumped onto a sleeping Jared, who jumped up and hollered in alarm.
“Holy mother of fate, what is that!” He flung his arms wide, and a knife instantly appeared in his hands, ready to attack.
The Baldander chirped loudly and became visible in its squirrel form. It jumped in front of Mina protectively and shifted into a large cat.
Mina laughed at the two squaring off against each other.
Jared tried to shoo the cat, but it didn’t budge. In challenge, Jared, who because he had royal blood could shift at will, did just that. He shifted into a large dog and growled at the cat.
The cat morphed into a snarling wolf. Jared morphed into an even bigger wolf. The Baldander shifted into a tiger. Jared shifted into a lion. Back and forth they went, challenging each other, until the library was filled with a giant dragon and large troll.
“Enough! Down, boys, you’re both very powerful. I get it.”
Jared was the first to morph back into his human form, and he seemed slightly embarrassed to have let the small Fae get the better of him.
“Sorry, but what is that?” He pointed in disgust at the dragon, which had morphed down to be pocket-sized and was flapping its wings as if it had won the rumble.