The Secret of Grim Hill

by Linda DeMeulemeester

  “I’m fine,” Sookie complained. “I’m thirsty though, and tired – I feel like I haven’t slept for days.”

  An elderly woman who looked very similar to Miss Greystone came and put her arm around Sookie. “But you have been awake for days. Remember what I told you – fairy time is different from human time.”

  Sookie nodded as if she didn’t care much, or as if she hadn’t even noticed.

  Lucinda had aged about seventy years all at once. “You certainly enraged the fairy lord,” she said to me. “He left the fairy hill to try and stop you.”

  I shuddered, remembering the horrible smoke face that had loomed toward me. “That was a pretty close call.”

  “Closer than you think,” said Sookie. She reached up, grabbed a thick strand of my hair and held it in front of my face. “Look.”

  My chestnut hair had gone completely … “Green? My hair’s turned green?” I yelled.

  “Not all of it.” Jasper ran up to reassure me. “Just a few large streaks running along the sides of your head.”

  “That’s where the fairy lord touched you,” said Lucinda. “You’ve been marked by the fairies.”

  “Green,” I muttered.

  “It’s okay,” offered Sookie. “Maybe you can get into the Guinness Book of World Records as the only person with naturally green hair.”

  I couldn’t believe this.

  The townspeople mingled about in the fog as if they were half in a dream. Nobody even questioned the destruction of Grimoire School, or the soccer game’s abrupt end.

  “What’s happening to them?” I asked, watching girls from both my Witches team and the Ghosts stumble across the field.

  Lucinda Greystone shook her head. “Tonight people will go home, sleep deeply, and think the soccer match and the school on the hill were simply dreams. All they’ll remember is that a heavy fog rolled in on Halloween night and everybody had to stay home and miss all the fun.”

  Amarjeet, Mia, and Emily came off the field. The other soccer players caught up with the townsfolk and began making their way down the hill, as did the elderly people who were walking arm in arm.

  “We did it,” said Mia.

  “These feather pieces worked like a charm,” said Amarjeet as she dangled hers in front of us. Then she looked at Emily. “Or at least they worked most of the time.”

  Emily smiled ruefully, walked over, and gave Sookie a hug. “Good to see you again,” she said.

  Sookie smiled.

  “Actually, the feathers worked just fine,” said Lucinda Greystone. “The magic of the school was working against the Ghost team,” she explained. “Emily’s feather allowed her to play well again.”

  I hadn’t thought of that.

  “As a matter of fact,” said Lucinda, “because these feathers are fairy magic, like all things from Fairy, they are not dependable. They can also be dangerous.” She held out her hand and waited as we all turned in our feathers.

  I gave up my feather last, but I was happy to leave everything related to Fairy behind – I’d seen enough to realize a charmed life wasn’t for me … except … if the grimoire’s spell had turned me into a soccer star and made me popular, and the fairy feathers had helped me save the town, what was life going to be like now?

  CHAPTER 21 Grim Music

  THE NEXT MORNING when I woke up and went downstairs for breakfast, Mom was reading the Help Wanted section in the newspaper.

  “Interesting hairstyle,” she said as she peered over her paper at me.

  I shrugged. Even though I’d washed my hair three times that morning, it was still streaked green.

  Mom sighed, “My vacation pay is almost spent, so I’d better find a job soon.”

  Just what did she think she’d been doing the last eight weeks? But I didn’t mention anything. Lucinda had said it would all seem like a dream. Sookie came down in her pajamas and poured herself a bowl of cereal.

  “Monopoly this Friday?” she yawned. Her eyes had dark circles and she seemed really tired. Otherwise, it was the same old annoying Sookie. I was so happy.

  “Yes, we’re definitely playing Monopoly,” I said. I roughed up her hair as she beamed at me.

  But instead of eating her cereal, Sookie stared at the box for a while, getting a dreamy expression on her face. Then she began humming a haunting song that made the hair on my arms

  and neck prickle.

  “Where’d you hear that?” I asked.

  “Nowhere,” Sookie said, and then she smiled mysteriously.

  For a few seconds I stared intently at her, until she laughed and looked more like herself again. I shrugged off the unsettling moment, grabbed my backpack, and was about to leave for school.

  “Don’t forget you have dishes to do,” Mom reminded me.

  My hand slipped on the door handle. For weeks I’d been chore free. If only I’d appreciated it more. Marching to the sink, I quickly swished the soap and water, giving the dishes only a soak. “I’ll finish up later,” I promised.

  “Mmm-hmm,” Mom muttered behind her newspaper. “The recycling needs sorting as well.” Then she gazed out the kitchen window into our backyard. “And later, we’d all better grab a rake and clean up those leaves.”

  Before Mom remembered any other unfinished chores, I rushed out the door.

  All the way to school I was thinking that life without soccer enchantment might take getting used to again. Making a quick stop at the Emporium, I plucked an apple out of the barrel for my lunch.

  “That’ll be fifty cents.” Mr. Keating held out his hand as I fished through my bag.

  At school, as soon as I spun my combination on my locker, I noticed other things had changed. For example, my stupid lock stuck again. It hadn’t done that since my first week at Darkmont. Another much more unsettling event happened next. Zach and Mike walked down the hall and right past me, as if I were invisible.

  “Hi, Zach,” I called after him. If I remembered correctly, he’d invited me to a dance. Zach kept on walking. He didn’t even look over his shoulder. Okay, I had to admit that while I was grateful that everyone was acting more normally, I was getting the sense that there was a downside to reality. I couldn’t understand how Zach could forget that he was interested in me before. Then I thought about it – it wasn’t as if we’d really spent any time together. Sorting out the genuine from the enchanted was confusing.

  At least when I went to science class, there was still a seat available for me at Amarjeet’s table. However, I wasn’t in my seat fifteen seconds before Ms. Dreeble called me to her desk.

  “Um … Cat,” she said. “I’m totaling my marks for the midterm report cards, and I’ve just noticed you have a zero. You’ll need to complete eight assignments and have them on my desk tomorrow morning if you want a passing grade.”

  The magic had definitely worn off.

  Later, in history class, Mr. Morrows stood over me.

  “Cat,” he said, “you do realize Halloween is over?”

  No kidding, I thought, but I said, “Yes sir, I do.”

  “Then why have you come to class with your hair striped green?”

  The class laughed.

  “It’s not dyed,” I explained. “It’s naturally green.”

  That went over well. I was now standing in the office waiting to see Vice Principal Sevren. When she called me in, I was all prepared to maintain that my hair wasn’t dyed, but then I decided I’d just apologize – it would be easier in the long run. It turned out that the subject didn’t come up.

  “I’ve checked your records, Caitlin,” said Ms. Sevren. “There’s a matter of outstanding detentions and a skipped class we have to deal with.”

  As I wandered back to my locker thinking I was having the worst luck all over again, it finally hit me. So what – chores, cute boys ignoring me, homework, detentions. None of that meant anything compared to losing my sister and dancing in a fairy circle for the rest of my life. I finally understood what Mom said about trying to have perspective.
I was safe and so was Sookie, and we’d managed to save other girls as well.

  Feeling considerably better, I hurried to the cafeteria for lunch.

  At the lunch table, Mia, Amarjeet, and Emily were waiting. I sat down with them, took out the shiny red apple that I’d had to pay for because Mr. Keating wasn’t offering any more freebies, and bit into it with a satisfying crunch. Then I asked them, “What’s up?”

  “You seem cheerful,” said Emily. “I thought your day wasn’t going so well.”

  “That depends on how you look at it,” I said smiling.

  She brightened. “I suppose you have a point. On the one hand, I’ve got more homework and more detentions than I ever had in my life. On the other hand,” she smiled this time and said with barely contained excitement, “my dad’s coming into town. We’re spending the whole weekend together.”

  “Perspective,” I said.

  Mia nodded, understanding, and said, “The wedding’s back on for my sister.”

  “But is anyone having nightmares?” asked Amarjeet. “I’m dreaming about dancing in some kind of circle,” she admitted.

  By the looks on Emily’s and Mia’s faces, she wasn’t the only one, but I tried to console her. “Lucinda said that because we held the feathers, on one level we will always know we had a close call. But the details will fade soon.”

  Amarjeet relaxed a bit and said, “They’ve temporarily relocated the Punjabi school. Who would have thought going back to classes on Saturday would be such a relief?”

  Life was getting back to normal and I was happy. Maybe Mom would let me dye my hair completely brown, and if I never heard the word “fairy” again, that would be fine. Maybe we could convince Darkmont to start a soccer team.

  Yes, everyone was getting back to life as usual – or almost.

  That night as I stayed up late trying to catch up on my homework, a dark, cold melody drifted down the hall and into my bedroom. Restlessness came over me, and I couldn’t concentrate. I followed the melody and opened the door to Sookie’s room.

  She sat beside her window and stared up at Grim Hill, humming a ghostly tune, which was both melancholic and strange. The unsettling part was that I could hardly believe that the haunting music had come from my little sister, and I wondered what she found so interesting outside that window.

  “Where’d you hear that song?” I asked.

  “I just made it up,” said Sookie coyly.

  ***

  It wasn’t until much later that night, after tons of homework and when I was falling asleep, that I remembered the music. It was similar to the tune the fairies had danced to around their bonfire down inside the hill. I got out of bed and looked out my own window up at Grim Hill. It was mostly dark now, nothing but forest. Except every once in a while, a strange green light flickered on top of the hill. All night I tossed and turned.

  The next day at school, I consulted my best friend, Jasper, telling him about Sookie’s humming and how at times she sort of tuned out.

  “I’ve been sort of forgetting about Grim Hill,” said Jasper. “Not about what happened, but it feels less real.”

  “If you listened to Sookie’s song, you’d recall more,” I said. “You can’t miss the weirdness of the melody – that it couldn’t possibly be something from our side. Why is Sookie hanging on to that tune? I don’t have a good feeling about it.”

  “Well, there is one expert we could ask,” said Jasper. “Maybe Sookie, you, and I should pay a visit to Lucinda Greystone.”

  ***

  The next day after school, Jasper, Sookie, and I climbed up the porch of Miss Greystone’s house on Fairlane Street and rapped on the lion door knocker. Alice Greystone opened the door.

  After giving us a warm greeting and ushering us into her front room, she said, “I’ve just made a pitcher of lemonade.”

  Lucinda was sitting at the computer desk and swung around on her chair. “Hello,” she said smiling. “I’ve had so much catching up to do.”

  I mentioned to Lucinda something that had been bothering me. “I’m really sorry you had to grow up a whole lifetime in just a few minutes.”

  Lucinda gave that some thought. “Even though I saw only seven sunsets when I was in Fairy, I’ve felt old on the inside for a long time. In a sense, each day there did feel like a decade – and if anything, it seems more like I’ve lived for a hundred years.”

  “Really,” said Alice, sounding a bit puzzled. “I still feel like my nine-year-old self on the inside.”

  Lucinda and Miss Greystone told us that what really mattered was the time that they were spending with each other now.

  As we all sipped the lemonade, I mentioned that Sookie was humming her strange song and I talked about the light I’d seen on the hill.

  Sookie stuck her tongue out at me.

  Lucinda put her glass down on a doily and said, “Remember, Sookie, this is your world. This is where you belong.”

  “I know,” said Sookie stubbornly.

  “Even though it seemed as if you were in Fairy for only a few minutes,” said Lucinda, “it was really almost a week.” Then Lucinda turned to me, touched a strand of my green hair, and patted Jasper’s hand. “Remember, all of you have been touched by Fairy.”

  Lucinda stood up, went over to a desk and opened the drawer. She brought out a blue silk handkerchief, unfolded it, and handed us each a silver-white feather.

  “I thought you said these could be dangerous,” I said, holding my feather as it shimmered mauve and pink.

  “There is a potential danger with these feathers,” agreed Lucinda. She gave Jasper, Sookie, and me a measured look, sizing us up, I think.

  “But there is also danger living near a fairy hill,” said Lucinda. “Keep the feathers as tokens of insurance, in case there is ever any more trouble brewing on Grim Hill. And Sookie, keep your feather close to you for a few days.” Lucinda unfastened a thin silver chain from her neck and with the tiny clip, hooked the feather onto the chain. “This will help you keep your focus here and will stop you from drifting away and thinking about the hill,” she said, lifting back Sookie’s hair and slipping the chain around her neck.

  “Ah,” said Alice Greystone, looking at each of us. “Behold the keepers of the feathers.”

  Sookie got a mysterious grin on her face again but just nodded. Jasper and I looked at each other. Holding the feather did give me a sense of relief. Everything would be back to normal now.

  Right?

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

  Linda DeMeulemeester has worked in the fields of literacy and education for many years as a teacher and program adviser. She credits her grandmother, a natural storyteller who was born over a hundred years ago, for her love of mystery and suspense. Linda is a graduate of the Clarion West Workshop for writers of science fiction and fantasy, and her short stories have been published in several magazines. The Secret of Grim Hill was her first novel. Fans can connect with Linda at www.grimhill.com.

  Discover the entire award-winning

  “Grim Hill” Series

  Grim Hill, Book 2

  The Secret Deepens

  978-0-9920923-1-3

  Sookie’s dabbling in magic unleashes a brutal winter and a strange sickness, and forces Cat to return to the last place she wants to go – Grim Hill!

  Grim Hill, Book 3

  The Forgotten Secret

  978-0-9920923-2-0

  Valentine’s Day is right around the corner, so it seems only natural that Cat’s friends, her sister, and even her soccer coaches have all been captivated by romance. But even romance has a sinister side in a town with Grim Hill at its center.

  Grim Hill, Book 4

  The Family Secret

  978-0-9920923-3-7

  When Cat and her friends take part in a student exchange to Sweden, Cat uncovers an old family secret about fairy fighters and an ancient battle with Scandinavian fairy folk.

  Grim Hill, Book 5

  Forest of Secrets

  978-0-992
0923-4-4

  In the most chilling “Grim Hill” book yet, Cat and her friends are in terrible danger. Sookie may be able to use her magic to save them, but is it worth the risk to bargain with the beings in Fairy?

  Coming Soon, Grim Hill Book 6

  Carnival of Secrets

  978-0-9920923-5-1

  Cat has lost the things she holds dear. A sinister carnival holds her town in a thrall, and her sister has gone over to dark magic. Cat will do whatever it takes to set things right, even, if that means setting out on the most dangerous adventure of all.