A Grimm Curse: A Grimm Tales Novella (Volume 3) (17 page)

Chapter
2
1

“Tears shed for another is always a sacrifice.”

THE THREE OF THEM STOLE into the courtyard at the manor. Cynthia wished more than anything she didn’t have to be back here, but she had no other ideas where to start looking for a path back to their world.

The house was quiet, all the windows looking into the courtyard shuttered. Cynthia stole a glance at Coriander’s window, but it was as silent as the rest.

The bark of the hazel tree was cool in the night and reassuring under her palm.

“Mom,” she whispered, a little self-conscious. Not under Remi’s gaze—he’d seen her do this before—but she wondered what Rapunzel thought of all this. “This is a strange request, one I’m not sure if you can help with or if I should even ask…” She took a steadying breath and blurted out, “Did you know you’re not my real mother?”

The papery bark warmed with the touch of her skin. The trunk of the tree seemed to exhale under her hand like a puff of air rippling across hot coffee. Her hand slid into the tree, and before she could cry out, the rest of her body was pulled after it.

Cynthia blinked to make sure her eyes were still open like she thought they were.
Eyes open or closed, t
here was no difference in the light. She extended
her
arms to the front and sides, but felt nothing. She stood still and waited for fear to grip her in the dark like the talons of a monster, but she felt
only
expectant.

Wisps of a light, misty substance flit past her line of vision.
They
swirled and danced, pulling toward each other in a languid manner. The mist stilled and took shape. A torso and head, arms and legs, flowing hair… The eyes formed, and although they were ghostly and translucent, Cynthia would recognize them anywhere. She cried out and took a step forward, wrapping her arms around the figure—only to pass through her.

“Sorry, sweet
pea. This is all of that’s left of me.”

Tears made Cynthia’s vision blurry. That voice. Her mom’s pet name for her had worn thin around the time she’d died. Now Cynthia thought she could die happy having heard it from her lips one more time.

She dashed the tears from her eyes so she could see her mom clearly.

Her mother gave a happy sigh and placed a transparent hand on her cheek. “Look at you.”

“How are you here?” Cynthia asked, abandoning her effort to keep the tears in check.

“I’m always here. Always listening to you. I share every tear, every frustration, every abuse. I ache that I can’t do more for you. To be there as your mother.”

“But you’re not—I mean, I love you, but
—”
—“

“Sweet pea, I may not have given birth to you, but you
are
my daughter,” her mother said.

“Then you know?” Cynthia asked.

“A lot is
revealed
to you after death. My death was—unconventional. Due to the magic of this place and your own sacrifice—
”

“What sacrifice?”

“Tears shed for another is always a sacrifice.” Her mother’s voice was low and gentle.

“Why haven’t you let me see you before?” Cynthia asked, trying not to revert back to a petulant child.

“I’m constrained in ways you can’t imagine. I can only do this once. And I chose now, because I know how to send you back. And if you go, I’ll never be able to help you again. I won’t be able to see you again.”

“I don’t know what to do.” She folded up on the floor. Her mother sat beside her. She
had
wanted this for so long, someone to care what happened to her, to make everything better. If only Cynthia could put her head in her mom’s lap.

She poured out the parts of the story her mother didn’t know and waited for a verdict.

“You haven’t said what it is
you
want
,
” her mother said.

How was she supposed to answer that? She wanted her mother and father alive again. She wanted never to have heard the names of her stepfamily or met the prince.

“I want my freedom back. I want the free will I gave to Herrchen.”

Cynthia was surprised when the answer slipped out of her mouth. But once she said it, she realized how true it was. If she stayed here, in this fairy tale land of a mad man’s making, if she smashed the prince’s mirror, became a world famous piano player, married Todd Levinson, whatever she did—she’d still ultimately be Herrchen’s play thing.

“Then there’s only one way to do that.”

Cynthia nodded and stood, drying her eyes for good. She drank in the image of her mother one more time.

“I’m ready.”

Her mother nodded. “Take off your shoes.”

Cynthia kicked off her scuffed old boots. Her mother moved her vaporous hands over Cynthia’s bare feet. The shoes that curled around her toes and solidified from the mist were unlike any she had seen. Silk and metallic, with beadwork that coiled and wound in a delicate pattern all over the small pair of heels. The translucent decoration caught the gleam of light that came from her mother, the only source of light in the tree.

“These are the key back to your world. The doorway is the queen’s magic mirror. The one Prince Wilhelm has been borrowing,” she said with a hint of a smile. “While you’re wearing them, you’ll be able to step through the glass into your world. If you want to bring anyone with you, you simply need to be touching them. Call the keeper of the glass by saying,  ‘Tell me glass, tell me true.’ She’s a good friend.” Her mother gave her a small wink. “She’ll take good care of you.”

“Is the mirror in the castle?” Cynthia asked, knowing the answer and dreading it.

“I’m afraid so. In the small downstairs library.”

At least sneaking
into
the castle would be a change of pace.

“What’s waiting for me on the other side?” Cynthia asked, her voice lower than a whisper.

Her mother smiled, leaned over and gave her a ghostly kiss on the forehead. “Freedom.”

Cynthia closed her eyes and when she opened them, she was standing under the hazel tree.

Remi and Rapunzel’s faces were a study of alarm and shock. They squeezed her into a group hug.

“We didn’t know if you were coming back,” Rapunzel whispered fiercely, her eyes flicking to the still house.

“I saw my mom,” Cynthia said, her insides a tumble of emotions.

“I’ll say you did,” Remi said, tweaking her skirt with a smile. Cynthia looked down. Her mom hadn’t just given her the shoes. The dress Cynthia had stepped out of the tree in was perfect for her. Not for a masked ball or to impress a prince, but practical, beautiful, and slightly girlish.

She hustled the others out of the courtyard, making their way to the front of the house before they woke anyone.

“And I know how to get—over seas.” Cynthia said with a significant look at Rapunzel. “We have to get back into the castle.”

“There’s something you’re not telling me,” Remi said, stopping next to the lilac bush where they’d hidden—it seemed so long ago now—the day the announcement was made for the feast. He narrowed his eyes at Cynthia. “Something important.”

“It’s actually not very important. Just trust me when I say I know now, more than ever, this is what I need to do,” she said, tugging his elbow to get him moving again.

He nodded once, still uncertain, but willing to trust her.

“Can you help? Will that cook let us back in through the kitchen?”

“Mona? Yes, I think she will, but you’ll have to do her a favor in return,” Remi said.

“What kind of a favor?” Cynthia asked.

“Her son has gotten himself in quite a bit of trouble, with a giant if you can believe it. He needs to disappear for a while. Can you take him with you?”

“Yes,” Cynthia said slowly. “I’ll take him if he’s sure he wants to come.”

They rounded the front of the house. A figure in the middle of the dirt road caught Cynthia’s eye in the dim moonlight. She froze, clutching Rapunzel and Remi on either side of her.

The silhouette was only vaguely human i
n
shape. It was broader with hunched, rounded shoulders and a head that had a small snout. Even with the weak light and from a distance, Cynthia could make out the long claws on the creature
’
s paws. It walked upright, but shuffled toward them like it didn’t know how to use its legs well.

“Do you think it’s seen us?” Rapunzel murmured.

“Maybe we can just go around,” Remi suggested.

Their small group shuffled to the side, but the beast kept coming, increasing its speed to a shambling trot. It was within a few yards of them now
.
,
Cynthia caught a gleam of flaming orange hair, attached to the creature’s scalp like a cheap wig.

“Coriander!” Cynthia gasped, forgetting to be quiet.

Chapter
2
2

“N
o, he’s an odious control-freak.
”

“YOU!” Coriander lifted a paw and pointed one wicked claw at her. Her voice was a rough snarl; her eyes beady and sunk into her head like an animals. “Somehow all this started with you!” She gestured to her distorted, hairy body. “And now you’re sneaking around again, no doubt to meet that PRINCE!” The last word was spat out like a glob of phlegm.

“You don’t under
—”
—“

“I know more than you think,” she growled. “Portia’s been coming to see me every night and giving me reports. It took her a while to figure out the ‘mystery girl’ the prince was infatuated with. Would you like to know what gave you away?” Coriander sneered. “She watched you climb the Ferris wheel like a monkey to interfere with that boy and his sister. I know how easily you shimmy up that hazel tree.”

Coriander must have caught the startled look on her face.

“You’ve never been as sneaky as you think.”

“What is she talking about?” Remi whispered.

Cynthia put a hand on his arm to quiet him.

“All I need to do is wake up Mother, and you’ll be hauled back to the castle in chains.” Coriander crouched, like she was ready to rush the little group.

“Listen to yourself, Coriander.” Cynthia spoke as if to a spooked animal, which her stepsister may as well have been. “You’re mad I’m going to meet the prince, but you’re going to have me arrest
ed
and brought
to
the prince?”

Coriander wasn’t the brightest person Cynthia had ever met, but she seemed to be duller than usual. Maybe the outward transformation was affecting her brain too.

“To the prince?” Coriander growled, confused.

“Look, I’m not going to meet the prince,” Cynthia said, creeping out of the protective circle of Remi and Rapunzel to approach Coriander. “I hate the prince, he locked me in a cell and was going to keep me there until I married him.”

“Don’t you want to marry him?” Coriander’s heavy brows pulled together over her short snout.

“No, he’s an odious control-freak,” Cynthia said shortly. “I’m running away. All you have to do is go back to bed and pretend you never saw us and I’ll be out of your hair forever.”

“Having trouble sleeping
at night
anymore,” Coriander mumbled.

Cynthia was close enough to her now. She leaned forward and put a hand on Coriander’s bulky, hunched shoulder. The girl flinched but didn’t pull away.

“We were never good as sisters,” Cynthia said.

“Stepsister
s
,” Coriander corrected her.

In any other situation, Cynthia would have smiled. “I think Portia and I could have made a start
.
,
”
S
s
he lifted one shoulder in a half shrug. “We won’t get the chance now. Maybe all we can hope for is a little bit of compassion.”

It wasn’t as bad getting the next words out as she had anticipated. “I’m sorry about your hair. And the curse. I never wanted to be the one to play for the royal family and I regret most of the feast was ruined for you.” Cynthia had considered telling her who was really to blame for her hair, but didn’t want to push it. She tapped Coriander’s shoulder lightly in lieu of a hug and eased away from her. She motioned to the others to go past without taking her eyes off Coriander. Her stepsister’s beastly face was deep in thought. Cynthia could almost see the thick cogs creaking along in her head.

Their small group tiptoed down the road. Coriander turned and headed back for the house. Cynthia breathed out the tension and worry that had built inside her. In front of the turn off to the Levinsons
’
farm she looked back once more. Coriander was just opening the door to the house. Her shadowy figure seemed to have changed. She stood taller, more slender, the hand that reached for the door was minus the claws. Cynthia smiled
. She
hoped she’d be okay.

“Here
.
,
” Remi shrugged off his invisibility cloak and draped it over Cynthia’s shoulders. “You’d better wear this until we get to the castle. We can’t afford any more delays.”

“Thanks,” she said, flipping up the hood. She looked down. Her body had vanished. It was the most peculiar sensation to feel her hands opening and closing, but not see them. She took a few steps and almost pitched into the dirt road. Remi heard her stumble.

“Hold on to me for a little bit. It takes a minute to get your balance when you can’t see your feet,” he said.

She hung on to his arm with one hand and picked up the tr
ai
ling cloak with the other. It was intended for someone much taller than Cynthia. A movement at the edge of the Levinsons
’
drive caught her eye. She peered into the dark shadows of the trees, but saw nothing.

She cleared her throat and said in a low voice to Remi. “Could you let Todd know—
”
She got lost trying to finish the sentence. Know what? He’d never see her again? That she wanted to say goodbye but didn’t see how it was possible?

“I’ll let him know,
”
Remi said.

She smiled at him, grateful, even though he couldn’t see it. He had managed to say it without any malice.

They hurried to the castle as the moon
tracked
slid
its way
across the sky. They’d paused once during the journey so Cynthia could wake a few sleeping doves and Remi could send two messages. One to Mona at the castle so she would expect them and make arrangements for her son, and one to Marcella. “So she doesn’t worry what’s happened to me and storm the castle in the middle of the night,” Remi explained.

Cynthia’s feet were sore and her legs ached. She was sure the others felt the same, but they kept going
,
there couldn’t be more than an hour or two of darkness left. She needed to leave before the prince discovered her missing.

The castle crouched like a hulking monster in the dark, silent and still as they had left it hours ago. She silently thanked Prince Wilhelm for his gross overconfidence that allowed not even a guard to check on them during the night. Cynthia couldn’t believe they were back here; they had just snuck out!

They skirted past one wall of the castle, making their way to the back kitchen garden. Mona stepped from the shadows of the stones so suddenly; Cynthia’s heart lurched into her throat. She could see her eyes bouncing between Rapunzel and Remi, looking for her. She flipped her hood back and it was the cook’s turn to have a heart attack.

“We can’t go through the kitchen. The morning shift has started making breakfast.” She led them back toward the wall where a familiar fire escape trailed from the top of one of the towers. “We’ll have to go this way.” In the gloom under the
ladder
two people waited.

“Jack,”
Cynthia
said, surprised at the dark haired boy standing there. The goose he had tucked under his arm distracted her for a second, but she looked between him and Mona and made the connection.

“You two know each other?” Mona asked.

“I gave her a ride the other night,” Jack said, nodding at her.

The fisherman they’d bumped into last night was also huddled under the wall, clutching a bundle to his chest. He was younger than she’d first thought with serious eyes under heavy brows and large, weatherworn hands. The lump of blankets stirred and made a grunting noise in his arms. The man jiggled it until it stilled and quieted.

“This is Jurgen,” Mona said with an unhappy glance at the man. “And his son,” she nodded to the bundle. “He started asking questions last night and I
—”
—“

“I want to come,” he said
, cutting Mona off
. His voice had a thick guttural accent of someone who grew up in the poor part of town and worked on the water.

“You don’t know where we
'
re going,” Cynthia said, trying
to
be kind, but looking around at the group, particularly the goose and the baby, and feeling like things had gotten out of hand.

“I’ve been having dreams, memories.” He carefully studied her eyes. “And I think you have too. There’s magic at work here, I can feel it. You’re going home and I’m coming with you.”

“What’s this about dreams?” Remi asked, narrowing his eyes at Cynthia. She knew he was remembering her nightmares. She gave Remi an apologetic look.

Rapunzel turned to Jack. “What about you? Having dreams, getting back memories?”

Jack shook his head. “Not that I know of.”

“You’d know,” she said shortly. “Were stepping through a magic mirror into another world, you won’t be able to come back. We don’t know much about what’s waiting on the other side, but there will be opportunities to start over, to create a whole different life.”

“Cindy!” Remi hissed.

“Are you coming?” Rapunzel demanded of Jack.

He exchanged a look with his mom. Mona gave him a sad, worried smile, but nodded and folded him into a hug, squashing the goose between them
. It
started to honk indignantly. That set the baby off and Cynthia was about to go find the prince and say she’d changed her mind if she could just wash her hands of this rabble.

Rapunzel sensed her frustration and started hustling the group up the ladder to the last landing of the fire escape.

“I knew there was something to those dreams,” Remi said, snagging her hand and refusing to let go. “Don’t go. We’ll work something out here with the prince and—and everything.”

“What time is it Remi?” Cynthia asked, lacing her fingers with his. They fit together so nicely.

Remi looked at her, confused. “Maybe four or five in the morning, why?”

“Happy birthday, then.” She had so much more to say and explain, but no time to do it. She shrugged out of the cloak and held it out to him. “Go live your happily-ever-after. Leaving will be easier if I know you will.”

He nodded once, his eyes desperate, unwilling to leave hers. He pushed the cloak back toward her. “Keep it. I’ll feel better knowing you can disappear if you need to. Besides,” he tried to give her a lopsided smile but didn’t quite make it, “we both
k
now I’d only get into trouble with it.”

She nodded and fastened it back around her throat. She wrapped her arms around Remi, burying her face in his chest. Breathing in the smell of the woods, the night air, and something that was just him. He pressed his face into her golden curls on the top of her head. Everyone else was already halfway up the fire escape, despite their burdens. Cynthia tore herself away and scrambled up the ladder. She could feel his eyes on her all the way up the tower, but she didn’t look back.