The Grimm Chronicles, Vol.1 (33 page)

From behind us came another crash. My ears twisted uncomfortably toward the sound. Flick raised his pickaxe again. Steady, I thought to myself … steady yourself now, Briar.

He brought the pickaxe down. I slipped out of the way and the sharp end dug into the giant humming machine behind me. Bright, hot sparks erupted from the machine and the dastardly dwarf cried out, flying backwards.

Well! I didn’t need any more invitation to skee-daddle, I’ll tell you what. I hurried to the door, taking one quick look back at Flick, who was groggily trying to push himself to his feet.

“Seth!” I called down the hall, running as fast as my rabbit legs could, “don’t get on the elevator!”

But when I reached the elevators, he was already gone.

Chapter 9: Alice

When he was baptized, the pastor said, "Because of his quills he cannot be given an ordinary bed." So they put a little straw behind the stove and laid him in it. And he could not drink from his mother, for he would have stuck her with his quills. He lay there behind the stove for eight years, and his father grew tired of him, and thought, "If only he would die." But he did not die, but just lay there.
[xiv]

I parried another stab from the hedgehog, stepping into a riposte attack and swinging with all my might, slicing the razor-sharp quill in half. The hedgehog growled, reaching over his shoulder and plucking another.

“Crap,” I muttered. Down the row of servers, I saw Seth bolt for the door. “Thank you, Briar.”

The hedgehog came at me again. My feet danced backward, hindered by my dress. In one hand was my pen, clutched like a knife. In the other hand was my saber. I kept two feet of space between myself and the monster, who loomed over me and stared down with terrible burning eyes. All around us, the massive servers hummed a one-note tune.

“Your story ends here,” I hissed.

The hedgehog snorted, stabbing at me again with a quill in each hand. I parried the blows, sidling closer to kick his exposed stomach. But my dress got in the way again, stifling my leg’s movement. This wasn’t working. I was losing. And the dress wasn’t helping things, either.

Suddenly, from the other side of the room came a shower of sparks. I heard Briar giggle, hopping to the door. He was followed quickly by the dwarf.

I dodged another wild stab from the hedgehog, then—seeing an opening, sliced at the monster’s chest. The blade connected, and a small black slit appeared under his fur. The monster dropped one of his quills and clutched the wound, groaning and slamming his eyes shut.

I felt a surge of energy rush through me. I’d done it! I’d stopped him!

The hedgehog opened his eyes. They looked like they were on fire. A string of drool escaped his lips. His paw slipped away from the wound. It wasn’t spreading. The wound wasn’t spreading!

“This is the part where you sort of burn away,” I told him.

The hedgehog shook his head, reaching over his shoulder for another quill.

“Well,” I said with a heavy breath, “I suppose we could keep doing this until you don’t have any quills left. That should only take another hundred days or so.”

The hedgehog’s muzzle quivered. I could have sworn he was trying to smile. He shut his eyes and stabbed one of the quills up at the ceiling, shattering the overhead light. There was a bright flash as the bulb burst. Pieces of glass rained down on us.

The entire aisle went dark. Only the little blinking blue lights on the servers illuminated us. They bathed the hedgehog in blue, then blinked off. When they blinked on again, the hedgehog had closed the gap between us, his terrible drooling muzzle open just a hair so I could see the sharp row of teeth. He stabbed with both quills and I swung my sword defensively, falling back and tripping on my dress again. The hedgehog leapt at me and I rolled right, feeling one of the quills nick the skin on my upper arm.

“Ow,” I muttered, feeling an intense firework of pain. My should began throbbing; it took all of my willpower to focus.

I rolled again, dropping my saber and grabbing the quills before he could stand up and stab at me again. We were locked together, each of us clutching one end of the quills. He pushed me backward. I pressed my toes into the ground and pushed off as hard as I could, forcing him back a step. His long hand-like paws tightened around the quills. I could feel the pointy ends moving ever so slowly closer to my head. He was stronger than me.

But maybe I could use that to my advantage. I gave another strong push, and this time the hedgehog’s head moved toward me, his jaws snapping viciously. I crossed the quills, giving myself an X-shaped barrier between my tender flesh and the monster’s teeth.

One more push, I thought, willing all of my strength into my arms. I pushed the monster back another step, enraging him further. When I felt him push back, I took a step back and shifted my weight, using his momentum to throw him over my shoulder. He landed hard on the ground on the other side of the room, the quills on his back bristling.

“OK, now it’s time to get serious.” I reached down and drew a horizontal line near the bottom of my dress, just above my knees. When I’d drawn the circle all the way around, the length below my knees fell to the floor.

“Now that’s much better,” I said.

The hedgehog stood up, grabbing the two quills from the floor rather than plucking two more.

“I don’t blame you,” I told him. “I know those quills don’t come off as easily as the quills on a porcupine.”

The hedgehog cocked his head.

I smiled devilishly. “Yeah, that’s right … I’ve been reading up on you.” My foot slipped underneath the hilt of my saber. I kicked it up, grabbing it in mid-air. I could feel adrenaline coursing through my body and it felt good. The exhausting side-effects of the antibiotics were temporarily masked. “Come on, Hans. You and I are finishing this right now.”

Instead of charging, the hedgehog slid sideways, disappearing behind the next row of servers. There was a pop and another shower of sparks overhead.

And another aisle went dark. I ran to the far wall just in time to see another row of lights overhead pierced by the monster’s quill. I tried to catch up to him but he was too fast, darting from row to row and stabbing every single one of the long fluorescent bulbs.

I reached the other side of the room too late. Behind me, the door to the hallway slammed shut.

The room was dark. The servers hummed, their little blue lights blinking on and off. My head felt dizzy. My heart thumped in my ears. I steadied my breath, trying to listen, trying to trust my other senses to guide me through this. I swallowed the fear, pushing it deep down, wiping my sweaty hands on my dress. There was only one way out now. I had to stay sharp.

Think, Alice! What else do you remember about hedgehogs?

For starters, those things on his back weren’t quills, really … they were called spines. Spines! I’d totally forgotten. They just
looked
like quills. Not that that helped much in this instance.

Hedgehogs could roll into a ball to protect themselves.

They enjoy eating berries.

My ears picked up the sound of padding feet crunching on shards of glass. I turned, not seeing anything at first except shadows. Then three of the servers’ blue lights blinked on, and the hedgehog was just feet in front of me, his terrible sharp teeth bathed in blue. I parried the spines, then stabbed at his chest with the fountain pen. The tip found its mark and the monster roared, stepping back and dropping one spine so he could clutch the wound.

He
still
didn’t burn away!

The blue lights on the servers flickered off. When new lights blinked on, the hedgehog was gone.

But not dead. His throaty growl came from one of the other rows.

My nerves had begun to take hold. My hand gripping the saber was sweaty and hot, and as I forced my legs to shuffle down the dark aisle, I heard the hedgehog’s wet breaths coming from somewhere nearby. It was in the next aisle, right on the other side of the massive server to my left.

“Courage, Alice,” I whispered to myself, trying to silence my heart’s drum beat in my ears. “Fight through the fear.”

I reached the end of the row, stepping around the last one, keeping my back to the wall. I looked right, waiting for a few blue lights to blink on so I could see farther down the aisle. I slipped into the next aisle, trying to force my eyes to peer through the darkness. A few blue lights blinked on, then quickly flickered off, as if they knew I needed them.

A terrible growl came from nowhere and everywhere at once.

“Come on,” I whispered, fighting the creeping terror that was choking my breath. I had to keep my mind clear. I had to trust my ears instead of looking frantically in every direction.

I had to
think
.

I took a few steps into the aisle, listening over the humming of the servers. I could definitely hear the padding of feet, but where were they coming from? I turned around, searching the darkness behind me. I turned around again. Blue lights blinked on, illuminating the floor.

What else do you know about hedgehogs, Alice? I was missing something. Something important.

They hibernate.

They’re lactose intolerant.

In the Brothers Grimm tale, Hans the hedgehog marries a princess.

The blue lights flickered off. The entire aisle went dark. There came another low growl. My ears picked up the padding of feet—slow steps, then quicker. Then quicker.

I ducked low and felt the tip of a spine dig into my shoulder. A dark shadow fell over me. Blue lights blinked on and then there he was, standing over me. A few drops of my own blood coated the tip of the spine he held in his right paw.

There was a piece of my dress, too.

I glanced at my shoulder, where the dress had been ripped. “You’re such a jerk, Hans.”

The hedgehog howled and stabbed one of the spines down at me. I parried, sweeping one of his legs and sending him crashing to the ground. We stood at the same time. I couldn’t let him slip away again. I had to stay close, close enough to smell his horrible breath, close enough to see the fur on his muscled chest standing on end, close enough to be able to count the massive spines running along his back.

My shoulder stung. I could feel a small trickle of warm blood staining what remained of the left strap of my dress.

A dozen more blue lights flickered on. The hedgehog’s left eye blinked.

That was it! Hedgehogs are nocturnal!

In my mind’s eye, I watched him stab that that first overhead light. He’d closed his eyes right before he did it. Right before the bulb popped with a flash.

“You want to fight?” I asked. “Then let’s fight!”

I swung my saber, aiming high. The monster parried with one spine. I swung again, this time low, then again and again and again, forcing him on the defense. He stepped back. I stepped forward, showing only the side of my body. I stabbed at his stomach and he parried, falling off-balance, and I took a swipe at his arm. He turned, letting my saber cut across the spines on his back. A few of them burned away.

“So you’re not invincible,” I said. “You’re just really, really strong.”

The hedgehog answered with an attack of his own, pushing me back a handful of steps. I ducked one blow, then raised my saber to deflect the next before the tip of the spine could cut my face. He stabbed at my chest and I turned, jumping on the offensive, swinging down, then up, then down again.

A handful of the lights flickered off. The hedgehog took the offensive again, swinging wildly at my face. I stepped back until more blue lights blinked on, giving my eyes some sorely needed help. I swung once, then twice, and then raised my saber high and swung down and to the left. The hedgehog stepped back and my saber struck the nearest server tower. Bright hot sparks flew out. The hedgehog cried out, wincing.

I closed the gap between us, swinging high and low, stabbing at his chest, then his stomach, then swinging high again. The hedgehog blocked, his eyes blinking furiously.

“Come on!” I shouted, swinging my saber at another server tower. More hot bright sparks lit up the aisle. The hedgehog cried out again. I swung again, then stabbed, each time forcing the hedgehog back. I swung at another server tower, then stabbed at the hedgehog, then swung at another server tower, sending more furious sparks flying all around us. The hedgehog took another step back, then stopped.

He was up against the wall. He turned, ready to slip into the next aisle. I swung my saber at the last server in the row in one long arc, sending sparks flying out in a crescent shaped shower. The hedgehog howled. Now was my chance! I stabbed at him with all my might. For a moment, there was only darkness. I could hear the humming of the servers and our deep, frantic breaths. I could smell the monster’s sour breath. We were so close he could nearly bite me, but I knew he didn’t have the strength.

The blue lights blinked on. There we were, pressed up against the wall. The burning blackness had begun spreading around the saber in the monster’s chest. Slowly.

The monster growled. He snapped at me and I ducked, jamming the fountain pen into his shoulder. The burning blackness spread quicker now, engulfing the monster’s body until nothing but ashes remained.

The blue lights blinked off.