Hansel and Gretel (Faerie Tale Collection) by Jenni James

Author:Jenni James
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Publisher: StoneHouse Ink
Published: 2013-01-01T08:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER ELEVEN

LIGHTNING LIT UP THE rain-filled sky above them as Gretel leaned over and pushed the streaming water out of her eyes. She quickly tied a scrap of fabric to a long branch as the cart lurched forward through the pouring rain. They moved slowly up the overgrown road. Every so often she would attach another ripped piece of her apron to the branches reaching out into their path. She prayed Hansel would find the fabric later. Thank goodness the rain had slowed them down as much as it had or she did not think she would have been able to leave a trail of markers of any kind.

Father had not spoken one word to her from the moment Cora had him pick her up and place her in the cart until now. He simply stared directly ahead and continued to drive leisurely through the storm as if he were in a trance.

“Pa?” she hesitantly asked after a few more minutes. When he did not reply, she tried again. “Pa? Can you hear me?”

Leaning forward, she clutched another long branch and rushed to loop a scrap of fabric around it.

“What are you doing there?”

The shout came as such a surprise, Gretel nearly toppled over the edge. “You startled me.” She gasped as she righted herself, pushing off the wooden sides.

Adale pulled on the reins and stopped the horse. “Aye, girl! Get yourself sitting fully in that cart now! No more leaning forward! You are not jumping out that easy! And do not go about tying things to the branches either, you hear me? ” He climbed down and walked the few steps over to the branch, yanking off her soggy fabric as he did so. Bringing it to her, he continued to shout through the rain, “If this is how you think to repay me and my wife, then I am done with you! I will make sure you do not tie another piece to any of these branches again.”

“What do you mean?” she asked.

He reached down under the cart and removed a large wooden plank from the underside of the seat. “This.” His eyes raged a dark, awful color as he approached her, the wind and sleet making him very frightening.

“Pa, wait!” she called out as he raised the plank above him.

“No! No one will find the likes of you ever again! This stops now.”

He swung the wooden beam wide and she ducked, but not quickly enough. She felt the sting of the plank as it cracked against her head. Dazed, Gretel slumped to the cart floor, her cheek sloshing in a puddle of rainwater before her eyes drifted shut and she forgot all else.

***

GRETEL AWOKE WITH A throbbing headache, her back upon something cold and hard. She was not sure where she was, but the smell of candy was strong. It was everywhere, permeating the air. Slowly, she opened one eye to face near blackness before risking a peek with the other. Blinking, she attempted to ease the ache within her head as she cautiously sat up.

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