The Grimm Curse (Once Upon A Time Is Now) by Stephen Carpenter

Author:Stephen Carpenter [Carpenter, Stephen]
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Published: 2010-12-10T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

The Initiation And The Talking Wolf

I had just about had it with Madeleine and our freak-show journey into the woods, and I was about to tell her I was going to turn back and head home (wherever that was) when we reached a clearing, which was illuminated by the full moon.

“This is it,” she said, looking up to check on the moon. She put the backpack on the ground and opened it and took out my uncle’s remains.

I stood back from her as she solemnly, carefully removed the lid on the silver urn. In the moonlight I could see the elaborate engraving on the container, which was similar to the wax seal on the will. There was an etching of the shield from the parlor wall—which I figured was some kind of family crest—and the initials EWG.

I stood there, wondering, Is she really going to dump the ashes right out here onto the…?

Then she held the urn up toward the full moon, took a deep breath, and began to speak:

“We the living pass the soul of Eustace Grimm to the place from whence it came,” she intoned in a hushed voice. “And in its passing, let the scales fall from the eyes of the new Huntsman, so that he might see.”

With that, she slowly turned the urn upside down, and the pale gray ashes spilled out onto the forest floor. Dust from the ashes rose up all around us in a thick cloud, nearly blotting out the bright moon. I backed away farther, not wanting to breathe the ashes of my dead relative, for God’s sake.

Madeleine closed her eyes and murmured a few words in a language that sounded like German, as near as I could tell. Then she turned to me. Through the dim, ash-filled night air, I could see that her eyes were wet with tears, and very serious.

“Jacob Grimm,” she said softly. “You are now the Huntsman of Woodland. May your greatest fears become your greatest strengths.”

I tried to think of some kind of response, but what would that be, exactly? No spell overcame me, there was no sudden, magical feeling; I didn’t levitate or anything, and I certainly hadn’t expected to. All I could think about was getting the hell out of there, out of the woods, away from this girl, and away from the cloud of dust that used to be my great uncle.

“Okay, then,” I said, coughing a little, having inhaled a brief breath of the spreading gray cloud. “I think I’m gonna go now—”

I started to turn away, then stopped in my tracks.

Beyond Madeleine, through the cloud of dust, where a moment earlier there was only darkness, there were now…eyes.

Eyes.

Dozens of them, approaching us from the dark woods. Green, glowing eyes, dull red eyes, large eyes and small eyes, some narrow and sinister, some wide and timid-looking. Most of them were in pairs, but here and there was a single, large, glowing, eyeball the size of a basketball.

My first response was to run back the way we came, but there were eyes behind me as well.

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