Blood, Milk & Chocolate - Part 1 (The Grimm Diaries Book 3) (20 page)

39

The Queen's
Diary

The best
thing about waking up
was knowing
that I wasn't dead.
The worst was that some lives were worse than death.

I lay on
my back on several logs tied with a rope. I could feel each log surging pain into
my back. I couldn't move for a long time, and Angel wasn't nearby.
At least not in my peripheral vision.
I didn't hear his
voice, nor was I strong enough to call for him. I gave in, looking at the sky
above.

It seemed
too dark up there. No moon. No stars. Nothing. A blank piece of black—wait,
not really black, maybe grey or a faint brown that seemed blurry. Maybe my eyes
were playing tricks on me. I tried to open them as wide as I could. I didn't
think there was anything wrong with my eyes. In fact, they seemed the strongest
part of my body right now.

What's
wrong with this sky?

Every now
and then, there seemed to be lines in the sky. Curvy lines, as if the sky was
bending down on me. The lines were faint, far away, and inconsistent, but I
followed one, craning my neck so much that I let out a painful scream. The
craning made me see my pale feet. Had Angel taken me underwater to escape Fate's
tides? Was he able to breath underwater? Was I?

But that
didn't matter. It was that line bending down from the sky, sinking into the
black of the sea, right beyond my feet. Then it disappeared into the tideless
waters. Where was this place, so calm in the sea? Had Fate's wrath ended, just
like that?

I ached to
prop myself up on the logs. It was painful, but I needed to see where I was.

Everything
around me was dark. In fact, I had never seen the sea as dark. At least the
place felt safe.

"Angel?"
My voice seemed hollow. I couldn't explain it. It must be how it sounded in a
calm sea. But Angel didn't reply.

The raft
underneath me was big enough for six or eight people.
A rather
small, flat raft.
It seemed to have been recently constructed, because
the ropes were really tight and strong. It could not have endured Fate's wrath.
Did Angel make it for me?

Then
suddenly I realized that I couldn't see the sack. Where was my sack? Without
it, all of this was in vain.

My pain
subsided, and I crawled on hands and knees, searching the raft. There was
nothing to search. It was just logs, and I was upon it.
Plain
and simple.
If there
was
a sack I would have
seen it. Still on my hands and knees, I squinted against the curtain of
moonless night, looking for my sack. Maybe it was floating nearby.

Be
reasonable, Carmilla. The sack would easily sink in the water. It's gone.

I
shrieked, my hands on my face, feeling defeated. I'd lost my sack. What was I
going to say to Lady Shallot when I met her? I never even got to know what was
in the sack. I never even got to know what Captain Ahab meant when he said that
I could have "summoned the moon" with my sack. Why had I forgotten
about this in Hook's presence? Captain Ahab must have been playing games,
because no Moongirl came to save me from Hook, who had been laughing mockingly
at her.

My cries
sounded hollow again, as if the world was closing in on me, and I was some
worthless genie in a bottle of life.

"Carmilla."
Angel sprang out of the water. His smile was euphoric. He looked healthier and
stronger, actually. He pulled out a pair of fish and laid them on the raft.

"Angel?"
I cried out, and threw myself in his arms.

Angel
laughed, as I was choking him. He struggled to pull himself up on the raft. "I
brought you food," he said. "I thought I'd leave you to rest."

"What
happened?" I couldn't pull myself away from him, and squeezed him tighter.

"Nothing
much," he said cockily. "Fate decided to send a few tides and
tornados after us, so I breathed some air into your lungs and sank into the
deepest seas until he gave up."

I hit him
lightly on his chest. I knew this was a lie. His body was full of scars, which
meant there had been much, much more, since his body usually healed quickly.

"You
gave in to your darkness to save me," I said, running my hands through his
long black hair.

He nodded.
He wasn't proud of it. "I had to, or Fate would have killed us. You won't
believe the kind of powers I realized I have."

"Is
that why you look so healthy?"

"I
drank so much blood, Carmilla," he said, ashamed of what he'd done, but
also feeling well. "Fish, Fate's men. I didn't know I could survive for
that long underwater. Apparently vampires do enjoy some great powers."

I wasn't
really happy with this, but I couldn't complain. I could hear the drone of evil
in him enjoying the darkness that had helped him save me. It was confusing, but
better than selling my soul to Fate.

"Here,"
he said, and pulled the sack from under the raft. He had tied it to a rope. I
took it and hugged him, all hope returning to me. Hope of a better life, hope
of tomorrow, and hope of surpassing all the obstacles to the Tower of Tales.

I realized
Angel's darkness wasn't always a bad thing.

"So
we still can reach the Tower of Tales." I kissed him hard, trying to suck
all evil out of him.

"Wow."
He blushed. "Yes, love. I promised you that we'd reach it. I'm sorry I
gave up on you on the
Pequod
. It's just that my biggest weakness is the
song that the mermaids played."

"Come
to think of it, do you know what this song is, and why I can't memorize it?"

"It's
an ancient tune, once played by a man called a Piper," he said.
Nothing new to me.
"He is supposed to be the man who
created vampires. Why? I don't know. How? I also don't know. Just a few men on
earth know how to play it, as one can only learn it from wicked witches. They
say it takes years to master, and it can only be played with a Singing Bone."

"A
Singing Bone?"

"Like
the one Captain Ahab used as a pipe," Angel said. "It seemed he had
found it on his sails across the sea, but never knew how to play it, so he just
used it as a pipe."

"So
it's not just a flute with seven holes?"

"You
noticed it has seven holes?" He looked admiringly at me. "Legend
says, each hole holds a musical note that leads to one of the…"

"…Lost
Seven
," I said. "Did this have anything to
do with the musical scale?"

"How
so?"

"There
are seven main notes in music." I had been taught when I was a pampered
child in my parents' palace. Austria was crazy about music. "Actually
twelve, overall.
But seven main notes to produce music.
I was wondering if it had to do with the melody played from a flute with seven
notes and inspired by seven people."

"I
don't know, love," he said. Apparently Angel didn't know much about music.

It was
pointless talking about the Lost Seven now. Who knew who they really were? And
I didn't see how this would help us find the Tower of Tales. Knowing more about
the Singing Bone was a necessity, since its music had turned Angel to a
monster. It was an obstacle. "So why is it called a Singing Bone?"

"Legend
has it that in ancient times when a man was killed, you didn't need to
investigate his killing and have proof of it," Angel said, now running his
hand through my hair. "All you needed was to crush his bones and make a
flute with seven holes out of them, and then it would sing the killer's full
name."

"Really?
It was that easy in old times?" I laughed.

"Like
I said, I'm not sure," Angel said. "All I know is that the first one
to use it for another purpose, like driving rats away, was the Piper. I really
am not comfortable talking about him, my father, or the mermaids." Angel
kissed me again then pushed me lightly so I was on my back and he was on top of
me.

"Angel."
I blushed, happy he was in such a mood. "We're in the middle of the sea."

"Sea?"
He squinted,
then
laughed. "No, love. We're not
in the sea anymore."

I furrowed
my brow. "What do you mean?" I thought he was playing with me, just
to get closer. I wasn't going to make love to the man I loved on a raft in the
middle of a sea.

"We're
inside a whale, love," Angel said. "Strangely, it's the safest place
I have found."

40

Fable's
Dreamworld

Instead of
finding Loki's Fleece, Fable was running away from him. But the Lost Seven
needed her. They needed her help. It didn't matter how many times she was told
she was one of them. She couldn't quite grasp it. Having the chance to help the
legendary fairy tale characters every kid read about in the Waking World was
beyond her comprehension. She only knew one thing. It felt so good, and at the
moment, she really hoped Cerené was right. She really hoped she had some power
to help others, and she wondered how everyone would view her if she could help.

Fable
pressed her eyelids together harder, executing the witch's
spell,
unaware of the price she would pay later.

It didn't
work.

She
recited it over and over again.

Sweating.

I am a
loser witch, just like my mother.

A hissing
wind began to shape outside the cave, the same laughing wind she had seen
wrapping its arms around Loki when he entered the Schloss in the Waking World
to kill Shew a few days ago. It spiraled closer and closer and then orbited in
front of the cave's opening. It began sewing spider webs onto the opening from
outside.
So dense and so real.

She
struggled with her hands and
body
as the magic seemed
to shatter her insides into pieces, and felt her intestines ache, as if a snake
was spiraling inside her tubes.

Is this
really happening?

It wasn't
just that she had conjured that wind with the spell. She could feel herself
change inside. She didn't know whether her memories were partially coming back,
or if
she had been hexed by some otherworldly force
.
What
the hell happened to me when I was in the forest?

Finally,
the wind escaped the cave, and Fable dropped to her knees with a thud.

"Fable!"
She could feel hands reaching for her. "Where did you learn this kind of
magic?"

"A
spider web on the cave from outside." Fable glimpsed Ladle staring at the
cave's opening with utter fascination. "That's some spider web, so thick
it would take days to spin it. It means the huntsmen can never assume we're
inside. I want to learn magic!"

It was
minutes before Fable fully regained her senses. She sat with her back to the
cave, feeling parted from something. She had been parted of her innocence and
joined the Black Art, whatever that was. Spontaneously, she reached for her
hair. It wasn't a surprise that her pigtails were gone. Her hair felt like
strings of hardened bushes over her head.

"Cerené
breathed a little life into you." Jack patted her and smiled. "You're
back, my awesome friend." Jack had never called anyone else
"awesome" before. There had always been one awesome person in the
world, and that would be Jack Madly himself. Fable knew this because her
memories began to come back, slowly.

The Lost
Seven mended her, as well as taking care of an unconscious Shew, for a few
hours. She could see the sun had set outside—the few shafts of thin light
had disappeared.

Fable
listened to them speculate that it should be safe to leave the cave now. They
just didn't want to pressure Fable with another incident of magic right away.
They could wait until she was strong enough to perform it again and part the
spider webs. But there was nothing to eat or drink, and no ways to take care of
Shew in here—the Weighing of the Heart's sedative seemed to keep her in a
semi-conscious state all the time. The cave could be a death trap.

Fable didn't
mind performing the ritual again, but it was those flashes of memories that
bothered her.
Memories of her escaping something in the forest.
Something so evil she couldn't bring herself to fully remember it. She also
thought the memories brought back some of her powers. A certain power seemed
imminent, crossing her mind and blurring her sight even more. She couldn't
really understand this. Her mind told her that she would have this power soon.
It wasn't the cave power. Another, darker power she had almost lost her
eyesight to. Was that why she had poor eyesight?

"I
can hear the huntsmen," Ladle said.

"I
heard Loki's voice a couple of times in the last hour," Marmalade said. "I
am also thirsty."

"Listen.
I can hear them circling our area," Jack said. "It's like they know
we are here, but can't tell exactly where. How's that possible?"

"They
will never leave without finding us. At least Loki won't," Cerené said.

Silence
roared in the cave for a long time. How was that possible? How was it that
everything Fable had done meant nothing now? True, Loki wouldn't find the cave
with the spider web on it. But how long could they survive in this tight space
without sunlight, food, or drink?

***

"Can
someone remind me why the Queen needs the heart so much?" Jack asked, fed
up with all they'd been through to save the princess.

"She
needs it to relieve herself of a curse," Marmalade said.

"Shew's
heart will spare the Queen the burden of killing all those girls and bathing in
their blood," Ladle said. "She does it to keep her beauty, or she'd
turn into a monstrous vampire.
An ugly one.
No
offense, Beauty." Ladle giggled at the Beast standing in the darkest shade
of the cave.

"As
long as you call me Beauty." He sounded like he was smiling. Fable couldn't
tell.

"Shew's
heart can preserve the Queen's beauty forever," Ladle continued.

"We're
not sure about that," Marmalade said. "We really don't know the real
significance of the heart. I feel it's something much bigger than just a beauty
issue."

"But
we know one thing," said the Beast. "We know the power the Queen will
acquire, whether through the mirror or Shew's heart, will help her kill us all.
She saw us in the Schloss and knows who we are. The Queen never looks away from
revenge."

"I
thought she didn't know who the Lost Seven were in the ceremony,"
Marmalade said.

"I
wouldn't count on what the Queen pretends to know," Fable said.
"Like, how did she ever know about my breadcrumbs curse?"

Fable was
sure everyone, including her, wanted to know about her breadcrumb addiction,
and how the Queen of Sorrow knew about it. But they surely had other priorities
now.

Everyone
went silent again, but they were interrupted by Loki's distant voice outside.
"Come out, pretty Princess! Sooner or later I will find you!" he
shouted, sounding exhausted and angry. He must have been going crazy, searching
the whole forest for them. "How about cutting out your heart and liver,
and rolling them out to me from wherever you're hiding?" Loki's words were
shocking this time, because he seemed nearer. Too close, and not really going
away.

"Do
you think he knows we are here?" Cerené asked.

"He
seems to know we're close," Jack said. "I wonder how."

The answer
came sooner than expected. It was the Queen's black panthers. Fable could hear
them padding around the cave. They were sniffing the air. Cerené explained how
they would be able to smell them, like dogs, from the scent on the cloaks left
at the castle.

"If
we find a source of fire, I can try to fight some as we leave the cave,"
Cerené suggested, still holding the unconscious Shew in her arms.

"I
could get out and fight for a while as you escape," the Beast offered.

"Not
a bad idea," Jack said. "As you do, I will steal their swords and
find ways to stall them."

"I
could help killing a few," Ladle said happily. Then her face knotted as
she asked forgiveness from the Tree of Life again.

"I
don't mind ending up dying to save us," Marmalade offered.

"We're
forgetting the purpose behind all of this," the Star said in that
alien-like voice. "We can't let the Queen of Sorrow have Shew's heart.
Like the Beast said: Shew's heart, controlling Bloody Mary, and finding the
secrets the devil's mirror splintered all over the world—the Queen would
be invincible. We can't risk dying, being caught, or losing Shew to the Queen.
We need another way out. A safer plan."

"You
talk as if you're sure we are on the good side," the Beast said.

"We
are
the good side," the Star insisted as the light dimmed a little.

The Beast
said nothing. He only let out a sigh. It seemed like he considered himself
evil.
Because of his looks, maybe?

"I
don't think I'm on the good side." Ladle raised her bloodstained scythe.

"I am
a thief," Jack said. "I won't stop stealing, whether you count me
good or bad."

"Don't
say that," Marmalade said. "You're good, and I am also on the good
side."

"I
think I am good," Cerené said, really unsure, as if she'd never thought
about it.

Fable
didn't know what to say. She hadn't felt quite on the good side since she'd
practiced the Black Art to seal the cave. Something inside felt wrong. The
spell she was remembering wasn't leaving her alone. She couldn't tell how it
came to her mind, but it was like an annoying memory hunting her inside her
head. A dark spell she thought she was about to use.

"I am
waiting!" Loki shouted outside. "I know you're here!"

"It's
only a matter of time before they locate us," the Beast said
matter-of-factly.
Unafraid, though.
"The black
panthers will eventually expose the spider web trick. Either you have a magical
exit, or we fight back."

"Fable?"
The Star turned to her. She felt safe when it talked to her. "Do you have
a magical exit?"

Fable
wished the earth would swallow her. It was as if the Star could read her mind,
as if the Star knew about the dark spell that had been buzzing in her mind for
while.

"Don't
hesitate, Fable," Cerené said. "It doesn't matter if it's a Black
Art. Just help us save Shew's heart."

The six of
them were staring back at Fable. It was obvious now that they didn't care what
had happened to her in the past three months if she could help now.

"Come
on! Why not just cut out your heart and roll it out to me, Princess?" Loki
seethed outside. "Save me the burden."

The Lost
Seven were still staring at Fable. She was so close to exposing herself and
telling them that she came through a dream. But that would mess with the
purpose of her mission, which had already gone askew since she had gotten too
involved with the Lost Seven's quest. How would she ever get Loki's Fleece?
Would she ever see how Shew and Loki fell in love?

"I—"
She hesitated, looking at Cerené, pleading for her support. Cerené was unaware
that she was the only one who knew what had happened to Fable in the forest. "I
don't remember the forest quite clearly now," she finally said. "I
mean
,
it's a blurry memory."

"But
you told me about it," Cerené said. "You told me about the Spell of
Hearts."

Fable
wanted to choke herself now.
The Spell of Hearts.
That
was it.
The spell that had been roaming in her head for the
last hour.
Was she supposed to just blurt it out, not really knowing how
she'd learned it, or if it had dire consequences?

"Fable,"
the Beast said. "We don't have time. Do you know of a way to save us and
Shew?"

"Do
you know of a way to save Shew's heart from the evil Queen?" Cerené went
straight to the point.

"I
can save Shew's heart." Fable nodded, succumbing to the spell in her head.
Why did she have to hold such great responsibility in her hands?

"How?"
Cerené said. Everyone else was listening carefully.

"I
have to warn you of the heaviness of this kind of magic first." Fable was
talking with her heart. Most of what she was going to say wasn't coming from a
thought-processing mind. It was like someone else was talking for her,
the someone
she had been two centuries ago.
My name is
Gretel, and I will kick your ass.

***

"Spell
it out," Marmalade said. "Whatever incantation it is."

"It's
not like that," Fable said, fidgeting. "All of you have to
participate."

"I
don't like the sound of that," Jack murmured.

"I
know how to split Shew's heart among us so the Queen can't get it." These
were the hardest words Fable had ever said.

Is this
it? Is this the moment when Shew splits her heart among the Lost Seven? Really?
Fable's
head was boiling inside.
So Shew didn't do it herself. She wasn't even aware
it was done, as she was unconscious. Is that why she doesn't remember it? And
oh my, I am the one who suggested it?

"What?"
Jack grimaced. "Split her heart?"