The Grimm Chronicles, Vol.1 (31 page)

“Or kill you.”

Seth took a shaky breath. “Oh man, this is so crazy. I mean, why do they want
you
? And how did they figure out how to make subliminal messages
work
in the first place?”

I fell back on my bed. “Because they’re evil.”

“We should go to the police,” he offered. “Yeah. Yeah, dude! That’s such a good idea. Alice, that’s like, the best idea ever. We just go to the cops and show them this.”

“Oh perfect!” I said, sitting up. I stared at him with wide eyes. “And then after you break into the game and it fries their computer just like it did to mine, the two of us can spend the night in jail!”

“Alice, this is some serious stuff. There’s nothing else we can do.”

“Oh yes there is.” I nodded to the two tickets.

He looked at them, then at me. Then back at them. He narrowed his eyes, reading the address. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

“I can make sure you’re safe,” I said. “And we won’t get caught.”

“Alice, I’m just a dude!” he exclaimed. “I don’t actually know much about what I’m doing. We don’t even know, like, where the server room is!”

I reached over and opened the top drawer of the desk. Briar’s drawer, as I liked to call it now. On the top of a stack of folders containing who-knows-what sat the floor plan for Grayle Tower.

Seth’s eyes widened. “Holy crap.”

“One page per floor,” I said, setting the stack beside the laptop. “Find us the server room and I’ll do the rest.”

“This is insane,” he mumbled, grabbing the paper. He began shuffling through each floor. “This is insane … this is insane … got it! It’s on the thirteenth floor. Huh.”

“What is it? Are you superstitious?”

He shook his head. “Not
me
. Most office buildings skip the number 13 for good luck. They have a twelfth floor and then the next floor is the fourteenth. This is weird.” He studied the floor plan. “I have no idea what any of these lines mean. I’ve never seen a floor plan. Why is it all in blue?”

“I don’t know,” I confessed. I glanced around, expecting Briar to magically appear and explain it all to us. But of course he wouldn’t. He knew better than to reveal himself and risk blowing my cover.

So what was I going to do about Seth?

“There’s no way we can figure this out,” he mumbled, turning the floor diagrams around again and again.

“Look,” I said. “I
need
you to help me with this. If we don’t stop these Corrupt—I mean, these
people
, they’re going to keep using this game to control people’s minds. And no one’s going to figure it out!”

“Man oh man,” Seth said. “I’m so freaked out I’m sweating. Give me a pillow.”

I tossed him a pillow. He got off the chair and stretched out on the floor, bundling the pillow under his head.

“What are you doing?” I asked.

“I’m going to sleep,” he said. “If we’re going to risk our lives infiltrating an evil corporation tomorrow, I’m going to need to be well-rested.”

I smiled. “We’re going to pull this off. I promise.”

“I hope you’re right,” Seth murmured.

I turned off the lights, getting back into bed. Seth began snoring almost immediately, as if he was sawing logs on the floor. The house was quiet. My parents were in their bedroom, and outside an owl called out from one of the maple trees in the forest behind the house.

Get up, urged a voice in my head. Go downstairs. Make sure the house is secure.

I went downstairs, searching the darkness for signs of life. I felt on edge, as if there was some danger lurking behind the couch, behind the window drapes, underneath the kitchen table. I checked the locks on the front and back door. The back door was unlocked. It was always unlocked but it felt different now. Anything could have come in here. That horrible hedgehog creature could have snuck in. He could have killed my parents and Seth before I even woke up.

“Trouble?”

I turned. Briar was standing in the doorway to the kitchen. He looked strange in the darkness. Shadows covered his furry flat face, and his buckteeth were sticking out just a bit. He looked downright sinister, and I felt a twang of hurt: he was, technically, a Corrupted. He could turn evil just like the others, even though it was his sworn duty to help me.

“I wish I was a superhero,” I whispered.

Briar nodded, taking a seat at the kitchen table. “You are certainly not the first hero to voice such a desire. Unfortunately, we must rely on brains rather than brawn. Lucky for you, you’re not alone.”

I went into the fridge and poured Briar a glass of milk.

“Thank you so much,” he said, grabbing the glass with both paws and taking a long gulp.

“How did you get the tickets to the fundraiser gala?” I asked quietly.

Briar wiped the stray milk from his face with one furry arm. “Well, now that’s
quite
a story. It all began a good forty years ago …”

“Forty years ago? Just give me the shortened version so I can get some sleep.”

“Ah, right then. Let’s see … well, I do confess short stories are hardly my forte. I prefer a good yarn that unspools slowly so that my listener may enjoy the many creative nuances at my disposal …”

“You met a guy who owed you a favor and he got you the tickets?” I guessed.

Briar’s whiskers twitched. “I suppose that is the gist of it. But your storytelling skills leave something to be desired. There was no drama! There was no passion! No conflict! I’ll have you know that the very man who owed me a favor—as you so simply put it—just so happens to have been a protégé of the great Houdini.”

My heart raced. “I love Houdini!” I whispered harshly. “Why didn’t you tell me any of this?”

“Ahem.” Briar took another sip of his milk, taking his sweet time. “I didn’t know you loved Houdini, for starters. And secondly, I was about to spin you a yarn comparable to the Greek classics. The story itself would have dropped your jaw and drawn applause. I dare say, it was an Oscar-worthy tale.”

I crossed my arms. “A story about a guy giving you two tickets to a fundraiser gala?”

“Yes.”

“Well, thank you anyway, but I’m not convinced.” I shivered, glancing at the kitchen door that led to the backyard. Beyond the backyard was the forest and beyond that: who knew? “What’s waiting out there?” I asked quietly.

“A great many things,” Briar said.

“The dwarfs could come for Seth. Or they could kill him tomorrow night.”

“They could. This is a danger and I don’t recommend it.”

“It’s the only way,” I said. “Unless you know how to write code.”

“I fear I’m not familiar.”

I turned back to him. “Then we have no choice. Every day that passes is another chance for them to get at me with that stupid phone game. Everyone’s playing it. The dwarfs can mind-control anyone they want. They can do anything they want and get away with it.”

Briar nodded. “I do fear that this is …”

He paused. I waited. The only light was coming in through the window over the sink. Moonlight. Cold and blue.

“Well, finish your sentence,” I said finally.

Briar sighed. “I know little about electronic devices, but I understand the ramifications of the dwarfs’ deeds. The dwarfs have always been dangerous. I dare say they are more dangerous now. Perhaps the most dangerous Corrupted I’ve ever come across.”

“What about Death?” I asked.

Briar shook his head. “Death is nothing more than a vessel that moves from victim to victim. Death does what the Brothers Grimm wrote it to do. These three dwarfs have a strong desire to not just survive, but
thrive
in the world of mortals. They will defend that at all costs, no matter who they end up killing. Which is why, perhaps, we should consider reaching an agreement with them …”

“What?” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “Are you insane? Deal with the dwarfs? No way. We’re ending it tomorrow night. Seth has to get inside that server room no matter what. He’s the only person who knows how to delete that code.”

“I assume you’re telling me all of this because you want me in there as well, bravely taking command in the heat of battle and devising all manner of schemes to ensure victory.”

I grinned. “I was kind of hoping you’d be willing to crawl back in the ventilation system.”

Briar’s ears dropped.

Chapter 7

“I can’t believe we’re doing this,” Seth said. He parked the car in a parking structure two blocks away from Grayle Tower. It was seven o’clock, thirty minutes after the fundraiser gala officially began. During our afternoon of preparation, we’d decided that arriving at the gala “fashionably late” would make it easier for us to blend in with the crowd. Showing up on time carried the dangerous risk of being the first to show up, meaning we might potentially be greeted by the hosts.

Before I was ready to kill them.

Seth got out of his car and adjusted his bowtie. “This thing’s choking me.”

“It looks good, though,” I said. I adjusted my blue maxi dress, kicking shut Seth’s passenger door. It was the only way to close the old thing.

“Ditto yours,” Seth said. “It looks a lot more comfortable than my outfit.” He was wearing a near-perfect suit combo we’d picked up at the local Goodwill. The black pants didn’t perfectly match the slightly less black jacket, but it was close enough.

“We could switch,” I offered with a sly wink. “You’ve got the figure to pull off this dress, too.”

He pretended to think about it, then shook his head.

“Good. I’ve been waiting to wear this ever since I bought it.” I looked inside my glittery black evening bag for the fountain pen. Check. There was nothing else inside the purse, another Goodwill score, so I could ditch it if necessary. On my feet, thanks to the twin miracles of online shopping and free overnight shipping, were a pair of new black suede booties with studded heels... maybe not the optimal footwear for kicking Corrupted butt, but at least I knew they wouldn’t go flying off my feet at an inopportune moment. And they
did
look pretty awesome with the dress. As did a pair of black rhinestone earrings that had belonged to my great-grandmother. I hadn’t worn them since playing dress-up as a child.

I also had a vial of very special liquid hanging from a silver chain around my neck. The strange liquid had been given to me by a Corrupted who’d been tasked with giving me a special message from a previous hero. Remember him? The one living by the beach who wanted me to kill him? The message had been a warning: avoid Death. He’d also said a drop from this vial was capable of saving someone’s life. I just hoped I didn’t need to use it tonight.

“How’s my hair?” Seth asked.

I examined his hair. He’d trimmed his sideburns and dyed his hair a dark black. I’d also gone over his cheeks with a little makeup to hide his pimples. “It’s fine. You totally don’t even look like the old Seth.” I gently touched my hair, which was now a few inches shorter. “How’s
my
hair?”

Seth eyed it with a mixture of suspicion and malice. “Weird. It’s really,
really
blonde. And the glasses make you look like a nerd.”

I ran a hand through my hair. It felt damaged and broken. Well, hair dye will do that for you. Thank god my parents had decided to shoot 18 holes of golf instead of nine so they wouldn’t see me during the afternoon. I could deal with their questions tomorrow, once I had some time to think up a plausible lie.

“Heh,” I laughed as we walked down the empty parking structure ramp.

“What is it?”

“I was just thinking about how I’m going to explain this new hair color to my parents tomorrow. I’m pretty optimistic it’s the
only
thing I’ll have to explain to them, despite the incredibly slim odds we’ll be able to actually pull this off.”

He shrugged. “You’ve always been pretty optimistic. Me? I’m more or less expecting to die here tonight. Or be arrested. If the cops come, I have every intention of crying like a baby.”

“We’re going to be fine,” I said. Even I didn’t fully believe it, but the words came out easily, like this was all old hat. It wasn’t. I didn’t even want to know what was going to happen when we got inside.

Think like Briar, the voice inside my head told me. Briar could talk his way into the server room. He could trick his way in there, too, if only he wasn’t a giant talking rabbit.

Speaking of which …

“Remember: we need to go in through the parking structure,” I told Seth.

“Why is that again?”

We stepped out onto the sidewalk. Even at night it was still warm out, and it smelled like rain might be coming in. “Because I need to make sure our escape route is safe.”

Next door, dozens of people were taking advantage of an Italian restaurant’s outdoor seating area. The circular wooden tables ran right up against the sidewalk, and there more than a few people ignoring their dining company in favor of their smartphones.

Here it was: the test.

“Go slow,” I told Seth. I steeled myself, then turned to the dining patrons. Some of them looked up, glancing curiously at the both of us and examining our outfits. A couple of the younger-looking guys gave my dress a much-appreciated once-over. I smiled.

No one stared. No one lifted their smartphones and aimed the cameras at me or at Seth.

“We’re officially in ghost mode,” I murmured. Although if there was one moment when I actually wanted my picture taken, it was
now
.  The old earrings, new dress, fierce shoes, and a dark wine-colored lip stain combined into something far more glamorous than my usual attire. Even with the dated Goodwill glasses and bottle-blonde hair, I still thought I pulled off the whole look pretty well.

“Wonderful,” Seth said. “Hooray for our team.”

We walked across the street. I could see Grayle Tower a block ahead, looming over Milwaukee like a cavity-stricken incisor. Through the windows on the top floor, I could see lights on. Were the dwarfs in there, or would they be downstairs, greeting donors and pretending they weren’t Corrupted?

We passed another bar. I looked inside, sure that there would be a few trendy folks with their cell phones out. A few people who’d no doubt downloaded that stupid
Castle Cats
game. If they had, none of them recognized me. Two young men stopped playing darts to glance at me. Through the windows on the other side of the entrance, a table full of young college-aged girls with identical short-banged haircuts examined me with a bored look while they sipped their clear drinks.

The disguise was working. We were going to go inside Grayle Tower totally undercover. Just the fact that we’d outsmarted the dwarfs so far made me feel excited. All three of them thought they were so freaking clever. But I had something they didn’t have:

A rabbit.

“Look at them,” Seth said when we reached the next corner. He nodded to his left, across the street. There were a dozen or so young people standing outside of Zed’s Burgers, chatting and playing on their smartphones. Eight of them were eating
Carameltastic
candy bars. “Zombies, man. Just eating whatever the little messages inside their phones tells them to eat. It’s pathetic, dude.”

I nudged him, nodding to the
Carameltastic
candy bar he was in the process of unwrapping. He looked at it, did a double-take, and threw it in the trash can beside the traffic light.

“Gross! I must have bought it at the drug store when I bought our hair dye. Holy crap, I don’t even
remember
buying it. It’s like I was totally brainwashed.”

I put a hand on his back, urging him across the street. “After tonight, no one’s going to ever have that problem again.”

He shook his head, looking up at Grayle Tower. “This place is huge. I feel like I’m going to pee my pants.”

“Just breathe,” I said.

We walked to the ramp leading to the underground parking structure. Just as Briar had predicted, there were two middle-aged men wearing tuxes standing by the entrance. A white sign beside them read “Valet Parking.”

“Wait,” Seth said, grabbing my arm. His hand was sweaty and hot. “OK. I’ve been thinking about this. Even if I do manage to delete the nasty let’s-control-the-world code, they could just put it back in again at some point.”

I shook my head. “You let me deal with that.”

“Oh. OK. Just like that, huh?”

I smiled. “Just like that.”

“OK, wait again,” he said, pulling me again before I could take a step. “What if I told you I’m totally scared witless right now?”

I thought about it for a moment. “I’d say that’s good. You should be scared in a moment like this. I’m scared, too. But we need to conquer that for the time being because what’s happening inside this building is …
wrong
.”

We walked up to the valets, who gave us a suspicious look. “We’re ah … here,” Seth said, reaching into his pocket and flashing the tickets. “So we’re just, like, I mean we need something …”

“I forgot something in my car,” I told the valet, flashing a smile. “It’s a lady thing.”

The valet glanced at the tickets in Seth’s shaky hand, then gave a little nod. We walked into the dark garage, making our way farther and farther down the ramp, stopping beside a flashy Cadillac as another valet parked a red Corvette and got out, making his way upstairs. He gave us a quick look but didn’t seem concerned.

“Looks like a lot of people are already here,” I said quietly. “I think we’re in good shape.”

“Dudette, whatever. I bet those valets are calling the police right now.”

I grabbed Seth’s arm, pulling him farther down the ramp. “We haven’t even broken any laws yet! We’re here to enjoy the fundraiser gala. We have real tickets. What are they going to do … kick us out of a fundraiser? We’ll throw a stink.”

“Yeah … I guess you’re right.” Seth snorted. “Man, it’s just like these Grayle guys to throw a benefit. I bet the reporters here are gonna write it up all nice and pretty in the paper tomorrow. And then the same guys brainwashing everyone across the country look like just the nicest sons of guns. Look! They donated a thousand dollars to the museum. Big deal. I donated five bucks once and that’s waaaaaaay more money if you think about it. Because I’m poor.”

“When did you donate five dollars?” I asked.

“Pish-posh. Don’t sound so surprised. I like dinosaurs. I like the museum. I think it’s cool. So I go there sometimes. Used to go sometimes with Trish, before she got all sick of it. ‘Ugh! There’s a bug on the wall.’ No, Trish, it’s plastic. This is the rainforest exhibit. Rainforests are full of strange, frightening bugs, Trish.”

I laughed. “Sounds like Trish all right.”

We stopped at the strange door at the bottom of the ramp. I tried the handle.

Locked. Just as Briar had suspected.

“OK, plan’s over,” Seth said, throwing his hands up in the air. “Let’s go home and call in the Army or something.”

“Just hold on,” I said, pulling my fountain pen from my purse. “Um, stand behind me and keep an eye out.”

“Sure, sure.” He turned. “Later, when the police ask, I can honestly say I didn’t see Alice Goodenough picking a lock.”

I used the pen to draw a cut right through the padlock, then pulled it apart and tossed it on the ground. Another trick Briar taught me. I opened the door and gave a little nod, keeping it open long enough for Invisible Briar to slip through. He was in full stealth mode, invisible even to me so that he didn’t accidentally reveal himself to anyone else.

I felt a gentle rush of air, then a soft tap of his padded foot on the concrete.

Our signal.

Yeah, we’re pretty cool.

“Did you hear something?” Seth asked.

“Just the wind,” I answered, shutting the door again. “Come on. We have a gala to attend.”

We made our way back up the ramp, to the top floor where a little sandwichboard sign pointed us in the direction of the double doors that led inside the building. We walked inside and made our way down a small hallway lined with potted dark green ferns. It smelled like expensive perfume.

“Getting nervous now,” Seth said. “Getting nervous …”

“Just breathe,” I said. I followed my own advice, pressing my fingers on the frosted glass door with the big “G” of the Grayle Incorporated logo printed on it. I pushed on the door.

Nothing happened.

“You have to pull,” Seth said.

“Right.” I grabbed the metal handle and pulled the door open. Inside the main lobby, a man in a tux led us down the hall, past four elevators with brass-colored doors, past the bathrooms where a woman wearing a low-cut red dress was bending over, adjusting her high heel. Seth snuck a peek at her cleavage and I gave him a gentle elbow to the ribs.

We walked through another pair of frosted glass doors at the end of the hall.

… Into one of the grandest atriums I’ve ever seen. The room was large, filled with circular high tables holding a menagerie of boozy-looking drinks. A small bar sat in the far corner with two male bartenders in crisp white shirts and black vests were taking orders and shaking their metal mixer thingies. On the opposite wall was a grand piano. A man was sitting at it, very gently playing a soothing classical tune.

The windows on the far end of the atrium were two stories tall, separated by marble pillars that I assumed were mainly for look. Outside, you could see the courtyard and the fountain.