The creature had an even better idea. He slipped up to one of the first-floor windows, looking around quickly to make sure no one was watching. Just twenty feet away was the forest, dark and quiet. No animals dared interrupt this monster’s concentration. He reached over his shoulder with one arm, grabbing one of the quills and plucking it. A quiet “Eep!” escaped his mouth … it would have been cute if the stupid thing wasn’t trying to kill me. And also if he wasn’t a giant hedgehog monster creature.
He used the sharp quill to draw a big circle on the glass. Through the window, I could see big steel filing cabinets and a small desk. The lights were out. Whoever this office belonged to was home, probably fast asleep.
The circle complete, Hans extended one claw and tapped on it. The glass fell in, landing on the floor inside the office with a loud crash. He flinched.
Yes! I thought. Thank you for being so stupid, hedgehog creature!
… But no one came to investigate the noise. The creature glanced around, wiggling its nose. He jumped up onto the narrow windowsill and slipped in through the hole, landing on the cluttered desk. I could hear voices coming from beyond the office door. The creature heard it too and quickly hurried to one corner of the dark room. His quills bristled. He opened his mouth and his big red tongue ran across a set of sharp teeth.
The voices passed. The creature stepped to the door, fumbling at the lock with his paws. He opened the door and peered into the bright hallway, looking left and then right. When the coast was clear, he darted out, slinking along the wall. His nose wrinkled at the clean hospital smell.
“Jan, can you bring me some extra gauze?” came a voice down the hall. The creature darted into the next room, pushing open the door with his shoulder. A hospital bed sat in one corner, protected by a thin white curtain. I could see the shadow of a small figure behind the curtain.
“Is that you, nurse?” came a boy’s voice.
The creature’s head turned in the direction of the boy.
“No!” my mind cried out. “Come get me! Come find me instead!”
“Nurse?” the boy called again.
The creature took a step toward the boy. Cool air began blowing out of the vent near the ceiling.
“No!” my mind cried out.
The creature stopped. His nose wrinkled. He looked up, then back at the door. His furry black nose twitched again and I had a sudden realization: he could smell me. He had my scent now.
Wake up, Alice!
He barged out of the room, throwing open the door and knocking over a blonde nurse in the hallway. She landed hard on the tiled floor, and before she could gather herself, we were already at the staircase at the end of the hall. The creature took the stairs two at a time, huffing and puffing, the quills on his back rising and falling with each breath. He growled a low, determined growl. He was on a mission now. No one would get in his way.
Oh gawd, I thought … what if my parents are in the room?
Wake up, Alice!
At the next floor, the creature pawed at the door handle, pulling it open. The hallway was empty and quiet. An empty white gurney sat next to the wall between two of the rooms. I was in one of these rooms. I was behind one of these closed doors.
… And the creature knew exactly which one. He moved quickly down the hall, wrinkling his nose. One of the overhead lights blinked on and off. The creature looked up at it before continuing down the hall. He stopped at room 224 and inhaled through his nose.
His paw pushed on the door, opening it slowly. The room was dark, save for a small reading lamp hanging over the bed. There was no one else in the room—only little old me, all tucked in under the white hospital covers. Next to the bed stood a barrage of electronic monitoring devices, all of them turned off. That was a good thing. If I wasn’t hooked up to all those gizmos monitoring my heart and blood pressure and everything else, then maybe I was just asleep. Maybe they hadn’t knocked me out with any drugs. Either way, I needed to wake up.
Wake up, Alice! Otherwise, you’re gonna be this monster’s dinner!
The creature stalked closer, wiggling his claws. I could see the drool slipping out from his mouth. He snarled, teeth glistening. His quills shuddered like a wave running down his back. On the bed, I could see my chest rising and falling quickly. Beads of sweat broke out on my forehead.
He took another step closer, then crouched, ready to jump. The muscles in his thick furry gray legs tensed.
Wake up! Wake up wake up wake up wake up wake up wake up wake up wake up wake up!
Suddenly, I could hear myself. The entire scene seemed to shift into sharper focus. I was awake! I could feel the sweat on my forehead. I could smell the monster and unmistakable hospital scent, too. I blinked rapidly, breathing deeply …
… And then saw the monster lunge toward me.
There was no time to search for the magic pen. Instead, I lifted back my legs, bending them into my chest. The monster landed on my feet and I kicked with both legs as hard as I could. One of its claws tore through the hospital gown before it flew through the air, landing on the hard tiles on the other side of the room.
I jumped out of the bed. OK … think fast! I was wearing a hospital gown, and an unflattering one at that: it was open in the back with nothing but my skivvies to stave off the cool air conditioning. I used the fabric strips at the opening to tie the gown tightly closed around my rear.
So where were my pants? There, on the other side of the room … a little closet! The door was open and I could see my pants and shirt hung up on one of the coat hangers. I had to get to my pants.
The monster stood up, snarling.
“Did Grayle send you?” I asked. “How did you know I was here?”
The monster glanced at the door leading to the hallway, then looked at me and put one curved yellow claw to his mouth. A quiet “Shhhhhh” escaped his lips. Clever little jerk, I thought. He knew I wouldn’t call for help.
“OK, so what do I know about hedgehogs?” I asked aloud, dodging out of the way of the monster’s claws. He slashed at me again and again, backing me up next to my bed. Every time, I had to fight the urge to hit back—every time I deflected a blow, the monster arched his back and turned sideways, showing his back. I couldn’t fight back without getting stabbed by a dozen quills!
“You should let me have a couple hundred knives, too,” I told him, blocking another swipe. We were next to my bed now. He was pushing me back against the wall, his jaws snapping at me every time I tried to maneuver around him. He was terrifying, a good foot taller than me, his menacing black eyes staring at me with an intense hunger. I had to stay in control. I had to swallow my fear for the time being.
I had to think.
Hedgehogs … hedgehogs … we had a pet hedgehog in middle school, but he’d been far less terrifying than this thing. I blocked another blow, stepping back and feeling the heel of my bare foot touch the wall. Nowhere to go now.
The hedgehog’s name had been Sammy … was that of any help? No, of course not. Sammy got his head stuck in toilet paper tubes a lot … they were his favorite toy to play with …
The monster swiped again. This time I held out my arm and let him grab it. His paws gripped me so tight that it hurt, but at least his midsection was open now. I punched him hard in the stomach once, then twice. My fist bounced off his thick furry flesh; he grunted, taking a step back and swinging with his free paw. I ducked, punching again and again. He fell back another step, letting go of my arm. I ducked under the bed, sliding to the other side and jumping to my feet. I grabbed the bed, sliding it left before the creature could make his way around.
“You should have stayed home,” I said. “I’m a lot tougher than I look. And why aren’t you glowing at all?”
The monster tugged on his fur. A little cackle escaped his lips.
“Right. Not that I need you to glow to know you don’t belong here.”
The monster tried to step around the bed again. I pulled on the bed again. Its wheels made it ea
sy to move along the floor. The monster took another step. I wheeled the bed again.
“Just an uncomfortable mattress between you and your dinner,” I said. “Why don’t you just jump over it?”
The monster cocked its head. Apparently he hadn’t thought of anything so clever. He crouched down, then jumped. I rolled the bed backward so he landed on it and, with one massive heave-ho, rolled the bed—and Hans—to the other side of the room. His big legs wobbled on the bed, as if he was on a surfboard for the first time. When the bed hit the wall, the monster toppled to the floor.
I turned and grabbed my pants from the closet. The magic pen was still in the pocket! I uncapped it and turned back to the monster.
“Go back to the person who sent you,” I told him. “Or I’ll kill you right here. Give your master a message: I won’t go down so easily.”
The monster glanced at the pen. The quills on his back shuddered. He looked surprised, the fur between his little floppy ears standing up the way a cat’s might. He was breathing heavily; I wasn’t. I was just getting warmed up. The pen was steady in my hand even though deep down I was terrified. My strength felt like it was draining from my body. I was putting on a good show, but I wouldn’t be able to keep up this fight.
But he didn’t need to know that. All he needed to know was that the formerly bed-ridden hospital patient currently staring him down was wielding a nasty little pen that could kill him.
We stood staring at each other. My heart beat in my ears. Underneath that, I could hear voices in the hall.
Finally, the creature reached over his shoulder, plucking another quill. He ran its sharp tip along the window, popping out a big circle-shaped opening. He took one more look at me, narrowing his black eyes, then jumped right out the window.
My parents and the nurse came rushing in a moment later. Mom reached me first, taking me in her arms.
“You’re awake!” Mom exclaimed. “Oh, sweetie, we were so worried about you.”
“God, I’m glad we’re insured,” Dad said, hands on his hips. He surveyed the messy room.
“What happened?” Mom asked, clutching my cheeks. “Why are you holding a pen?”
“And why is there a hole in the window?” Dad asked.
“I don’t know … and I don’t know.”
The nurse gently grabbed my hand and pulled me back to the bed. “Sit down,” she directed. “You have a lot of antibiotics in your system right now.”
I sat on the bed.
“Look at this room,” Dad said. “Oh my god. Oh, darling, please tell me you didn’t slam the bed into the wall. Our insurance is good, but it’s not going to pay for that.”
I shrugged. “I … had a nightmare. I must have been thrashing around. Maybe I threw something through the window.”
“I can’t believe you’re awake,” Mom said. She grabbed my cheeks again. Her eyes were teary.
“Deep breaths,” the nurse said, sliding a cold stethoscope underneath my gown and pressing it to my chest. I breathed in and out. “Rapid heart rate. We need to get you back in bed and settled down.”
“What was it?” I asked. “What happened?”
“You collapsed in the kitchen,” Dad said. He was obsessed with the dent in the wall. “Oh man, they’re going to add this to the bill …”
“The kitchen?” That didn’t make any sense. I’d been in the forest.
“You had a bacterial infection,” said the nurse. “Probably caused by bad food, although the cuts on your arms suggest it might have gotten in through there somehow. It was a very rare strain. We had to use several broad-spectrum antibiotics to fight it.”
“Yay, antibiotics,” I said, raising my arms in a cheer. They felt sluggish. Whatever adrenaline had been running through my system was gone now and I felt a heavy weight pushing me back toward the plump little white pillow on the bed.
“You’ll need to take it easy,” the nurse said. “The bacteria released toxins into your system, which may leave you feeling weak for a few weeks while your body is on the rebound. Also, antibiotics can have some side-effects, especially if you use a lot of them. You might feel an upset tummy because the antibiotics sometimes result in the overgrowth of pathogenic bacteria …” she blushed. “Sorry. That probably just sounded a lot more complicated than it needed to be.”
“It did,” I said. I could feel the strength sapped from my body. I didn’t want to sleep, though. I felt unsafe now, as if Hans might just be lurking outside waiting for me to fall asleep again.
The nurse pulled the white blanket up to my neck. “Just get some sleep. Rest for the next few days and you’ll be fine.”
“Don’t worry,” Mom said, running a hand along the top of my head. “We’ll take you home in the morning.”
“We have to,” Dad added. “Our insurance won’t cover another night.”
“Thanks,” I murmured. For a brief moment, I fought sleep, afraid that something else might be coming for me. But when my eyes closed, for the first time all summer there were no weird or scary dreams.
Chapter 3
Briar was waiting in my room when we got home the next morning. His fur was standing on end and his normally clean vest was wrinkled. He kept himself calm until the door shut, then began hopping up and down excitedly.
“I can’t believe you’re alive!” he exclaimed.
“Oh, gee, thanks for the encouragement,” I said with a smile. “I honestly don’t remember much of what happened.”
Briar filled me in on the details in the sort of roundabout way he was most comfortable with. There were plenty of digressions and side-stories totally not related to what happened, but that was Briar for you. I caught the gist of it, though: he carried me home, then staged a fall to get my parents to notice me.
When he was done, his paws reached for his vest, clutching it nervously. Well, that would explain the wrinkles, I thought.
“Thank you for saving me,” I said.
Briar waved it away with a flick of his paw. “Just doing my job.”
I sat down on the bed, thinking. “OK, so this Grayle guy probably sent the hedgehog monster our way. Probably. I hope. I hope there aren’t multiple Corrupted sending out assassins to kill me.”
“Agreed. One is enough.” Briar’s paws found his vest again.
“Give me that,” I said, pointing to his vest. “It’s all wrinkled. Let me go iron it quick.”
“But … but I’d be half-naked!”
I rolled my eyes. “You’re a rabbit. What would I see? A furry chest?”
Briar raised his little pink nose high into the air. “I have my scruples.”
“Your scruples aren’t visible underneath your fur,” I said wryly. My hands found my hair. It felt greasy and unwashed. Totally unbecoming, that was for sure. “Gawd, I need a shower. Give me your vest so I can iron it.”
Briar undid one button. His whiskers twitched. “If you would be so kind as to turn your head.”
“Oh come on!” I exclaimed, spinning around. “This is a bit much. You have fur, for crying out loud.” The vest landed on my head. I grabbed it, along with clean clothes from the closet.
I took my time in the shower, toweled off, then pulled my hair into a perfectly disheveled knot at the nape of my neck. After a bit of makeup and a fresh set of clothes, I was feeling like myself again. I stared at my outfit in the mirror. Violet v-neck shirt with frilly short sleeves that just screamed “summer.” My canvas sneakers with a pretty floral print were stylish yet practical enough to ensure I’d be prepared, if needed, to kick some serious Corrupted butt. Khaki shorts with a cute scalloped hem and of course a clear mark along one pocket where the magic pen was. Maybe storing the pen in a hand purse wasn’t such a bad idea. Then at least I could wear my amazing new dress once in a while. But I could be such a bonehead sometimes … what if I forgot the purse somewhere? How would I find it?
I went downstairs, looking around for my parents. They were already gone, no doubt on another golf outing. Apparently they
were pretty confident in the medicine I got at the hospital. Nope, no need to sit around and nurse poor Alice back to health, I guess. Not even a glass of white soda and a plate of crackers, my favorite meal whenever I was sick as a child.
Well, more power to them. Just one more reason growing up sometimes stinks: no more getting babied when you’re not feeling well.
I went into the basement. I hadn’t actually been in any basement since that fateful night at Edward’s house. I didn’t like to think about him or the skeletons, and quite frankly I was more than happy to let Mom do my laundry whenever possible. Our basement was dark and small, with just two rooms. Both had concrete floors. One room had a rug and a treadmill and small tube TV sitting on an old end table. The other room had the washer and drier and an ironing board.
I put the vest on the stand and turned on the iron. While it was heating up, I ran a variety of scenarios through my mind. What if I just barged my way into Grayle Tower? What if I snuck in and killed all three of those pesky dwarfs? What if the hedgehog started chasing my parents around the golf course to get back at me?
The last one was a bit of a stretch. So far, the Corrupted seemed more than happy to focus all of their energy on me, and I was willing to bet that was only going to get worse once the hedgehog gave my message to the dwarfs. How far were they willing to go to ruin my life? It was a question I needed answered.
“What if the Corrupted go after my family?” I asked Briar when I returned upstairs.
He made me turn around while he put his vest back on. “Well, only the Grayles truly know who you are, and even then they might have simply guessed by sending the hedgehog after the most obvious suspect. You may turn around, and I thank you. Ah, there’s nothing quite like a warm piece of clothing.”
I turned. “You didn’t answer my question.”
“Yes. Well. I must confess, most of the heroes I’ve worked with haven’t had such wonderful encumbrances.”
The Grimm Chronicles, Vol. 1 Page 25
