Grim Hill: Carnival of Secrets

by Linda DeMeulemeester

I didn’t stop running until I reached the forested Grim Hill. The shadows on the hill didn’t offer the refreshing shade of a tree on a hot day. Instead, the shade felt like a creeping cold that could set your teeth to chattering if you lingered there for long.

  Not that anybody did – as soon as you stepped onto one of the paths on Grim Hill, it was as if you’d stepped inside a haunted house. Everything about the place drove even the calmest mind into a panic. I had to force myself up a narrow, leaf strewn path until I stood under the main copse of trees. The breeze moving through the branches sounded like ghostly whispers. My hair prickled the nape of my neck, and now it was as if a whole bag of ice cubes was sliding around my back.

  Beside me, the sweeping branches of a fir tree parted. I jumped like the scaredy-cat Sookie always accused me of being.

  CHAPTER 2 Kept in the Dark

  Jasper peered out from behind the tree.

  “You scared me to death, Jasper. What are you doing?”

  Jasper crept out. “Sorry, Cat. I didn’t mean to scare you, but you have to admit that it is spooky here. I wanted to be able to spot someone or … something before I was spotted.”

  “Why didn’t you meet me at school?”

  Jasper only shook his head. “I couldn’t risk missing her. Besides, you have enough worries.” Jasper continued to talk in a low voice. “I wasn’t going to tell you if there was bad news.”

  “Yeah, right, like that would work.” I crossed my arms. Jasper managed a weak smile. “You know you can’t keep me from getting to the bottom of this. There’s no chance I’d just sit around and wait until you came down from this hill.”

  I went over and stood beside Jasper. I had to admit it was brave of Jasper to wait here alone for our fairy friend, Lea. I hated this place, but this spot on the hill was exactly where Lea had appeared that fateful day. That’s when I’d discovered all the terrible things that had happened after Sookie had opened the door to Fairy. Lea had said that there might be a way to close the door and undo the magic. But she’d slipped away again, telling us she’d return the third week of Lamas.

  “So you think today’s the day?” I said nervously. “Um, what exactly is Lamas, anyways?”

  “Lamas is called Lughnasa on the Celtic calendar,” said Jasper, who’d done plenty of research on the Celts since we’d learned of the dangers that lurked on Grim Hill. “The Celts believed it was a time when three was an important number. It was the meeting of two opposites at a crossroads – a three-way intersection. Ancient Celtic people made a lot of offerings to fairy spirits during the Lamas festival.”

  The temperature felt as if it had dropped a few more degrees, and I shivered. I guess it wasn’t totally fair that I’d left most of the research to Jasper, but despite his cool jock image, he was a sworn bookworm. Suddenly, something occurred to me. I wasn’t a scholar like Jasper, but I’d had enough brushes with Fairy to figure out a few things myself.

  “Opposites meeting at a crossroads – do you think that means that opposites like the Otherworld and the human world might overlap on a certain date … such as Lamas?”

  Jasper nodded. “That’s what I was thinking,” he said. I understood all too well that at certain times of the year the veil separating our world and Fairy became thin. Trouble usually followed. “So if the Celtic people left out a lot of gifts for fairies, there had to be a reason. They’d have been worried …”

  Jasper checked over his shoulder and spoke in an even quieter whisper. “During this time Fairy is powerful, so it’s a terrible time to anger the fairy world. During Lamas, the Celts especially feared fairy wrath.”

  “Right. And we’re about to kick the wasps’ nest.”

  “Shh, Cat.” Jasper gestured to the trees. Surely the trees didn’t have ears. Could my poor friend – who’d always solved problems with research and logic – be getting superstitious? I was about to say so, then I caught myself. We’d found out the hard way that there was a lot of truth behind silly superstitions. For once I clamped my mouth shut.

  Pine needles crunched beneath us as we sat down to wait on the chilly ground. I huddled my knees to my chin and we lapsed into an uneasy silence. As the minutes passed, I felt my spirits sinking, and I began wondering if Lea would even appear. Then a worse thought popped into my head. What if it wasn’t Lea who was coming? What if it was her treacherous Aunt Bea, instead – a wicked banshee who’d tried to murder Jasper?

  “What if Lea doesn’t show up,” Jasper whispered as if he was reading my mind. “What if we never see her again?”

  How odd that fear and doubt had begun unraveling our resolve at the same time. A haunted despair had been working its way into me since I got to Grim Hill. I wondered if I could even trust my own mind. Gulping, I said, “Pull out your feather and hold it, Jasper. I think there’s fairy magic weaving a spell in the air to keep outsiders away. It’s digging its claws into us.”

  We both clutched our feathers but while it seemed to keep the nastier thoughts at bay, my spirits kept sinking. I had to battle against it. “Lea will show up,” I declared, although my voice trembled. “Let’s talk about less worrisome things. Let’s pick a subject more cheerful.”

  For a few seconds Jasper remained silent. Then he said, “For the life of me, I can’t come up with a single happy thought.”

  He had a point, but that only convinced me we were falling deeper under a fairy spell. “Picture a brisk sunny day,” I began, “and the soccer field is crowded with spectators.” I closed my mind and imagined a brilliant blue sky – one not hidden by a canopy of shadowy trees. “The soccer ball soars across the field and drops right in front of your feet. You have the ball to yourself. You spin and realize there’s no one blocking your shot.” My voice grew stronger.

  “I see it,” muttered Jasper, who had clenched his eyes shut.

  “You raise your foot and you’ve got that feeling, the one where you just know that you’ll land the ball exactly where you aim.”

  “And the goalie isn’t covering the lower left corner of the net,” Jasper joined in. Actually, I’d been picturing a weak spot above the goalie’s head, but I could run with it.

  “You kick the ball and the crowd cheers and …” The feather heated up in my hands. I dropped it and let it dangle on its chain. Something was …

  “I don’t believe it. You two are smiling,” said a voice that reminded me of the ping of wind chimes. “I rushed here expecting that the cruel charms of Grim Hill would make you cower with fright until they forced you to turn away and run.”

  I opened my eyes and found myself staring at a girl with long, crimson hair: my friend, Lea – the sweetheart fairy. Although she’d been cursed to bring tragedy to any boy who fell under her charms, she was different than any other fairy we’d met. She had tried to fight her fate and be good and kind. And she’d come as promised – she’d come to help.

  The last of my doubts evaporated as she tossed her hair and placed her hands on her hips. My voice brimmed with hope when I asked, “You’re going to help us win Sookie back, right?”

  Lea’s green eyes glistened – she always looked sorrowful – but she managed a gentle smile. “My friends, I came here to warn you for your own safety that it would be best for you to move on and forget about your old lives. But finding the both of you cheerfully talking as you sit on Grim Hill heartens me. Perhaps you do have the courage to take on a perilous risk.”

  “Whatever it takes,” I said. “I’ll do anything to fix the harm I caused when I asked Sookie to use her magic to save us, and allowed her to open the door to Fairy.”

  “And I’m in too,” said Jasper with a gulp. “No matter what.”

  Jasper was a good friend who had helped me rescue Sookie time and again, but I couldn’t help but notice the way he looked at Lea. He’d lost his heart to her once, and even though he knew it would bring nothing but sorrow, he’d also do anything for her. I hoped he remembered that while Lea tried to be good, her aunt was as wicked as they came, and she wou
ldn’t think twice about killing Jasper.

  “I’m talking about unimaginable terror,” Lea warned us.

  “Don’t keep us in the dark any longer.” I urged her to get on with it before my nerves began to fray. “What is it that we must do?”

  Lea spoke in a conspiratorial voice so hushed Jasper and I had to move closer to hear her. “I’ve used my time away from you to discover where the Grimoire has been hidden since that day you destroyed the fairy school. My friends, we … we will have to steal back the Grimoire, Book of All Magic from Fairy.”

  A small gasp escaped my lips while Lea let that impossible task hang in the air for a moment, as if she wanted it to sink in before she continued. I shuddered, recalling how I’d once stood in front of the giant book that rested on a pedestal. I’d watched as the pages flipped on their own, revealing written recipes for the most horrifying enchantments – magic spells that sometimes called for human sacrifice!

  I swallowed, but the spit wouldn’t go down as my throat closed. Don’t show fear, I thought. I didn’t want Lea to change her mind, so I pasted a cocky smile on my face – one I’d copied from Clive. “I can handle it.” I managed to sound calm, although my heart raced.

  “There’s a slim chance that somewhere in that book will be a spell that will help you undo the dark enchantment in this town.” Then Lea bowed her head and said in a quavering voice, “I tried to think of another way, but the spell that is wrapped around this town has tentacles buried deeply throughout time and space.”

  “Stealing the book. That doesn’t sound so impossible.” I only stumbled a little when I added, “uh, if we can get reinforcements.” Turning to Jasper, I said, “We’ve always done best using teamwork.”

  “Zach and Clive are fast runners. So is Amarjeet. And Mia and Mitch can be lookouts,” said Jasper, already scheming.

  Nodding, I said, “We can do this. Let’s begin making plans like we would for a soccer tournament.”

  Frowning, Lea held out her hand. “Even if we capture the spell book, the chance that you will manage to open it is very slim, as it will require very potent magic.” Lea released a sorrowful sigh, and her voice caught when she said, “And the slimmest chance of all is that you will be able survive if something goes wrong. The power of that book is unimaginable.”

  Even though Lea’s words froze my blood, a glimmer of hope began unfolding in my chest, and a glimmer was better than no hope at all. Then there was a cackle from the branches above us.

  Lea let out a strangled gasp. “I have to go. I shall return here tomorrow at the same time.” There was rustling in the leaves and Lea’s eyes darted as she searched wildly from branch to branch. She said, “If I don’t show up, I fear it is you who will have to find me. And it won’t be your eyes that will see.”

  “What do you mean?” But Lea didn’t answer me. Instead she slipped through a thicket of hawthorn bushes, and before the leaves stopped quivering, she’d disappeared.

  “Why did she leave?” I protested. “She never told us where to find the Grimoire.”

  I kicked a rock in frustration and rattled out a list of complaints. “I thought the Grimoire was destroyed when the old school tumbled down. Do we have to hotwire a backhoe and start digging up Grim Hill? Do we need to find a way into Fairy? What was she talking about – ‘don’t use our eyes.’”

  “Cat, shh.” Jasper pointed to the branch above us.

  All of a sudden it seemed as if all the trees on the hill were listening. As I looked up into the dark branches, I saw the shimmer of a beady eye. A sooty crow perched on a low branch, cocking his head as if he had been trying to catch our every word. I didn’t like one bit how he was staring at me. The air on Grim Hill shifted and for a moment I couldn’t put my finger on what was wrong.

  After a few seconds, I realized all the birds had gone silent, and the mournful breeze that had stirred the leaves had stopped dead.

  “Awwwk!” the crow broke the silence loudly, making us flinch and break out in goosebumps. He made another strangled caw, and I swear it sounded like he was cackling. Then he arched his inky wings and took off.

  “Let’s get out of here,” I said, and Jasper quickly agreed.

  We raced down the path to the park as we tried to put as much distance as we could between us and Grim Hill. Luckily, those kids who had been skipping rope and singing their nasty Sookie song were gone. The jump rope lay abandoned like a snake waiting in the grass. We cut through the park to the baseball diamond, but the field was eerily quiet. We stopped on the diamond to catch our breath.

  Our friends had already left. The sun was dipping in the horizon, and I realized we’d been on Grim Hill for a long time. No wonder my stomach rattled against my rib cage from hunger pains.

  Even with all that was wrong, when I gazed across the grassy field my hand itched to wear a baseball glove. If only I could channel all my frustration into swinging a bat and pounding a ball across that field. I missed summer baseball. I missed soccer. And while a month ago I would have hardly thought it possible, I missed Sookie most.

  “Why did Lea rush off?” I asked. “Do you think she was in danger?”

  “Definitely,” said Jasper.

  “What if she doesn’t show up tomorrow?” I worried a pile of pebbles on the tip of my sneaker. “And if something goes wrong, how are we supposed to help her?”

  Jasper pushed his glasses up on his head, which signaled he was trying to figure things out. His glasses weren’t taped together anymore – he’d got new snappy black frames. But he hadn’t gone back to the contact lenses he used to wear before we’d become lost in Headless Valley. All the soot and ash from the burning cabin had badly irritated his eyes.

  Slowly, Jasper said, “Lea wouldn’t have told us to find her in that puzzling way if she didn’t think we could figure it out.”

  “Well,” I said. “You’re the brainiac. Solve it.”

  Jasper shrugged his shoulders.

  Just great. If he didn’t understand what Lea had meant, how was I supposed to? So I was still in the dark. All we could hope for was that Lea would show up. I didn’t like putting all my eggs in one basket. That never worked out for the best.

  There was something else that Lea had said which was bothering me. “Jasper, you know how Lea told us there was only a slim chance we could undo the spell because we’d need strong magic.”

  “Ye … ah …”

  By the grim expression on Jasper’s face, he’d guessed where I was going with this. And he didn’t like it any more than I did.

  Jasper and I exchanged an anguished look. I shivered even though I was standing in direct sunlight. “I don’t see another way …” I began.

  Jasper shook his head. “Don’t say it …”

  I drew in a breath and released my words in a rush to get it over with. “We have to get someone with powerful magic to help us. We have to somehow convince a witch to help us.”

  Jasper was shaking his head, “Don’t say it, Cat.”

  “We have to get the help of … Sookie.”

  CHAPTER 3 Witch House?

  Jasper sighed. “We could never ask Sookie for help. She doesn’t care a stitch about us anymore, or about the evil that’s hanging over this town like a thunder cloud …or even about what’s happened to her.”

  I began walking toward the house where Lea used to live – it was a haunted place. How I hated it there, but this was the home where Sookie had chosen to live when she’d returned from Fairy. I admit I was relieved when Jasper followed. The last thing I wanted was to visit Sookie alone.

  “Once we get the Grimoire in our possession, we’ll need a powerful magician to unlock it. Last time I checked, that could mean only one person.” I waited a second before saying in a much softer voice, “… even if she’s, well, changed.”

  “That’s an understatement.”

  Jasper was right about that. I recalled that wicked day, the worst one of my life, worse even than the day my parents had split up, when I discov
ered Sookie had turned into an evil witch. It was hard to believe it had only been a few weeks since Sookie had sacrificed herself so she could rescue us from Headless Valley. The price she’d paid had been huge. Maybe there was still some of that goodness in her – if I could only help her find it again. Except I knew in my heart that helping us was something she really didn’t want to do.

  Sookie seemed to have forgotten that she had saved us. This was our family fate: one sister would become a fairy fighter and the other an awful witch. Now Sookie was my sworn enemy, and I had to admit I was as afraid of her as everyone else in town. Even though she was my sister, if I made her angry – which was pretty easy for me to do – she might cast a spell on me. Then how would I fix things?

  “If I can only convince her to work with us and not against us,” I began saying to Jasper, but an annoying voice whispered in my head, You’re not the big sister any more. How exactly will you tell her what to do?

  Jasper shrugged. “You’re right, I guess. There’s not much of a choice. We will need to try to get her magic.”

  So we were off to see the wicked witch. I sure hoped we’d come through it without being changed into frogs or something.

  Jasper and I headed for the dilapidated house at the foot of Grim Hill where Sookie now lived – the crumbling cottage that Bea and Lea used to live in. That house lurked on the edge of a graveyard and Grim Hill, where the trees cast dark shadows no matter how high the sun was in the sky. Not to mention, the house was surrounded by the ghosts of the dead.

  I hated graveyards. As we approached the rotting house, the temperature kept dropping until we stood beneath the chilling shadow of Grim Hill. Even though it was summer, a bitter breeze tossed around dried leaves on the front path that uncurled like a horrible grey tongue and spoke in crackling whispers. Window shutters rattled as if the house was giving us sly winks, and a huge thicket of brambles had overtaken the fence, so it looked like spiny fingers reached through the pickets. The sinister front door looked like a gaping mouth waiting to swallow us up.