Snow White Sorrow (The Grimm Diaries)

by Cameron Jace

  “How do you like it now?” Big Bad said. “I don’t mind killing you before I kill the Crumblewoods.”

  “Do something,” Loki said.

  Axel’s lips crinkled as he stood still. “I love you Loki, but I can only save one person. I love my sister, Sorry,” he hugged Fable.

  “You didn’t save her, you coward!” Loki snapped. “I did.”

  “Actually, I dropped her,” Big Bad laughed. “None of you losers saved the lousy witch.”

  “Wait, Loki,” Fable said, standing at the edge of the Dream Temple. “I have an idea.”

  Fable knelt down, and reached for the Alicorn and pulled it from Snow White’s heart.

  “Are you out of your mind?” Axel screamed, staring at the vampire princess.

  “Don’t—“Loki managed to say from under Big Bad’s arm. “She’ll kill us all!”

  It was too late. Fable had pulled out the Alicorn, and Snow White’s red eyes fluttered open.

  She took a moment to get her bearings, enough for everyone to take a step back. Then she stood up with her fangs drawn out, and anger pulsing through her veins. Loki wondered why she didn’t wake up so swiftly the first time they broke the glass.

  “I don’t understand this,” Axel said. “Vampires should die in the sunlight. Why doesn’t she die?”

  “Shut up,” Fable said.

  “No I won’t,” Axel said. “At least I want to say a couple of more words before I die.”

  “She won’t hurt us,” Fable said, staring at the vampire princess. The dark power of Snow White when she was angry fascinated Fable. She wondered if she could be as powerful as her one day. “Don’t you get it? She likes Loki. She won’t hurt us.”

  Snow White walked barefoot, and slowly, toward Big Bad as if he was her only enemy in the room. Big Bad dropped Loki to the floor, unable to avoid Snow White’s penetrating eyes.

  Loki couldn’t take his eyes off her, too. Fable’s decision of removing the Alicorn was surprisingly the right thing to do.

  “You don’t want to do this,” Big Bad tried to convince Snow White.

  Like always, Snow White didn’t say a word. She walked toward him slowly with blood dripping from her white dress. Whenever she was angry with someone, there was always blood dripping from her.

  “Does she always have blood on her dress?” Axel wondered. Fable cupped his mouth, watching the vampire princess do what Fable always wanted to.

  Suddenly, Big Bad’s face reddened and the bones in his body started cracking. It was as if something inside him was about to burst out. It reminded Loki of the same sounds he’d heard Big Bad produce yesterday. What was going on?

  Big Bad let out a painful moan, arching his back, and then he screamed with all his might:

  Awooo!

  Loki wondered why he did that; there was no way Big Bad was calling for the Bullyvards. He stepped over to protect Axel and Fable, preparing to run away.

  “It’s the call,” Axel said. “He is calling the Bullyvards to help him.”

  “If they come, they’re going to die today,” Loki said, picking up his bag.

  “Don’t you boys get it?” Fable was still observing tentatively.

  “What?” Loki said.

  “Big Bad is turning into a…” Fable said.

  Big Bad’s eyes became slits and turned yellow. A mass of hair started growing on his face, his arms, and the rest of his body. His nails grew longer and sharper, and his hairy feet grew noticeably bigger, ripping out his shoes.

  His transformation scared everyone, all but Snow White. She stopped in front of him, and snarled once more.

  “So he’s not Big Bad?” Axel wondered. “He’s the—”

  “The Big Bad Wolf!” Fable celebrated the weirdness of their town.

  Big Bad dared Snow White’s eyes one last time both of them threatening each other with their fangs.

  “Clash of the Titans,” Fable commented.

  Finally, Big Bad gave in and retreated, crashing out through the second story window and running away on all fours.

  “This isn’t happening, right?” Axel rubbed his eyes.

  Snow White turned back to them, and snarled at them, too.

  “We have to run,” Axel yelled. “How many times does she have to spare our lives?”

  Loki and Fable stood fixed to the floor, their faces painted with the color of confusion. This time, Snow White wasn’t going to treat them nicely. She swung her hand at them, and a sudden snowy swirl hit the room and flung them out of her way. They got the point and ran as fast as their legs could carry them out of the Schloss.

  16

  Baby Tears

  Surviving a bad day at the Schloss wasn’t the worst that could happen to Loki. The surprises kept on coming.

  Entering the Candy House on Seven, Breadcrumb Street, Fable rushed into her room and slammed the door behind her, cursing and crying.

  “I can’t believe how awful you boys are,” she sobbed from inside her room. Loki and Axel heard sounds of moving furniture behind the door. “She saved your life twice, Loki, and you still want to kill her. I hate you!”

  On their way back, Fable had begged Loki to give up on killing Snow White. She’d told him that after seeing Big Bad turning into a wolf, it was obvious that something wasn’t right in Sorrow. Loki had to tell her and Axel who he was while driving his Cadillac back to the house. He told them everything about being a half-angel banned from Heaven, about the demon girl he was banned for loving, and about his need to kill Snow White to go home and find out who he really was.

  “Cheer up, Fable,” Axel said on his way to the refrigerator. “We have a fallen angel in our house. It’s not like it happens every day.”

  “Half-angel,” Loki corrected him politely.

  “I don’t care who he is,” Fable snapped. “I don’t even care if he can spread his wings and fly.”

  “You can do that, right?” Axel said to Loki, skeptically. “Oh, I remember they gave you two black star tattoos where wings should’ve grown on your shoulders.”

  “That’s right,” Loki nodded, wondering what Fable was doing in her room.

  “If I get Abe Von Noxious, the tattoo artist on Scrimshaw street, to draw me black star tattoos, you think they will think I am a fallen angel in school?”

  “Shut up, Axel,” Fable shouted. “I hate both of you!”

  “What did we do that was so bad? Aren’t you glad we all survived the Big Bad Wolf,” Axel chuckled to himself, pounding his forehead with his fist. “I can’t believe I literally met the Big Bad Wolf. This is insane.”

  “OK, Fable,” Loki said. “I’m sorry. I know it’s confusing, but the fact that she saved us doesn’t help me go home. I know how you feel toward her, but just think about all the other teens she killed.”

  “When are you going to understand that she is my favorite fairy tale character. She killed those who interfered and trespassed in the castle,” Fable fired back. It sounded like she was dropping heavy books on the floor. What was she doing? “We never heard anything about her hurting someone outside the castle.”

  “She’s got a point,” Axel said, licking jelly from his fingers. “Why doesn’t she leave the castle and come kill everyone in town? I’d do that if I were her.”

  “All Snow White wants is for no one to intrude or interrupt her life in the castle,” Fable continued. “It’s like living in a town with other people who don’t share your lifestyle, and all you ask is to be left alone.”

  “Vampire lifestyle, that’s funny,” Axel said with a mouthful. “What are you doing in there, Fable?”

  Loki and Axel exchanged looks.

  “Oh. No,” Axel suddenly let the plate of Jelly drop to the floor. “You better not be doing what I think you’re doing, Fable.”

  “You bet your gluttonous belly I am,” she replied. “Finally, I found it!”

  “What’s going on, Axel?” Loki said.

  Axel looked terrified, examining the place around him, searching f
or a hiding spot. “Not good, man. Not good. We need to leave the house, now!” Axel pulled Loki by his shirt. “Remember when you first came to the house? This is worse.”

  The door to Fable’s room burst open. She stepped out with another giant book that she could barely hold with both hands. Only this one was called:

  A Midsummer’s Night Scream:

  Shakespearian Enchantments to Punish the Unrighteous

  Loki didn’t think Shakespeare had ever written a book like that, but arguing in a town where Snow White was a vampire was pointless.

  A sudden breeze combed through the house and Fable’s pigtails loosened and flipped back in the wind. She stared angrily at Loki and Axel.

  “I am sorry, Loki,” she said, not sounding sorry at all. “I can’t let you leave the house because I can’t let you kill Snow White.”

  Loki was going to hit himself in the head with a sponge hammer for the bazillionth time. When was he ever going to meet cute girls who didn’t turn monstrous when mad?

  Fable adjusted her glasses, and started reading from her book. It was a spell, in some language Loki had never heard and went like this:

  Shaka ree maka nee

  Teka teti teka zee

  Door re moor no tamor

  Tether thether ola orr

  The breeze turned into a swirling wind, escalating to a mini storm inside the house, spiraling madly as all doors and windows shut on their own. Itsy and Bitsy ran to each window, sewing their cobwebs, creating their own crossbars over them, and trapping everyone inside the house. Bitsy didn’t forget to write dork for Axel on one of the windows.

  “It’s a tethering spell to trap people within a house. Only this one makes sure that the house itself won’t let us out,” Axel said. “Why can’t you just say: Double, double, toil and trouble?” Axel yelled back to Fable as he ducked behind the couch, avoiding the cyclone. It hit Loki instead and he fell back. Every door, window, or shaft was closing, conjuring dimness into the Candy House.

  Fable continued chanting, breathing heavily, her hair loose and flapping behind her. This side of her was really scary, but Loki knew everyone had a little bit of ‘scary’ in them.

  When the mini-cyclone finally faded, Fable was panting. She let the thick book drop, and slumped upon the couch with a smile on her face. She was weakened from the power it took out of her to cast the spell.

  “Now, I’m sure Snow white will be safe from you,” She blew out a long phew.

  Loki stood up, wanting to leave the house and forget about this crazy family. When he reached for the doorknob, it was so hot he had to pull away. The books and vases on the shelves shook nervously. Stubbornly, Loki grabbed a kitchen stool and hit it against the window but the spider web bounced it back like a rubber band.

  “It’s no use, Loki,” Axel said, still hiding behind the couch. “I was held prisoner for a week in this house when I denied her request for going out on her first date.”

  Loki stood up again and sat on a chair opposite of Fable on the couch. She sort of smirked and giggled at the same time. The problem with Fable was that whatever she did, silly or not, deadly or not, she still looked innocent enough Loki couldn’t choke her or throw her out the window. The way she changed from pure heaven to pure hell was astounding and adorable, although painfully unbearable. No wonder she sympathized with Snow White.

  Loki’s real problem was that he wasn’t used to caring about Minikins, let alone dealing with their quirks. He didn’t know that part of loving people, friends, and family was to deal with their dark times as much the times when everyone was shining bright. It just didn’t make sense to him.

  “Ok, Fable,” Loki said, resting his elbows on his knees and clasping his hands together. “Let’s talk this over like two sixteen-year-old adults.”

  “I am fifteen…and a half.”

  “I know. I’m not even sixteen yet but you get the point,” Loki said. “Let’s just find a solution that will make everyone happy.”

  “I’m happy the way I am,” she held her chin up. “As long as you’re trapped in here, Snow White is safe.”

  “Believe me; I don’t have a clue how to kill her. I thought that my problem was that I couldn’t stake her, and then when I did by entering the castle in daylight, I found out that she controls her dreams. She is much stronger than any vampire I’ve seen. There is no way I can harm her now.”

  “But you want to, right?” Fable leaned forward, posing and giving him that look.

  “I have to,” Loki leaned back in his chair, almost embarrassed he said that. “Do you know how it feels not to remember who you are, how it feels being punished for something you have done but don’t remember? If I stay here, I don’t know how I am going to live. Sometimes, I feel I don’t know what’s wrong or right, what’s bad or good. I don’t know where I belong.”

  “You’re stupid, Loki,” she said. “You keep asking all the wrong questions, and forgetting the most important: Why are you still alive when she could’ve just killed you? Because she needs you to save her,” Fable said. “She needs you, and all you keep thinking about is how to kill her.”

  “She is right,” Axel said. “The vampire princess likes you.”

  “Shut up, Axel,” Loki snapped. “I can’t help myself, let alone ‘save’ someone else.”

  “I don’t know why you keep saying that,” Fable said. “It’s like you refuse to open your eyes to the world around you, hanging onto a silly dream of going back to whatever place you think you come from. You saved Axel from the Bullyvards, saved me from Big Bad—I saved you later, but you did try to save me. Why can’t you see that you can help other people and that you care about other people? Aren’t you supposed to be one of the greatest Dreamhunters in the world? Do you think great Dreamhunters don’t help people? Do you think your father didn’t help other people?”

  “I was banned for helping, or loving, a girl who turned out to be a demon, Fable. I need to know what happened. I need to go back. I need to know.”

  Suddenly, something crashed through the window behind Loki.

  “Loki!” Fable shouted as she ducked down.

  “Holy Moly!” Axel snapped as that something grabbed Loki by the back of his shirt. It was something with huge claws.

  “It’s the Crow—“Axel pointed out in horror, “the one that flew out of the room in the castle.”

  Loki had no time to look. The crow was already clawing at him from behind and dragging him across the sofa.

  “Do something!” Loki yelled, unable to free himself.

  “Like what?” Axel yelled.

  “Don’t yell at me!” Loki screamed, feeling the pain in the back of his neck. “It you’re going to yell at someone, yell at the crow.”

  “It’s huge,” Axel said. “I don’t want it to get mad.”

  “It’s already pissed off,” Loki said.

  “Do something, Axel!” Fable screamed.

  “Why don’t you do something, Ms. Good witch,” Axel bounded back at Fable. “Where is your magic recipe book? Or did you only learn how to trap us inside but neglect learning the spell that prevents anything nasty from getting inside?” Axel said, wrapping his arms around Loki’s legs, trying to pull him back.

  “Blah, Blah, Blah,” Fable said with her hands on her waist.

  Loki kicked his feet in the air as the crow dragged him over the couch. They had seconds to do something before it kidnapped him.

  Axel pulled one of Loki’s shoes off and somersaulted back onto the couch. Fable picked up a baseball bat, darted behind Loki and started hitting the enormous crow. The creature only lost its sense of direction and flapped a couple of strides away deeper into the house. It circled like a black fan near the ceiling, not giving up on Loki who circled like a merry go round horse at an amusement park.

  Afraid he’d be taken, Loki wrapped both legs around Axel’s neck to add more weight to the crow. The bird struggled with the new weight while Axel’s eyes almost popped out, unable to breathe. He tried
pulling Loki’s feet apart to save his own life. Loki didn’t let him. Axel was his only hope. If he just stayed strong, they could get through this.

  “Fire!” an idea appeared like a light bulb hovering over Loki’s head. “Can you create fire, Fable?”

  “I don’t know a spell to make fire,” she shouted, swinging away.

  Fable hit the crow harder and it snapped, angrier now, dragging Loki across the living room looking for another way out. Loki was still dragging blue-faced Axel along.

  “Shouldn’t your spell prevent it from dragging me outside?” Loki yelled from the ceiling.

  “That’s it, it can’t get out,” Fable explained breathlessly. “If you look behind you, the window it crashed through has sealed itself again with the spider webs. That’s why it can’t get out. That’s why it’s so angry and mad. And that’s the problem. We have to kill it before it kills us.”

  The crow was lost in the room, moving haphazardly away from the window. The house was mad as well, turning into a horror house again. The spell began to work again as the crow tried to escape from the spider-web-covered windows. Whenever it tried, it bounced back, and so did Loki and Axel. The house was playing Ping-Pong with them, and it didn’t look like Fable knew how to reverse the spell.

  Small spiders began emerging from the spider webs, crawling on the walls. The house was turning into a horror zoo.

  The crow knocked Fable to the floor and she dropped the bat. Her head smacked the table where Loki’s Zippo lay. She looked at them and shrieked.

  “Fire!” she yelled, as if it was her idea, and Loki hadn’t been screaming it for a while. She lit up several cigarettes, coughed and cursed smokers, stood up, and began poking the crow with the cigarettes, punishing it with small but effective cigarette burns. So cruel.

  The crow let out a crazy high-pitched squawk from the pain.

  “I’m hurting it, but it still won’t let go of you,” Fable said.