by Linda Kage
B & E Ever After
A Hansel and Gretel Story
Linda Kage
B & E Ever After
Copyright © 2019 by Linda Kage
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses or establishments, events, or locales, is entirely coincidental.
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All rights reserved. No part of this book—except in the case of brief quotations in reviews—may be used, reproduced, or translated without written permission of the author.
Contact Information: [email protected]
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Publishing History
Linda Kage, September 2019
Print ISBN - 99781692358808
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Credits
Cover & Formatting: Kage Covers
Editor: Summer @ Red Pen Revolution
Proofreader: Shelley @ 2 Book Lovers Reviews
Proofreader: Judy @ Judy’s Proofreading
Created with Vellum
Contents
Prologue
1. Hayden
2. Hayden
3. Gabby
4. Gabby
5. Hayden
6. Hayden
7. Gabby
8. Gabby
9. Gabby
10. Gabby
11. Hayden
12. Gabby
13. Gabby
14. Hayden
15. Hayden
16. Hayden
17. Gabby
18. Gabby
19. Hayden
20. Gabby
21. Gabby
22. Gabby
23. Hayden
24. Gabby
25. Hayden
26. Hayden
27. Gabby
28. Gabby
29. Gabby
30. Hayden
Epilogue
The Hansel and Gretel Story
About the Author
Prologue
Hayden
“Watch it, Broderick! You’re spilling them everywhere.”
At my mother’s sharp voice, I lifted my attention from the Game Boy I’d been playing to find her swiping a super-sized bag of Skittles from my little brother.
“God, you are such a mess.”
Brick hung his head glumly, mumbling, “Sorry,” as she jerked him around until he was facing away from her so she could unzip the backpack he was wearing and cram the Skittles inside, out of his reach.
Then she huffed impatiently and started away from us, snapping, “Well, come on. At this rate, the shopping center will close by the time we get there.”
Brick dutifully shuffled after her, and I filed in behind him, returning my attention to my game. It was easy to keep track of him out of my peripheral vision; he wore a bright orange shirt and had Bart Simpson on his book bag. So I was able to beat a new record and advance a level without paying attention to where we were going, even though the foreign country we were in had some pretty cool sites.
Mother had decided to come to Monte Carlo to recuperate after breaking up with her last boyfriend. Turns out, he was already married, which hadn’t settled well with her.
The last thing she’d planned to do was bring Brick and me along on her recovery getaway. But Greta, our housekeeper, had also needed to take time off at the last minute because her husband had gotten into a car accident and was in the hospital, so she hadn’t been able to stay with Brick and me, which pretty much forced Mother into dragging us with her.
The city wasn’t exactly kid-friendly. I’d read the pamphlets they had sitting out at the place where we were staying. They were all about car racing, gambling, boxing, and Mother’s reason for coming: Le Metropole Shopping Center.
“Do they have a candy store at the mall?” Brick asked, shading his eyes from the setting sun so he could peer down into the lower courtyard that housed the entrance of the Metropole.
“No, they—” She turned to us, only to stop talking abruptly and blink as if she’d never laid eyes on her two sons before.
“What about a food court?” Brick persisted, rubbing his stomach.
I swear, all he ever thought about was food.
“You know what,” Mother murmured, her lips twitching with that fake smile she always flashed when she was about to lie. “I just remembered. You need to order tickets in advance to get into the Metropole, and I didn’t plan on bringing you boys along, so you’re going to have to wait out here.”
I’m not sure which part of that was the lie, but there was definitely one in there somewhere.
I narrowed my eyes at her stonily, not amused by this turn of events. Even if I did have a game to keep me occupied, Brick didn’t. He’d forgotten his Game Boy at home. He was going to be bored out of his mind sitting here waiting, and I’d be the one stuck listening to him whine.
I opened my mouth to argue my case, maybe even beg if necessary, but Mother was already waving her fingers at us over her shoulder. “I won’t be gone long. There’s a bench right over there. I’ll meet you at it when I’m done.”
And she hurried away, stepping onto an escalator that lowered her toward the entrance.
“Can you get me another bag of Skittles while you’re in there?” Brick called after her.
She made no sign of hearing him at all.
I rolled my eyes. “I doubt they have any Skittles in this country.”
I wasn’t even sure which country it was. Malta or Morocco or something. Maybe Monaco. I was almost positive it started with an M and that we’d had to fly across the Atlantic Ocean to get here. Whatever it was, it didn’t look like a Skittles kind of country.
Huffing out a depressed breath, Brick slumped his shoulders and mumbled, “I knew I should’ve brought my entire candy stash from home. I’ll probably finish this bag before she gets back.”
He slung his backpack off his shoulders as he moved toward the bench where we were supposed to wait.
I watched our mother disappear inside, wondering how long not-long-at-all was going to take. The battery light on my Game Boy was already red.
“Dammit,” Brick muttered as he dug inside his bag.
“Don’t cuss,” I said without any heat as I plopped onto the bench next to him and got comfortable.
He ignored me, wailing a panicked, “Nooo,” as he frantically searched his bag.
“What?” I asked as he pulled up a crumpled Skittles bag that looked a lot thinner than it’d been when Mother had shoved it in there.
“All my Skittles fell out of their bag, and fuck, there’s a hole in the bottom of my backpack.”
His snack was gone.
The horror on his face was so priceless I had to laugh. “Whoops,” I said. “Sucks to be you.” With a satisfied sigh, I leaned back against the bench’s backrest and logged back into my game.
A second later, Brick nudged my leg. “Hey. Did you bring anything to eat?”
“Nope.” I had a Snickers stashed in my pocket for later.
“Damn,” he breathed under his breath.
“Language,” I sang as I powered up with a mushroom.
I could feel my brother roll his eyes next to me.
A minute passed.
Brick sighed.
He shifted restlessly.
He plopped his hands into his lap.
“How long do you think she’s going to be?”
“A while,” was my guess.
“Damn,” he said again.
My
thoughts exactly. Five minutes later, Brick had prowled around the bench and returned to me twice, both times when someone had tried to talk to him in a language neither of us understood.
“Hey, want to share your Game Boy?” he asked. “Take turns on it?”
I sent him a get-real glance. “No.”
“Come on. Please.”
Brick had said please. Shocking, but not shocking enough to convince me.
“They have, like, car races or something here, right? You think we could go watch a race while we wait?”
“No.” First of all, I didn’t know this city. I wasn’t about to go wandering around it with no one but my little brother, and besides, they weren’t having any races today. I’d already checked.
When I told my brother so, he plopped back down beside me and mumbled a depressed, “Oh.”
Ten minutes later, he’d driven me crazy enough that I handed over my Game Boy just to shut him up.
Too soon after that, its battery died.
We both glanced toward the opening of the shopping center, watching people leave and enter.
“Maybe she forgot about us,” Brick finally said.
I huffed impatiently and rolled my eyes. “How could she forget about us? We’re her sons.”
Brick shrugged.
More time passed. Both Brick and I had gotten up from the bench by this point and stretched our legs, though neither of us had strayed far from our meeting spot.
Brick slumped down next to me after one short stroll. His stomach growled. He looked absolutely miserable.
Rolling my eyes, I pulled my Snickers bar from my pocket. After unwrapping it and breaking it in two, I handed him the bigger portion. “Here.”
He glanced over dolefully, only for his eyes to brighten at the sight of chocolate. “You did have food,” he accused happily, snagging it from me.
We polished off the Snickers in seconds. But it didn’t appease much. Now both our stomachs were grumbling.
“Got any more?” Brick asked hopefully.
When I shook my head, he sighed and glanced toward the shopping center. “She sure is buying a lot. That guy must’ve really broken her heart.”
I doubted it; our mother would actually have to have a heart before it could break. But I glanced toward the Metropole as well, agreeing that she was definitely taking her sweet time inside. This wasn’t the first time she’d made us wait for her outside a store, so that wasn’t new. But this evening felt as if she were taking longer than usual.
“You think she’s okay?” Brick asked. “What if she got hurt? Or she’s, like, dead?”
I shot him a dry glance for such a ridiculous question, even though it caused a little leap of fear to gallop through my stomach.
“Grow up,” I said. “There’d be ambulances and police or something all over out here if someone inside got hurt.”
“Maybe she was kidnapped,” Brick guessed. “And no one saw the bad guy take her.”
I wrinkled my face in denial, even as the fear grew stronger. “Who’d want her?” I said.
She wasn’t exactly nice.
“Well, what if someone takes us?” Brick countered. Shivering, he huddled closer to me.
I shoved him away with a scowl. “What’re you doing? Get back.”
He hugged his chest and began to rub his arms vigorously. “I’m cold.”
I was too, come to think of it. I glanced up, growing aware of the time. The sun had set, and with it, it had taken any warmth that had been in the air. Brick was right; the temperature was dropping. Fast.
“She’ll probably be out soon,” I murmured, even though my eyebrows bunched with concern. I hoped she came out soon. I didn’t want to stick around out here too much longer in the dark.
Brick’s comment about someone stealing us kept running through my head. I’d just seen a bit on the news last week about a rise in human trafficking, specifically more boys being kidnapped as sex slaves.
Brick was younger and prettier; they’d probably go for him first. But over my dead body would anyone take my little brother anywhere.
“Hey, I think the mall closed,” Brick said abruptly.
I made a face and tsking sound, because that was just crazy. “The mall didn’t…” But when I glanced down into the entrance’s courtyard, no one was going in or coming out. And did it look darker in there? It definitely looked darker.
Oh crap, had the mall closed?
I sprang to my feet, more uneasy than I wanted Brick to see. But he could tell I was freaking out. He surged up beside me. “It’s closed, isn’t it?”
I glanced around us, wanting to ask someone when the shopping center closed. Except none of the signs were in English. And no one around us was speaking English. Whatever they were saying to each other sounded—I don’t know—French?
This was all wrong. I just wanted to go home. I was starting to get scared. And where the fuck was our mother?
“I’m going to go see if the doors are locked,” Brick announced.
But I grabbed his arm, staying him. “No. I don’t want you going that far away by yourself.”
He rolled his eyes. “Then come with me.”
“But what if she comes back, and we’re not here?”
He flung his hands in the air, fingers stretched wide with aggravation. “Well, what the hell are we supposed to do? Just sit here all night and freeze to death?”
I chewed on my lip, indecisive. Wherever she was, Mother definitely should’ve come back for us by now.
“Maybe she forgot where she was supposed to meet us and she’s waiting back at the hotel.”
Brick nodded. “Okay. Cool. Let’s walk back to the hotel then.”
My stomach plummeted with worry. I hadn’t paid attention on our walk here. And it had taken us a good ten to fifteen minutes to arrive. Our hotel could be anywhere.
I glanced at my brother, wincing because I already knew what his answer was going to be even as I asked, “Do you know how to get back?”
“What do you mean?” he cried, his eyes growing big with instant worry. “Don’t you?”
“I wasn’t paying attention,” I admitted defensively, trying to remain calm. I didn’t want to scare him as much as I was scaring myself. Besides, I was the big brother. I had to be the fearless one.
“Hey, do you know where our hotel is?” Brick asked a passing woman. He glanced at me. “What’s the name of it?”
I didn’t know if we should tell just anyone the name of the place where we were staying, but I wasn’t sure what else to do. So I said, “Eden Rock.” Or maybe that was just the name of the single suite, not the entire resort where we were staying. It had a lot of windows and really fancy, old furniture. That’s all I remembered.
Brick repeated the name, and the woman frowned as if confused before she babbled out a bunch of French. We both shied away from her, not sure if she was offering to give us a million dollars or explaining how she wanted to chop us up into little pieces and feed us to her dog.
“Yeah, thanks anyway,” Brick told her with a wave and uneasy smile.
I took his arm, pulling him away and keeping him tightly against my side as I turned so we could walk in a different direction.
“Where are we going?” he asked, rushing his steps to keep up with me.
“I don’t know,” I confessed. “Away.”
Breathing out a settled breath, he glanced back at the still babbling woman who was now making big, sweeping hand gestures before he faced forward again. “Good idea.”
I rolled my eyes. “Are you sure you don’t remember how we got here?”
“We could see the ocean,” he offered with a wince.
We could see the ocean now, so I wasn’t exactly reassured.
Fear chilled my bones as the reality of what was happening took root in my brain. We were lost. We were lost in a foreign country, and we didn’t even know how to start looking for our mother or even ask for help.
“Holy fuck,” I said under my
breath.
Brick snickered. “Language, Hayden.”
“Shut it,” I muttered, even though I had to smile and shake my head as I spoke, already calming down. It didn’t matter what was happening; Brick was here. I had my brother beside me, and he was unhurt. I could deal with everything else.
“No. You—hey, look.”
For some reason, I hadn’t let go of his arm yet, unreasonably afraid I’d lose him too. So when he plowed to a stop and pointed at something on the ground, it jerked me to a halt right next to him.
“One of my Skittles. Sweet.”
When he bent and reached for it as if he were actually going to pick the piece of candy up from the ground and eat it, I yanked him back.
“What’re you doing! Don’t eat that, you idiot. It’s been on the ground all day. You want to go back home with some kind of foreign disease?”
Brick sighed longingly at the abandoned Skittle. “But I’m hungry.”
“Oh my God, you’re hopeless.” I slapped my hand to my forehead, only for a thought to strike. Suddenly, I was crying, “Oh my God, you’re a genius,” as I leapt forward and snagged the bright green piece of candy off the ground as if it were a lucky penny, which it might’ve just become.
Brick’s eyes went huge as soon as I palmed it. “Hey, I saw it first,” he cried, trying to take it from me.
I groaned and held it away. “I’m not trying to eat it, you moron. Just look at it.” I held it up between two fingers. “If this really fell out of your bag, that means we’re going in the right direction to get back to our villa.”
