A Grimm Legacy (Grimm Tales) (29 page)

Grimm Conclusions

“He took her in his arms; and she kissed him, and said, ‘Now you have indeed set me free, and tomorrow we will celebrate our marriage.’”

"The only thing worse than hiking through the forest in wet clothes is having to put wet clothes on,
then
go hiking through the forest."

"Wake up!"

Fredrick
’s eyes snapped open. Disoriented, he sat up, smashing his head into the low ceiling. He struggled to focus as Andi yanked him from the top bunk.

"What? What?" he asked sliding
the rest of the way out of bed.

"I can see the pier.
”

Fredrick pressed his face against the window. The pilings of stone thrusting out like fingers from the river were all that was left of what was once probably a massive pier. The steamship was approaching it quickly. "Why aren't we stopping?"

"That thing’s in ruins. The ship must not make a stop here,” Andi said.

"We'll have to jump.
Let’s go."

Fredrick left the room and hurried down the hall to the lounge area, now occupied by several passengers and crewmembers. Keeping his head down, he crossed the room as unobtrusively as possible with Andi beside him.

Slipping out to the open deck, they began to sprint. Fredrick rounded a corner and collided with someone who bounced on to the deck with a loud, “Ooff!”

Andi gave Fredrick a hand and he got a good look at the person he
’d bowled over.

“
Salina?” he gasped.

She considered him through the tangle of dark hair that made him think she was Quinn when he first disenchanted her as a bird. Recognition lit in Salina
’s eyes. She took in Andi beside him and grinned coyly.

“
Found your lost love, have you?” she cooed at him.

“
Fredrick,” Andi said urgently, as the dock drifted farther away.

“
Be a dear,” Salina said, holding out her hand.

In a daze, Fredrick helped her up. It was only after he pulled her to her feet that he became aware of her uniform. The navy skirt and jacket with gold anchor buttons and name tag clearly marked her as one of the crew.

Salina appraised him, the wolfish look back in her eyes.

“
I know a few people who’re looking for you,” she said, tossing her hair out of her eyes.

“
You owe me,” Fredrick snarled.

She pulled a boatswain
’s whistle from the collar of her jacket. “Sorry, love, you’ve already been repaid.” She placed the whistle to her lips and blew.

Fredrick lurched for her, but the sharp pitch of the whistle filled the deck.

The three of them paused, Andi looking like she wanted to slap the smug grin off Salina’s face. Shouts broke the silence behind them.

Fredrick
’s jaw clinched. He was infuriated. "This way."

They thundered along the deck between the railing and an occasional face pressed against the window of a cabin. He risked a glance back to f
ind two crewmembers in pursuit.

"Fredrick!" Andi warned.

He didn’t pause. "We've got to get past the paddle!”

Two more crewmembers materialized from a si
de passage, blocking their way.

"Don't stop!" Fredrick yelled back at her before lowering his head and charging the two men.

The sailors didn't have time to move, even if they’d wanted to, before Fredrick lowered his shoulder and hit one of them hard. The first man knocked into the other and all three went flying down the deck. Fredrick staggered to his feet again, leaving a tangle of men in his wake.

He passed the enormous spokes of the paddle wheel slightly ahead of Andi. Water whipped past on the flat blades before being carried back down to the river. Bracing himself against the railing, Fredrick held out his arms to Andi who was desperately trying to keep ahead of the crew
.

"Jump!
” he yelled over the noise of the churning wheel.

Andi launched herself at him and Fredrick used her momentum to fling them both over the railing. In the span of a heartbeat, he twisted Andi on top of him, trying to use his body to shield her from the impending impact.

They hit the water with a flop, Andi’s body knocking what little breath he had left in his lungs from his body as he went under and current tore them apart. The muddy water swirled and his head broke the surface. He spit the nasty tasting river out of his mouth and found he couldn't move his right arm at all.

What had happened to Andi?

Kicking frantically in his waterlogged boots, he swam in an awkward sideways crawl toward the bank. His progress was agonizingly slow and he found himself drifting farther downstream than he did toward the bank. The river was wide and lazy here, but he couldn’t find the strength to make his way to shore.

"Fredrick!" Andi's voice echoed over the moving water. Trying to keep his head above water, he caught sight of her across the wide expanse of water
. She was jogging along the bank, trying to keep up with him. Her hair was plastered to her head and water streamed behind her as she ran. Andi put on a burst of speed and disappear out of sight down the riverbank.

He had doubts he was going to make it. With his right side immobilized by his re-broken ribs, he couldn
’t breathe deeply and was forced to use only his left arm, which was getting tired at an alarming rate. He was going to suffocate right here in the middle of the river before he even had a chance to drown. Something splashed in the water down river and caught his attention. Were there alligators?

"Andi!" he gasped as she cut through the water straight for him. She grabbed his good arm and pulled him to her.

"Roll on your back. Relax!"

Fredrick tried to do what she asked, but it wa
s difficult to give up control.

Andi hooked one arm around his chest and slowly swam toward the shore. She wasn't moving very fast towing Fredrick, but she was a good swimmer. As familiar as Fredrick was with her obstinate streak, he had to wonder if her strength wou
ld give out before her resolve.

Several yards from the bank, Andi found her footing in the shallow water and Fredrick dragged himself upright too. They staggered the last few feet and flopped in the mud on the bank. For several minutes, he just lay panting in the dirt, trying to resist the u
rge to take great gulps of air.

Andi gently shook his shoulder and asked, "You okay?"

He kept his forehead pressed in the dirt and nodded, squeezing his eyes closed against the pain. "Where'd you—learn to—swim like—that?" Fredrick gasped.

"We have a pool i
n the backyard. Can you stand?"

"Give me a hand."

Andi tried to take most of his weight to save his ribs, but he still let out a gasp. "Do we have any pain pills left?"

"They
’re in my bag. I left them up river when I jumped in,” she said.

"Let's get them.
”

Andi stepped back to give him room to move. His gaze
dipped down and immediately back up where he stared at the sky, his face in flames.

"Jeeze Andi, where
’re your pants?" Fredrick asked, hating the sick embarrassment that seemed to overwhelm his entire body.

Andi had on a t-shirt, underwear, and a lot of mud. Nothing else.

"They're with my bag,” she said, unapologetically.

"Why aren't they
on
you?" Fredrick said, fighting another, stronger—not necessarily unpleasant—sensation that had a lot to do with Andi in her underwear and a wet t-shirt.

“
I wasn't jumping in after you with wet boots and jeans on. I've never pulled someone out of a river, and I didn't need extra clothes weighing me down," she said, clearly annoyed.

"You can
’t wander around like that!" His gaze still hadn’t left the sky.

"I'll put them back on when I get to them. Walk in front of me if it bothers you that much,
” Andi said, waving him ahead.

Trudging up river, Fredrick's kept his eyes studiously forward as if his life depended on it. He dodged around scrub brush and squelched through mud, the river gurgling quietly on his right and the evergreen forest looming on his left.

"There it is." Andi jogged past. Fredrick flicked his gaze at the clouds and continued to stare there intently. He could hear Andi digging around in her bag.

"They're a little damp, but they should still work."

Fredrick wasn’t sure where to grab and he wasn’t looking down. Andi sighed and bounced them directly into his palm, curling his fingers around the bottle.

Fredrick dry swallowed several pills
, studying the tops of the pines and listening to Andi complain.

"Th
e only thing worse than hiking through the forest in wet clothes is having to put wet clothes on,
then
go hiking through the forest." She squelched to her feet, "I'm dressed. You can stop ignoring me now."

"Sorry, I just..."

"Yeah, I know, I know. It is slightly charming, in a way,” Andi said. “You okay to go on?"

Fredrick nodded and tried not to pass out.

Slogging upriver, Fredrick continued to look for the ruins of the stone pier. "How far did we float?" he asked.

"A long way. Most of which I jogged,
” she reminded him pointedly, shading her eyes and peering across the water. “There’s the pier.” She turned to face the woods. "A mile or so, that shouldn't take us more than half an hour, right?"

They left the gurgling of the river, the sun slowly drying Fredrick
’s clothes as they entered into the cool shade of the needle-strewn forest.

"Look at this." Andi stomped over to a tree bordering the vague trail and ripped down another wanted poster. She waved it in Fredrick's direction. "This is insane! How
’d they even get this here!"

Past Andi, f
arther down the path, something red flashed between the trees. Unknown things lurking in the forest hadn’t turned out well for Fredrick so far. He grabbed Andi’s arm and pulled her back off the trail. Putting a finger to his lips, he nodded ahead to the shadow of branches.

"What is it?" Andi whispered.

"Don't know." He placed her behind him in the dark of the trees and crept forward, his eyes locked on the space he saw the movement.

She appeared suddenly in front of them and Andi let out a small yelp. It was a girl, no older than eleven, with brown pigtails,
a freckled face, and a large wicker basket over one arm. The red hood and cloak hanging from her shoulders left no doubt who she was.

"Who are you?" She narrowed her eyes and took another step toward them. Andi crumpled the poster in a tight ball and hid it in her palm. Stepping in front of Fredrick
, she gave him a let-me-do-the-talking look and smiled at Red Riding Hood.

"We're a little lost. Is this the way to Dame Gothel's?" Andi asked.

"Yeah. You're almost there." Red’s tone was not friendly. She shifted the basket to her other arm and snapped on a piece of gum. "Why’re you heading there? Princes are the only ones who go there. You're not a prince."

Andi hesitated a second. "No, of course not. But he is," she said, tilting her head at Fredrick.

Red shifted her gaze from Andi to Fredrick and back again. "He doesn't
look
like a prince, and who are you supposed to be?"

"He's a prince," Andi stuttered a little. "We've had some travel
ing trouble. I'm... his guide."

"If you're his guide, why are you asking for directions?" Red asked.

Andi balled up her fists and glared at the tiny roadblock of a girl in front of them.

"Where you headed?" Fredrick interceded before Andi lost it and tried to punch
the child.

"My grandma's house. She's not feeling well." She snapped her gum and swung her focus to Fredrick.

Fredrick smiled at her. "That's sweet of you. You’ve got far to go?"

Her full attention was on him now and she tugged on one of her braids. "Not too far, it's just over the river and through the woods."

Moving to Andi's side, Fredrick gently pushed her past Red and down the narrow trail. He briefly wondered if there was anything he could do about the really bad day Red Riding Hood was about to have.

"Thanks for the directions. You be careful now." With a little wave, Fredrick hustled Andi out of sight, leaving the little girl tugging her braid with a half smile on her face.

Andi tossed the crumpled wanted poster into the trees and trudged down the trail. “
Now
you trot out the dimples and the charming southern drawl?”