“This is serious, but yes. More often than not, the stepsisters do.”
“Oh, come on Mom. You really believe this stuff? This is what is making you pick up and run? Why not try and get the prince and live in the castle?”
“Because that’s not how it works.” Sara looked frustrated; she kept gnawing on her bottom lip as she pondered her words carefully. “You don’t get a choice in the tale. You don’t get a choice in the part you play, and if you remember they don’t all have happy endings. Do you think everyone could survive reliving these tales? Your Uncle Jack didn’t.”
Mina’s jaw dropped in shock. “But I thought that was an accident?”
Sara shook her head. “The curse followed your Uncle and then, when he died, it latched onto your father. Strange things started happening, but he ignored the warning signs. He believed that he was smarter and stronger than his brother and could make it through the stories till the end.”
“Is there a way to stop it, to break the Grimm curse?”
“It’s believed that if a descendent of a Grimm can survive all of the tales, then the Story will be satisfied. Your father survived ten tales before he died.” Sara started crying and buried her face into the couch’s throw pillow.
Mina felt her mouth go dry and she had to lick her lips and clear her throat before she could ask the next question. “How many tales are there total?”
Sara looked up, sniffed and then looked over at her daughter. “Oh sweetie, I won’t let it find you; it’s why I changed our last name and why we keep moving. Every time we move, it seems to takes longer for the tale to find us, even longer if we don’t do anything special to get ourselves noticed.”
“How many?” Mina repeated feeling the strange tingling sensation throughout her body.
“We don’t have to stay. We can keep running and it won’t drag you into the tale. You won’t suffer the same fate as your father.”
Mina stared at her mother hard.
Sara finally broke eye contact and whispered out, “Over two hundred. Jacob and Wilhelm together made it through over one hundred and ninety, but they couldn't complete all of them before they died. So then it started over again with Wilhelm’s children. Honey, they were the only ones to even come close to breaking the Grimm curse and that was almost two hundred years ago. More Grimm’s have tried to overcome it, but didn’t survive, like your father. So I decided to try and run from it instead.”
“Mom, I don’t want to run.”
“Mina, we have to. I didn’t think the curse would pass to you because you were a girl. Your father assured me that the curse only passed to the males. After he died, I thought we were safe. I didn’t know I was pregnant with Charlie until a few weeks after the funeral. Once I knew it was a boy, there was really no choice. We had to run and leave behind our past, even your father’s name, to protect his future.
“I knew one day, it would eventually come for Charlie, but I never expected it to choose you. It wasn’t until I saw you in the backyard talking to a frog that I realized your father was wrong. Too many of the fairy tales had a female heroine, and you were too gifted and kind-hearted for the story to ignore.”
“You make it sound as if it’s alive.”
“It is. There is something far greater at work here than what the human mind can process. It’s ancient, it’s old, and it’s powerful. Some say it’s God, others say it’s fate, but whatever it is, it can’t be stopped.”
“What about Charlie?” Mina asked. Her brother was back in the kitchen and this time he was putting on every single piece of costume he owned; layer after layer. A Spiderman suit, Batman’s utility belt, and what looked to even be a Dr. Who scarf and hat.
“So far the story isn’t interested in Charlie, not when it has you.”
“So as long as I live, Charlie is protected?” Mina looked over at her brother and felt her heart grow with a single-minded determination to protect her brother.
“Yes...honey, look at Charlie. He’s not strong enough to protect himself from the fate of the Grimm Story. I can’t lose you and I can’t lose Charlie. You two are all I have left of your father.” Sara grabbed a few tissues from the box on the beat up coffee table. She picked at them, tearing them apart.
“Mom, I want to try and stop it.” Mina didn’t know where her courage came from, but as soon as she said it, she knew it was true.
“No! I forbid you. Nothing strange has happened since the field trip, right? We still have time to run.” Sara looked at Mina and she could see the sliver of hope in her mother’s eyes.
“Mom.” Mina said, packing as much meaning into that one word as she could.
“It’s too late isn’t it? What happened? What’s been happening?”
Mina mentioned practically riding over a dog and donkey and was shocked when Sara blurted out, “and a cat and rooster,” before Mina had even finished. Sara blushed. “I’ve read up on my tales. Anything else? Tell me exactly what happened on the tour.” Sara demanded and Mina did. “Oh, this sounds bad; it sounds like it could be another story, but I don’t know which one. It may already be too late. Well, at least that stupid book hasn’t appeared, yet.”
“What book? Grimm’s Fairy Tales?”
“Mina trust me, it’s better if we don’t discuss this anymore. Words have power and it makes it that much easier for the Story to find you.”