His pale face went even paler. Rubbing his hand against his chest, he stated excitedly, “Wilhelm. Wilhelm Grimm.”
This time it was Mina’s turn to be shocked. She was in the room meeting her great-great-great-grandfather.
Wilhelm started to laugh, but his laugh quickly turned into a coughing fit. The door opened and she immediately recognized Jacob from sketches of the brothers she’d seen from history books.
He rushed in and quickly tried to calm his brother to stop the coughing. Lifting a wooden cup to Wilhelm’s lips, he gave him something to drink and then had Wilhelm lie back down. Jacob adjusted the covers around his brother and pulled the wooden chair up beside his cot.
Wilhelm gestured to her and began to whisper excitedly to Jacob, who turned and apparently noticed her for the first time.
He looked angry, and his tone of voice conveyed it well. “Warum sind Sie in das Zimmer meines Bruders? Sie gehören nicht hierher. Zu verlassen!”
Mina couldn’t catch all of it, and she kept stumbling in her reply. Finally, she just gave up. “I’m sorry. I’m not good at German.”
“English then?” Jacob’s eyes narrowed and he crossed his arms. “My brother insists you are his guardian angel.”
“No, I’m not his guardian angel. I’m his granddaughter.”
“False. Wilhelm has no children.” He smiled in triumph, believing he caught her in a lie.
“No, he doesn’t have any children yet.” She sighed and worried about how to explain what was happening. She was about to point out the portal to the Fae plane hanging in the air that he had walked right under, but Jacob was distracted by Wilhelm’s coughing again. “What’s wrong with him?”
Jacob ran his hands through his hair in defeat. “I bring him to Halle to see treatment for his…,” he moved his hand to his chest, “…heart and chest. He is sick and does not get well. I fear to lose him.”
Mina felt her breath catch in her throat. This was it. It was Wilhelm. If he died, then his lines of descendants would never be born. Her father. Herself. This was why some Grimms were disappearing. Somehow, through it all, she had come to where she needed to be.
But could she save him? She wasn’t sure, but she had to try. Mina stepped forward and very slowly placed her hand on Wilhelm’s chest. Just the touch of her hand made him sigh, and he reached up and placed his other hand on top of hers. She was misty-eyed. How many people got to travel back and see their ancestors? None.
Jacob watched her like a hawk, and it was okay. She let him.
The power didn’t come as easily to her as it did on the Fae plane. In fact, it wasn’t coming at all. It was impossible to find. And then she sensed it. It was just out of reach…so close…on the other side of the gate…that hadn’t quite closed yet. So she did the undoable. She pulled from the Fae plane and the magic came, making her hands glow with power. She pushed it into Wilhelm’s chest.
He gasped and sat straight up.
Jacob grabbed her from behind and tried to yank her away.
“No! Not yet.” Wilhelm cried out and his other hand reached out and grabbed hers, keeping them pressed against his chest. A few seconds more, and he took a deep breath and smiled. “I can breathe. The pain’s gone,” he said in heavy accent. “You are angel.”
Mina smiled and reached out to give him a very special hug. “No, you’re my angel. I’ve so much to tell you, but there’s so little time.”
A loud noise came from the gate. Mina looked over in horror as a long black robed hand stretched through the glowing hole reaching out as if testing what was on the other side.
“A Reaper!” Mina grabbed the chair Jacob had just vacated and hurled it at the hand and through the gate. The hand disappeared, but the hole still remained open.
“I’m so sorry. This is my fault. I pulled power from the Fae plane to help you and I think it’s linked the two worlds. The gate is not closing.”
“What is coming through?” Jacob asked. She would have thought he would be terrified by what he was seeing. Instead he looked eager. Wilhelm crawled from the bed, invigorated, and stood before the portal in his pajamas. He picked up an umbrella and held it in front of him like a sword.
“Fae,” Mina answered.
“Fae? Like in the stories?” Wilhelm looked over to his brother and his face mirrored Jacob’s. Excitement.
“Yes, just like the stories.” The room filled with glowing, moving fireflies and Mina realized that they weren’t little bugs at all. The shoes were sparkling. Her darned slippers chose this moment to send her home. “No, not yet.” She grabbed a pitcher of water and smashed it over the next monstrous hand that tried to crawl through the portal. It looked like a troll’s. The hand quickly jerked back into the gate.
“Wilhelm. Jacob. Listen. There are good and bad Fae on the other side, and Teague will continue to send Reapers here to the human plane to hunt me down. But not only me—all of the Grimms and our kind for future generations.”
Jacob looked to his brother and nodded before he turned to Mina and asked, “What will we need to do?”