Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 92460 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 462(@200wpm)___ 370(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92460 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 462(@200wpm)___ 370(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
He leans in, his jaw set and his eyes narrowed, radiating fury. My heart races until I think it’ll explode. I’m terrified he’ll send me away and shut the door behind me, but I’m also hopeful. Hansel’s face is full of fear and anger, but he’s looking at me. He heard what I came here to tell him.
I think, for a second or two, that he might even touch me. This is the closest we’ve been in years.
Hansel seems to recognize that at the same time I do.
He takes a sharp step back and huffs out a breath, then looks away, getting control of himself. Hansel relaxes his shoulders, his hands clenching and unclenching at his sides.
When he turns back to me, it’s with the same flat expression as before, with only a slight glimmer in his eyes.
He gestures at the narrow hallway at the side of the room. It leads to two tiny bedrooms side by side. “Go to sleep,” Hansel says. “We’ll talk in the morning.”
Chapter Two
Gretel
I don’t expect to fall asleep quickly, or even at all. But I climb into the narrow bed Hansel offered me, pull the worn blanket around my shoulders, and I’m dreaming within seconds.
I dream of the summer, as it was before everything fell apart. Soft, green grass under my bare feet. The stream running through the forest. Market days in the village that went late into the long summer nights.
I dream of dancing by the bonfire in the town square at midsummer and walking home with Hansel, laughing. Our feet ached so badly he had to pick me up and carry me the last stretch, but I would’ve kept dancing if he wanted to.
We were only children. We knew not what was coming.
I dream of birds singing in the morning and rain falling on the roof at night and the sound of people laughing at the tavern in the distance.
That was what our village used to sound like. It doesn’t anymore. The fog has driven people inside, and they only come out when they absolutely must. The bitter cold doesn’t help.
But in my dream, it’s warm and sunny, and everything looks how it should. The fog hasn’t taken over the village. The fields haven’t burned. There hasn’t been a famine.
Hansel still smiles at me. I can’t make out most of what he’s saying, but just from his expression, I think he’s talking to me about taffy.
He always wanted taffy.
We must agree to go get some, because at some point in the dream I turn around and find him eating a piece. He offers me some, and it’s sweet. I haven’t tasted sweets like this in so long.
In the dream, I close my eyes and savor it.
I don’t know when it ends. I don’t know if it does.
When I wake up, I think I’m still there. For a moment there is peace and hope. It’s been so long since I’ve felt that.
Still in the summer I dreamed of. I’m warm under the covers, and the pillow is soft under my head, and it smells like Hansel’s cottage. I can’t remember why I’m sleeping here. Did I run here for shelter from a storm? Did we stay up too late talking?
My heart sinks as the memories of last night come back to me. One by one, the memories school me.
It wasn’t a late-night conversation or a summer storm that brought me here. It was the witch. Her curse and our torment.
I’m in this bed, in Hansel’s house, because I forced myself out of my house and to his doorstep. I came inside and looked him in the face while he glared at me. I told him about the rocks leading to my house, and the rocks in my living room, and how I know she’s back.
We’ll talk in the morning, Hansel said.
I keep my eyes squeezed shut. The mattress might be thin and hard, and the blanket is threadbare in places, but I’m warm and safe for the moment, and I don’t want the moment to end.
I give myself to the count of five, breathing slow and pretending I’m still asleep, then get up and wash my face in the little basin in the corner. It’s freezing outside the bed. The heat from the fire doesn’t reach into the tiny bedrooms, and if it did, it would be a waste of firewood. I was warm enough while I slept.
Once I’ve dried my face, I tug the blanket off the bed and wrap it around my shoulders. It’s early, but I can hear movement in the kitchen.
I take a deep breath and leave the tiny bedroom. It’s right next to the slightly bigger room where Hansel sleeps. I peek in and find the blanket made up. It doesn’t look slept in. I didn’t hear him get in bed before I fell asleep.