Book of the Day – A Tale Dark & Grimm by Adam Gidwitz. Middle grade fantasy. This is a retelling of the Grimm fairytales; very dark and violent for a kid's book. I didn't care for the other two books in the series, but I enjoyed the first one a lot. (Because I'm such a dark person. Haha.) The covers are also really cool, and the author's writing is just funny enough so you don't ever get too scared or grossed out.
Info on this story as of 7/22/13 (when I reach around forty chapters, I'll post the info again, and see how much of a difference there is): 43 reviews, 23 favorites, 21 alerts, 42,000+ words (165 pages), and 5,321 views.
XIV
HAZEL
When Hazel awoke, she could still feel pink powder on her face. She looked over at an alarm clock on her nightstand. 6:30. Morning.
She rubbed her sleepy eyes, feeling light-hearted and happy for Tyson and Ella in her first dream, and troubled by her conversation with Aphrodite in her second dream. The goddess's words were still ringing in her ears.
Your love life, Hazel Levesque, is about to become dramatic, through tragedy.
Tragedy.
Hazel dressed quickly, trying to shake off shivers she got thinking about the goddess's words. She hadn't understood Aphrodite's meaning, what the goddess had been trying to tell her, but it didn't sounded good. She decided not to dwell on it for now, to save it for some other time, like when she was feeling dismal and more prepared for deep thoughts.
Hazel was the last one to breakfast, and when she stepped into the room, everyone at the table looked up at her with strange looks on their faces.
Hazel figured she had something on her face, but everyone wasn't exactly staring at her face, so Hazel looked down and saw she had strapped a bronze breastplate on over the tank top she'd slept in, instead of a shirt.
Hazel sighed. Oh, well.
"Hmm. An early riser, and ready for battle in the breaking hours of dawn? I like your attitude, Levesque." Coach Hedge nodded approvingly. "Never too early for a good fight, I always say!"
"I've never heard you say that," Piper commented.
"Oh, shut up, Coach H," Hazel muttered, and sat down between Piper and Nico as Leo snickered across the table. ("Coach H; I could use that," Hazel thought she heard him murmur.) A bowl of oatmeal and blueberries was in front of her.
Hazel looked at Piper questioningly, and Piper shrugged. "Who doesn't like oatmeal and blueberries?"
Hazel shrugged, turning quietly back to her bowl. Of course Piper had made her breakfast. She was like the ship's chef.
The oatmeal had also brought back unwanted memories, though, Hazel realized as she picked up her spoon. She knew Piper was watching, though, so she took a huge bite, trying to ignore the recollection of images of her mother making her oatmeal and blueberries when she was little.
Breakfast was mostly silent, with the occasional outburst from Leo, who seemed to be much more cheery today. When everyone had finishing eating, Leo suddenly stood up on his seat and cleared his throat, waving his arms to get everyone's attention.
"Okay, guys! Listen up! This is a travel update!" He cleared his throat again, then spoke in a broadcaster-like voice. "We are currently leaving the peninsula of Rome, and should arrive at the Tyrrhenian Sea by nightfall. I'll land the ship in the water and sail it for a while, give Festus a break from the flying. So, just sit back and enjoy the Leo-ride, but don't forget to watch out for attacking monsters! Oh, and refreshments are served by Chef Piper McLean. That's all!" He winked and, grinning, sat back down, crossing his arms over his chest smugly.
"I am not a chef, and I wouldn't be caught dead serving refreshments to you, Valdez!" Piper huffed.
Hazel decided she would help Coach Hedge polish weapons for the day. Leo was right about one thing: They always needed to be ready for a fight.
She quickly finished her oatmeal and left Piper to clean up her bowl along with the rest of the dishes, even after Hazel tried to insist on helping (new fact: daughters of Aphrodite can be stubborn).
She found Coach Hedge in the armory chamber (his favorite place on the Argo II, he claimed; his TV was even set up in the room, with a sofa across from it, so he could watch his Mixed Martial Arts show). The old satyr quickly set her to work polishing a pile of swords he'd just sharpened. (After finishing with each weapon, the coach tried them out, running around the room, lunging at imaginary foes and screaming a deafening battle cry.) He gave her a rag and a bottle of polish.
Hazel quickly grew accustomed to the rhythm of Hedge's sword-sharpening, after which he piled up the weapons for her to polish. She worked in a comfortable silence, apart from Hedge's routinely battle cries after he had finished with each sword. Hazel became intent on finishing her pile of blades.
Noon seemed to arrive almost too quickly—although Hazel's arms and back were sore from hunching over for so long. Hazel stood and stretched, and glanced over at her pile of swords. The stack had only diminished by half. Hazel shrugged. She had the rest of the day to finish.
Before she could leave the room, Hedge called her over and sternly instructed her not to touch his TV set. "It's set so I'll catch my next show. Very complicated. If you pulled the chord on the TV or even pushed a button everything could go wrong. So don't—touch."
Hazel nodded, a little in terror by the satyr, and decided to take a break for lunch. Piper had made Reuben sandwiches for everyone: beef, sauerkraut, and Swiss cheese on toasted rye bread—except Piper's sandwich was missing its beef. She explained to Hazel's questioning look that she was a vegetarian. Hazel nodded. That explained why Piper had spread pesto on top of her spaghetti noodles last night instead of meat sauce. Hazel filed that information away.
Leo complained about his food, saying he hated sauerkraut, and Piper threw her cornucopia at him, which exploded into ketchup-coated shrimps. Leo yelped and began brushing them off.
Hazel laughed quietly to herself, then stood, having finished her sandwich. She announced that she was going back to the engine room to finish polishing her pile of weapons, not even bothering to try to clean up her place at the table. That seemed to be officially Piper's job now.
Walking down the deck of the Argo II, away from the chattering demigods still finishing up their sandwiches at the table, Hazel heard hurried footsteps coming after her. She spun around just as Leo shouted, "Hazel! Wait!"
"What?" she asked.
"Can you get me . . . Um, you know, never mind. I can get it myself." He walked past her.
"Get what?" she asked, following at Leo's side.
Leo waved his hand. "A can of a certain kind of motor oil I put in the armory chamber a while ago. I didn't think I'd need it, but brought it along just in case, and now there's some trouble in the engine room when I checked it this morning. I thought since you were going there anyway you could get it for me, but you wouldn't know what it looks like . . ."
"If you described it to me, I could probably find it," Hazel said stubbornly.
"No, you've got your own work with those weapons to worry about, and I need the oil pretty soon," Leo argued.
Hazel opened her mouth, about to lash back with a reply, then quickly closed it, she and Leo staring at each other for a few seconds before both realizing they didn't want to fight again. They looked away at the same time.
Leo cleared his throat and ran a hand through his hair. "Jeez, it's not such a big deal, Hazel, I can get it," he said.
"Okay." It hurt her pride, making her feel weak, and Hazel only agreed because she knew one of them had to be the peacemaker here, and it was most certainly not going to be Leo. "But let me try to find it first." She wanted to see if she would have found it.
"Sure," Leo shrugged.
Haze led way to the armory chamber and searched for an oil can. She looked on the shelves full of weapons, in Coach Hedge's box of war-related video tapes that Annabeth had organized alphabetically for him, inside Coach Hedge's mini-fridge where he kept bottles of Gatorade, under Coach Hedge's comfy brown fabric chair (he practically lived in the armory chamber), while Leo leaned against a wall, watching her, his arms crossed, smirking at her incorrect guesses.
"Well, do you know where it is?" Hazel finally huffed.
Leo grinned and nodded, and pointed to a corner stacked with materials for polishing weapons. A small aerosol can stood nearby, an assortment of numbers and the words engine oil quite obviously labeling it.
Hazel snorted and crossed her arms, blowing a stray curl out of her face, trying to act nonchalant as Leo went to retrieve the can.
He tripped on a wire on the way and fell on his face, arms and legs splayed out.
Hazel couldn't help smiling a bit; Leo had been acting arrogant and self-knowing only moments ago. But she hurried over, nonetheless, asking, "You all right, Leo?"
Leo groaned and pushed himself up into a sitting position. "Where the heck did that come from? I didn't see the wire before . . ."
Hazel scanned the wire and gasped in horror as she realized it had been the chord that plugged into Coach Hedge's TV set. But when Leo tripped he'd ripped the plug out of the wall—and Coach Hedge had strictly told Hazel not to touch, something about messing up the biggest game in the world that he couldn't wait to watch after lunch, and could only properly watch with a full stomach.
"Ohhh, gods . . . Hedge is gonna kill us," Leo whispered, noticing what Hazel was gaping in horror at.
"Us? Excuse me, but I seem to remember it being you who tripped over the wire," Hazel said, trying not to panic. What if she just plugged the chord back in? Would the TV turn back on and everything would be all right? Highly unlikely, but it was worth a try . . .
Hazel didn't have time to think more into her plan because Coach Hedge took that moment to walk into the room.
Hazel and Leo froze, Leo still trying to untangle his feet from the chord. Hazel felt sick and was sure her face was rapidly turning a green color. Leo's face was chalk-white.
The satyr took in the whole scene in three seconds—Leo's feet, tangled in the chord; Hazel standing over him, looking horrified; and, most importantly: his TV set, the screen black.
The coach threw back his head, his eyes turning red with fury, bellowing, "Valdez! Levesque! You two are grounded!"
Leo was on his feet in an instant, fumbling with the chord, trying to put it back in a nearby outlet on the wall, but the coach was already coming at them, swinging his baseball bat high over his head, shouting a battle cry.
Leo dropped the chord and shouted, "Quick, Hazel! Grab the can!" Coach Hedge reached them and swung his bat at Leo, his face fully red. Leo just manage to duck the fatal weapon that would surely have given him a concussion.
Hazel rushed past them toward the corner of the room and snatched up the precious can of oil which had so better be worth it, shoving it in her back pocket, before dashing after Leo out the room.
They ran down the deck of the Argo II and Hazel could hear the coach pounding the floorboards with his hooves, his shouts growing louder as he came closer to them, and Hazel swore she could hear him swinging his baseball bat over his head.
As they rounded a corner, Leo suddenly pulled at a hole the wall, then Hazel saw that it was a door, and Leo yelped, "In here!" grabbing Hazel around the waist and shoving her with him into a tiny black space.
They weren't a moment too late, for Coach Hedge's thumping footsteps passed them only seconds after Leo had pulled the door closed. All Hazel could do was squat in the confined space, shaking, her eyes squeezed shut, and pray to all the gods that Coach Hedge didn't know about the hidden closet.
She heard the satyr shouting, "Where are you two? Come out! Valdez, I didn't make you do fifty pushups a day just to act like a coward!"
Then Coach Hedge was gone, his shouting faded, though Hazel still hearing the air singing as he swung his baseball bat.
Hazel let out a huge breath she hadn't known she'd been holding. He heart was pounding from the adrenaline of running. Something that felt suspiciously like a broom handle was pressing painfully sharp into her back, and there was a squeak like a bucket as Leo shifted beside her.
"Think he's gone now?" Leo whispered. Hazel hadn't realized until now how close they were. Leo was crouched beside her, his foot squashing her hand.
Hazel shifted to get the broom handle out of her back and tried to pull her hand out from under Leo's shoe. "Probably," she whispered back.
She felt Leo carefully stand up and winced, letting out a little cry as he stepped on her hand again. Leo shuffled forward quickly, muttering, "Sorry."
Then light filled the room as Leo cautiously pushed the door open, and Hazel could see the silhouette of his curly hair. Hazel stood up beside him and brushed dust off of her clothes as Leo peered out, suspiciously scanning the deck.
"He's gone," Leo said, breaking into a grin and sighing, relieved. Then, worriedly, he turned to Hazel and asked, "You got the can, right?"
"Right here." Hazel patted her back pocket, though she was sure Leo couldn't see her in the dim lighting.
They crept across the deck of the Argo II and Hazel tried to keep her shoes from squeaking.
"I think I'll go help Piper in the kitchen," she whispered to Leo. "It's probably wise for both of us to stay away from Coach Hedge for a few hours."
She reached for her pack pocket to give the oil can to Leo when she suddenly heard pounding footsteps, and Leo grabbed her arm and flattened her with him against a wall. Coach Hedge appeared running by only a moment later, grunting angrily, although Hazel noticed his face was not quite so red.
Hazel held her breath as he passed them. If he just looked over he would see them, and he still had his baseball bat clutched tightly in his hand . . .
The satyr passed by without seeing them, and Hazel breathed a sigh of relief.
She looked over at Leo, whose face was stricken in terror. Hazel probably looked the same way.
"That was close," Leo said.
Then Hazel started cracking up. She wasn't sure why she found the situation funny; she was probably just laughing from all her adrenaline. But then Leo started laughing, too, and he had these big, snorting guffaws that just made Hazel laugh even harder.
She clutched her stomach and had to wipe tears from her eyes, and when her laughter eventually faded, she was still smiling. Hazel looked over at Leo and saw that he was grinning, too. He looked back at her and Hazel suddenly realized how close they were. Their faces had to be only four inches apart . . . Hazel caught her breath as Leo's grin slowly slid off his face and was replaced with a serious expression.
Hazel's head felt dizzy, and she swayed on her feet, her face coming closer to Leo's as she stared into his eyes. Leo was leaning toward her, mouth partly open as though he was going to tell her something or . . .
Clank. Hazel pulled back and let out a small gasp. She whirled around and saw the source of the noise that had interrupted her and Leo. The strangest sight met her: a mahogany table, about three feet high, with a round top and three legs, that appeared to be walking toward Leo, making clanking and squeaking sounds, steam coming out of some little vents sticking up on one side.
Leo sighed and asked, "Bufford, what are you doing up on deck?" He sounded annoyed, but his voice was trembling a little, and Hazel suddenly realized her legs were shaking.
The table made more clanking sounds, and Leo replied, "I already told you we were going to fix it, I was just getting the oil . . ." He then turned to Hazel, not quite meeting her eyes, and held out his hand, clearing his throat.
Hazel realized he was indirectly asking for the oil can. "Oh!" she said, and fumbled for it in her pocket. She dropped it in Leo's outstretched hand, making sure not to touch him, then fiddled with the hem of her shirt. "Um . . . I should . . . go . . . I have to . . ."
"Yeah . . . you do that . . ." Leo agreed a little to quickly, but Hazel was already running off.
When she'd put a good distance between herself and Leo, Hazel let out a huff and tossed her hair. Well . . .
She faintly heard Leo talking to the walking table (Hazel didn't even question the strange things on Leo's ship anymore). "I told you to stay in the engine room, Buford."
Clanks and squeaks.
"What? What was what about? Nothing happened . . . Oh, shut up . . ."
Hazel was headed to the kitchen where Piper no doubt was, absorbed in her troubling thoughts, when she felt a shadow pass over her.
Hazel looked up and gasped as she saw a black pegasus flying over her, its wings beating strong, silent against its sides, its eyes a murderous red.
Hazel instantly pulled out a dagger she had tucked into her waistband earlier. The pegasus didn't seem to notice her, but its red eyes screamed evil. It was definitely not a friendly creature like Percy's pet Blackjack.
Hazel took off running to tell the rest of the crew. She wasn't really looking where she was going and bumped into Piper, who was walking down the deck.
"Piper!" Hazel gasped, regaining her balance. "I saw this pegasus—"
Suddenly a shrieking, high-pitched neigh sounded behind Hazel, and she whirled around just as the pegasus lunged at her. She leapt out of the way, but the creature's sharp teeth managed to rip out a chunk of her shirt sleeve.
"Whoa!" Piper's eyes widened and she drew her dagger, taking in the situation immediately, and came to stand by Hazel. The girls stood back to back, guarding each other, their weapons outstretched in front of them as the pegasus doubled back and swooped down at them.
"Where did it come from?" Piper asked, lunging at the pegasus and managing a hit to its front leg. The pegasus whinnied angrily and beat its powerful wings, causing Hazel's hair to blow back. Its anger seemed to be clouding its judgement, though, as it foolishly charged straight at Piper's weapon. Piper slashed upward when the creature came close enough, stabbing its underbelly. The pegasus exploded into monster powder, dousing Hazel and Piper, like a sandstorm.
"Gross!" Hazel spit out dust, and tried unsuccessfully to shake out her shirt.
"Better than the alternative of it hurting us," Piper said. "Did you see that thing? It was murderous." She shook her head. "It would have taken off my whole hand, for sure."
"But where did it come from?" Hazel wondered. "It looked so . . . evil. Most pegasi are friendly, right? Why did it attack us?"
Piper shrugged. "No way we can find out now. I mean, we can't exactly ask its pile of dust—not that any of us speak horse anyway, if it had been alive—"
She was cut off suddenly, letting out a strangled gasp of fright as an identical pegasus to the one she had just slain swooped down behind her and picked her up in its teeth by the collar of her shirt. Piper waved her arms around wildly as the pegasus tried to carry her away. Hazel spotted Katoptris, dropped on the ground.
Hazel was filled with a sudden fury at the creature. It was not going to take Piper, helpless, away.
She charged it, shouting a battle cry Coach Hedge would have been proud of, yielding only her dagger raised up in both of her hands.
The pegasus seemed surprised by her attack, and dropped Piper, who looked startled, safely back on the ground. Hazel continued running at the creature, aiming her dagger right between its eyes, and was rewarded with another monster dust coating after it exploded.
Piper was still trying to catch her breath, a shocked look in her eyes. She reached for her knife with a shaking arm. "Are there any more?" she managed to choke out.
Hazel turned in a full circle, scanning the deck. "I can't spot any," she said. She hefted her dagger. "Don't worry. If any more try to carry you off, I'll be ready."
"Thanks." Piper's voice was a little less shaky but her whole face still looked scared.
Suddenly pounding footsteps sounded on the deck and Hazel spotted Nico, Coach Hedge, and Leo running toward her and Piper.
"What happened?" Nico asked. "We heard sounds—"
"Is it monsters? Where are they? I knew I smelled monsters!" Coach Hedge was whirling like a tornado, searching eagerly for new foes to fight. "Come at me, you cowards!" He seemed to have totally forgotten about beating Hazel and Leo up for dismantling his TV set.
Hazel told everyone what had happened, trying to keep her voice calm, mostly for Piper's sake, who was slowly coming out of her shock.
Nico absorbed Hazel's words. "So two pegasi—" he began.
"—evil pegasi," Leo helpfully reminded. "With red eyes and sharp teeth and—"
"—came out of nowhere and deliberately attacked you?" Nico finished, completely ignoring Leo.
"Yes, and one tried to carry Piper off—"
"Good thing Jason's not here," Leo mumbled.
Hazel sent him a death glare before turning back to her brother. "When they attacked us, they almost seemed to come out of nowhere, as though they'd been spying on us . . . and when I first saw the first one, it didn't pay me any attention, like it hadn't come for us—"
Nico got what his sister was saying. "Scouts." He nodded grimly.
"Scouts for who? What does this mean?" Piper asked fearfully.
Nico's black eyes seemed even darker and moodier than usual. "It means that someone's on our trail."
Piper was stunned for a few seconds. "What? But who?" she asked.
"No doubt some group of monsters sent by Gaea." Nico's eyes flashed angrily.
"We'll have to keep an even closer eye out if whoever's following us is going to send out attacking monsters every few hours," Hazel decided.
"Well, I think these monsters are stupid. If they're following us and don't want us to know, why send attacking scouts out?" Piper asked.
"Monsters have never been the brightest," Leo offered. "Those scouts probably weren't supposed to attack us."
"Wait, if the monsters are only after us to attack us, to stop us from completing quest, then why do they care if we see them?" Hazel asked.
Nico was silent for a moment, then shrugged. "They must be following us for another reason. I'll think on it. Meanwhile, let's hope the monsters don't catch up with us. There has to be quite a large group of them. Leo? Speed our travel, if possible." Then Nico coughed into his fist, worn out from talking.
Leo nodded and saluted.
Coach Hedge, who hadn't really been paying attention to their conversation, pouted, and asked, "Wait, does this mean I don't have any monsters to destroy?"
"Don't worry, Coach, you'll most likely have some pretty soon," Hazel said wearily.
Leo cursed, and banged a fist into his palm. "I really should invent the chicken-nugget smoke screen, now."
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