Now wasn't that lovely my dears? Our sweet Wilhelm is falling in love! What? Oh don't worry, everything will work out, you'll see. You see. we're coming to the most exciting part of our story where everyone's fate will be decided for you see now Jakob must confront the old witch! This is where it gets most terrifying and dangerous! He'll be coming up against a power the likes he's never seen before and this will test the courage and the brain of our very...

Clever Jakob

Jakob had made his way around the castle looking for any kind of entrance he could use to avoid using the front door. Stealth would have to his constant companion from now on. He had to beat the witch at her own game and catch her off guard in order to have any kind of advantage. The fact that a large portion of the castle was covered in a tangled mass of vines sporting very precarious looking thorns made the task more difficult, but he had managed to spot what appeared to be an old servants entrance buried in the greenery that looked as if it hadn't been unused for many a year and he had very nearly missed it. Picking his way through the thick and thorny vines was no easy task and after pricking himself more than a dozen times, he managed to clear away enough to pass through the door.

However, he wasn't going to get in that easily. The door was locked tight with a rather large, black padlock. With one hand on his hip and the other scratching his head as if that would help an idea to surface, he looked about for something that would be useful to him, but found nothing. He had come this far and he wasn't about to let something as common as a lock stand in his way. He examined the lock, turning it over in his hands and then fishing his quill knife out of his satchel, he proceeded to insert it into the keyhole hoping the pick the lock. The lock had other ideas however and just before the tip of the knife reached it, the keyhole promptly disappeared from sight.

"Ah, so you're a magic lock eh?" said Jakob dropping the lock from his hand, "so that means it will take a bit of magic to open you. Hmm, this will take a bit of thought."

He leaned back, arms crossed, grinding one heel into the dirt before him and peered over his glasses as he studied the lock thoughtfully. He raised one eyebrow as a thought occurred to him. Perhaps the third time was the charm and he could try the rhyme spell once again, but the only one he could think of about doors had to do with shutting them. Maybe if he arranged it to suit his purpose. Pushing up his sleeves, he held his hands out in front of him palms facing the door and spread his long fingers apart. He then steadied himself and cleared his throat.

"All right then, here we go. One two, buckle my shoe. Three four, open the door!" he said confidently.

The lock stayed put making him frown. He began pacing back and forth, chewing the nail on his index finger as his mind went into high speed thought. It was obvious now that the rhyme couldn't be changed so he would have to take a different tack. Jakob began running through everything in his mental stores about tales, spells and magic that he knew that had to do with opening doors or gaining entrance. He gathered a short list of magic words he knew that usually produced some sort of satisfactory response on an object when spoken; now all that was left was to try each one. Returning to his original position with his hands before him, he once again steadied himself and used the first word in the list.

"Alakazam!" he announced trying to sound confident.

Nothing happened so with renewed zeal he tried again.

"Abracadabra!"

"Hocus Pocus!"

"Zim Salabim!"

"Shazam!"

"Fee-Fie-Foe-Fum!"

"Gesundheit! Oh, come on!" he pleaded at the lock throwing his hands in the air, but there it hung staring at him blankly still locked tight.

Frustration was beginning to get to him. There was only one word left and if that didn't produce results he would have to resign himself to using the front door which was not what he was hoping for at all. Once again into the breach Jakob tried the last bit of magic in his repertoire.

"Open Sesame!"

The lock dutifully popped open.

"Yes!" cried Jakob loudly, then slapping his hand over his mouth and flattening himself against the door, he waited and listened carefully to see if he had just foolishly announced his arrival.

After a few moments of silence punctuated by the lonely calls of the ravens that circled overhead, he allowed himself to release his breath in a huge sigh of relief. Jakob quietly removed the lock and sat it aside, then lightly grasped the handle and gave the door a gentle push. The door yawned open before him without so much as a squeak and he peered into the darkness beyond.

The room beyond was a large storage pantry or larder filled with all sorts of things that appeared not to have been touched for years. Dust and cobwebs covered nearly everything. Jake entered slowly, fooling with his glasses in a useless attempt to help his eyes adjust to the darkness. He knew there should be another door in that room that led into presumably, the kitchen. Two steps in and the outside door snapped shut leaving Jakob standing in the pitch darkness.

He wasn't afraid of the dark per se, but he hadn't had a real fondness for it since Will had locked him in a root cellar once when he was ten. They had been playing hide and seek with some of Will's friends and not being overly clever at choosing places to hide, his brother had known full well where he was the whole time, so he locked the door to keep him from changing his hiding spot while he found the others not realizing what might happen to his overly imaginative brother. When he found he couldn't open the small door, Jake began to panic. It was cold in there and the dust and musty smell of the stored vegetables made it hard to breathe. Jakob felt like the room was closing in on him fast and his overactive imagination had him convinced that he'd been snatched up by some giant that was going to swallow him whole.

Jakob had that feeling now. It was dark and cold in there too and the dust and cobwebs made it hard to breathe. Goose bumps covered his skin, the hair stood up on the back of his neck and in his mind the room was growing smaller by the minute. Panicking, he pawed through his pack for the blue light. Not there! Panic rising steadily, he tore open his satchel and grabbed the little glass box. Relief spread over him as the blue light illuminated the room enough for him to see at least a few feet around him.

Turning towards the direction he thought he had come from he found himself facing one of the dusty shelves filled with junk. Unfortunately on the shelf right in front of his face he came nose to nose with a rather large dead rat. It was petrified, the dead dry skin taunt on its face revealing large, sharp, ugly teeth that bore a horrifying grin gleaming in the light. Jakob nearly jumped out of his skin and flailed to his right only to come face to face with a crow, stuffed and mounted on a twisted perch, its wings spread wide and its beak gaping open as if in a permanent scream. One of its eyes had popped out long ago and it was dangling on its cheek. Jake tried to keep from screaming as he flailed back the other way in horrified fear only to back into a bank of thick cobwebs, sticky and covered with dust. He ripped at them furiously tearing them to shreds as pulled them away from his face, hair and hands.

Finally free he stood still, panting hard and frightened nearly to death. He had to get himself together or risk losing everything.

"What is wrong with you?" he chided himself in a loud whisper, "You're acting like a frightened five year old! Alright, close your eyes…deep breath." He closed his eyes, inhaled deeply and let it out slowly. "Now, prove you're not the offspring of a turnip, open your eyes and find the other door!"

He opened his eyes, but could do nothing but stand there and stare stupidly because he found that he had been standing in front of the other door all along. He sighed in disgust and thought perhaps his father had been a turnip after all.

He approached the door cautiously and found it to be unlocked. Putting the box away, he opened the door slowly and found that it did indeed lead to the kitchen. The scent of honing oil filled that air as a selection of freshly sharpened knives met his gaze. Looking to his right he spied Frederick chained to the wall, his head hung in despair. Slowly and quietly Jakob entered the room.

Frederick looked up and saw Jake coming toward him. He was about to shout for sheer joy when Jakob shushed him with a finger against his lips. Jake hurried over to Fred and examined his manacles looking for a way to free him, but without warning Frederick jumped up and hugged him for all he was worth. After a few seconds he let go and squeezed his shoulders firmly.

"I'm so glad to see you Jakob!" he said quietly, "I thought you were dead my friend!"

"Well I've survived an attack by a wicked witch before", he replied, "This was no different."

Jakob wasn't about to mention exactly how he'd done it trying to make himself at least sound brave and he was also using it as a way to bolster himself up as well given his idiotic performance in the pantry just moments before. If Frederick, Kate or especially Will had seen that, he would have never lived it down, he was quite sure of that.

As Jake looked over the manacles once again Fred said, "The keys are over there hanging near the hearth. The old hag put them just out of my reach just to torment me, I know she did. Jake, she was going to eat me!"

"Well, no one is going to have you for dinner today", announced Jakob as he went to fetch the keys and opened the locks.

"Oh, that is so much better", said Fred as he rubbed his wrists and ankles.

"Where are Kate and the others?" asked Jakob.

"She keeps them somewhere up above us. I can hear them cooing when she comes and goes through that door", explained Fred as he pointed to the door to the dining hall.

Jakob nodded and said, "I've found the key to freeing all the girls."

He took the flower gently out of his satchel and Frederick stared in wonder as he explained how it all would work. He then put his hand on Fred's shoulder and looked him straight in the eye. Jakob raised his hand and pointed at him as if to punctuate the seriousness that was now reflected in his deep, chocolate brown eyes.

"Are you up for this?" he asked.

"Yes, indeed", Frederick replied with sheer determination in his voice, "Lets show that old hag she's no match for the likes of us!"

Jakob headed for the door with Fred in tow and he slowly opened the door, peering cautiously into the dining hall. He neither saw nor heard anything so he deemed it to be safe to proceed and they both headed for the stairs that led to the tower. They could hear the doves cooing randomly as they climbed the stairs and they stopped in sight of the large wooden door of the tower. Jakob knew he had to be very cautious not knowing exactly where the witch was at the moment. One false move now and the outcome would be disastrous, all the hard work wasted. Jakob cracked the tower door open and peered inside. Nothing. Opening it a bit further, he ventured to look around the room a bit more. Still nothing. By all appearances the witch was nowhere to be found.

'Huh? odd…', thought Jakob.

Motioning to Frederick to follow, Jake stepped into the room. The sight that met them was fantastic. The room was large and airy, but warm and one hundred gold cages hung from the high ceiling by long golden chains of various lengths. As the late afternoon sun made its way towards the horizon, its light flooded in through the western windows making the cages glisten as they rotated back and forth in the warm breeze. The doves were radiant in the golden sun as they fluttered in their cages sending feathers through bars that fell like soft, fluffy snowflakes to the floor. The floor was also covered in birdseed that crunched beneath their boots as they walked.

They wandered through the room between the cages feeling awestruck as they studied each one and Frederick gave Jakob a puzzled glance as he shrugged his shoulders.

"Which one is Kate?" said Jakob quietly, "They all look alike!"

"Now what?" asked Fred.

At that moment one of the birds near the center of the room began cooing loudly and fluttering around in it cage beating itself against the bars as if in an effort to break free. The fussing did its intended work and Jakob turned around. The moment he saw the purple mark on the little bird's chest he instinctively knew it was Katherine.

"Kate!" he shouted and ran for the cage dodging around the others with Frederick right behind him.

Jakob put his hands up and moved them about the cage trying to calm the little bird down; the look on his face was one of sadness mixed with relief. Taking the crystal flower from his satchel he held it up for her to see and the "Kate-bird" settled down upon its perch and cooed contentedly as it watched Jakob move the flower closer to the cage. Just as he was about to touch it to the cage a voice came from behind them.

"Not so fast!" cried the witch, "Did you think you could just walk in here and…its you!"

The witch instantly recognized Jakob as he turned to face her, quickly hiding the flower behind his back. A chill ran through his body that raised goose bumps as the air in the room grew colder and his face paled. Her gaze was fixed on him holding his eyes transfixed to hers. He felt as if he couldn't breath and his mouth was so dry that when he tried to swallow, he nearly choked.

"You have been a thorn in my side since the very beginning, constantly getting in my way and now here you are again even thought I left you in the bottom of that well to die! Clever little Jakob Grimm. Well, you won't slip your way out this time! I've tried everything to distract you; your nightmares, your worst fears, even my womanly charms!"

The old witch turned her face away and passed her hand across it. Jake and Fred watched in fear as she morphed into her enchantress form, her dark ringlets gleaming in the late afternoon sun, her pale skin as radiant as the most delicate china, her crimson lips soft and inviting. She was even more beautiful than before, if that were even possible. Frederick stood awestruck, transfixed at the sight of her, but her eyes were on Jakob, her steady gaze holding him in place as if his boots were bolted to the floor. Any thought of her real form was completely washed from his mind and for the life of him he couldn't remember why he was there in the first place. Right here, right now, all there was in his head was her. Slowly she began to glide across the floor, floating towards him as if on air.

"Do you remember Jakob? Do you remember how good it felt to let it all go and be free of them?"

She was close to him now, her eyes staring deeply into his; locked into his soul. He could feel her breath on his cheek and his nostrils filled with the scent of her skin, the warm, sweet scent of freshly baked gingerbread with cream. Jakob felt as if his knees would buckle at any second from the sheer nearness of her and he tried to look away from her, but could not break his gaze. Every muscle in his body suddenly felt weak and at that moment, the flower clattered to the floor, but he didn't really care anymore.

The sudden noise jolted Frederick from his reverie and out of the corner of his eye he could see the crystal flower lying on the floor behind Jakob, but he didn't dare move, didn't dare draw the witch's attention to it or the girls would never be freed. He knew he would have to wait until just the right moment or everything would be lost. If Jakob became lost to her spell then it was going to be all up to him.

Fredrick watched helplessly as she placed her hands on Jakob's chest and began seductively running her fingertips across it as she slowly made her way up to his shoulders. Despite how cold the room had become, Jake was beginning to sweat. He swallowed hard as his stomach knotted up, barely able to fight the urge that was building up inside of him to give in to her.

"You could have had anything you wished for Jakob. You could have had it all, but you rejected me!"

Instead of continuing up to his face, she stopped at his neck; her hands clamping down around his throat like an iron vise cutting off his breath.

"But now you have to die!"

Sorry about the cliffhanger guys, I know everyone hates those. :P However, I didn't have a choice or the chapter would have been huge! Stay tuned for the next chapter to find out if Jakob actually dies...or not. As always please read and review and thanks in advance.