Chapter Eleven

A Parting of Ways

Jakob sat in front of the fire, staring pensively into its flickering depths. His mind was racing. He couldn't get the image of that man out of his head. Those eyes, like silent, mysterious caverns, were hauntingly familiar. Where had he seen eyes like that before?

"Jakob?"

The younger Grimm startled at the voice and looked up to see Angelika standing beside him. She slipped into his lap, wrapping her arms around his shoulders and giving him a concerned look.

"What is wrong, Jake?" she asked gently.

"What is right?" he replied in frustration.

Angelika took his outburst in stride. "You are more worried than usual. What has changed?"

"Will is getting worse." Jakob took off his glasses and rubbed the bridge of his nose. "And there is a new man in town who makes me uneasy. He arrived near the day that Will and I went into the woods, and now I see him everywhere. Like he is following me. He also claims that his surname is Prinz."

Angelika scowled. "Prince? I have met him. The blond man who is staying at the inn. He asked me questions about you. Says that he's travelling Germany and heard tales of the great Brothers Grimm, so he came to learn more about you. I didn't tell him anything, though. I told him I was busy and hurried away. I don't like the look in his eyes, they're so - empty."

"I want you to stay away from him," Jakob said darkly. He expected his independent wife to protest, arguing that she could defend herself but she only nodded her consent. Jakob was honestly grateful for the agreement. "Is Aurora already asleep?" he asked, his tone softening greatly.

"She was tired," Angelika confirmed with a sad smile. "She wears herself out worrying about Will, just like her father." Jakob chuckled. "You need sleep, Jake."

"I will," he promised. "I was only trying to settle my mind so I could rest." Angelika climbed from his lap and stood behind him, rubbing the muscles in his shoulders with a practised hand. Jakob let out a noise of contentment and his head fell back against her stomach, eyes closed.

Several minutes later, she touched his cheek lightly, stirring him back to consciousness "Come on, Jake, time for bed," she said. He nodded sleepily, far too tired to argue. Heaving himself from the chair, wondering when his own body had begun to feel like too much weight to bear, he followed her to bed.

Jakob was midway through unbuttoning his tunic when a knock at the door made him pause. His brow furrowed. Who would be calling at this hour? Maybe it's Will, he thought and headed hastily for the door. The man outside was not Wilhelm, but he was definitely scared. His wide eyes shone in his pallid face as he stared up at Jakob, fidgeting.

"Mister Grimm, you had best come," the man said in a rush.

"What is it?" Jakob asked suspiciously.

"I live across from your brother," the man said. This caught Jakob's attention immediately. "I heard screaming. He does not answer his door, and with how strangely he's been, well, we dare not just go it. I thought it would be best to fetch you."

Jakob's heart leapt into his throat as a million horrifying scenarios flew through his head. He turned back to Angelika long enough to say, "stay with Aurora," before he flew out the door. His feet were bare on the chilly ground and his half-opened tunic was hanging off one shoulder, but he was too blinded by fear to notice.

He didn't pause to knock at Wilhelm's house, throwing open the door and tumbling inside. Looking around frantically, waiting for his eyes to adjust to the lack of light, he tried to locate his brother. "Will, where are you?"

"Stay away."

The growl startled Jakob and he turned toward the source. Faintly, he picked out a figure huddled in the corner against the desk. Relief that Wilhelm was at least alive swept into Jakob and he moved toward him.

"Will, what's going on? The man said you were screaming," Jakob said, still trying to see clearly in the dark. "What happened?"

"I said 'Stay away.'"

Jakob had finally gotten close enough to see Wilhelm and he froze instantly. Wilhelm looked paler and gaunter than Jakob had ever seen him. There was a trail of blood from the corner of his mouth, standing out brilliantly scarlet on his skin. Beside him was his writing book and quill. The tip of the feather was dark red and a line of crimson text glistened over the black ink. Jakob's stomach churned. "Will, what is this?" It looked as though Wilhelm had written something in his own blood. Jakob walked forward and knelt beside his brother.

"Stay away, Jake!" Wilhelm suddenly sprang into action, hurling himself forward and shoving Jakob sideways. Jakob fell back against the desk, his breath bursting out of him, and Wilhelm stumbled to the opposite side of the room to hide himself among the shadows.

"What's going on, Will?" Jakob asked frantically, too afraid to move.

"Go, Jake, get out!" Wilhelm yelled.

"Why?" Jakob shouted back. "What happened?"

"Nothing. Stay away."

"This isn't nothing, Will," Jakob said fiercely. Hauling himself up, he took a few steps forward and Wilhelm skittered into the corner. "It's like you're afraid of me."

"Not you," Wilhelm grumbled. "Me."

"You?" Jakob pressed.

"I don't want to kill you," Wilhelm said and there was a note of desperation in his voice now.

"Will, why would you – "

"I don't want to kill you!"

Silence floated in the wake of this statement and neither brother moved as they stared each other down in the dimly lit house. Finally Jakob lifted a hand to pinch at his nose again. "This is ridiculous, Will," Jakob said, annoyed now. "If you don't want to kill me, then don't, damn it."

"I can't," Wilhelm said. "She has me. My heart, I mean. I can't stop it. She wants me to kill you."

Jakob paused. So that was what was going with Wilhelm. It was something to do with the queen. "It was just a dream," Jakob said earnestly. "Another nightmare."

"No, not this time," Wilhelm rambled, pacing a short line in the corner. "It was real. She's got it. My heart. That's why I don't feel it beat, why I don't die. She can make me do it. She wants me to kill you. I can't." Wilhelm suddenly swivelled on Jakob, his face hard. "Get out! Stay away from me!"

"Will," Jakob said, but the rest of his sentence was cut off. Wilhelm flew at him and grabbed him by the throat. Jakob sputtered and struggled against the iron grip as Wilhelm dragged him to the door. Then, with a strength that his wasted body shouldn't have possessed, he tossed the younger Grimm out into the street.

"Stay away from me!" Wilhelm bellowed one last time before the door slammed shut. Jakob stared in surprise and horror at the darkened doorway. He was gasping for breath and his neck felt bruised, but he was more concerned about the man on the other side of the wood.

Climbing to his feet gingerly, he stepped up to the door. "Will," he shouted into the wood.

"Get away," Wilhelm replied.

"Will, open the door," Jakob demanded.

"Didn't you hear? I said, 'Get away.'"

Jakob tried the doorhandle but it was locked. "Open the door," he repeated.

"Verdammt, Jakob!" Jakob jumped backward in fright at the loud bang signalling that Wilhelm had slammed his fists against the door, the wood shuddering. "Get away now, or I will kill you." The venom and conviction in Wilhelm's voice frightened Jakob. There was no doubt that he being was entirely serious. These weren't the crazed ramblings that Jakob had grown used to hearing; this was a genuine threat.

"Fine," Jakob barked angrily. "I'll go, for now. I'll be back tomorrow. Get some sleep, maybe you'll have more sense."

The answer came back as a quiet plea, barely audible through the closed door. "Just go."

Jakob left without another word, but every step he took made his heart grow heavier. He was terrified by this new level of madness that Wilhelm had reached. For the past two years he had seen his brother's sanity slowly declining, but in just the past two weeks it had struck an intense, downward spiral. Jakob was watching Wilhelm flying towards insanity and he felt utterly powerless to stop it.

What if Will was telling the truth? Jakob suddenly thought. It seemed impossible, but then again Wilhelm had been right about the queen being alive. What if she really was feeding thoughts into his head? What if she had stolen his heart?

"Ridiculous," Jakob said aloud. He had been there the night Wilhelm's heart had stopped beating. There was no way she could have removed it without Jakob seeing. "Absolutely impossible."

"It always seems that way, doesn't it?"

Jakob spun towards the voice in fright. The man from the inn, Prinz, was leaning against the side of a house only feet away, staring up at the sky. Jakob had never heard him speak before that moment and his voice was light and musical, clashing savagely with the eerie feeling his presence stirred up in Jakob's chest.

As Jakob opened his mouth to speak the man suddenly looked down at him, fixing him in that hollow stare. Jakob's questions stuck fast in his throat. With a grin and a wink, the man pushed himself away from the wall. "Good-night, Mister Grimm," he said, still smirking cheekily. Then he turned and disappeared between the houses before Jakob could say another word.