Chapter Thirteen

Hopelessness

Jakob sat on the ground outside his house, hugging his knees to his chest. He couldn't go inside, not yet. Angelika would undoubtedly be waiting up for him, hoping for news but ready to comfort him if the news was bad. He couldn't bring himself to face her just yet. Not to tell her that his brother was vaguely homicidal and completely insane. He could barely get himself to understand it, let alone explain the night's events to another person.

His neck throbbed in a way that made it painful to breathe. Delicately he touched the bruises and winced. There would be no way to hide these; even without seeing them he could tell that most of his neck would be dark purple. Wilhelm's strength had astounded his brother. With his withdrawn behaviour and lack of meals, Jakob had expected Wilhelm to be weak and frail. The elder Grimm had proved himself to be quite the reverse. How could it be possible?

Maybe it really was the witch queen. Maybe he had maintained his strength because she was feeding her magic into him. Jakob didn't want to believe it but he had to acknowledge that it was an option, as ridiculous as it was. If it was so, if that's what had really caused these changes in his brother, he had no idea what to do. It seemed that the best idea would be to kill the mirror queen for good, but he couldn't do it alone. He needed Wilhelm. Wilhelm was the brave one, the real fighter. Jakob knew he couldn't face this evil without the other Grimm. However it didn't seem like Wilhelm was in the best condition to fight a malevolent sorceress, especially since he thought she was controlling his mind.

"What am I going to do?" Jakob moaned, covering his face with his hands as he felt his eyes beginning to burn. There was nothing he could think of to do. Nothing at all. He sank into his misery as he was washed away on a wave of hopelessness.

Wilhelm paced anxious circles around the main room of his house. What he had just done was a good thing. It was to protect Jakob. It was the right thing to do and he knew it. Now the only thing to do was convince himself of that.

His mind was flashing with a series of images. The taunting words on the page of his journal; the heart beating on its golden plinth; the queen's sickly sweet smile as her crimson lips dripped blood; the stained quill protruding from his flesh; Jakob's terrified face as Wilhelm's hands fastened around his throat. The elder Grimm looked down at his dirty palms as though they had betrayed him. He knew he'd needed to get Jakob away before something bad happened, but hurting him had never been part of his plan.

"You can't help yourself, Wilhelm."

Wilhelm groaned, pressing the heels of his hands against his temples, trying to block out the voice echoing in his head. "No, please," he begged through gritted teeth. "Just leave me alone."

"Now Wilhelm, that is not very nice," the voice simpered and it felt as though his head was being crushed. "Don't you love me anymore?"

"No! Jakob – Jakob is my brother!"

"Your brother who doesn't believe you," the voice said. "He just doesn't understand, does he? He thinks you are a fool; thinks you are a liar. What a poor brother he is that he won't even listen to you when you are in so much pain."

Wilhelm felt anger rising, unbidden, inside him. Jakob didn't care, he wasn't even trying to understand what he was going through. He didn't believe anything that Wilhelm said. Hadn't for years, not since this whole thing had started. He thought it was all just beans.

"No!" Wilhelm suddenly screamed. The anger filling him was now directed at a new source. "Stop manipulating me. Stay out of my head, you witch!" A crippling pain exploded in him and he collapsed to the floor, clutching at his hollow chest. Once again the queen's image formed in his mind as clearly as if she were standing in front of him.

"How could I leave you alone, dear Wilhelm?" the queen cooed but there was malice beneath her smile. "You are the key to my salvation. To my revenge."

"I won't do it," Wilhelm growled through his teeth, the pain in his body so intense that he couldn't unclench his jaw. "I won't."

"Please, Wilhelm, we have already discussed this tonight," she said, almost wearily. "You will do as I tell you, whether you wish it or not. You are my prince. You will obey me."

Wilhelm shook his head and by now could taste blood in his mouth. "I will kill you first," he hissed mutinously.

To his surprise, the queen laughed at this statement and fixed him with an amused stare.

"No, my dear prince, I do not think that you will," she said with certainty. "I have prepared myself for such a thing and just as you cannot die, neither can I. The source of my immortality is within you. So long as you live I cannot die."

"What do you mean?" Wilhelm asked but the queen only laughed.

"You are my heart, Wilhelm," she purred. Her image was fading and gradually Wilhelm was again in his dark house, the faintest glow of sunrise coming through a crack in the curtains. The elder Grimm sat up, his muscles sore from being coiled for so long. Grimacing, he spat out a mouthful of syrupy blood and felt his head throb with his every movement.

"I will defeat you," he murmured into the empty air. "I will not allow you to use me to kill Jakob. I will find a way to kill you."

"Try as you like, my prince, fighting against me is hopeless."