Free The Grimm Chronicles, Vol.1 by Ken Brosky, Isabella Fontaine

hint.” His whiskers twitched. “A skill honed by generations of heroes.”
    “A hint to what?”
    Sunlight gleamed in the rabbit’s dark eyes. “A hint to know who doesn’t belong.”
    “Aaaaaand I’m lost again.” I threw up my arms, falling back on my soft bed. I had an intense desire to sleep … even the most twisted dream would make more sense than what was going on.
    “Can I tell you another story?” the rabbit asked.
    “Yes, by all means. You’re a good storyteller, at least. You’re a giant rabbit, which is creepy and weird, but you tell good stories.”
    “I’ll take that as a compliment.” He removed his paws from his pocket, first smoothing his vest and then licking one paw and matting down the fur between his long rabbit ears. “Now, a long time ago there was a Miller’s boy and a cat …”
    “I’ve read that story,” I said, excited. “It’s a fairy tale by the Grimms!”
    Briar nodded. “Now that’s true enough. And when those dastardly Grimm brothers wrote down the story using their magic pen and magic paper, you’d better believe all those characters showed up in real life. Not ten miles away from where the Grimms lived.”
    “So there was a castle full of cats,” I said, trying to remember back. “And then the Miller’s third boy, Hans, served them for seven years, and then he went back to his father’s mill, right?”
    The rabbit nodded.
    “And so then a princess appeared with servants and handed over a horse, then took Hans back to a castle made of gold.”
    “Close enough, I suppose. Although the way I was planning to tell it would have been more exciting. But what do I know? I’m just a giant talking rabbit.”
    I bit my lip, thinking. “There were no bad guys in that story. Unless you count the two brothers who conspired against Hans.”
    “No, I suppose you’re right.” Briar glanced again out the window. “But good or bad, they didn’t belong in this world. And that story made quite a mess of things anywho. Seven years after the Grimms put the story to paper, well, the young man Hans and his wife ended up at their castle made of gold. And guess what? There were plenty of folk all across the countryside wondering just where this mysterious princess had come from. Wondering even harder about how much gold they had inside that castle.”
    “They took the castle?” I asked, eyes wide.
    “Oh, it wasn’t so simple. You see, having that much gold can buy you a great many things. Plenty of men in those times more than happy to take up a sword and shield for just a few scraps. And so when the neighboring lords and kings paid a visit to the princess and Hans, they found themselves staring down a whole army of mercenaries. Pretty soon, every lord within a hundred miles was at every other lord’s throat. And through it all, sweet little Hans and his princess got more and more bloodthirsty.”
    “They enjoyed it?” I asked.
    Briar shrugged. “Maybe all that gold got to them. Maybe the greed overtook them. Whatever the case, every year that passed they grew darker and darker. Nastier. Meaner. Took over all the land, including the farm the Grimm brothers lived on. Started taking harvests by force. Executing poor folk who couldn’t pay tribute. So the Grimm brothers’ servant paid them a visit.”
    “Did he still have the pen?”
    “Sure did. The very same one he used to kill the Big Bad Wolf.”
    “He killed them?”
    “He sure did,” Briar said. “And just like with the wolf, they both burned away into ashes. Gone from this world. Rightly so, I may add. And the servant, he took himself some of that gold from the castle before anyone knew what had happened. And he spent the remaining years of his life searching for the rest of the Corrupted.”
    “Corrupted?” I asked.
    “Any character from the Grimm fairy tale becomes Corrupted over time because they don’t belong in this world,” Briar explained. “They’re people, only they ain’t like you.” He