Pete Catalano: GRIMM & CO

Name: Pete Catalano

Genre: YA Fantasy

Title: GRIMM & CO

After what had turned out to be another very long day, I gathered my things, turned out all the lights in the office and turned on the lamps fastened securely to the building that illuminated the name GRIMM & CO that was painted, rather beautifully, over the entrance.  

           

Stepping out onto the first in a series of limestone steps, I found night had come much earlier than expected. Once again I would have to walk home in the dark. Three steps down and out onto the cobbles, the first remnants of evening mist hugged them tightly as it rolled through the streets of an unexpectedly quiet Fairytale land.

           

The sharp clack of my heels as they struck the cobbles echoed off the face of the tumble down brick buildings that lined the snickelway. It was, eerily enough, the only sound to be heard.

           

Walking under the gas lamps, I slowed my pace as a strange popping noise started from somewhere just ahead of me. I saw one of the lamps farther down the block flicker a few times and then go out. I stopped in mid step, letting my hands carefully fall to my sides. Three more lamps in front of me dimmed within moments, one after another, until the only one left to light up the night was the one directly above me.

           

The moment I looked up, the lamp grew bright as the others had and just as I thought it would burst, it snapped dark, leaving the bright outline of the bulb still fresh in my eyes.            

           

I twisted my hands slightly, letting the knowing knives dislodge from my wrist sheaths and slip into my waiting hands. I closed my eyes, taking two blind steps forward before shooting my left arm out to the side, placing the tip of my blade under a very familiar chin.

           

“Hello, Duke,” I said to Duke Wolfe, my on again off again partner, and resident poison expert at the GRIMM & CO. Wolfe is charming, cursed, and despite being exasperating at times, one of the few people I trust . . . mostly.

           

“Hello Red,” Duke smiled, as he pushed the blade delicately away from his throat. Every smile from him looks like a leer but it’s part of his genetics, but not his character. “A beautiful woman like yourself shouldn’t be walking home alone, especially after dark, especially on a night like this.”

           

I retracted my knife back into its sheath and Duke reached up to the spot on his chin and wiped his fingers across it to see if it drew blood. “What makes this night so different from the rest?”

           

“How was work today?” he asked, changing the subject as he shied away from either my question or his answer.

           

“It was okay,” I said, trying to figure out why he shown up out of nowhere, how he managed to make those gas lamps go out one by one, and why was he suddenly so interested in work. “A little busier than I had expected, but that’s because one of the partners didn’t show up the way he had promised . . . again.”

           

Duke smiled shyly. “Sorry Red, just one of those things that came up last minute. Time is valuable these days. If it will make it any easier on you I will be there first thing in the morning and catch up on anything that I’ve missed.”

           

“That would be great,” I agreed, though a little surprised. “Why the sudden change of heart?”

           

“I . . . I have a friend of mine that will be coming into the office in the morning,” Duke said. “An old friend that has helped me a great deal throughout the years and has never asked for anything in return.”

           

“And now he’s asking?” I said.

           

“And now he’s asking,” Duke repeated. “He needs our help Red, rather he needs help from you and Nathan. I’ll just be around to make sure he cooperates as much as you need him to in order to get the answers he’s looking for.”

           

Passing a corner where the lights have been turned off I looked at Duke. “This some of your work?”

           

“No,” Duke laughed. “I did the ones around the office for effect. It took me nearly all day to rig those up. I didn’t have anything to do with this one.”
           

As we walked I saw some movement in the shadows.

           

“Hey, Red,” a voice called out from the darkness as the sound of a violin, guitar, an even a cello rang out ever so softly.

           

“Hello, boys,” I nodded and the music followed us down the block, choreographing our movements.

           

“They are so annoying with that,” Duke groused. “Especially when you run. Don’t ever run past them, Red. It’s embarrassing.”

           

“They’re old, Duke,” I laughed, “and just trying to fit in like everyone else. It’s tough trying to find a gig for a dog, cat, donkey and rooster all playing string instruments. Nobody ever belies they can play a note, until they hear them.”

           

“Then why aren’t they working somewhere and staying off the streets and out of my soundtrack?” Duke asked.

           

“Hey, I asked the,” I said. “Had them all lined up but they like being on the corner and setting the mood for all of Fairytale Land. They are pretty good at it.”

           

“Hey Red, where exactly is Bremen?”

           

“I’m not sure,” I shrugged, “but I have to say I’m kinda glad they never made it.”

           

Duke and I walked the rest of the way to my house together, talking about some of the cases that have walked in since he was last in the office. He left me at my steps and I watched as he walked off into the darkness, whistling that sweet, low pitched tune that had put us together in the first place.

           

TWO

 

My name is Scarlett Hoode; my friends call me “Red”. In a world where magic and curses reign, an economic recession has hit Fairytale land and it hit it hard. In times like this, we’re all feeling the pinch.

 

I had the idea for GRIMM & CO EMPLOYMENT AGENCY a few months ago and after putting our business plan together and then having to beg, borrow, and steal (forget I said that last part), I was finally able to sign a lease for a small but cozy space in the baker's building. The methodology behind GRIMM & CO is simple. There are so many talented, unemployed people in Fairytale Land that if we were able to find clients who’s problems can be solved by the skill sets of the individual residents, it would be able to benefit everybody.

           

I currently have two partners, Duke Wolfe and Nathan Hunter. Needless to say the two boys do not get along so everyday in the office is an adventure, or at least the days when Duke decides to come in to work.

           

We moved a few desks, several bookshelves and file cabinets into our small but cozy space . . . and waited. When people didn’t line up at our door the way we had expected we knew we had to go out and get their attention. We hired, with the few bucks we had left, a marketing company who were contracted to create a slogan we could use to kickoff the opening of our promising venture.

 

                                               GRIMM & CO. When Fairy Godmothers Just Aren’t Enough.

 

Is what they brainstormed and preceded to plaster it on every inch of billboard space, telephone pole, and abandoned building that was scattered throughout Fairytale Land, much to everyone’s chagrin.

           

I had a lot of very pissed off fairy godmothers there for a while. And they can be a nasty bunch too. Forget pickets lines. I would have loved to have picket lines, rather than the spells, curses, and even the well placed poison apple in the fruit baskets that were dropped off at the office from time to time. Eventually they all settled down and we found a happy medium where we could all work together. Besides, Fairy Godmothers don’t do revenge.