Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Explore 1.5M+ audiobooks & ebooks free for 30 days

    From $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    The Siblings Grimm: Siblings Grimm, #1
    The Siblings Grimm: Siblings Grimm, #1
    The Siblings Grimm: Siblings Grimm, #1
    Ebook277 pages3 hoursSiblings Grimm

    The Siblings Grimm: Siblings Grimm, #1

    By Rei Rosenquist

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    From Shakespeare to Little Red Riding Hood. This collection doesn't just retell beloved stories, it queers them, reidentifies them, and casts them in a wonderous and compelling modern light. Dragons and portals to new worlds. Royalty with secrets to keep and wolves in the forest. Dark in the spirit of old fairy tales and light yet shockingly deep in the way of the Bard. Come discover the stories that the Brothers Grimm never dared tell.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRei Rosenquist
    Release dateApr 29, 2024
    ISBN9798224103386
    The Siblings Grimm: Siblings Grimm, #1
    Read preview
    Author

    Rei Rosenquist

    Rei Rosenquist first remembers life as seen out the high window of a hotel balcony. Down below is a courtyard, swarms of brightly dressed tourists, the beach. The memory is nothing but a blue-green washed image. Warmth and sunlight. Here, they are three years old, and this is the beginning of a nomadic story-teller’s life. Over the years, they have traveled to many countries, engaged many peoples, picked up new habits, and learned new languages. But, some things never change. For them, these are stories, food service, and traveling. These three passions have bloomed from hobbies, studies, and jobs into a way of life. These days, Rei can be found in between Tokyo, Kailua, and Bellingham, Washington pouring beautiful latte art, baking off a batch of famous savory scones, and cozying up with a laptop to obsessively write mountains of dark speculative fiction. You can find Rei’s stories and blog at reirosenquist.com. You can also reach them via email at reirosenquist@gmail.com or connect via Facebook (Rei Rosenquist), Twitter (rylrosenquist) and Instagram (rylrosenquist).

    Read more from Rei Rosenquist

    Related to The Siblings Grimm

    Titles in the series (4)

    View More
    View More

    Related ebooks

    Fantasy For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related categories

    Reviews for The Siblings Grimm

    0 ratings

    0 ratings0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      The Siblings Grimm - Rei Rosenquist

      The Siblings Grimm

      The Siblings Grimm

      FAIRY TALES RETOLD

      REI ROSENQUIST

      Weathered Ocean Feathered Sky Press

      Copyright © 2024 by Rei Rosenquist

      All rights reserved.

      No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

      Contents

      A Froth of Starry Sea Foam

      Chapter One

      Chapter Two

      Chapter Three

      Chapter Four

      Chapter Five

      Chapter Six

      Chapter Seven

      Chapter Eight

      Chapter Nine

      Chapter Ten

      Chapter Eleven

      At the Heart of Trickery

      Chapter One

      Chapter Two

      Chapter Three

      Chapter Four

      Through the Shell

      Chapter 1

      Chapter 2

      Chapter 3

      Chapter 4

      Chapter 5

      Chapter 6

      The Second Visitation

      One

      Two

      Three

      The Toll Comes Due

      1. Once upon a time

      2. One

      3. Two

      4. Three

      Also by Rei Rosenquist

      About the Author

      Contents

      A Froth of Starry Sea Foam

      Chapter One

      Chapter Two

      Chapter Three

      Chapter Four

      Chapter Five

      Chapter Six

      Chapter Seven

      Chapter Eight

      Chapter Nine

      Chapter Ten

      Chapter Eleven

      At the Heart of Trickery

      Chapter One

      Chapter Two

      Chapter Three

      Chapter Four

      Through the Shell

      Chapter 1

      Chapter 2

      Chapter 3

      Chapter 4

      Chapter 5

      Chapter 6

      The Second Visitation

      One

      Two

      Three

      The Toll Comes Due

      1. Once upon a time

      2. One

      3. Two

      4. Three

      Also by Rei Rosenquist

      About the Author

      A Froth of Starry Sea Foam

      Chapter One

      Once upon a time in the black dark of space, two inter-stellar friends spoke together across a vast expanse as if no time or distance stood between them. These two friends had no names because they needed none. Their language was gaseous, chemical, reactionary. At the heart of one burned a small white star. The other had a shape ill-defined—a miasma of shifting clouds. But only in these ways did either friend contain an identity. Beyond that, they just were. They shared many thoughts on the state of the cosmos and questions regarding the passing of ages.

      On this very special day, the white star-centered nebula turned and noticed a distant glowing blue-green orb. The color of this small round rock seemed to leap up out of nowhere.

      Something new has caught your attention, the shapeless nebula pointed out.

      Indeed, the white star nebula replied. See that magnificent glowing sphere of blue and green?

      Beautiful, the shapeless nebula could only agree.

      What is it? the white star nebula asked.

      Earth, a new presence betwixt them answered in a dark, cold, biting tone.

      Both nebulae instantly gasped for betwixt them had only ever been the expanse. And yet more than new, this new presence was heavy in ways that made both nebulae scared. Dark and motionless, the presence chilled their thoughts to the core. They froze, ceasing conversation their for fear of angering this strange new dark.

      After a long silence, the strange new darkness receded, seemingly happy to have left its information. Earth. A singular name in a nameless existence.

      Exhausted by this strange interaction, the shapeless nebula returned to its place, promising to speak again later. The white star nebula said goodbye and tried to go about normal thoughts. Only, the nebula could not shake the image of this new word. It felt strangely drawn in toward this new planet. So full of shift, of change and intrigue it was.

      For when the white star nebula turned to face this Earth, strange things happened. A swelling of energy rose in the nebula's core. A growing sensation surrounded even the outermost clouds of gas. These sensations of change were shocking for the nebula felt...warmed by them. Brighter than the brightest of nearby stars. Even brighter than the nebula's own glowing white core. Comforted yet full of longing.

      What is that feeling I have never known? the nebula asked itself.

      That, my dear nebula, is called love, the sinister voice of that strange dark presence returned.

      The sound alone filled the white star nebula with dread. Something deep inside the swirling clouds of gas shrank back to their tiny center star, as if trying to pull away from the sudden rush of cold. And yet, the chill did not recede. It grew heavier, darker, impossibly full of a great inner mass.

      So heavy was the drag the strange darkness created that the brilliant colors of cloudy gas all around the white star flinched and nearly collapsed. The dark visitor slunk into the nebula's core, unrelenting. It tore open a space inside the nebula like a hole ripped through reality. A shredding shaking sucking-down feeling began to spread out across the once-safe expanse.

      Why have you returned? the white star nebula asked, full of fear, wishing desperately that the shapeless nebula had not gone so quick.

      I've come for you, the darkness said.

      The white star nebula hoped the shapeless nebula could hear it too, as before. But now no companion came to the rescue.

      The white star nebula was afraid, and yet—in the face of fear, one must be bold. So, the nebula gathered itself and boldly asked, What are you?

      I am the great Darkness, eater of light and taker of souls.

      Souls? What is a soul?

      A soul is what makes you you.

      I'm a soul?

      Indeed, for why else could I come here?

      Why have you come?

      To take your soul away with me into the deepest dark.

      No, the nebula thought, but the feeling jammed up in between atoms and reactions. Too great was this terror—of being taken away. Why?

      It is your time to die, Darkness answered. Unless.

      Unless?

      I can save your soul.

      How? the nebula asked.

      Earth.

      Earth? the nebula repeated the word that had already captivated. The small distant globe that had already filled the nebula so full of hope. Something deep inside the core of the nebula longed to go there. Perhaps, that was the nebula's soul—the will to touch that amazing place. Yes? What about it?

      The earth is full of souls. Individual wills. Autonomous beings that move across land and sea.

      Land and sea? the nebula asked, confused.

      The shimmering green and the glittering blue, Darkness said.

      I want to see this place, meet these souls, become like them so full of diversity and growth, the nebula said, then. Certain and determined to feel more of this strange warmth. More of this weighty gravity.

      Yes, you will. I will transform you into a human.

      And this will save my soul from dying?

      Yes. Indeed.

      I'll go, then, the nebula said without hesitation, nor stopping to consider what a deal of this magnitude with a black gaping hole in the vacuum might amount to. No time for such worries. No time to tell the shapeless nebula of the change. No time for anything. The choice was become human or be erased. The nebula could feel the cold already spreading, the light of the small white star already dimming.

      And the little green and blue sphere looked so full of hope, of life, of other souls to know. Of...what did Darkness call it? Love? Not to mention the pain of facing erasure was far too great. And so, the nebula chose to shove all questions aside for this once chance to live.

      It will be good, Darkness encouraged, each word tinged with a strange and sudden hideous laughter.

      The nebula thought then: that is only my perception. Darkness is neither good nor bad. It merely is, and it is willing to help me save my soul. Now is no time to fear!

      Yes! Do it now, the nebula demanded boldly, growing excited.

      But, first, Darkness paused importantly, you must pay a price.

      A price? What price could be too grand for this rare chance to dodge ones own death and in doing so, experience love?

      You must make one of those souls fall in love with you within the time of one full cycle of the earth's satellite—called the moon.

      Fall in love? the nebula asked, confused by these words.

      True, the nebula had recently learned this word love. And yet, how could the nebula fully comprehend the sensation, yet?

      Love is the feeling you get when you caught sight of that little planet. That warmth. That glow.

      Yes, the nebula understood now. Love was good. But why should I make a soul fall? Into what?

      Into you, Darkness explained.

      Make one of Earth's souls warm glow fall into this gaseous body?

      Falling was bad. Spacial fell into other spacial bodies. A passing asteroid would sometimes drag some gas tendrils down into itself. A binary system would collide, the smaller fall in toward the larger. Whenever this falling happened, the thing falling was lost. Those atoms spun into nothingness, never to return.

      You misunderstand, Darkness cut in. It is a good thing on Earth.

      How?

      Humans fall in love and protect one another. They provide for one another. They support one another, hold the other up. Humans need love to live. To fall into it is to fall into the very thing that gives life.

      Like the core of the nebula's own gaseous form—the small cool white star. If the nebula thought in these terms, the star loved the gaseous clouds and the clouds loved back. A constant kind of push and fall. Yes, the nebula concluded—falling in love could be a good thing.

      I understand, the nebula said. But what if I fail?

      You will become a scattering of loose stars across the planet's deepest of blues. The ocean. And you will be its sea foam.

      That didn't sound so bad. To be a scattering of stars. Though the nebula could acknowledge it would be strange. And, this. There would be no return to this place. No return to the free mixing of gasses. No more conversations with the shapeless nebula. No more love of the small cool white star. Only hapless sea foam.

      Better, though, than being entirely erased here and now. For in this deal: the nebula stood a chance to live! And to think of that glow—to think of all those souls, was it not worth the risk? Was it not worth trying when the outcomes were the same?

      And if I succeed? the nebula asked just to be certain.

      You can remain with the soul that loves you and you love in return.

      The nebula pondered this. Not only would a soul be wrapped up in itself—but that the nebula would be wrapped back. Entwined in a way never once felt. The cold pressing of the fear of one's own end—gone for good.

      The nebula would live as humans do and die as humans do. Which could not be nearly as terrible and heavy as Darkness consuming all one's light. No, certainly it must be brighter and warmer to die on that glittering planet. And that was worth every loss, wasn't it?

      Yes, the nebula said.

      You agree to my terms? Darkness asked.

      I do.

      Then to the earth, you go.

      The rip in reality that was the great Darkness became a spiral with arms reaching out. A sucking sensation pulled the core of the nebula down, down, down. And the nebula was sucked in whole and twisted around. Tighter and tighter until every atom was pressed against itself. No space between any of the elements. The nebula was certain, then, that this was death. The end. That the great Darkness was a liar and had done a horrible thing⁠—

      But then, there was a bright orange glow. A silver disk hanging beautiful in a blue-black sky speckled with so many stars. More than the nebula had ever seen in one direction. Reflected over and over again on a wide undulating surface.

      I leave you here to fend for yourself. And when you wake, you must begin your mission. Find a soul and make them fall in love.

      Woosh! And tumbling confusion of pressure took the place of all that twisting and pressing together. A cold tossing about and then—a hard slap. The tear in reality that Darkness had made for itself closed and the nebula knew only one thing—that it was utterly alone.

      Chapter Two

      The nebula passed over the dark waters of earth, watching as the silver light from the round disc hanging overhead caught on each undulating wave. The water, like gas in a nebula, shifted constantly. And in this, the nebula could see itself.

      Then rose mountains teeming with long slender bodies, their voices sunk deep into rich soil, entangling and embracing one another in murmurs the nebula could not comprehend. The rivers overflowing with currents and inside those currents, the sentences and words of more living things sending out their own ripples of communication. These currents flowed into lakes full of the same and ran into more rivers and dumped into a great ocean so full of echoes and vibration that it was impossible to even discern a single organism. A single voice. A single soul. All entwined as it was, an orchestra singing in perfect timing, perfect pitch, perfect harmony within itself.

      Where were these individuals Darkness spoke of? These small bits the nebula might make fall into love?

      As the nebula passed over great cities full of lights and small sleepy clearings in massive emerald green forests, the nebula began to lose hope of finding a these smaller souls, each connected and yet somehow individual. For how could one piece stand out from the whole? What entry point was there for to comprehend the complex workings of this dizzying planet?

      Perhaps, the nebula thought, the whole planet itself was this one soul and the nebula must woo the rotating orb all together. But how then should the nebula take on a bodily form? There were so many to choose from! Yet hadn't Darkness specified already. A human, the nebula thought, and observed these strange beings.

      They walked the planet with a kind of self-possessed air, oft times as if they were the only ones there. Some harmed other souls with a blank face, while others took the role of champion to other life forms—defending them even at the cost of their own souls. A confusing conflict—this. The nebula could barely comprehend the humans behavior, as it seemed conflicted inside itself.

      Yes, Darkness answered finally. It is in conflict. The humans are a confused and confusing species.

      But you have demanded them that I should find one to love?

      Yes, indeed, Darkness laughed, and the nebula thought for the first time—this plan is bad. For perhaps, the nebula thought, the humans more than any other being on the planet love themselves the most.

      You have already agreed, Darkness reminded the nebula.

      A kind of sorrow then filled the nebula. A new sensation. That of having made a terrible mistake. And yet, it was too late. It was this or annihilation. And the planet was truly so beautiful and the humans truly so complex—that yes, the nebula thought. I do still stand a chance.

      How should I come to be one of them? the nebula asked instead of trying to get out of the deal.

      You must choose one human and reveal yourself to this one alone. Then, you will stand a chance, Darkness explained.

      But how should I chooses merely one? the nebula complained.

      That is your problem, not mine, Darkness echoed back, already drifting back into the depths of space.

      The nebula drifted, cast down into the cycles and patterns for what felt like ages. Searching, always for a thing. A being all its own. A reachable soul. Some small piece of the whole that should—at some critical moment—splinter off from the whole.

      The humans, even with their inner discordance, were closely knit. And yet this discordance with their planet stood out. Their harmonies ever so slightly off to the rest of the music. A beat and a half behind. A slight flat that didn't necessarily belong. But even disparate as their systems might be, the humans were nearly as whole and self-contained as Earth itself. A system within a system. Almost...alien in its efficiency and autonomy. And yet, for all its deference, the nebula still could not call humanity a single soul—and could not, even if it did—find entrance into its complicated song.

      And then, one day whilst the nebula was passing over the ocean amidst a massive electrical charged thunderhead, it happened. A piece cracked loose from the whole and tumbled from its order into a chaos it did not belong.

      The nebula watched, at first in fascination, then in awe, and finally in horror as the shattered little shard sank into disarray, confusion, and finally—discombobulation. It twisted and reached for something. This single human, so quickly separated off from its whole. A loose bit set adrift, cast off and unattended by those whom had cast it down. A desperate thing floundering and sputtering into the desert of a watery grave.

      The nebula realized it could mimic this form. Take a humanoid shape and meld with it that of the sea-dwelling mammalian things. Doing so was as easy as thinking a thought. And with a sudden bolt of joy (a new sensation, this very human emotion), the nebula became a half-human, half-dolphin and swam fast and true for the human body going down toward impossible depths.

      The nebula took hold of the human's clothes and raised first to the surface. There, the human gasped, spat salty water from its mouth, and stared wide-eyed and shocked at the drenched human arms bearing it up. Then, the nebula easily transformed into a strong-legged, steady winged flying beast and fly fast as a bolt of lighting. Not toward the ship that had cast the human off. No, that would not do. But for another place. A nearby island shore. Somewhere with lots of other human nodes moving steady inside their human tuning. A safe place to leave someone in a state as this.

      Nearing land, the nebula knew better than to show the humans this form it had taken. For, easy as it was, the humans did not believe such magic possible. Such alterations of the kind of song reality sung had somehow slipped out of their minds. And so, the humans—upon seeing such a sight—would panic and turn cruel. The nebula had seen it before in the lengthy journeys around the earth.

      So, the nebula instead found a secluded place to set the dire human down. A soft sandy patch of shade in the coming morning light. The human, shaken as it was, would no doubt not recall the nebula's face. Which was fine, because the nebula knew now who the much-needed soul was. And finding this soul—this one broken off piece—again in the midst of the ongoing music would be easy.

      The nebula looked deep into the human's eyes

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 20