Project Chaos: Disneyland

Chapter Nine

Teddy jumped and whirled around, hand reaching for his hip.

A tall man just a handful of years older than Teddy stood quietly a few feet away, an eyebrow lifted. He had pure white hair that was tucked into the collar of his coat. However, the ends of the bangs that swept across his forehead had red tips, barely noticeable in the poor light. The man tilted his head, never blinking, and Teddy saw that his eyes were a stunning gold.

"I'm curious, what were you reaching for there?" The man pointed one finger at Teddy's hand, which had frozen on his opposite hip. His voice was smooth and soft, yet deep, like a dark shade of satin that, far from disturbing the silence of the graveyard, seemed to be a part of it, a complement.

It left Teddy with goosebumps.

The stranger had one arm crossed over his chest, the other lingering below his chin, hardly an aggressive pose, and he was dressed in fine clothes – a ruffled shirt, dark vest, long coat, and tall boots. A scarf was wound around his neck and draped over his shoulders, though the weather hadn't turned cold just yet.

"Let's try again," he said quietly, taking a step.

Teddy tensed.

"Are you troubled, or incredibly foolish?"

Struggling to find his voice, Teddy straightened up.

"I suppose foolish," he answered. The man tilted his head. "I haven't run for help even though I've been confronted by a stranger in a graveyard of a house that eats people."

The man finally blinked his intense golden eyes, and his lips twitched with what could've been amusement.

"You are our newest Spook, are you not? Master Teddy." He took another step and spread his arms wide, offering a small, elegant bow. "I am Grimm, the master of the house."

Teddy wondered if he was supposed to bow back, but Grimm didn't seem to need a response. He closed the space between them, golden eyes scanning the closest gravestone for a split second before returning to Teddy. He gestured out towards the expanse of the graveyard.

"Shall we?"

Together, they strolled among the headstones, two silent specters in the fog.

"Tell me your story, Teddy," Grimm requested after a time, pausing to skim his long fingertips over the top of a nearby tombstone.

Teddy shrugged rather clumsily - though he'd noticed that Grimm had a way of making everything Teddy did seem clumsy by comparison.

"I don't know my story before waking up on Main Street and being chased here, to Adventureland," he replied.

Grimm tilted his head, eyes flashing with interest.

"Is that so? You remember nothing?"

"Abraxas said the magic took my memory to make me a clean slate, easier to change."

"Possibly," Grimm replied, tapping his lips. "But I think Abraxas is sometimes too bitter to judge the magic fairly."

They passed beneath the sweeping branches of a weeping willow, and a breeze set the leaves whispering. The fog swirled on the ground, and light from the moon suddenly appeared. The tombstones glowed and Teddy wondered why he found such a grim place to be soothing.

"You don't think the magic is a bad thing?" he asked Grimm, voice hushed so as not to disturb the peace of the dead.

"Inherently?" the master queried. "No. The magic has never seemed malevolent or evil to me. All the evil that has been done with it should be blamed on the wielder rather than the weapon."

Grimm reached out a hand, running his fingers through the tendrils of the tree, the leaves slipping from his touch.

"Disneyland is the heart of all magic," he said quietly. "The magic here is curious and free to affect whatever seems intriguing. Is that evil?"

Teddy assumed that was a rhetorical question, and a moment later, Grimm glanced at him with a twitch of his lips.

"You have no memory of actually crossing the gates into Disneyland?" he asked instead, to which Teddy shook his head. "And no idea if you ever possessed magical abilities?" Another negative.

Grimm suddenly set off with no warning, out from beneath the tree and across the graveyard, the ends of his scarf floating behind him. Teddy blinked and hurried after him. A small wall rose up out of the fog at the edge of the graveyard, and with one long stride, Grimm was standing on top of it.

He pointed up past the mansion, over a tall hill and above the trees.

"There is a wall of magic surrounding Disneyland," he said. The moonlight added a gleam of silver to his eyes. "It prevents anyone who stepped through it from crossing back over, and in the process, it takes any magic you might have."

Teddy looked up, but could see nothing wrong with the sky.

"I have a theory," Grimm murmured, "but it requires the participation of someone who did not have magic when they entered the park. And so far, we have yet to find that someone."

"Well," Teddy replied without a second thought. "If you would like to use me, I'll do all I can to help."

Grimm turned a curious eye on Teddy, tapping his lips again.

"You actually mean that, don't you?" The master shook his head.

Before he could say anything else, there was a soft cough from behind them. Teddy turned and saw Janus standing expressionless with his arms behind his back.

"Yes, old friend?" Grimm asked without looking.

"You have a visitor, sir," Janus answered. Something in his tone sounded weary.

Grimm tossed the butler a look over his shoulder, one eyebrow raised, golden eyes glowing.

"Very well, Janus. Would you mind terribly returning Master Teddy to his room? I'd hate to lose our newest Spook so soon."

With that, Grimm stepped off the wall and strode away without a further word, disappearing into the fog, leaving only the swirling air to show that he had been there at all.