" 'Wait!' the troll said, jumping in front of him. 'This is my toll bridge. You have to pay a penny to go across.' "
I ran through the woods until I made it to my spot. I untied the rope I had on the tree and the plastic bottles I had hanged on tree branches dropped and started to swing around.
I tied a blindfold around my head to cover my eyes and I started to listen for the bottles coming my way.
I kept dodging them and hitting some of them so that they'd swing back to me so I could dodge them again.
Suddenly I didn't feel the wind coming off the bottle anymore and I took off the blindfold and I grabbed a knife from my jacket and threw it.
It landed into a tree and I look down and see Dad and Monroe crouched down covering themselves.
"Sorry" I say
"You could've killed us!" Monroe says
"Did you die?" I question
"You threw a knife at us!"
"But did you die?" I say and Dad sighs
"You have school in a few hours" Dad says and I groan
"I did all my work, I'm a month ahead. I'd just be there bored and doing nothing" I say
"It's either that or you make up time in the summer" Dad says and I sigh
"Fine"
Next thing happening is I'm at home taking a shower and getting ready for the awfully boring day ahead of me.
I grab my bag and I walk downstairs, seeing Dad already left I have to go to school on my own.
"Mom?" I yell
Nothing.
Great, I'm already tired from this morning now I have to ride to school.
I walk outside and I get on my bike and start pedaling down the street.
I ride past the same house where they see me or Dad then run back inside, yeah that house where Junior sometimes goes.
I stop at the house and I see the parents pull back their children.
"I won't hurt anyone, I'm not like that" I say and I sigh when nothing changes
"Lizzie!" A voice says and I see Junior getting out of the backyard
"Bud don't!" A woman says and I continue to look at Junior who keeps walking towards me with his bike next to him
"You're gonna ride with me to school?" I question
"Why not? Seeing that you haven't been showing up lately, you need to catch me up on whatever dangerous thing happened" Junior says and I smile lightly
~•~•~•~
"Hundjager's?" Junior asks
"Yes"
"The Verrat are scary man" Junior says and I hum as I suddenly feel tired of talking to him
Rude but it just happens. It's like my social battery runs out and all I want to do it be alone.
I can't help it.
"Um, you should come for dinner tonight. It'd be good to have you at home so that my family could be used to you" Junior says
"Those people in the lawn?" I question
"Cousins, Aunt, Uncles" Junior says and I nod
"Okay, if my Dad lets me" I say and he nods
We become silent and I started to listen to our teacher until I began zoning out. Schools boring by itself but when you already know everything then it's even more boring.
But luckily it went quickly and I was at home.
"You remember Junior?" I ask and Mom nods
"He wants me to have dinner at his house" I say
"Perfect! Monroe is coming tonight, I didn't want to bore you" Mom says and I smile
"Is this the boy? Then no" Dad says and Mom laughs
I pull Dad aside and I say "It's the same boy whose family has a problem with us being Grimms, Junior just wants them to get used to be so the weird stares and other things can stop for me"
Dad stays silent and sighs "Fine, only because I don't need you fighting with Monroe"
I smile and I run up to my room to get changed and curl my hair.
Once I was done, I fixed my hair in the front so you could see my curls then I went downstairs.
"Lizzie, your friend is here" Dad says
"I want her back by 10" Dad says and I see Junior nod quickly before we walk outside the house
"Wow you look beautiful" Junior says and I look at him to see that he's blushing
"I mean you always look beautiful, all the time it's just tonight you look even more beautiful- I don't know why I said it like that" Junior rambles and I giggle
"It's okay, I think you look good too" I say and I look at his sweater smiling
We walked to his house and I saw his Dad waving at us, I waved back and this gesture made him relieved.
"Thank you for having me tonight" I say
"Yes of course, just don't mind Arnold" Bud says and I nod
We walk inside the house and I hear gasps come all around the room.
"Another Grimm?!" A man says
"Arnold! We talked about this, this is Nick's daughter" Bud says and I smile awkwardly as I raise my hand up to wave
"Hi, I'm Lizzie" I say
"Your son is dating a Grimm?" A woman yells and I feel myself getting red
I look over to Junior and see him looking down on the ground.
"Friends, they're friends!" Bud says
A man scoffs and says "Like that's better, she could get Junior killed just by standing next to him!"
"I think this was a mistake" I mumble and I walk outside the house
I take a deep breath and try to block out the argument from inside.
"Don't go, please"
I turn around and I see Junior standing there, I sigh and say "Your family is afraid of me, how could we be friends?"
"Just give it a shot, I'll be next to you. I promise" Junior says and I nod and I slowly walk back in the house
God it's so awkward.
"This is really good" I say as I point at the chicken with my fork and Bud smiles
"My wife made it before she left to go visit her mom" Bud says and I smile
"So how did you two meet?" A man asks
"She chased me at school" Junior says and I look down at my plate
"I told you!" A woman whispers and I sigh
"Junior was one of the first people at school I saw turn or woge, I needed answers so that I wouldn't think I was going crazy. And he ran so I did chase him. Which I'm sorry about" I say
"No it's fine, cause then I wouldn't be friends with you" Junior says and I smile
Maybe dinner won't be as bad as I thought.
~•~•~•~
Nope it was bad, although some of Juniors family waved me goodbye.
Others just got out of my way like I had the flu or something.
The next day I had to go to school and then I had to go to some meeting with Dad that Bud invited us to.
Because Arnold witnessed a murder, if I knew that I would've asked about it at dinner. Maybe not cause then Juniors family would've been even more scared of me.
I got out of the car and I followed Dad, he pulled his gun out and I turned around to see Bud behind us.
"D-don't shoot!" Bud yells and Dad puts his gun away
"I'm sorry" Dad says
"No, no, you gotta be ready. You just never know, I know. You face death every day, I don't" Bud says
"So where's this meeting?" Dad asks
"It's in the lodge, we gotta take the stairs. Look, I'm gonna take you in, make an introduction, and then you'll, you know, make it clear that there's a threat to our society and that the only way to deal with it is take responsibility for our own..." Bud says as he leads us to the lodge
"Well, I don't want to tell you what to say, even though I guess I already have" Bud says and I see the similarity between him and Junior
"Quiet! Order! Order! The assembly has been advised of tonight's question. Will Eisenbud Wurstner please come forward and introduce our guests?" some man says after he banged a gavel
"Mr. Speaker, thank you for allowing me to request this meeting. If it pleases the lodge, I would like to introduce Detective Nicholas Burkhardt of the Portland police department, and I'm proud to say, my friend. And his daughter Lizzie Burkhardt, Juniors friend" Bud says and I smile lightly at him
"One of you has witnessed a murder. And without that testimony, that murderer might very well walk free. Look, I understand your fear, I really do, but I want you to know that things can change. I'm a Grimm, and I'm also a cop, and I can help you, but only if you help yourselves first. So please let Arnold Rosarot
know that if he comes forward, then together we can put an end to this hasslich threat" Dad says
"When someone defies the hasslichen, they send us a message. I don't want my husband or my children to end up being that message" A woman says
"I say we send a message back to the hasslichen. We've got Grimms. You mess with us, you lose your head!" Another woman says
"Call to order! Order! We will put the question to a vote. All those in favor of the witness coming forward?"
Very little people raised their hand, maybe like three or four.
"Those opposed?"
I sigh when everyone else raises their hands.
"I move to request that the Grimm does not cut off our heads for opposing him on this question. We are...We are what we are" The man says and I frown
Dad takes off and Bud follows him as the group of Eisbibers look at me.
"I get your afraid, but come on Arnold! If you don't speak up what's stopping the killer from killing another person? I know you're here, just think about it" I say and I walk through the crowd and after Dad
"It's just that bravery isn't in our nature" Bud says as I walk towards them
"Hey, I don't know about that, bud. Even after you knew what I was, you still came to my house, fixed my door, brought me pie and a quilt, and that took guts. I figured if you could do it, so could they. Thanks for trying" Dad says
I smile at Bud and walk next to Dad as we go back to the car and go back home.
"I think he'll go testify. I know it" I say and Dad smiles at me lightly
The next day I had to go to school again but thankfully it was Friday so just one more day then I'm done til Tuesday since I'm missing Monday.
Once school was over I saw Dad's car outside waiting for me. I walk over to the passenger side then I see Arnold in the front making me walk to the back.
"So?" I ask him
"I did it" Arnold says
"I knew you could!" I say smiling
"Now where are we going?" I ask Dad
"To the lodge, where Arnold is going to stay" Dad says and I nod
I put on my headphones and I stay quiet until I heard Bud on the phone saying we were being followed.
We got out of the cars and quickly went to the lodge and inside.
"You got it?" Dad asks
"My knife? Or this?" I ask and I pull out a heat wire
"Both is good" Dad says and I nod
"Go to the lodge and stay there" Dad says to all of us
"Shouldn't we stay here and help?" Bud asks
"Yeah I'm staying Dad" I say
"I'm not afraid"
"I'm staying if you guys do" Arnold says
"Go, protect them" Dad says and I roll my eyes
"Come on" I say and I push the three men in front of me as we went to the lodge
I could hear grunting coming upstairs and then I heard footsteps coming closer to us.
"Go towards the back" I tell Bud
"W-what about you?" Bud asks and I pull out my knife
"Oh"
I close my eyes and I roll onto the ground as I hear something going at me.
I open my eyes again and see a guy with a scythe in front of me, a reaper.
Shit.
I dodge the scythe and I throw my knife at his hand making him drop the scythe. I run at him and I push my foot off his leg and I wrap the wire around his neck as I use my knees to steady myself on his back.
I turn it on and it starts getting red and I can hear sizzling coming off his neck. Suddenly his head cuts off and his body falls on the ground and I jump off.
I catch my breath and I put the wire up and I grab my knife from his hand.
"Oh my god" Arnold says and I look up and see those damn idiots were watching, which I don't mind but it's the fact they were so close.
"This is cool" I say as I grab the scythe and I smile at the Eisbibers in front of me
"Lizzie!" I hear Dad yell and he runs down and then he looks at me then the body
"I hate reapers" I say
"I called Monroe" Dad says
"Oh yay! Clean up time" I say and I push the head I cut off with the scythe
"Quit playing around" Dad says
"I'm playing hockey, come on you gotta laugh about things if not then it's so gloomy and dark" I say
~•~•~•~
"You took out two reapers!" Monroe says and I cough making him look at me
"We each killed one" I say and Monroe grabs the scythe out of my hands
"Vernichter der Grimms. Reapers of the Grimms" Monroe translates
"They're just gonna keep coming for us until we're dead, aren't they?" Dad asks
"Uh, yeah, I'm pretty sure that's how it works" I say
"I think I need to send them a message" Dad says
"I think you do too. And you know what? When it comes to sending these guys messages, two heads are better than one" Monroe says as he chops off the head of the reaper Dad killed
"Ew" I say
Monroe gives me a 'really?' look and I shrug my shoulders as I say "I didn't chop the other guys head off, I cut it"
"It weirdly comforts me knowing you're okay with this" Monroe says and I smile
~•~•~•~
"There's just so many!" Mom says as I look around the house and see so much gift baskets and pies
"They've been dropping them off all day. What did you and your Dad do?" Mom asks
"Just his job" I say and I smile at her
"Oh my god! Is that pumpkin pie?" I say and I go towards it
"No no no! You have to eat!" Mom says and I already have a fork in my hand
"I am. I'm eating pie" I say