Grimm Games

Chapter 17: Tuning In

The night was cloaked in an eerie silence, and the bluish tone of fabricated moonlight filtered through the dense trees, casting eerie shadows on the forest floor. It was as if the very woods held its breath, waiting for something ominous to unfold.

I fixed my gaze in the direction where the four men who had been clad in full-body safety gear, transported the lifeless witch. I only spotted Spencer and Dylan, still sound asleep, sprawled on their bellies on the forest floor.

Then out of nowhere, a chilling melody sliced through the harsh stillness. The tune that pierced my ears was haunting in its loveliness and terror.

A flute.

The distant instrument emitted a haunting and ethereal ballad, a song that resonated with both beauty and darkness. Its notes carried a chilling quality, echoing through the cursed forest with an otherworldly allure.

The vibration of the forest floor under my feet pulsed like a living, malevolent heart. The sound of the flute echoed through the night, a spectral waltz that danced with the nearby shadows. Mesmerizing and chilling, an otherworldly tune seemed to beckon from the depths of some forgotten nightmare.

Dreamlike.

As the music played, the ground trembled beneath me, and from below the earth emerged a horde of oversized rats responding to the call. They left dark, wide openings in the ground in their wake as the melody wove a sinister spell, drawing them closer.

I remained still as dozens of thirty to fifty-pound furry, long-tailed rodents darted through the woods in the same direction.

The Jeffrey brothers, who had been peacefully asleep on a mossy trail, were suddenly jolted awake by the noise. Their faces twisted in a mix of fear and fascination as the eerie notes of the flute registered and the last of the rodents disappeared into the darkness.

They both scrambled to stand, possibly driven by the music and an irresistible curiosity.

The brothers looked back to realize I was still in the vicinity. Dylan bent down to retrieve his spear and continued to keep me in his sights as if assessing my motive. "What happened?" his voice traveled the short distance even as a whisper. "Where's the Witch?"

"Why don't you tell me?" I called back, keeping my eyes peeled in case anything else suddenly emerged. "You're the one who mentioned backstage."

"Shit," was his only response.

His brother anchored the thorned stick in his hand. "That music. I heard it before."

The melody continued, silencing us as we listened.

The sour notes churned my stomach, and I couldn't help but compare the situation to the fairy tale of the Pied Piper.

A mysterious figure with a magical flute who lured rats from a town infested with them, only for the townspeople to break their promise of payment. In revenge, the Piper enchanted the town's children, leading them away, never to return.

Spencer admitted to having heard the music before, and it made sense when thinking back to watching the introduction of the contestants and a clip of Sonya fighting one of the oversized rats.

Maybe Tobias and Millie encountered the ethereal music and rats too.

Maybe we all had or eventually would.

Where could Millie and Tobias be?

Fortunately, the only effect the tune seemed to have on me was twisting my stomach into nauseating knots, or maybe it was the lingering effects of the gas they used to sedate us slowly leaving my system that made me so queasy.