The Grace Curse

Chapter Three

DARKNESS SURROUNDED ME. My eyes did not function, my sense of smell would not work, worse yet, my hearing felt dulled. I could sense vibrations from someone's words, words...that did not compute properly in my brain.

"He'll never make it," A feminine voice said. I couldn't tell who was saying it, or where the voice came from but it was putting me on edge.

"Come on sis', I think I should go find him soon, he'll be waking shortly,"

"No you dingbat! Do you realize he wouldn't be in his right mind anyway? His mother died, pretty sure he isn't gonna wanna talk to—!"

"Nonsense, I can't hear you, lalala—!"

"Ignorant!"

"Tree hugger!" The male voice yelled back.

"Ugh! You're impossible! Go ahead! I don't care,"

"Great," The other voice said. "I'll get my stuff together and go see him after I set the Sun,"

Their voices began to sound distorted, my surroundings were starting to sharpen. Pain seared through my body, I couldn't move. As my eyes began to reawaken from my sleep, I felt my head flare. I tried feeling around me. The ground beneath me was rough, but slippery with wet leaves. When I realized I wasn't inside my house anymore I began to freak out. How the hell did I get here? I asked myself. Images flashed back into my mind. The memory of the giantess crushing my mother replayed in my mind like a sick horror movie; tears dripped down my face. My cry wasn't a little one, it was a full on unmanly like, cry. Come on Chase suck it up crying is for losers. I struggled to stand up. My leg wouldn't move, come on leg, dammit! My body tried to disagree with my mind. I mustered up all my will to stand up. The spear was still in my hand. Why did it seem to follow me around? I was surrounded by a grove of trees; I wasn't far from the manor. I could recognize the smell of burnt wood from last weekend's bonfire party. I followed the scent until I saw my backyard. The backyard of the Grace Manor could have held a stadium it was that huge. Diverting my attention to the next biggest thing; I looked up and saw the Grace Manor. My stomach sank as I saw its current state. The window paint was peeling; the garden ripped up, and the pool was drained. How long was I unconscious? Instead of going in through the back like I should have; I walked towards the side of my house. I nearly jumped when I saw a large sign sticking out on the lawn. It read: Former Grace Manor Sold to Verdanburg's Museum Foundation—Town Board. I began to curse out loud. The Beauregard's ran the museum foundation. My Mom and I both hated them. Apparently, they rivaled with the Grace family for generations. Their daughter Aurora Beauregard, was the biggest bully in my school. Chloe had gotten into it with her a few times over absolutely nothing of value. The thought of Chloe made my blood boil. Where did she go? Had she known about the troll and left? Whatever the case, I wasn't going to allow them to take over my house. Nobody was turning MY house into a public freak show. I ran up to the front door and bashed it in as hard as I could. It weakly cracked open. I am going to regret that. I didn't get why my Mom never invested in a security system with all our money. The interior of the house was left in the same state as it was at the party. Really? No police or anything bothered cleaning up this place? The cracked marble floor from the troll served as a cruel reminder of the fate my mother suffered. This was some serious shit.

I slapped myself across the face to make sure I wasn't dreaming again. I ran up the stained grand staircase like the mile run in gym. I came to a sick realization that made my legs lock. With no mother now, I would be put into some kind of foster care unless Jonathan stepped it up. The very thought made my blood run icy cold. I had absolutely no family left, none that at least cared enough to save me. Strangely enough, my Mom's body was nowhere to be found. I wondered where it went. If I could find out where my mom stored our family will. I could make a run for it and elude the authorities my entire life. Like that's a good way to live anyway. I looked around the central hallway. Now where on earth would Vivien Grace stash her wad of money? I lowered my body to the floor and closed my eyes. I scanned my mind for any possible ideas. Where the hell could it be? Come on mom give me a sign from wherever you are! Dammit Vivien! The first place that came to mind was my mom's room. Duh Chase. I stood up and darted down the hallway. I made a left down the west hall and saw my mom's door open at the end of it. I slowed down. Something was seriously off. I was pretty sure it was shut the night of the party. All these things were out of place. The door was just slightly cracked open; it was too suspicious. Carefully, I pushed the door open slightly being on my guard. I nearly jumped backwards. My mom's room looked like something out of Night of the Twisters blew through it. Her bed sheets were thrown across the room and ripped. My Mom's makeup mirror was shattered and all her makeup was thrown around. It finally occurred to me that the giantess was rummaging through her stuff before she attacked. What was she looking for? The spear in my hand vibrated. She was looking for the spear? Why? I giggled at my next thought. I thought of a good title for myself. Chase the Giantess Slayer. I decided that wasn't my priority right now, finding my Mom's will was. I tried to focus and remember where my mom told me she hid her "special" stuff. My Mom used to keep a little blue safe, and she once told me "We Grace's don't ever go far from home, we keep things close to our hearts," And then she held it by her heart and that's all I could remember. My mom was a big metaphorical person; she used to say things with a much deeper meaner. I tried to apply her logic to my mind. Well she obviously didn't sew the safe into her heart. So that wasn't literally an option, unless she meant...I dashed out of her room and ran down the stairs. I nearly tripped in my frantic state. Easy there. I told myself. The foyer was the heart of a house, her metaphor finally clicked. When she meant home, she literally meant home as in a house, her safe was in the heart of the house so that meant...beneath the rug on the first stair was a socket where we hid stuff. I wedged my finger back into and ripped the carpet concealing it forward. I felt a hollow part in the staircase. I ran my finger through its inside. I could feel the safe. Suddenly, I felt something kind of sharp in the back. It cut my finger and pulled out. "Ow!" I yelled. I retracted my finger; blood oozed its way out of my finger. I felt nauseous. I hated blood. This time I carefully poked my head in to see what hurt me. I could see the blue safe in the back, there were sharp nails surrounding it preventing entry, awesome. Why was my Mom so idiotic sometimes with her silly contraptions? I asked myself. I felt bad about insulting her; she was the only family who gave a flying shit about me. Maybe I would stick around the house for a few nights until I could figure out a better plan. Yeah that was a fantastic idea. I could just see the Beaureguard's coming over and locking me up. I could see the headlines now. "Crazy teenage kid kills mother and tries to become a hermit in his own house." Yeah, no thanks. The nails guarding the safe weren't going to budge, not even a big hammer could wrench out those nasty nails. Wow my Mom put a lot of effort into this trap. I was going to need to bust open a section of the staircase. If the garage wasn't damaged already I could try to use a drill and make an opening allowing me to retract the safe. I walked through the dining room and into the vast garage. To my surprise, it was still intact. My Mom actually had tools? That made me laugh hysterically. I never watched my Mom do home improvement a day in her life. Someone else always did it. Perhaps these belonged to Grayson.

I spied a drill resting on the wall almost innocently. Awesome now I felt like that drill mole super villain. The drill harmlessly fell into my arms and was rather light. After closing the garage door, I ran towards the foyer. My sneakers let out a loud noise that made my ears ring.

I didn't hesitate to rip the carpeting above the first stair. I slammed the drill against it and began to drill a huge hole. I stuck my hand carefully in this time and retrieved the safe from its so called "barrier". "I guess my Mom wasn't smart enough to think of that one," I said aloud, laughing to myself.

"I guess not, Chase Grace," Said a slithering voice behind me. I leapt into the air and dropped the drill. A loud clang sounded as the batteries fell out of the drill. Every molecule in my body froze. I quickly turned around and saw a woman wearing a strange bandage head wrap, like a turban. Her eyes were covered with heavy black shades, even weirder. It looked like there was a faint glow behind her shades. I swear I knew what I saw. All I knew was this lady wasn't at all human.

"You give off an extremely powerful aura Chase," The slithery woman said. I didn't like the way she sounded out powerful. What did she mean by an aura? I wouldn't consider myself that powerful and radiant. I was pretty attractive and all, but not powerful per say.

"Who are you?" I asked very nervously, trying to defend myself from whatever she was. Something was definitely off about this woman. All my instincts told me to run immediately. But, there was something about her that was too familiar. I saw her shift in the reflection of the safe. This couldn't be good. The slithery woman moved a little closer to me.

"Why don't you look at me sweet heart? I can tell you anything," She said ominously. I felt frozen. I didn't dare turn back to face her. I felt like I knew her from a certain story, it was on the tip of my tongue. I decided to speak up and stall.

"Tell me who you are now! Or I will call the police!" I threated weakly. The slithery woman laughed hysterically like this was a joke. Her laugh was a sick slithered laugh like a strangled snake that was dumped in a vat of acid.

"There will be no need for the police I assure you dear; in fact, they would be witnessing a grand show here at the new Grace Family Museum...with you as the main exhibit, the Frozen Demigod," She cackled. "Let's put on an act they would never forget,"

My blood boiled in hatred. This lady was asking for it big time. I suddenly realized something important. "You were behind this weren't you?!" I yelled.

Slithery lady slowly moved forward in the reflection of the blue safe. "Would you expect anything less of me? In fact, I even met with the lovely Agnes the bridge giant," She explained. "I was the one who arranged your spectacular birthday event!" I wanted to smack this lady across her probably ugly face. I briefly saw something poking out of her bandage. It looked strangely like a snake. I didn't quite get what was with all these monster people.

"WHO ARE YOU?!" I yelled one final time. My voice came out strained. Still looking at the staircase I clenched the Grace family spear. I could maybe put some kind of fight up with it. "TELL ME NOW! YOU COWARDLY SNAKE!" That seemed to get her attention. She immediately crept up close enough for her to whisper in my ear. I felt my skin shiver. I could hear what sounded like hissing coming from her hair. It sent a cold chill throughout my body.

"You can call me...Mrs. M," She said with false warmth. I began to slowly figure out what this thing was. Hissing snakes, covered eyes, a feeling of not wanting to look at her, she was—

"Yes Chase, I am the one and only...Medusa!" She hissed.