65A/N: Even though this is based on the Sisters Grimm books, I did change a few things… nothing too major (yet), but just keep in mind that not everything that happened in the books has happened in my story (and might not happen at all).
Disclaimer: I don't own anything except for Jessica (and hardly that since I kind of based her powers on a mix of Jasper and Edward from the Twilight series)
I used to be a normal seventeen year old girl living in Southern California. I never knew I was an Everafter, I didn't even know what an Everafter was. Sure I read fairy tales, but they were just that- fairy tales- they were definitely not historical documents. That all changed after I went to Ferryport Landing as a favor to one of my grandmother's old friends (and I emphasize old, she had to be at least 90). Supposedly what was in the letter she gave me was extremely important and she needed me to personally deliver it to another of her friends- Relda Grimm.
I realize now that what was in the letter wouldn't have been important had I not even set foot in the town, but I wanted to see New York anyway. My grandmother's friend, Marcia, paid for everything- the plane ticket, the hotel in New York City so I could do some sightseeing while I was there, the train ride to Ferryport Landing when I was done there, and what she called spending money- it was near two thousand dollars- for food, and whatever else I needed.
She was crazy- in the literal sense of the word, that's why she lived in a retirement home, so people could look after her. She actually believed in magic and other things like that, so on one of my visits when she pointed her cane at me and said something weird, I figured it was just her crazy imagination acting up.
This spell didn't give me special powers- I was always pretty influential, but now my talent has been blown to crazy proportions, now I can influence what the people around me are feeling- not only general emotions, but what they want to do- not exact actions usually, but if I give an order aloud, they need some serious willpower to avoid doing what I tell them. (Of course now that Ms. Relda knows what I can do, I'm not supposed to do it.)
Marcia gave me an address to find this Relda Grimm- supposedly a friend of hers- so after I got off the train to Ferryport Landing from New York City I set out to find her… actually I got a cab to the hotel, checked in, unpacked, and walked to the nearest restaurant, which happened to be the Blue Plate Special. As I ate, I couldn't help overhearing the people in the booth behind me, some of them were really loud. From the sound of it there were two girls, two men, a boy, and one woman.
It sounded as though one of the girls was trying to convince the woman of something, and she was failing miserably, nobody else was feeling any consideration for her ideas. But it was hard to really tell, it's impossible to feel other people's –well- feelings.
"How can you be so blind? Why can you not see that those people- if they can even be called that- are up to no good?" she was nearly shouting, even though they were all sitting at the same table.
"I understand that there are bad people, but you can't blame everybody else for something only very few people do," the lady said calmly.
"It's not just a few that are the problem, it's all of them!"
"I resent that," the boy said.
The girl felt a twinge of regret at the boy's words, but it wasn't enough to stop her foul mood.
"Sorry to leave Relda, but I'm going to wait for you at the car," one of the men said quietly. He did a very good job controlling his emotions; there was just a hint of anger, but mostly just calm. He walked past my table and I saw that it was an older man, very tall, and wearing an oversized suit.
"It can hardly be called a car," the shouting girl grumbled.
"Hey, that's my car you're insulting," the other man said jokingly, trying to lighten the mood.
"What does resent mean?" the other girl asked.
The conversation quieted after that, and then they paid for their food and left, but then I realized that the old man had called that woman Relda probably as in Relda Grimm(it's not that common a name), as in the lady I was supposed to give the letter from Marcia.
I quickly finished eating and paid for the food. The group of people was already out the door and heading for a really old car where the old man was waiting for them.
"Excuse me! Hey!" I called out as I went forward.
The little girl turned and looked at me, and then she tugged on the lady's sleeve and said something to her. Then the lady turned and stopped walking.
"Yes?"
I had no idea what to say so I just blurted out the first thing that came to mind, "Are you Relda Grimm?" I really hoped she was, because if she wasn't it would be really embarrassing, more that it already was anyway.
They all looked at me warily; they probably thought that I was some sort of weirdo-stalker.
"Yes," she said cautiously, "did you need something?"
"Oh, I have a letter for you from this lady my grandma knows, she said she knew you and that it was important," I said quickly, digging in my purse for the letter. All those people staring at me made me nervous. I handed her the letter and she thanked me as though she wasn't sure that she should yet.
"Well I'll just go now, sorry for bothering you, Ms. Grimm," I said as I felt my cheeks flush, and I turned to walk away.
"Do you mind if I read this first," she said, more as a 'stay here so I know if I should call the police or not' rather than a question, "oh, and just Relda is fine,"
"Um, ok I guess," I said, not really wanting to stay there another minute.
She took the letter out of the envelope, and to my disappointment it looked like it was several pages long. I kept myself from making any comment on that though.
"So, what's your name?" the little girl asked me.
"Jessica," I replied, "what's yours?"
"Daphne Grimm," she said, she was very happy that I asked her, she also seemed very proud of her name. She then took to thinking up something to say to me.
I noticed the younger man still staring at me (the older girl and the boy were attempting to read the letter over the Relda's shoulder) and saw the old man mutter something in his ear.
"I wasn't even looking!" he said a little too quickly, and a little too loudly. He then looked away and joined the kids in (attempting) reading over Relda's shoulder.
"Jake, Sabrina, Puck, please quit trying to read over my shoulder," she said to them.
They realized they were caught but pretended they were never looking, and started a pointless conversation about school.
I turned my attention to Relda. As she read the letter, her eyebrows furrowed, it seemed to be some serious stuff in the letter.
"Is something wrong?" I asked her. I hadn't read the letter (I probably would have burned it if I had) and now I was really curious about what was in it.
"Nothing," she said, but her face was white by the time she finished reading the letter, "did you read this at all?"
"N-No. Why, what's wrong?" I said nervously.
"It was just strange. You know, I haven't talked to Marcia in a very long time."
Relda obviously wasn't going to tell me what was in the letter and I wasn't going to stand there and have her lie to me about it. I was even starting to doubt that this Relda lady had even met Marcia in her life. In fact, I was almost sure that she hadn't.
"Well, I've bothered you long enough, I'll just go back to the hotel now…"
"It was nice meeting you Jessica," Daphne said.
Great, she remembers my name.
"Yeah, you too Daphne"
"Bye," she said as she climbed into the car.
I tiredly walked back to the hotel. I was definitely leaving in the morning.
A/N: I hope you liked this story so far, please review it :)