A Grim Fairy Tale

Chapter Twelve

Standing in the cottage doorway was a grey skinned and dirty-faced creature that bore a mangled red hide, antlers like a stag, and fingernails long enough to be mistaken for claws. Though strangely it stood upright and wore clothes were commonly worn by peasant children.

"I do hope I'm not inconveniencing you madame." 

He flashed a smile which revealed his dreadfully crooked teeth. The girls screamed again. Raphael barked at him suspiciously and despite being a puppy, he managed to briefly frighten the figure.

"Down Raphael!" Dolores commanded to the hound.

"A monster! Shoot it Granny!" Vagatha cried.

"No wait!" He held his hands up in defense. "I mean you no harm. Truly. I just...I can't find my way home in the storm and I don't know if I can go another step. My feet are so sore....And I..."

He trembled so much and he was half covered in snow. His teeth chattered, his lips turned blue, and his eyes were weary. Then he dropped to the floor.

"Oh my!" Dolores gasped. She put down her gun and kneeled to the creature's side. "You poor dear. Can you hear me young man?"

He didn't respond.

"Granny what is that thing?" Vagatha asked.

"It's a boy sweetheart. One who's dangerously close to catching frostbite. We must get him warm at once. Vagatha fetch some blankets, Charlotte boil some water on the fire."

"But are you mad? Look at him! That's not a boy! That's Uh...Well I don't know what that is but it doesn't look anything like a boy!"

"You'll find that a lot of things don't always appear as they are. Now hurry! Do as I say!"

Dolores immediately set to work brushing the snow off the boy's hide. After that she set him down on a cushion by the fireplace and draped the blankets Vagatha brought over him. When Charlotte was finished heating the water, Dolores soaked a cloth into the hot liquid, and used it as a compress to place on his forehead.

"This boy has definitely been through a lot. I can tell." Dolores said.

"Will he be alright?" Charlotte asked.

"He may develop a fever but we won't know for certain til he wakes." Dolores said.

"He's so strange looking."

Charlotte moved to get a closer look at his face. When she first saw him at the doorway she was certain that he wasn't human but now that she had come so near, she noticed that his face did resemble that of a boy's. But she had never seen a boy look as he did. She wondered how someone could have an appearance like his.

"Give him some space Charlotte." Dolores said. "I do not think that he would be pleased to wake up to you staring down at him. It's very rude."

"I'm sorry." She said. "I really don't mean to be rude. I just...I'm a little fascinated by him."

"We best leave him to sleep now. In fact we should all go to bed. It's become very late."

"May I stay with him?" She asked. "In case he wakes in the middle of the night."

"It's very unlikely that will happen. In the state he's in, he'll be out cold til the morning at least."

"Still I when he does wake he'll probably be so afraid and confused. I just think someone should be here with him."

"If you insist. I'll make up a little cot for you to sleep on but you better go straight to sleep. No sneaking into Vagatha's room to have a late night chit-chat."