The Asylum for Fairy-Tale Creatures by Sebastian Gregory Read Free Book Online

beast asked the girl to be his wife and Beauty agreed, so the beast kissed her neck and she fell into deep sleep. When she woke that evening there was a new strength about her. She went to see her father to tell him the news, but when she arrived a strange hunger gripped her and she supped on the blood of her father and her sisters until they were dead. Stricken with grief from what her fiancé had made her do, she went back to the castle and drove a wooden stake through his heart, turning him to dust. The spell broken, she was human once more, but insane with what she had lost. There was only one place in the world left for her: the asylum.

A Leech a Day Keeps the Doctor Away
    When the girl opened her eyes again she was in a cell, the walls cushioned to save an occupant from caving their mind in. Crumpled in the corner like a broken Jack Horner, she found a strait-jacket holding her tight around her. From a single barred window the full moon shone its light into the room. There was now only a shadow in the corner untouched by the moonlight and something shuffled inside. The girl, whose thoughts were confused of late, only watched by the flicker of her eyes.
    “Hello, child,” said the voice that the girl instantly recognised as her beloved grandma.
    “How are you here?” the girl whispered through dry lips.
    “Child—” she laughed a warm laugh “—are you not pleased to hear from me?”
    The girl did not move except to shed tears that ran away into the moonlight.
    “I saw you; I saw what the wolf did.”
    “That it did, that it did.” Again she chuckled. “But did not I always teach you to see things that were not there? Did you think something as trivial as death would stop me from seeing you?”
    “I’m losing myself,” the girl replied and there was a sigh from the dark corner.
    “Do you not remember the forest with the sunlight and the smells of wet wood and the greens and the fairies’ folk hiding amongst the undergrowth? Even now in this horrible place they will try to take that away from you. Do not let them.”
    “How can I stop them?”
    “By remembering who you are. You remember who you are, don’t you, girl?”
    “Yes,” the girl replied. “I am Red Riding Hood.”
    And Grandma laughed and laughed and laughed. But as the full moon observed, it appeared as if the grandma was laughing from the girl’s dry lips.
    The moon went, replaced by sunlight, and then the moon came back and went again. It was when the moon visited once again that Red Riding Hood was woken by screams. She hadn’t been fed or watered for some time and her mind had wandered off into memory more and more. She kept finding herself barefoot walking through the forest, happy to be lost in the past. Then the screams brought her back. Madness carried on the air around the corridors. They were the sounds of lunacy uncontained and it was everywhere. Weak, Red could only listen; her strength had abandoned her and she was sure she would die. She thought it would not be entirely unwelcome. The door to her cell creaked open to the jangle of keys. Two figures entered and immediately found the girl. She tried to protest as they held her, sitting her upright.
    “Drink this—it is nice,” said Thumbeana chirpily.
    The girl’s eyes widened at the sight; she was relieved, happy and confused at the same time. She gulped at the water that Thumbeana poured from a pigskin pouch. She hadn’t noticed at first but the Thread Bear had untied her strait-jacket. She was able to take the pouch and drain it.
    “How are you here?” she gasped.
    Thumbeana smiled that mismatched grimace that to Red was the most welcome in the world.
    “We escaped,” she explained.
    “We all escaped. Dr Grimm is dead,” added Thread Bear.
    “How?” Red Riding Hood could barely believe it.
    The Thumbeana at the bear, and the bear bowed its head, afraid to tell
    “It was the wolf. It has come for you,” she said cheerily, thinking back on what had