My grandfather made us dinner then put us to bed he told Brandy more stories about Luminari and I listened through the wall between our rooms.

"Does Luminari have a princess?"

"No but it does have a queen and a prince, the queen has no face and can't speak but hears everything, she flies around like a ghost and can travel through solid brick walls. The prince is the loneliest, saddest, and most depressing ghost in all of Luminari, even the most wondrous of things can't cheer him up."

"Not even kittens and puppies?" Brandy asked.

"Nope nothing, he never smiles, and he's never laughed, he wears all black and covers all the windows with dark curtains, he never leaves the palace and has no friends."

"Why is he so sad?" Brandy asked I could tell she was very moved from my grandfather's stupid story.

I wonder if the sad prince's parents were going through a divorce too. Divorces probably didn't exist in fairytale land where everything was all happy and magical.

"No one knows, although I think it has something to do with his human family, the one he had before he turned into a ghost."

"What happened to his human family?"

"I don't know you would have to ask the prince he's the only one who knows."

"I feel so bad for the prince, I wish I could be his friend."

"Don't say things like that!" my grandpa shouted, shocking me out of my half sleeping daze.

"Why not?" Brandy asked, with fear in her voice.

"Because the queen hears all and she kidnaps children she thinks will make good friends for her son!"

I just rolled my eyes, I wish my grandfather wouldn't tell Brandy things like that, didn't he know she actually believed every word he was saying. Now she was going to be scared of the ghost queen and we'd have to have a night light in our room.

"I promise never to say anything like that again," she swore.

"Good!' my grandpa said with relief I could hear him rolling across her floor and I watched as the light was turned off and the hall went dark.

"Goodnight, Tinker bell!"

"Good night grandpa!"

I listened as my grandpa rolled down the hall and watched as he opened my door.

"Bailey are you still awake?" He asked rolling up to my head.

I pretended to be asleep closing my eyes and breathing calmly.

"Oh well, I guess you won't get to help me taste my wine!"

I sat up excitedly and followed my grandpa down the stairs. Another thing I loved about my grandpa was that he always drunk a glass of wine every night and would let me taste it. Just a small taste but I knew my mom would go crazy if she found out, even though it was just a tiny itty bitty little taste, that I spit out afterwards.

There was something about the taste of wine that I found intriguing, it was sort of like super bitter grape juice with a strange tangy flavor. My grandfather pulled a tall bottle of red wine out of the fridge and poured himself a glass then he let me take the first sip. I drank the smallest bit and wished it around in my mouth.

"Tastes like strawberries, " I said spitting it into a napkin. I wish I could drink an entire glass (they really need to invent a wine that doesn't get one drunk).

I sighed.

"Bailey, is something wrong you've been acting strange all day?"

"No, nothing's wrong," I lied, then my eyes started swelling up with tears.

"Bailey it's alright, you can tell me, "My grandpa said, painfully patting my shoulder with his metal hook hand.

After I calmed down a bit, I told my grandpa everything I overheard through my parent's door.

"Bailey there are reasons why we don't eavesdrop on people, it's never a good idea to hear things you weren't meant to hear."

"Yeah, I know I shouldn't have, but do you really think they're going to go through with it, do you think they're actually getting divorced?"

"They didn't tell me anything about it, but that's not much of a surprise your mother never tells me anything anymore."

"She doesn't tell me things either that's why I have to eavesdrop."

My grandpa poured me a glass of grape juice so I wouldn't drink anymore of his wine, but it wasn't the same the juice was missing that bittersweet taste, that made you feel so mature when someone trusted you to try it.

"Having divorced parents isn't all bad, you'll still have both of them, they just won't live together anymore. And I promise whatever their problems are they have nothing to do with you, your parents love both you and Brandy."

At the mention of my sister's name, I started to cry again, I began hyperventilating and had to pull out my inhaler (An inhaler is a special tool for people who have asthma it helps us breathe normally when we start to have an asthma attack).

"Let it out, let it all out," my grandpa said patting my back with his human hand, I was very thankful he wasn't using his hook.

He handed me my juice and after drinking some I calmed down and was able to talk again.

"I love Brandy, I know I call her annoying and I'm always saying I want my own room, but I still love her and now we aren't ever going to see each other again."

"What do you mean, why won't you see Brandy anymore, you two aren't getting a divorce?"

"Emilio's parents got a divorce a few years ago and he hasn't seen his step-brother since."

I remember feeling envious of Emilio because his parents gave him special treatment and he never had to put up with any bratty siblings, but now I only felt guilty and dumb, very dumb.

"I don't know what the situation in Emilio's family was, but I promise I will never let you and Brandy be separated like that. Even if you guys end up living in different houses, I'll make sure you get to come over here and see each other all the time."

"Thanks grandpa," I said giving him a very awkward one-armed hug.

It was difficult to hug my grandfather, I was afraid I would hurt him or myself, nothing like Brandy who practically threw herself at him. I let go of my grandpa and sat back down in my chair sipping another sip of juice staring at a picture of him and my mother sitting on one of the shelves. Next to that was the only existing picture of my grandmother. It was actually just an artistic sketch, but it looked realistic enough to be a picture. She was very pretty with long curly hair and a big smile, in the picture she looked really happy, almost too happy.

"I guess I shouldn't be too upset about my parents getting a divorce, at least I won't have to grow up without a mother, like mom did."

"That was pretty rough," my grandpa said, pouring himself another glass of wine.

"How did grandma die anyway?"

"Your mom never told you?"

"Well, I asked her, and she started crying, so my dad told me never to ask her again because it was really difficult for her to think about."

"I'd be surprised if she even remembers it was so long ago, she was only three when it happened."

"When what happened?"

I had been wondering what happened to my grandmother ever since I noticed I had one grandparent on my mom's side, and I had two my dads'. My dad didn't know either he said it was something very tragic though, my guess was murder.

"If your parents don't want you to know then I don't think I should tell you."

"I promise not to tell them."

"Alright then but you can't tell Brandy either she's too young and I don't want her getting scared."

My grandfather sure wasn't one to talk, he was the one telling Brandy about ghosts and monsters, then turning the light off and expecting her to go to sleep just fine without nightmares.

"Back when the war was going on we had to move because of all the fighting, we moved out to the middle of the woods in this little cottage, I left to get supplies, it was just your mother, your grandmother and your uncle in the house."

"Wait I have an uncle?"

"Well, you had an uncle, but he died when he was your age."

I couldn't believe I had never heard this before today, I hoped that it wasn't just one of my grandpa's crazy stories. He would never make up a story about having a secret dead son, would he?

"Anyway, so it was just the three of them at the cottage, in the middle of the woods. I thought they would be safe from the enemy if they stayed out in the woods but there was a danger I didn't consider when I moved them out there."

"What?" I asked sitting on the edge of my seat I felt like Brandy I was so sucked into this possibly not true story.

"Wolves!" my grandpa said with fear in his eyes.

"Wolves?"

"Terrible beasts, the hounds from hell they ate your grandmother and left her half-eaten body in the living room, they swallowed my son whole in the dining room leaving behind nothing but a bloody shoe, but they didn't get to your mother?"

The fact that my grandpa's story had so much detail to it when he wasn't even there was very suspicious, and that he was able to tell the story of his family being eaten by wolves with a straight face was perhaps even more suspicious. I stared into my grandpa's eyes they were a little watery and his cheeks were slightly pink but he did just drink two glasses of wine so I couldn't be sure.

"How did she survive?"

"She hid inside the oven."

My grandpa was crying now, I had never seen him cry before so it was hard to tell whether the tears were genuine or not. I wasn't sure if was willing to go so far as faking tears to trick me, but I couldn't be sure.

"How did the wolves get into the house?"

"They blew down the door."

I practically rolled my eyes when he said this, now I was sure the story was fake.

"You don't believe me, do you? You think it's impossible for wolves to blow down doors, don't you! "He yelled.

My grandpa looked dead serious; did he expect me to answer that?

"I don't think it's possible no."

"Well then what about the three little pigs. I bet they thought it was impossible for the wolves to blow down their houses, then looked what happened, it's all ham and bacon now," My grandpa chanted he looked utterly mad, his cheeks dark red, his eyes puffy and bloodshot.

"Grandpa the three little pigs is just a story it didn't actually happen. It was made up to teach kids that hard work pays off."

"It was based on a true story though they just changed the people to pigs so it wouldn't be as scary, hundreds died from wolves blowing doors down and eating everyone."

I couldn't believe how far my grandpa was taking his stupid story. I figured two glasses of wine was too much wine for him and that he was drunk so I excused myself from the table and went upstairs. I could still hear him talking to himself as I climbed up the stairs and quietly passed my sister's room. She was fast asleep on the bed, the window was cracked open, the curtains dancing in the wind. I was shocked to see she had actually fallen asleep in the dark by herself, she was really growing up.

I crawled into bed and pulled the covers over myself thinking about my grandpa's story. Maybe part of it was true maybe something did break into their house, but instead of wolves it was people. Bad people like robbers and thieves. I bet they were the ones who broke in the house and killed my grandma, and my grandpa just likes to say it was wolves because that makes it sound more like a fairytale and he doesn't want me to be scared of people.

. . .

Like always I woke up around three in the morning having to use the bathroom, I slowly opened my door and tiptoed down the hall, being as quiet as I could so I wouldn't wake Brandy or my grandpa. Two minutes later I was walking back down the hall wiping my wet hands off on my pajama bottoms since there was no hand towel in the bathroom.

I passed my sister's room and there was a strange blue light pouring out of the cracks of her door. I wasn't alarmed at first thinking it was just a device then I remembered Brandy didn't have a phone or a tablet not even a television. I slowly opened Brandy's door no more than a crack and looked inside.

There was a woman floating in mid-air, she had a florescent blue glow coming off of her lighting up the whole room. She was wearing an extremely fancy dress like an English queen from the 1600's with a giant powdered wig atop her head. I caught a glimpse of her face and there was none just a blank blue space, with two large ears sticking out the sides. I held my breathe just staring at her hoping she wouldn't notice me.

The woman pulled the blanket off of Brandy and scooped her up into her arms like she was a baby. The woman turned and flew out the open window, and I watched as the little blue dot disappeared into the night sky.