School went by fast the following day. Hansel's heart beat a little faster than usual all day, foot and fingers tapping constantly on any surface he had access to. Of course he felt nervous. They had never gone behind Gladis's back like that, never had schemed against her like this. The anticipation held a certain thrill too, but it was small compared to the anxiety.

He waited for Gretel by her locker at the end of the day. She greeted him with a smile and grabbed her books before following him outside.

"Jessica asked about you again today." Gretel said absently as they walked.

Hansel flushed pink. Jessica was a pretty dark haired girl who shared classes with Gretel. She had asked about him before, and he quite liked her too. They hadn't talked much before, but when they had, Hansel found he liked her attitude and sense of humour a lot. She was witty and quick to change between subjects as they talked, but she seemed invested in whatever she talked about. Hansel liked that a lot. Her enthusiasm and energy.

"Did she?" he asked, trying to keep it cool. It wasn't working though. Gretel smiled amused and nodded.

"Yeah. She asked if we are doing anything this weekend. She wants to ask you out, I suspect."

"Oh...well, what did you say?"

"That we are busy this weekend." Gretel said in an apologetic tone "I'm sorry Hansel. We have to deal with Gladis first. But If you like her too, you should ask her out yourself afterwards."

"No, I get it. Our current problem is more important."

And he did get it really, but still, he couldn't help but feel disappointed. His face must have given it away, because Gretel briefly touched his arm with a sad smile.

They walked in comfortable silence, the chatter of kids gradually fading as they climbed the slopy sidewalk to their house. It had been quite an uneventful day so far, and Hansel would have liked to keep it that way. There was the plan to search the house though, which meant that a lot could go wrong in the next few hours. He did his best to push those thoughts to the back of his mind.

The house was empty as they walked in just like the previous day, only now it was a sort of unsettling silence. Hansel didn't know what they were supposed to look for, what they were going to find, but they had to be quick about it.

They split up and looked seperately. Gretel found a way to pick the lock on the master bedroom so Hansel stayed downstairs to search around there. He looked through all their cupboards, every nook and cranny he could get to but didn't find anything suspicious, so he joined Gretel upstairs.

"Find anything?" he asked as he entered their parents' bedroom.

"I found this under the bed." Gretel frowned as she held up a small brown bag tied shut with a string. Hansel took it from her and sniffed it. He coughed as a strong herbal smell invaded his nostrils and handed it back to his sister.

"What the hell is that?" he croaked.

"Beats me." Gretel shrugged helpfully "It has a strong smell but it looks harmless enough. I wonder why she put it under the bed."

Hansel eyed the thing with a suspicious grimace. It didn't sit well with him. Who puts stuff like this under their bed?

"Should we look inside?" Gretel twirled it around by the loose string hanging off of it.

Her brother only shook his head "We better put it back to where you found it, the way you found it. Did you find anything else?"

"Not much. Mostly pretty ordinary adult junk. But," she gestured for him to follow her to the jewellery box perched on the desk by the window. "I found these crystals." And sure enough, the open box had several crystals in different colours and sizes.

"So she has a rock collection? That isn't really helpful." Hansel sighed.

"I don't know what she does with this stuff. But why would she keep it in her jewellery box?" Gretel mused "Anyway. I haven't looked in our rooms yet."

"Why? What would we find there?" Hansel followed her confused across the hall to Gretel's bedrom.

She didn't answer him, instead she got down on her hands and knees first then fully on her belly next to her bed. She reached under and felt around with her arm outstretched.

"Ha!" she cried thriumpthly and pulled an identical looking small bag from under her bed. Hansel's eyes got wide in surprise, brows raised high. He hurried to his own room and searched as well until he found a bag under his bed as well. He carried the bag back to his sister's bedroom with a grimace.

"I found one too."

Gretel looked closely between the two and sniffed both carefully. She crunched up her nose in disgust and nodded thoughtfully.

"They are the same." she concluded "But not the same as the one we found in the master bedroom."

"Why would she put these under our beds?" Hansel frowned darkly. It didn't make any sense. Three bags stuffed with smelly herbs. Whatever they were made for, he didn't like it one bit. His stomach felt heavy with unease as Gretel continued to inspect them.

"I don't know. But they must have some kind of a purpose." Gretel hummed. They carefully put the bags back under their beds and wandered back to the master bedroom.

"Is there anything else worth looking at here?" Hansel asked.

"Maybe..." Gretel went back to the jewellery box "There is a receipt tucked in here." She dug the small piece of paper out and squinted at it. " 'Spices and Tea'. Looks like this shop is somewhere in town. There are a bunch of herbs she bought listed here. Maybe the ones she put in the bags?"

"Could be." Hansel agreed as he read it over Gretel's shoulder.

"Anyway," she put it back where she found it "Shall we look around in the basement?"

Hansel shrugged "We might as well. We still have some time until dinner." They had to cook for themselves and Gladis again. Hansel didn't mind it as much, but only because they cooked together and their father enjoyed the food they made as well.

They made sure to leave everything the way it was before when they left, and Gretel locked the door. Hansel wondered where she had learned to do stuff like this. She did like to read a lot, maybe there was a book for lock picking too.

Hansel didn't like the basement. It was dark and humid, smelled like wet concrete and rust. The air felt heavy and stuffed and there were no windows, only a singe lamp to provide any light. Neither of them went down there often, for good reason. There were winter clothes tucked away in boxes, their bikes and skiis, Hansel's old skateboard and a basketball with a basket. He remembered wanting to put it up somewhere at the front yard, but just like with the painting, they never got around to it. The thought made him feel kind of sad.

There was a cupboard with a chain and a lock strapped on it. The lock looked rusty and old and it had weird cravings on it. Hansel gave the handles a tug, even though he knew it wouldn't do much.

"Not much to look at here." Gretel sighed as she looked around. Her eyes settled on a small box on top of another box labeled 'Tools'. The small box was covered in a layer of dust, which she blew away. Her eyes filled up with tears as she read the words written on it.

'Mama'.

"Gretel?" Hansel called, expression concerned. His heart stopped for a moment when he saw what she was holding.

"Should we...?" she mumbled, sniffing and wiping at her eyes.

"Sure. If you want to." Hansel put a reassuring hand on her shoulder as she pried the box open slowly. She pulled out an album decorated with flowers and hearts. 'Familienfotos' was printed on the cover in big font.

"Let's bring this upstairs, yeah?" he suggested softly. Gretel nodded and let him pull her closer as they left the creepy basement. They settled down on the couch in the livingroom to look through the book together, perched between their laps.

The first page had a picture of their family together. Hansel and Gretel were small enough to be able to sit on their father's arms. Their mother was smiling happily into the camera, one hand resting on the back of Gretel's neck.

Hansel couldn't tear his gaze from their mother. He felt choked up, fighting back tears himself. He had almost forgotten their mother. There were no pictures of the four of them anywhere in the house and they hadn't looked at old family photos for years.

But gods their mother had been beautiful. She had warm brown eyes that crinkled at the corners as she smiled, straight dark brown hair that had been cut short to only reach her shoulders. She had bangs over her eyebrows as well. He had almost forgotten all that, and it made him feel incredibly sad.

He sniffed as Gretel flipped the pages. As they looked at the pictures, the memories slowly began to come back. The trips they took together, the summer holidays with plastic pool parties in the backyard. The floral dress their mother used to wear every year, her favourite hat and sandals. The times she taught them to plant flowers in the garden. By the end of it they both had tear stains on their cheeks.

"I miss her so much." Gretel whispered in a small voice when they arrived at the last picture. It was taken during Christmas, before everything went wrong.

"I know," Hansel wrapped his arm around her and rubbed her shoulder gently "Me too."

"Remember the bedtime stories she read us every night?" Gretel chuckled sadly.

Her brother smiled and nodded "Yeah. She loved fairy tales. She made us love them too."

"I wish there was a magical spell to bring her back. A genie or a fairy. A goldfish that grants you a wish."

Hansel held her tighter until both of them calmed down. They decided to keep the album at hand and hid it in Hansel's bedroom. They didn't want Gladis to find it somehow and take it away.

"We should follow her tomorrow."

"What?" Hansel looked up from the potato he was peeling. Gretel sat across from him, chopping vegetables to small pieces.

"Gladis." Gretel said with a roll of her eyes "We should find out what she's up to when she's not here. We didn't learn much from looking around the house. Maybe we can get to know more if we follow her around."

"I don't know...What if she sees us and discovers what we are planning? Besides, we have to go to school."

Gretel looked thoughtful for a moment "We could just ditch school."

Hansel made a show of dropping the potatoe he was holding in fake surprise "Am I hallucinating? I must be. My sister would never suggest skipping school. Ever." Gretel threw a piece of potato peel at him, which he easily dodged with a playful grin.

Gretel shook her head and huffed amused "Seriously though. I think we could just act like we are going off to school and then wait her out, follow her to wherever she goes and then get home before her."

Hansel hummed thoughtfully "It could work. But what if she hears about it from our teachers?"

"By the time she would know about it, won't matter anymore." Gretel shrugged and continued to chop.

Oh. Right. We are going to kill her, Hansel thought. He had forgotten about that specific detail. It made his stomach turn uneasily. He still wasn't at peace with the thought of taking her life, no matter how much he hated Gladis. On the other hand, they didn't really have other options. She was planning something that included him and his sister, and he wasn't going to let her have her way. She had been destroying his family, had been abusing his sister for way too long.

Dinner was ready in no time when they worked together, and the result was always tasty. They learned the recipes they knew from their mother's cookbook. She had taught some things Hansel before she passed away, techniques and recipes he later passed down to Gretel. Their father always said how much the food reminds him of the meals they used to eat together as a family.

They didn't wait around for Gladis to come home this time. They ate dinner and cleaned up, went upstairs and began doing their homework as usual. Though, strangely enough, Gladis didn't come home until before it was time for them to go to sleep.

"She has never come home this late." Gretel whispered.

"No, she hasn't. That's what I was thinking too."

A loud crashing sound from downstairs and Gladis cursing made them jump. They shared a curious look.

"What could she be doing?"

"I don't know," Hansel shook his head "But I bet she would be angry if we went down now." He didn't want her to hurt Gretel out of anger.

"True." his sister nodded as she collected her books "Let's go to bed."

"Are you going to be okay?" Hansel couldn't help but ask, hand tightly gripping the handle of their joined door. The anxiety was even worse now. He had a very bad feeling, something heavy settled in the pit of his stomach.

Gretel smiled and pecked his cheek lightly, standing on the tip of her toes. "I'll be fine. We are going to follow her tomorrow, right?"

"I guess we are." Hansel nodded. But he couldn't chase the bad feeling.

"I know you are feeling worse about this than I am," Gretel sighed with a guilty frown "I'm sorry."

Hansel hated seeing his sister like that. "I would do anything to keep you safe, you know that. If this is what you think we should do, I'll be by your side, all the way."

Gretel smiled wetly "Thank you."

"That's what family's for." Hansel chuckled as she muffled a yawn with her hand "Time for bed huh?"

He tried his best not to feel so anxious as he closed the door and climbed into his own bed. He spent a lot of time just lying in silence, listening. His heart skipped a beat when he heard Gladis come upstairs, hands griping his sheets tightly. But she didn't stop at their rooms. She just continued to the master bedroom. Only when he heard that master bedroom's door being shut closed did his heart calm down.

It took another half an hour for him to fall asleep, and even that was a rather restless sleep.