GRANDMA, WHAT A LOVELY NECKLACE YOU HAVE (Little Red Riding Hood flash fiction!)

My titles for these stories are getting worse and worse. xD

But anyway. If you hadn't already guessed, today I'm sharing another installment of The Adventures of Trentley and Jynnia! (Definitely not an official title, but it'll do for now. xD)

This month's fairytale on The Fairytale Central is Little Red Riding Hood! Which is super exciting and is also making me want to write a Red Riding Hood retelling?? I'll just hold onto that idea, though, since I do want to write a fairytale series about Trentley and Jynnia. ;)

I honestly didn't know how I was going to work this prompt in at first, but then it just seemed to fall into place. You can find the original post with the prompt HERE; and here's the prompt:

Aaaand here's my story! Hope you enjoy!

      ***

 "Should I tell your grandmother about how you got turned into a frog?"
 Jynnia glared at Trentley, unable to keep the smile from her lips. "Of course not," she said, sidestepping to give him a playful shove. "You haven't met my grandmother. She would absolutely flip if she heard something like that happened to me."
 Trentley stumbled off the sidewalk, laughing.
 "That is, if she even believed us," Jynnia added as she took the first step up onto Grandma's porch.
 Living in exile-- as Jynnia liked to call it-- was not easy. The past few weeks had been quite the ride: genies, bears, and the like. Hiding out in the woods gave people lots of opportunities to question their honor, too, as they had learned when they returned home.
 But now it seemed that things had calmed down, for which they were glad. They hadn't found a jewel in a while, but such an everyday action as walking down a sidewalk had never felt so good.
 Their arms were linked as they walked, and Jynnia held a basket of the cookies she had baked for her grandmother on the other arm. "I can't wait for you to meet Grandma," she said. "She's the sweetest lady and I know she's going to absolutely love you, too." She looked up at him and smiled. "But what's not to love?"
 Trentley smiled too, and leaned down to touch his nose to hers.
 When Jynnia knocked on the door, a sweet voice called, "Come in!"
 "Hmm." Jynnia tilted her head as she turned the doorknob. "She sounds like she has a cold." Stepping inside, she called, "Grandma? Where are you?"
 "I'm in the sitting room," Grandma called back in a hoarse voice. "And wait until you see the lovely new necklace I've gotten!"
 Jynnia smiled and led Trentley to the sitting room. "She's always finding new--"
 She stopped short when she stepped through the doorway. She and Trentley shared a wide-eyed look. "Grandma," she whispered. "Where did you get that?"
 There, on a chain around Grandma's neck, was one of the jewels that they sought.
 "I found it at a pawn shop," she said, adjusting the blanket over her lap. "They were kind enough to put it on a chain for me!"
 Jynnia swallowed.
 "And you must be Trentley!" Grandma smiled, and Jynnia's heart skipped. When the old lady opened her mouth, Jynnia saw the most horrendous fangs protruding from her gums.
 "Oh my gosh," she said. "What big teeth you have, Grandmother!" That line? Really?
 Grandma grinned and stood up from her chair. A strange light came into her eyes. "All the better to--"
 Jynnia backed away. "Eat me with?"
 She laughed, throwing aside her blanket. Her smile faded. "I was hoping you wouldn't notice."
 "Yeahhh, I'm not sure why you thought that would work." Jynnia threw the basket of cookies at her and bolted down the hallway. Trentley followed her, and a growl and heavy footsteps told her Grandma followed her, too.
 They locked themselves in the bathroom, and Jynnia leaned against the door, breathing heavily. "My... my grandma's a monster," she huffed.
 "I'm just going to assume she's not always like this?" Trentley ventured.
 Jynnia started talking fast. "No! She's not! And of all the jewels she could have found, why did it have to be the one that brought Little Red Riding Hood to life? Why couldn't I have found it and worn a red cape? But noo, my grandma has to find it and become a--"
 The door suddenly shook with a loud thump, and Jynnia jumped across the room. Leaning backward against the sink, she stared at the door.
 "Let me in!" Grandma yelled. "This is my house!"
 "Grandma," Jynnia said shakily. "I think you need to take that necklace off."
 "No!" Grandma yelled. "It's my necklace!"
 "Grandma, it's not good for you!" Jynnia started for the door again, opening her mouth for another protest. Trentley grabbed her wrists and gently stopped her.
 "Maybe talking calmly will help," he suggested. "We'll just open the door and--"
 No need to open the door, because it came flying toward them at that moment. Jynnia screamed and Trentley pulled her out of its path. It crashed into the sink, cracking the enamel, and then bounced onto the wall, puncturing it. And there where the door should have been stood Grandma: now covered in fur and sporting sharp claws on her fingers. She ripped the glasses from her nose-turned-snout and tossed them to the floor.
 "Grandma!" Jynnia exclaimed in the same tone that one would use to scold a toddler.
 "I haven't eaten all day, you know," Grandma said, creeping toward them. "And those cookies were ruined when you so foolishly threw them on the floor." Her gaze switched from Jynnia to Trentley. She licked her lips.
 "No!" Jynnia stepped in front of him and held her hands out. "Grandma, just think for a minute. This isn't you. You're my grandma, not a wolf."
 "What's wrong with being both?" She didn't take her eyes off Trentley. She took a few slow steps forward, and then she pounced.
 Jynnia screamed and Trentley shoved her out of the way. He ducked just in time to avoid Grandma's lunge, and he and Jynnia scrambled out the doorless door.
 "What do we do?" Jynnia cried as they ran down the hall. "We can't leave her like this!"
 "We've got to get that necklace," Trentley said.
 Grandma came barreling down the hallway toward them, running on all fours. Trentley and Jynnia entered the kitchen, and Jynnia opened the cupboards
 "What are you doing?" Trentley cried. Now was not the time for a snack.
 Jynnia looked wildly around."We've got to feed her or she'll never calm down! And she'll eat you," she said. Glancing over at the counter, she saw a package of frozen chicken  that Grandma must have been thawing for dinner.
 Grandma burst into the kitchen, her claws scratching everything they touched. She growled when she saw them standing there. "Hold still, you juicy hunk of flesh," she hissed at Trentley.
 "Grandma, look." Jynnia took the chicken out of the package and held it out in front of her. Blood and water dripped from the raw meat onto the floor, but she hoped that made it look more enticing to her wolf-grandma.
 It must have been working, as Grandma began to drool.
 "Here." Jynnia tossed a chicken leg to her, and grimaced as her grandma slurped it down like a spaghetti noodle. Jynnia stepped forward a few inches, holding the next piece of chicken out. Trentley followed her and began edging around Grandma, whose attention was no longer on him but the chicken.
 "Good chicken, huh?" Jynnia said, her hands shaking. If this went wrong it could all be over. She tried not to imagine Grandma sucking Trentley down like she had that chicken leg.
 She made eye contact with Trentley, who was now behind Grandma. Jynnia gave the slightest nod and tossed the chicken to Grandma, who lunged for it. At the same instant Trentley grabbed the chain of the necklace and yanked.
 The chain broke, and the jewel went flying through the air. Trentley almost fell over his own feet to catch it, and shoved it in his pocket. Out of sight, out of mind.
 Grandma whimpered, and then before Jynnia's eyes she began to change back into the kind old grandma Jynnia knew and loved. On her hands and knees, she shook her head and rubbed her eyes. "What's happened?" she mumbled, and Jynnia was beyond happy to hear her grandma's real voice again. No cold. No growling.
 "Grandma!" Jynnia fell to her knees and threw her arms around Grandma.
 "Dear child, what have I done?" Grandma hugged her back, but then pulled away. "Where are my glasses? I can't even see your beautiful face."
 "I, uh, think you lost them in the bathroom," Jynnia said. "Are you feeling better?"
 "Yes, I think so, although I'll feel even better if you can tell me what just happened!" She turned around to face Trentley and squinted. "Trentley! I meet you for the first time and I try to eat you! What kind of a hostess am I?"
 "That's all right, ma'am," Trentley said. "You weren't yourself."
 "Please tell me what happened," Grandma said.
 "We will," Jynnia promised, helping her grandmother to her feet. "Although it's kind of a long story." She looked at Trentley. "We have got to find the rest of those jewels."

      ***

Lol, if it's not Trentley or Jynnia turning into an animal, it's somebody else. xD These guys just can't catch a break.

I realized while writing this one that I'm not certain what world I want these to be taking place in. Obviously it's a universe where magic is thought to be pretend, since people don't believe that these fairytales actually happened. But I'm not sure whether I want it to be our modern-day world, or maybe a more simplistic world, without the technology? Or maybe the real world in the past? (Okay, suddenly falling in love with the idea of 1940's fairytale retellings...) I don't if any of that made sense, but if you understood, tell me your thoughts!

Also, Christine inspired me to start a Pinterest board for these stories! You can find that HERE. There's not much to it yet, but stay tuned!

On a different note, is anybody else panicking yet because NaNo is less than two months away??? That's kind of crazy. Actually, no, that's REALLY crazy. I can't believe it's already been almost a year since I started Roots to Claim and won my first NaNo. o.o Time flies. But I'm super excited about THIS NaNo and I MIIIGHT be planning on writing the first book of Trentley and Jynnia's series this November?? *whistles and strolls away*

Also, I just want to say THANK YOU to everyone who read my story on Havok this week and left the sweetest comments! This was the first story I've had published since I was thirteen, and it was so surreal experiencing that again. And this time I had you guys to support me, so it was THAT much better.

To treat myself that day, I bought this gorgeous book of fairytales! Isn't it beautiful?! *heart eyes*

That's all for today! Thank you guys so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed it!

What time/world do you think these stories should take place in? Are you getting excited/terrified about NaNoWriMo? How's your fall going so far? (even if isn't actually technically fall yet and I just like to pretend it is because September)