Sabrina rubbed her cold arms. This scenario was startlingly reminiscent of one of her nightmares but according to Granny Relda it was necessary.
This was her grandmother's latest idea for escape training. She had reasoned that whilst the girls worked best together they wouldn't always be together in the life threatening situations they were often flung into. For this reason Sabrina was standing alone, shivering in what Puck claimed was his forest, searching for her sister. According to the old woman the girls had to track each other down and avoid the Trickster King's cruel pranks at the same time.
Sabrina's teeth started to chatter. Not for the first time she wished that she had brought her coat. It was a bitterly cold day. She set off at a jog in an attempt to warm up and speed up the tracking process. She desperately wanted to call out her sister's name but knew that would lead Puck straight to her. It was hard enough to avoid his minions let alone the Trickster King himself.
Suddenly she heard a strange noise. Sabrina skidded to a stop and listened hard. It sounded like – flapping? None of Puck's minions made that noise. Maybe her sister had had the sense to bring along a magical item that would fly them out of the forest.
"Daphne?" Sabrina called out.
"Guess again ugly."
Sabrina groaned.
"What do you want freakbaby?"
Remembering a previous practical joke Sabrina cautiously sniffed the air. She grimaced. There was a faint whiff of a glop grenade. The stink was practically Puck's trademark.
"When I'm done you're going to stink like you've stunk before stinkpot!" Puck announced.
It was definitely going to be a glop grenade. Sabrina couldn't even see the boy. She knew she was the perfect target. The only way to escape was to keep moving. Sabrina started to run, cursing Puck under her breath.
It was not much of a chase. Puck flew above her and had no difficulty in keeping up but Sabrina found herself quickly exhausted. The glop grenades Puck pelted at her were barely missing the girl by inches.
"You're going to regret this fairyboy!" she shouted.
"You can't outrun the Trickster King." he said teasingly.
It was true. Sabrina's legs were aching. She only had one hope. She stopped running.
"Daphne!" she yelled.
No reply. Puck touched down in front of her.
"My minions saw to her."
"What did you do?"
Puck laughed and suddenly the trees were full of chimpanzees. At the centre of the throng was her little sister; Daphne. Sabrina knew that splitting them up had been a bad idea. Daphne had a disgusted expression on her face. It was evident that she had become victim to one of Puck's glop grenades. The icky substance was dripping from her hair.
"This is so un-punk rock!" the little girl exclaimed.
"Payback time ugly." Sabrina said but as her fist lunged towards the boy he held up another grenade.
She froze.
"One." he began.
"Don't you dare!"
"Two –"
But Puck was interrupted by a flying boy who looked exactly like him minus the wings. The stranger catapulted into the fairy feet first knocking the Trickster King down.
"You won't touch these girls." said the stranger.
This allowed Puck enough to time to realise who he was up against. His face turned red in anger. He kicked the stranger's legs out from under him and the boys started to wrestle. For a minute Sabrina watched in awe. The fight appeared to be very evenly matched.
"Uh hello!" Daphne yelled, breaking her sister out of her trance. "Get me down from here!"
As Sabrina ran over the chimpanzees hissed at her but dispersed, unsure of what to do now that their leader was being attacked. She looked up at her sister who was positioned high up in a tree.
"Any suggestions?" Sabrina shouted in reply.
All of a sudden a small, yet vibrant spark flickered into life beside Daphne. Sabrina sighed in relief, her sister must have brought a magical object with her.
As she watched the spark appeared to hover in front of Daphne. The little girl inserted her palm into her mouth and bit down hard as more sparks scattered themselves over her. Then slowly Daphne started to rise up into the air. Sabrina gasped. Whatever her sister was doing it was taking her further away from the ground.
Sabrina opened her mouth, ready to yell but then Daphne plummeted. The girls both let out a scream. Sabrina rushed forwards to catch her sister but Daphne found herself hovering about a metre from the ground.
"It's okay. I think I've got the hang of it now."
With a look of extreme concentration on her face Daphne carefully lowered herself to the ground. Sabrina gazed at her in astonishment. She rushed forward to hug her but then caught a whiff of the stench coming off Daphne in waves. Sabrina stopped awkwardly and took a few steps back.
"How did you do that?" she asked.
"Magic!" Daphne squealed. Sabrina rolled her eyes, that much was obvious. "I couldn't have managed it without Bells!"
"Bells?"
"The child means me."
Sabrina looked around herself trying to discover the source of the mysterious voice.
"Show yourself."
There was an irritated sigh and the spark Sabrina had seen earlier grew into a girl who looked about Sabrina's age. Her pale skin seemed to glisten with gold sparkles whilst her wings were so shiny they almost gave the impression that they were made from tinsel.
"You're Tinkerbell." Sabrina realised.
"Yes."
Sabrina turned.
"So that must mean –"
The boy dressed in green from earlier stood right in front of Sabrina. It appeared that he had just finished kicking the ass of a rather disgruntled Puck.
"Hello. My name's Peter –"
"The Peter?" Daphne screeched.
" – Pan." the boy finished.
Sabrina stepped back as her sister ran forward to hug the boy. Peter looked surprised but pleased.
"Sorry, she does that to everyone." Sabrina apologised tearing Daphne away. "Thank you for dealing with Puck."
"Puck? Is that his name?"
"You bet it is!" Puck called feebly from behind the group. "You just took on the Trickster King – "
"And beat him." Peter reminded coldly.
Much to Sabrina's surprise there was no retort from Puck. She peered behind Pan and realised this was because the fairy was still struggling to stand. He was covered in an alarming amount of bruises. Daphne noticed this too but the aroma of the glop in her hair stopped the little girl from feeling too sympathetic. Eventually Puck gave in. He collapsed on the spot and sat there sulkily.
"Ow." he muttered. "Where are my chimps?"
Peter ignored him and smiled.
"I've fought many a pirate but he was a challenge." he informed the girls. "It's a shame it was over so quickly." the boy sighed, sounding genuinely wistful.