Are you disappointed with the previous chapters? Well, here comes a new one – along with a new trouble.

Chapter 4. Murder?..

Daphne's POV

We were celebrating: 1) a new victory of Charming's army 2) Sabrina's revival 3) the invention of a new plan of defeating Atticus and the scarlethanders. The idea of the plan was mine, by the way!

Sabrina was obviously feeling better than fine. She looked so lively that Puck even played a tiiiiny prank on her: he put mustard on her sandwich instead of processed cheese. Fortunately, Sabrina noticed the change before taking a bite from it. She wasn't angry, she just grinned and said:

"Well, fairy boy, if we get married, I'll feed you with such sandwiches every day!"

As for me, personally, I could eat a hundred pounds of mustard without complaints – the quality of food doesn't matter for me now that Sabrina is alive and well again. I'm sure Puck thought the same way, because he didn't insult her in return – he winked at her and smiled slyly.

But Sabrina wasn't paying attention to him. Suddenly she scowled, turned to me and said:

"Daphne, I… I've just... I've just remembered the last moments before the death. I remember running away from the burning mess tent. Then something awfully hot hitting me in the face and then in the chest. I hear a voice saying 'Sorry to kill you'…"

"WHAT?" I cried. "Do you mean you didn't die in the fire? You mean you were… murdered!"

"I'm afraid I do. Let me finish. Then someone from Charming's army… maybe the Blue Fairy… unleashes a stream of water on the mess tent, I can hear it… Then I'm carried to the ash and put there, the voice says 'Everybody will think you died in the fire. Farewell'. And then – the pain and nothingness…"

Impossible! Sabrina was killed by a person, not by dragon's breath! I called for everyone's attention and told Sabrina to repeat the story. So she did, and it was a shock to the troops and to our family. I heard people murmuring something about "hallucinations" and "fake memories" and stuff like that, but Dad raised his hand and there was silence.

"Don't you understand what it means?" he shouted. "It means that a member of the Scarlet Hand murdered my daughter and is certainly still hiding inside the fort. Charming, have you spotted anybody leaving the fort since the army returned?"

"N-no, the protective spells indicate that everybody's here," Charming said, startled and confused. But he controlled himself in a moment and continued Dad's speech:

"Henry Grimm is right. The murderer of Sabrina Grimm is among us or is hiding somewhere nearby! That means that everyone else is in danger – who knows who the next victim will be!"

That caused even more panic and shock in the crowd. Some people were in hysterics, some were desperately crying for help. Sabrina and I trembled.

"I'm so scared…" Sabrina whispered. "Oh, Daphne, what if this person kills me again?.."

"That – won't – happen – again – to – you!" Puck and the Editor said in unison. I knew they meant it. Sabrina's admirers were going to guard her with their lives. It was clear, and I was glad that at least my sister is relatively safe.

"We are Grimms, and that's what we do!" Dad said. He was referring to our family motto maybe for the first time in years. "We'll find that 'scarlethander'! I promise you that. The rest of my family is certainly anxious to investigate this case as well, because we almost lost one of our dearest relatives – my daughter. Nobody wants this to happen again. We are detectives, and we are going to start searching for the enemy right now, right?" He turned to the rest of the family.

"RIGHT! NOW!" all of us (including Puck's pixies and the Editor) shouted. The army applauded. Just as Dad had suggested, we came to the main tent to brainstorm about the investigation of this crime. The rest of the army started reconstructing the mess tent and repairing other damages that dragons left.

I was excited. We are using our detective skills again!

"So," Mom asked Sabrina. "Don't you remember anything about the murderer? Would you recognize him or his voice?"

"I… I don't think so," Sabrina answered after a long thought. "Well, you see – I was concentrated on little Basil's rescue… and I was shocked. I couldn't even remember the last moments before the murder until now. I'm sorry, but I can't help the case".

"Of course we understand you," Uncle Jake spoke. "Let's discuss another point. How did that enemy who's now hiding somewhere kill Sabrina? Sabrina, you mentioned that something hot hit your face and chest…"

"That's what I felt", Sabrina nodded. "I was still trying to run… and then the paralyzing pain – I wasn't able to move".

"Yes, I see," Uncle Jake interrupted. "Don't try to remember all that anymore, it will hurt. Getting to the point – why didn't the murderer simply throw you into the fire? It was already large enough to burn a person…"

"His weapon worked faster," I suggested.

"Could he breathe fire like a dragon? That's what you mean?" Mom asked. Everyone automatically looked at Puck, who was the only one in our company who could breathe fire indeed. Even I gave him a suspicious look, because I don't know whom to trust after Mirror's betrayal.

"Oh, please don't worry. Puck was throwing rocks at the dragons," the Editor assured us. "He was about five hundred yards away from the mess tent. Although he can gain incredible speed while flying, he still wasn't able to… murder Sabrina in several seconds. I saw him near the catapult less than a minute before her death, and he was there five minutes before we discovered… er… the corpse. Even if we assume he had a motive to murder Sabrina, his alibi is obvious".

Puck mouthed the words "thank you". He was clearly in deep thoughts. We were all discussing the alibis of another powerful Everafters, when Puck jumped in excitement.

"Hey!" he cried. "Why are we thinking about betrayers, Scarlet Hand spies and freaks like that?"

"Because one of the 'freaks like that' murdered me," Sabrina snapped.

"No – I mean, everything is easy!" Puck continued. "Ugly, you told us that the pain after the Unknown's attack was paralyzing. And I suppose the pain from simple burns doesn't paralyze you literally. You stand still, of course, you can't move because of it… But you and your nervous system are really paralyzed when you are shot with a strong bolt of electricity".

"H-how do you know?" Sabrina stammered.

"About five years ago I tried to cut an electric cable in two," Puck said. "It doesn't matter. The thing is that Sabrina was shot with a bolt of electricity".

"We have nothing electrical in the fort," Henry argued.

"I get the idea," the Editor said in a ghostly voice. "Sabrina was shot with lightning".

Puck nodded.

"Then it must have been Mirror who killed her!" this is the horrible truth we all realized. "And he is hiding in the fort!"

I hope I'll update soon. I've started a new fanfiction which is not related to this one, so now I have to update both of them. I'll try to do this as frequently as I can.

Thank you for the reviews! They are really helpful.