A/N HEY!!! So, wow, it's been a while. Sorry about that. But onward!

Oh, by the way, I AM NOT DISCONTINUING THIS!!!! That was never the plan. I'm gonna finish this story if it kills me.

Chapter Six

Henry Grimm closed yet another diary, sighing and rubbing his eyes. For a week, he and Mr. Canis had been reading every single book in that house, looking for anything, anything, that would clue them into Puck and Sabrina's distaste of each other.

Why are there so many damn books in this house? Henry thought, and not for the first time. It's impossible to find anything useful!

Henry groaned and reached for yet another book, already knowing there would be nothing useful in it. Why would there be? This was the fifth hundred book he had read, and none of the others had been useful.

Just as Henry began to read, Mr. Canis came running into the room, an uncharacteristic grin on his face.

"I found it! I found a lead!" he exclaimed, almost laughing.

Henry felt a smile form on his face, and he stood up eagerly, walking towards Canis. He grabbed the book from the older man's hands, reading the page. It was a spell for finding people. A few minutes later, Henry looked up, his face serious once again.

"How are we supposed to find these ingredients? All of them are illegal!"

Mr. Canis shook his head. "So? I know where to find them all, and Henry, it could work. This spell could lead us to the culprit, or at the very least, narrow down our suspects."

Henry bit his lip, weighing the options. On the one hand, this was a good idea. It could lead them to the person who had given Sabrina and Puck the potion, lead them to the very person who had started this all. But on the other hand, it could have disastrous results. What if they got caught? All of the ingredients were illegal, and the penalty for having them was death. And what if the spell didn't work? What would they do then? This was their only lead.

"Fine. But we'll have to be careful. If The Council finds out, we're dead meat. You'll take care of finding the ingredients? It says we have to make this potion at the full moon which is…" Henry did the math in his head. "Shit…it's two days from now. Is that enough time?"

"It will have to be," Mr. Canis said grimly.

********

Jake walked into the room full of 'back doors,' as they were called. Relda was behind him, worriedly wringing her hands. She would love to go with her son, but she was too old to be of much use in the other dimension. Jake was only going to talk to a few of the people who had known Darren or come into contact with Puck or Sabrina, in the hopes they might know what had happened.

Jake hugged his mother tightly for a moment before stepping in front of the mirror that led to the other dimension. Before he stepped through, he threw a dare devilish smile over his shoulder, bravado masking the fear he felt.

"See ya soon, Ma," he said with a wink, and then we stepped through into the portal.

******

After Jake disappeared, Relda walked out of the room, and began to walk down the hall purposefully. She knew exactly what room she wanted—the room filled with truth potions. While Jake was good at the footwork bit of being a detective, Relda was better at the questioning bit of it. Just in case, she always carried around a small vile of truth potion. She could tell when people were lying, and that way, she could get the truth out of them.

After retrieving a truth potion, Relda got in the car and drove into town. The first place she went was the tea shop behind where Sabrina and Puck had both said the vendor had been—maybe the owner had seen something.

For three hours, Relda Grimm did what she did best: she asked questions, she talked to people, and she tried to work out the mystery that was surrounding Sabrina and Puck these days. Unfortunately, she didn't have very much luck. No one else had seen the vendor. No one had even seen Sabrina and Puck!

"I hope Jacob is having better luck," Relda said to herself as she drove home.

*****

Meanwhile, Jake, after waking up in the other dimension, had gone to the village in search of anyone who knew Darren or had come into contact with Sabrina and Puck. He wanted to talk to every single person in that village, but he started with the elders. After all, they would know exactly where Sabrina and Puck had gone, would they not? And even if they didn't know exactly where they had gone, they'd at least know where Darren lived. Maybe Jake could interview the family, learn what Darren was like at home. Learn his background. Maybe the family would even know who this mysterious vendor was. It was worth a shot.

Jake's meeting with the elders told him very little. They didn't trust this strange man who asked too many questions, but they did tell him where Darren had lived, and where Sabrina and Puck had stayed. Jake immediately set off towards Darren's home. While it wasn't much of a lead, is was better than nothing.

Jake arrived at Darren's home and knocked on the door. After a few minutes, the door opened a crack and Jake saw half of a woman's face--a half that was horribly bruised and scared looking. Jake looked around, expecting an attacker, but saw no one. Other than the woman behind the door and himself, the street was completely deserted.

Jake coughed uncomfortably. "Excuse me," he said politely. "My name is Jake Grimm, and I'm a...friend of Darren's. This wouldn't happen to be his home, would it?"

The woman nodded and opened the door a bit more. "I'm sorry, sir, but Darren hasn't been home in months," she said softly, her eyes filling with tears.

Jake's eyes widened. If there was one thing he could not handle, it was a crying woman. "Please, please, don't cry!" he said hurriedly, holding his hands out in an apologetic motion. "I didn't mean to upset you. I just--I was wondering if you could answer a few questions for me?"

*******

An hour and a half later, Jake left that home, accompanied by a small figure wrapped in a cloak. After entering, he had been led to the kitchen by the horribly bruised woman--Darren's mother. She had made him some tea and sat down across the table from him, letting her hair fall into her face. Trying to hide the ugly bruises.

Jake had asked questions, using all of his charm. He had flirted, complimented, and been kind. And as he was leaving, he had turned around. While he was done his inquisition, there was one thing that continued to bug him.

"I have one more question," Jake had said. "Where did you get those bruises?"

The woman had flinched. "M-my husband," she'd stuttered. "He--he hits me."

Jake had, in that moment, possessed more hatred than he thought was possible. This woman was kind, and beautiful, and compliant to a fault. How anyone could abuse her was beyond him. And in that moment, Jake made a snap decision.

"Isabelle," he had said, using the name she had hesitantly given him. "Come with me. I can get you away from here, away from your husband. You don't have to live like this. I can take you far, far away from here, to a place where you can have a life of your own. To a place far away from people who will hurt you, to a place where they can't find you."

Isabelle had looked at Jake, her eyes doubtful. "There is no place like that on this earth."

And Jake began to laugh. Quickly, he explained about where he came from, and how he had gotten to this place. As he spoke, Isabelle's face had gone from doubtful, to incredulous, and finally, to hopeful.

"Is this true? Can I truly go to this place? Live this life?" For the first time since Jake had entered that house, he saw hope in that woman's face.

"Yes," Jake said, a huge grin spreading across his face.

And now, they were exiting that place, that cage Isabelle had been confined to. Before they left that world, Jake was going to go to where Sabrina and Puck had stayed, to look for a few more clues. Isabelle had given a surprising amount of information, but nothing about the vendor or about Darren having any magical connections. The place where the two teens had stayed was his last resort, his last chance of finding anything useful.

*******

Jake gingerly opened the door, Isabelle cowering behind him. She was afraid they would be caught, and no matter how much Jake told her they weren't doing anything wrong, she wouldn't believe him. That or she was afraid her husband would find her gone and come after her.

Jake stepped into the house, looking around. What he saw made him catch his breath. The entire house was in disarray. The furniture was overturned, the window was broken, and there was a bloody rock sitting in the middle of the kitchen. Jake walked over to inspect it, seeing a white slip of paper attached to it.

Sabrina and 'Prince' Puck,

So sorry about this, really. I just thought you would want to know that I'm coming. Soon. You think you're wedding day is going to be safe and happy? Think again, my sweets.

Until then,

Darren

P.S. Sabrina, I look forward to when we meet again. you will pay for what you did.

Jake swallowed hard. This letter--it was written in blood. But suddenly, he had an idea. Obviously, it wouldn't work here, in this place free of magic, but if he could get this rock back home, he could do a spell that would tell him one thing he asked. All he needed was blood, and he could ask anything about the person he wanted and get the truth. And he had blood. Lots of it, by the looks of things. He just had to get it back to his world.

******

A/N Ok, so that wasn't exactly my best chapter, and mostly it was filler, but soon it will start to get good again, so bare with me. The next few chapters are going to be the spell thing, the OTHER spell thing (see Mr. Canis and Henry), and then...XD well, you'll find out. Also, soon, the fluff will be back!!! I love writing fluff, but i kinda had to give this story a bit of actually story. But it's still a romance type thing, so don't worry. Soon, it will be back to fluff. :)