"Thank you Tinkerbell." Granny said warmly. The shining fairy said nothing. "Let's go home; Swineheart will phone with the autopsy results tomorrow."
"What's an autopsy?" asked Daphne.
The group looked at each other awkwardly. An autopsy was going to be difficult to explain. Sabrina could only imagine was Puck would say.
"It's when someone takes apart a dead body to find out how they died." she explained.
Daphne pulled a face.
"Gross!" Sabrina nodded in agreement before turning to face Granny Relda. "Can we go home now?" asked Daphne, who was clearly unnerved by the gory nature of the crime scene.
"Yes liebling."
The little girl looked relieved, but then a frown formed on her face.
"How are we going to get home Granny?"
It was a good question. Uncle Jake would be unwilling to leave his girlfriend alone, Mr Canis still fared no better than when they had left the house and Sabrina refused point blank to take a trip in Father Time's taxi. Again.
Tinkerbell opened her mouth to say something but Relda interrupted her.
"Magic will not be necessary. We can take the bus home."
Sabrina groaned. Not only did she long for the magical power to run through her veins once more but now she was going to have to face her hatred of public transport. The crowds in buses never failed to drive her up the wall. It never used to bother her, but it now it reminded her of happier times with her parents.
"Bus?" Peter asked innocently.
Sabrina smiled and took his hand. Maybe this could be fun.
On the way back to the house she revelled in Peter's ignorance. It was both amusing and endearing to watch his reactions to transport as common as buses. It made her realise just how new the modern world was to the Everafter. As she'd guessed, it made the bus ride a lot more entertaining.
Tinkerbell sat beside him with a sour expression on her face. Despite her shiny wings being neatly folded up her skin still had an unnatural golden glow to it causing strangers to gaze at her in awe for most of the journey. Sabrina was surprised that the fairy hadn't gone back to the house the way they'd arrived but it appeared that where Peter went, she went. For once Sabrina was glad of this fact. It was funny to watch her younger sister quiz the Everafter about her life in Never Neverland. The fairy gave brief, one worded answers but that only made Daphne keener to get the information out of her. She was a huge fan.
When they arrived at the house the phone seemed to ring as they entered. Granny Relda went to answer it. The place was surprisingly quiet so Sabrina assumed that Puck was still in his room and went upstairs to check on him. She was still worried about the numerous bruises she'd last seen him covered in. She hammered on the door. At first there was no reply.
"Hey fairyboy! Are you in there?" she called.
"Go away ugly." came a faint reply.
Alarmed by his feeble tone of voice Sabrina opened the door. Puck was sitting on his trampoline bed, still covered in the bruises. They still looked raw and painful. The fact that he wasn't ordering about his latest set of minions said a lot about how he was feeling.
"Are you okay?" He glared at her. Sabrina held her hands up in surrender and decided to change the subject, knowing he would never willingly admit how he felt. "We just saw a dead body."
His glare disappeared and was promptly replaced by a look of glee.
"Cool! I bet it was mauled horribly, bleeding, covered in pus or – wait, how come I wasn't invited?" he asked indignantly.
Sabrina ignored the question.
"I had to explain to Daphne what the word autopsy means." she said with a laugh.
"That should be my job!" Puck protested. He paused, before asking another question with a scowl. "Did Tights come with you?"
"Why do you care?" Sabrina retorted.
Puck opened his mouth to reply but Peter chose that moment to walk into the room.
"Yes I did come. The boy's body was truly disgusting. Or so I am told."
"That's not fair! Why didn't the old lady tell me?" Puck exclaimed.
"Maybe she thought you couldn't be trusted in your – " Peter eyed Puck's numerous purpling bruises and blisters. " – condition."
"What about your condition?" Puck replied.
Judging from his expression Peter seemed to be floored by this comment.
"My condition?"
"You know, the one where you die from offending the Trickster King." Puck said grinning.
He then lunged towards Peter but Granny's call interrupted them.
Sabrina rushed downstairs followed by the boys who were still eyeing each other apprehensively.
"What is it Granny?"
"It appears that the autopsy results were retrieved quite quickly since it was such an unusual death."
Puck, who had spotted Daphne, took the opportunity to re-explain to the little girl what an autopsy was.
"That's when they take the body and feed it to a giant squid. It'll probably be the same squid that the old lady will have staying in your bedroom. The squid will hurl it back up and tell us how the victim died - you'll have to live with the stench of squid puke for the rest of your life!" Puck chuckled.
Even though Daphne knew Puck was kidding around her face paled considerably at the image his explanation conjured in her mind. Sabrina glared at the boy. She should've never mentioned the autopsy question to him. Peter looked like he wanted to say something, but whatever it was he was unable to say in the presence of Granny Relda.
"So what are the autopsy results?" he said instead.
"Little Boy Blue died of old age."
"The philosopher's stone!" chorused the girls.
"Yes." Relda agreed. "But that's not all. Swineheart told me that Little Boy Blue could have continued to live perfectly normally had his immune system not been failing him. The boy pricked his hand on something and the cut got infected. If he wasn't aging so rapidly it would have scabbed over as normal but his body couldn't heal and age at the same time so it was the infection that killed him."
"The needle!" Sabrina gasped.
Puck stared at her as if she was sprouting wings but Granny nodded in agreement.
"Let me get this straight," said Puck. "You're telling us that Little Boy Blue died because he pricked himself with a needle?"
Granny nodded.
"Yes, more or less."