Thanks for all of my reviewers and favoriters! Love you guys! :)
Ugh. I am having formatting problems. Stupid FanFic added a space to every line, so I have to go back and delete those, and then an extra line between every sentence. WTF? Kill...kill...kill...
Flashback:
"Fine, then. Leave!" Puck yelled.
And Sabrina had every intention of doing so, if it hadn't been for her sudden inability to move.
She immediately collapsed, and a wave of anger, fury so powerful it made her scream in agony, washed over her entire being. The female voice-Maleficent's voice-boomed in the depths of her brain, establishing the beginning of what was surely going to be a migrane.
"Stupid girl," it raged. "Didn't I tell you not to speak of me to anyone? You betrayed me to your sister!"
"No!" Sabrina gasped, writhing on the ground. She could see Puck, frozen in shock above her, his mouth wide open, trying to process what was happening. But she didn't have time to worry about him. She was more concerned about the evil Draman's intentions-like frying her brain or something. "No, please!"
"I thought we had a deal. Your life for your family. It was going to be as simple as that, Sabrina. But, no, you decided to make it difficult. You decided to play unfairly. You killed my love, my Mirror, and will not pay!"
The pain flashed through her again, but Sabrina still caught a vital piece of evidence: Maleficent had loved Mirror, the traitor, and wanted her to give her life in return. "What-what good will it do you?" she hissed in reply. Puck, who had knelt down next to her, shook her.
"Snap out of it, Grimm! You're talking nonsense!" But Sabrina couldn't reply. She had to focus on Maleficent.
"What good will it do? Ha! My love had always told me that you were his favorite Grimm offspring, even more than your magical sister. Then you just had to go and kill him. You've angered a lot of very powerful Everafters, darling, but none so much as me. And now you have risked your entire family's lives. Stupid child... stupid, foolish child..."
Sabrina, weak with pain, screeched terribly and latched on to Puck's arm, her fingers digging into his flesh. "I didn't mean to! I didn't know, honestly!" she screamed. "Please, don't kill them!"
"Family is your weakness, Grimm, and you will do well to realize this. If you wish to spare them-and all of the other humans-from my wrath, you will calmly meet me in the woods tonight at 11:15, where we will have a talk... and the deed shall be done."
Sabrina's vision blanked, and she could almost feel Maleficent's presence leave her mind. Every ounce of strength drained itself from her body in one swift motion, and she was suddenly still, her eyes closed, breathing even. As aware as she was to the outside world, inside, she was shell-shocked and frightened-not to mention almost completely limp with exhaustion.
"JAKE! JAKE, COME UP HERE!" Puck roared. Then, he turned back to Sabrina. "Gah! What am I supposed to do now?" he muttered, hovering over her. A minute later, the door banged open, and Sabrina could hear her uncle stride over.
"What did you do to her?" the older man demanded. "Spit it out!"
"I didn't do anything!" Puck defended. "We were arguing-"
"Typical," Uncle Jake muttered.
"-and then she just froze, fell to the ground, and started screaming, like she was trying to plead with someone. Dude, it was super creepy."
Sabrina felt a rush of air as someone-being Uncle Jake-leaned down next to her. "'Brina? Sabrina, we need you to be strong here. Did Maleficent try to contact you?"
"The Draman witch?" Puck asked, incredulous. "Seriously? That's so-"
"Hush, Puck," Jake snapped. He brushed a strand of Sabrina's hair from her cheek and tested her pulse. "Sabrina... please."
"I don't think she's going to wake up right now."
"I kind of guessed," Uncle Jake replied sarcastically. "Well, at least Henry's not here. He'd totally flip..." He sighed. "I'm going downstairs to go call them. They'll want to be here when she wakes up."
There were a few muffled footsteps and then Uncle Jake exited Puck's room.
Now, only Puck and Sabrina (and whatever chimps were roaming around) were left alone. And while Sabrina could sense everything around her, Puck thought she was completely unconscious. The girl shoved away an embarrassing thought: This would be a great time for a secret kiss. It only made her more uncomfortable about last week, however much she would have secretly liked it. Plus, Puck was dating Kathryn now, damn him.
The two sat in silence for a while-rather, Puck sat in silence; Sabrina was a heap on the floor, gathering her strength as the migrane began to take hold and sorting out Maleficent's words. Eventually, Puck spoke up.
"Knowing you, you're faking it, right?" He received no answer. The faerie sighed, and suddenly Sabrina felt a gentle finger on her cheek. Wherever it brushed, it left her tingling. "You'd be a lot more appealing if you didn't yell so much. And didn't judge so much. And didn't stink so much."
Okay, that deserved a response. Sabrina shifted and opened her eyes just enough to glare at him. "Thasnotfunny."
Puck pretended not to be surprised-however, the finger on her cheek disappeared really fast-and put on a mock-scared face. "Ooh, the dead awakens!"
Sabrina rubbed her temples, her headache pounding through her skull. "Like you care. Ouch..."
"Well..." the faerie mumbled, shifting uncomfortably. "It wasn't exactly a roller coaster ride watching you writhe on the floor like a marionet."
Before either could say anything more-Sabrina was just happy Puck might have cared-the door opened and in strode Uncle Jake, armed with a fluffy blanket. "Oh, 'Brina," he called, smiling with relief. "Good. You're up. Look; I'll take you into the living room and then we're going to have a serious talk."
"I'd rather rest..."
He shook his head. "I'll get you some ibuprofen, but I want you to tell me everything while it's still fresh in your mind."
"Hey, let her sleep!" Puck said, rather indignantly. He received two very confused looks for his efforts, and blushed, muttering something about 'puberty virus' and 'stupid girls'.
Uncle Jake helped Sabrina to her feet, where she almost immediately saw stars and collapsed into his arms. When he started to pick her up off her feet, she shook her head. "No! I can do it." She didn't want to look weak, or seem helpless-especially in front of Puck. It was embarrassing in the worst way.
They made it-rather haphazardly-down the stairs, and Sabrina was relieved to see the couch as she flopped onto it, and even more happy to see a glass of water and an Advil. Finally, Uncle Jake sat in the opposing armchair and set about quizzing her.
"Okay. I want to know everything. Firstly, has this happened before?"
Crap. Just the question I wanted to avoid. "Um... yes?"
Uncle Jake looked scandalized. "What? When? Sabrina, why didn't you tell anyone?"
"I'm going to kill us all," the girl groaned. "She's blackmailing me... and if I tell you... well... we're screwed anyway, if what she just said is true... so..." She launched into the whole story, starting with the episode in the woods, collapsing in the road, and finally ending up with the excruciatingly painful mental intrusion in Puck's room.
When she was finished, Uncle Jake looked grave. "Sabrina, she can't be able to get into your mind anymore. We need to block her out. Permanently. If she can cause you that much pain..." He trailed off for emphasis.
"Wait..." Sabrina was confused. "She threatened to kill us all, Jake. Shouldn't you be more worried about that?"
He sat back in the chair and smiled easily. "Sabrina. We'll survive. C'mon. We are Grimms. It's what we do. Survive, I mean. If Maleficent thinks she can get through to us that easily, she's sorely mistaken."
"But she trashed my room! She's half-freaking-dragon! She's a sorceress! She's-"
"Sabrina. Stop." Uncle Jake was completely serious now. "There's one of her, and... well... a lot of us. What she's doing is wrong. Her 'lover' was a traitorous mutt, and her reasoning for revenge is screwy. We'll stand to fight till the end, okay? There's plenty of room for more enchantments around the house. As soon as everyone's home tonight, we'll discuss what to do. Now, how about you get some rest? Just crash here on the couch, okay?"
He got up and left her, murmuring something about how he had to change Basil's diaper. Sabrina curled up in a ball, and, much to her chargrin, let a tear slip. She had taken a risk when telling Daphne even as little as she had, but now she was gambling ten lives, possibly more. How could she be so selfish? As much as she knew Maleficent was being ridiculous, that she shouldn't have to die for saving humankind, it made more sense to her to follow through with Maleficent's demands than to risk everyone's lives-especially with Basil, who deserved so much more than just a year and a half of life-most of it with an evil lunatic.
Sabrina must have drifted off, because when she woke up, it was past lunchtime. She rolled off of the couch, and thanked a higher power that her headache was gone. She also made a promise to herself that if Maleficent tried to come into her mind again today, she was going to put up a heck of a fight.
As she began to start towards the kitchen, she was intercepted by a very concerned Henry Grimm. "Sabrina!" he said, sounding most relieved. "Jacob told me what happened, what she did to you. Don't worry, he thinks he found a spell that will block her from your mind permanently, and stop her from spying on us."
Sabrina again voiced her concerns. "But she's planning to kill you guys, Dad. Plus, she expects me in the woods tonight so she can sacrifice me or something like that. We should put enchantments up around the house first."
Henry shook his head. "She's a sorceress. If we let her know-through you-what kind of spells we're going to be putting up, she'll find a way to counteract them. We're going for the secrecy angle here."
Sabrina stared at him, her eyebrows raised. "Yeah, and you pretty much ruined it if she was listening."
Henry pulled his daughter into a hug. "That's just a risk we're going to have to take. We can't leave you out of everything-much as I'd like to."
"Thanks, Dad," Sabrina said sarcastically, hugging back with a smile and then going over to make herself a salami sandwich. "Did you guys pull Daphne and Red out of school early?"
Her dad nodded, handing her the meat from the fridge. "Yes. We couldn't risk them being at school, even with Snow White and other good Everafters there to protect them. You'd better believe we're all very worried." Sabrina took a bite of her sandwich and sat down in the dining room. Henry patted her on the back. "I'll go tell the rest of the family you're up."
Great. Now I'm going to have to answer more questions, Sabrina complained to herself, watching her father go up the stairs. Minutes later, Daphne, Red, and even Puck showed up downstairs. The faerie was telling Daphne about Sabrina's 'meltdown'. "...Yeah, and then she collapsed and starting screaming. I thought she was rabid!" He threw a wink at Sabrina, who glowered at him.
"You would have done the same if she'd been in your mind," she replied.
Puck shrugged. "Nah. I'm too tough."
It was Red who spoke up this time. "No, Puck, you don't know what you're saying. Sometimes, the Master used to invade my mind, and tell me things." She rubbed her temples with a worried expression, as if trying to remember his words. "I don't know exactly what he would tell me, but I do know it was painful. Beyond painful. It was torture. Even you, however tough you may be, would probably beg for mercy. It's that bad." She then blushed and looked at the ground shyly. Sabrina smiled.
"Good for you, Red," she said, giving her a tentative pat on the back. Although she hadn't gotten over all of the barriers between herself and Red Riding Hood, she wasn't afraid of dishing out a compliment every once and a while. Sabrina knew the little girl was extremely shy.
"So..." Daphne said, twisting one of her braids. "I guess the only thing that I can thank you for is pulling me out of school."
"Hey, that's Dad's problem," Sabrina said, smiling slightly. "He's the overprotective one."
They were interrupted when Uncle Jake stomped down the stairs, a crooked, scratched, bloodred amulet in hand. "C'mere, Sabrina. I think I have a cure for Maleficent's meddling."
Although Sabrina was worried that her addiction might act up again, she was also extremely keen to be rid of the Draman's voice in her head, so she walked over to her uncle. "What do I have to do?"
"Well, first things first: lie down." When Sabrina gave him a confused look, he directed her to the couch, where she settled down. "Then, I'm going to place the amulet on your forehead, and say a few words. I have no idea what will happen after that-"
"What?"
"-but Granny says it should work just fine." Uncle Jake laughed at her horrified expression and placed the stone on her forehead. It was hot, and not just from being in his palm for a while. Then he flipped through a book from one of the many pockets of his coat and began to read. "Achmed esalut corega. Freite iusta corineth osterge!" He repeated it several times, much to the girl's confusion. It didn't sound like any language she'd ever heard of. And then, suddenly, the amulet began to glow scarlet.
Daphne and Red let out synchronized gasps. Puck bellowed, "Cool!" Sabrina was, by now, entirely wrapped up in what looked like a colorful cocoon. As Jake continued to chant, a new set of voices joined him, although they spoke only in Sabrina's mind. They repeated the same thing: "Achmed esalut corega. Freite iusta corineth osterge!" Her vision blurred. The world spun. Her mind seemed to becoming more and more detached, drifting away from her body, the voices chanting ever louder, Daphne was now screaming, and Uncle Jake was still speaking-
And then it was finished. Sabrina opened her eyes to the gloom of the living room; all of the lightbulbs had been spontaneously shattered. Milky white fragments of glass were scattered everywhere. Daphne and Red were cowering under the coffee table, and Puck was curled up in a ball on the floor, where he had been protecting his head. When Sabrina sat up, she saw that Uncle Jake was still standing, a perfect circle of glass-free floor surrounding him. She was a little disturbed when she found the same thing had happened to her, too.
"Is... is it done?" she asked. Daphne peered out from under the table, brushing a piece of glass away from her hair.
"That... was so... freaking... awesome!" she whispered, grinning. Puck sat up with a similar smile on his face.
"Yeah!" he agreed, giving Daphne a high-five. Red Riding Hood, however, seemed to be feeling the way Sabrina felt: a bit sick. She crawled out from under the coffee table and picked her way through the glass bits until she stood next to Uncle Jake.
"Is everything okay down there, libelings?" Granny Relda called from somewhere upstairs.
"Everything's perfectly fine, Mom! Sabrina's cured!" Uncle Jake yelled in response. Then he turned to survey the damage.
"Well. It seems we have a bit of cleaning up to do, doesn't it?"
All righty, then. That's done. So, as always, review with your opinion of the chapter. I've been wanting to do an Uncle Jake/magic scene, and finally got the chance to overdo a simple spell. Typical Anna.
Hope you liked the trace amounts of Puckabrina here! I'll try to include more of Kathryn and Puck's *doomed* relationship in the next few chapters.
Ugh. So much writing to do. :)
