A/N: Since Sabrina and Daphne are together in this chapter, I started off each section with the name of the sister whose point of view it's in, since I wasn't sure the second half was clear otherwise.
Anyways—hi there! Long time no see! New chapter, finally. You can blame finals week(s) for the long stretch of time between updates. The next chapter is mostly written so it'll be posted probably a few days after Christmas once I edit it! For now, please accept this chapter as an apology for being MIA for the past 84 years.
This chapter was incredibly difficult to write for me. I kept getting stuck attempting to figure out Puck and Sabrina's relationship, and so writing time ended up being mostly staring off into space struggling to figure out the next step for these guys, or writing stuff that I had to completely delete (12 pages worth of writing down the drain! Ugh). I think that the agony paid off in the end, though, and if you have the time, I would love to hear what you thought of what happens.
Huge shoutout/thank you to Quill and Spindle for the long PM that helped me figure out what to do, P&S wise.
Thank you so much to everyone who reviewed my last chapter! You guys are the best.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
Guest reviewers:
Tasty Kake: Hi! I'm so glad you liked the last chapter, I think it may have been my favorite as well.
Guest (12/16/16): Thank you!
Sabrina
Talking to Puck alone proved to be an impossible feat, because Uncle Jake and Daphne seemed incapable of giving anyone space. At first it made sense, since they were talking almost constantly about the events of the past few days. But after they'd caught up, Sabrina had gone into the back room of the tent and been followed by Uncle Jake, until she'd squawked that she was about to change, which made him withdraw with the promise that he would be right outside the divider if she needed anything. At breakfast, Daphne sat so close to Puck that she was practically in his lap, and then refused to give a reason for her behavior that wasn't I didn't see him there, and then didn't move until Sabrina pointed out that if she wasn't careful, Puck's stink would get all over her.
Sabrina tried not to pay their behavior any mind, seeing as Daphne and her uncle were some of the oddest people she'd ever met, and putting them together seemed to augment their weirdness. Besides, she had enough on her mind. Sabrina was slowly digesting the information that Moth had an accomplice, and that she was after a sword that would enhance her strengths and weaknesses alike. A sword like that seemed risky to Sabrina, and attempting to share it with another person even riskier. She wondered what they wanted with it. Uncle Jake and Daphne didn't know and didn't seem to think it was worth trying to figure out.
A loud crash startled Sabrina to her senses, and she looked over to see that her sister had stuck her head and shoulders into the bottomless knapsack.
"What are you doing?" she demanded, moving to her sister's side in two strides, ready to rescue her from the clutches of a backpack. "You look like an ostrich!"
With a grunt, Daphne withdrew, holding a box of Pop-Tarts and pouting. "I was hungry! And I knocked over the bust of some old guy. Hopefully it wasn't cursed or anything."
Sabrina scowled and rubbed her arms, wishing that she was less jumpy. Sighing loudly behind her, Puck shook his head like a dog and ducked around the girls.
"Nature calls," he announced, moving to unzip the tent.
"Nature is also calling me," Uncle Jake blurted out, and Sabrina snorted at the bewildered look Puck gave her. Oblivious to the discomfort of his teenage sidekick, Uncle Jake led the way out of the tent, leaving the sisters alone.
Sabrina stared at Puck's retreated back, visible through the door neither of them had thought to close. Despite the new mystery surrounding Moth, she'd found her thoughts more preoccupied with Puck than she would have liked. They'd grown so used to each other again that Sabrina was almost surprised at how awkward the morning had been. Stuck in a small tent preparing for a potential showdown at the Lost Cave, they found themselves trying to cross between the rooms at the same time, or attempting to dig into the same bag, or reaching for the same water bottle too often. They would stammer apologies and struggle to get out of each other's way, causing Uncle Jake and Daphne to come running, looking for problems that didn't exist and making everything worse.
Mostly, Sabrina felt confused. The to-do list for their trip, which had been burned in her brain, consisted of Yeti blood, dagger from Nightingale, seaweed from Kikimora, find the cave, open the cave, retrieve the contents, home by Christmas. She'd been moving down the list as the days went by and had never expected kiss Puck to be something that existed at all, let alone an item that she could check off.
Not only had they kissed, but they had kissed twice! And, to her own disbelief, the idea of kissing him again made her heart ache with longing, even though she knew it was a bad idea. As they waited for Uncle Jake to gather everything so that they could leave, Sabrina found herself turning the problem of bad timing and distance over in her mind, searching for a way around it. There was no solution she could see, but her brain kept presenting her with the fact that they were together right now, and the more she battled with herself, the flimsier the argument that they were only together for a week seemed.
And Sabrina tried, really, to stop that train of thought from barreling down the tracks and crashing, telling herself that any debate was moot, that despite what she was feeling, she was about to tell him no.
But what would be the difference, really, if she gave into her feelings, just for a week? Give in enough to pull back out, stand in the threshold of the door they'd opened last night for a nanosecond of their eternal lives before stepping back into safety. Heaven help her, it was an appealing idea.
Her head began to pound with possibility. Appealing, but dangerous. She thought about her friend Kylie, who'd burst into her dorm room heartbroken in the middle of the night, in tears because she'd wanted more than what some guy down the hall was willing to give her. But Sabrina wouldn't let that happen to her. She knew Puck would leave, and that nothing she could do would change that. Whatever she felt for him—well, she'd felt it from a distance for a long time, and could certainly go back to that if she had to. No different than before. Catch and release.
If she was the one in control, she could stop herself from getting hurt. Perhaps after this she could even move on.
It wasn't like Sabrina had never dated before. She'd had a boyfriend junior year of high school but had ended it after a few months. He wasn't what she was looking for, perfectly nice but not her type.
She remembered the pointed way Daphne had asked for an example of "her type" after the breakup, remembered being able to judge by the way her eyebrows had gone up when Sabrina had struggled to answer that they'd been thinking of the same world traveler.
One of you is going to get burned, said a nasty little voice in the back of her head.
"Not necessarily," she muttered back. This could be the true test. Did she actually have feelings for him? Or did the piece of her that was still a twelve-year-old girl who lived in Ferryport Landing love the idea of him?
Daphne turned around. "What?"
Sabrina jumped and then let out a shaky laugh. She'd forgotten Daphne was there. "Nothing, sorry. Just thinking."
With a frustrated sigh, Daphne plopped down beside her and dropped her head on Sabrina's shoulder. "I don't want to go back home."
Sabrina paused, unsure she'd heard her correctly. "The other day you wanted to quit."
Daphne shrugged. "I mean, I'm still terrified. But I missed doing the Grimm thing. I missed Puck and Uncle Jake. I'm sure you did too."
Sabrina could only bring herself to nod, sure Daphne felt the motion through the temple that was resting on her shoulder.
"The closer we get to the end of this, the less sure I am that they'll stay when it's over," Daphne admitted. "I was optimistic at first, but then I think, what are we doing here? Do we really mean anything to them anymore? They have a whole other life that we're barely a part of."
Swallowing hard, Sabrina patted her sister's cheek. "We still mean something to them," she replied, although she could tell that neither of them was convinced by her words.
She curled her shaking fingers into her palms, wishing that Daphne hadn't just stated all of the worries she was trying to ignore.
Uncle Jake barged back into the tent, an agitated Puck in tow. "Ready, guys?"
They teleported to a village near the Lost Cave and hiked from there, hoping that the magical trace left by the machine would be far enough from the actual location of the cave to throw Moth and Ariel off if they were able to find it. Daphne led the way down the snow-dusted streets, doing a funny little hop on every other step, like she was half-heartedly skipping. Catching Sabrina's eye, Daphne linked her arm through her sister's and pulled her along, making her laugh for the first time all day.
Thank God for Daphne, Sabrina thought, smooshing her sister into a one-armed hug that she hoped would convey all of the emotions her words couldn't.
Daphne laughed too, and then Sabrina pulled away and asked, her breath rising in the air, "How much farther?"
Scratching his scruff, Uncle Jake replied, "We're just reaching the forest, 'Brina. We've got a while to go."
Once they were out of sight of the village, Uncle Jake and Daphne began to jog on some unspoken agreement.
"Why are you running?" Sabrina asked, lengthening her stride to keep pace with them. The sharp air stung her lungs, and she didn't want to think about how much it would hurt to be breathing heavily in the chill.
Daphne rolled her eyes, as if she was shocked she had to explain. "We're lightly jogging, remember?"
"You guys aren't moving that much faster than you would be if you just walked," Puck pointed out, shaking his head in disbelief as if he had had it with their travel companions.
Daphne and Uncle Jake exchanged exasperated looks. "It adds up," Daphne said defensively. "Come on, jog with us!"
"You're hardly jogging," Puck argued, slowing down slightly so that the gap between them widened. "We'll walk."
"Don't come crying to us if you have to sprint to catch up later!" Uncle Jake sang.
"That won't be necessary," Sabrina said, slowing down as well. Usually she would have been annoyed with this unnecessary measure, would have argued with them, but she was as alone with Puck as she would probably get all day, and she was too focused on the mental train, speeding down its track toward impending demise.
"What do we do about what happened last night?" Puck whispered, eyeing the pair in front of them, who were talking loudly about different training programs.
Unable to look at him, Sabrina watched Daphne's braids bounce and gave the speech she'd been rehearsing all morning. "We act like it didn't happen. Next week you'll leave again and I'll go back to school, and who knows how many years will pass before we see each other again?"
There was more bite in her last sentence than she'd intended. Listening to the snow crunch under their boots and the labored breathing of Daphne and Uncle Jake, Sabrina waited on edge for Puck to say something, wondering if he was mad at her, or perhaps relieved. She breathed in through her nose and out through her mouth slowly to calm her racing heart.
Finally, in a tone that was both hurt and confused, Puck replied, "Is that what you want?"
"No," she replied before she could stop herself, and then steeled herself and added, "But it's what makes the most sense."
She thought her chest might be caving in and looked at trees around them with such determination that she walked into Uncle Jake, who had stopped short in front of them. He held out a hand to stop her but otherwise did not pay her any attention, his eyes trained on a spot in the distance.
"What?" she whispered, as Puck and Daphne drew closer to them.
"Do you see the movement?" Uncle Jake asked, pointing.
Daphne gasped. "Yes!" She grabbed Sabrina's wrist and squeezed hard. Sabrina found it difficult to care about whatever they were looking at. It felt like she'd just stomped on her own heart.
Puck snorted. "Yeah, that's a fox."
Three heads whipped toward him. "Are you sure?" Uncle Jake asked, squinting.
"Yes, unless Moth and Ariel have four legs and are about two feet tall, we're fine," Puck said, rolling his eyes. "Superior vision!"
"If I had a dollar for every time you've said that…" Sabrina grumbled, and then turned red at the smirk he gave her. Why, why did this have to be happening now, in the middle of Russia?
"Well, if you combine them they have four legs," Daphne reasoned as they started walking again. Puck and Sabrina dropped back a bit again.
"I know you're right," he muttered, reverting to a serious tone. "But I wish you weren't."
Sabrina's mouth went dry. She was very aware of the weight of her boots on the earth. "We could…we could…"
"What?"
She glanced at him again and the battle that had been raging inside her was suddenly won by the desperate look in his eyes.
"We have a week," she whispered, could just barely hear her words over the roaring of her pulse in her ears.
"Almost there!" Daphne called over her shoulder, jolting Sabrina back to the real world.
Sabrina turned back to Puck, fear and desire swirling in her gut.
His eyes were wider than she'd ever seen them. "Yeah, we do," he replied, and a massive wave of relief hit her and made her suck in a breath.
"We can't tell anyone," Sabrina insisted when she could speak again.
"Guys!" Uncle Jake hissed. Sabrina jumped, tore her gaze away from Puck, and found Daphne and Jake watching them. She'd been so wrapped up in conversation that she hadn't noticed how close they were to this edge of the woods. Here, snowy pines gave way to a flat stretch of field that looked unnaturally bald, sandwiched between the forest and the colossal, craggy cliff some thousand feet away.
"We're here," Daphne said, her face unreadable, and Sabrina wondered how long they'd been watching them.
Drawing closer to her sister, Sabrina took in the cliff, examining the long cracks and the small trees growing straight up from the sheer sides. The snow that covered the field speckled the gray rock face, and even from this distance Sabrina had to crane her neck to see the top, which sliced cleanly into the sky. She felt a sudden chill race up her spine.
"Damn," Uncle Jake breathed, the word turning to mist above his head. "The last leg of the journey."
Sabrina nodded absently, her mind reeling from what she had just done. She knew she'd made a mistake. She tried to care.
Puck snapped into Adventure Mode. "You and Daphne should make the potion while Grimm and I stand guard. What does this Ariel guy look like?"
Daphne shuddered. "Dark hair, medium build, soulless eyes?"
Had the situation been less serious, Sabrina would have laughed. "What are the odds we're walking into a trap?"
Uncle Jake sighed, rubbing his forehead. "Yes, let's do Puck's plan. Odds are high that this is a trap. Remember, the most important thing is that the four of us get out together, in one piece. If things are looking bad we'll call it quits. If, for some reason, you're left out of teleporting, find the doorway that we came in from, put your hand on it, and ask the cave to leave. Once we're out, there's no way we can get back in to rescue you. Understand?"
The three teenagers nodded in agreement, but Uncle Jake was not appeased. He rounded on them, adding, "All of us getting out unharmed is more important than obtaining the sword."
"Got it?" Daphne snapped, moving to stand next to him and crossing her arms. Sabrina frowned, suspicious.
Puck said the words for her. "Are we in more danger than we think we are?"
Uncle Jake and Daphne both relaxed into would-be casual poses. "Not to my knowledge," Uncle Jake replied airily. "Just, you know, gotta be careful."
"Who knows what Moth could want?" Daphne said loudly, elbowing their uncle in the ribs.
"Not us!" Uncle Jake cried, flashing an innocent smile at Puck and Sabrina.
"Wow, you two are incredible under pressure," Sabrina scoffed. "What haven't you told us?"
Uncle Jake waved a casual hand. "Nothing! Now come on, time's a-wasting!"
With that, Uncle Jake had scooped up his bag and was sprinting toward the cliff, Daphne hot on his heels.
"Do you know what that was about?" Sabrina asked Puck.
He shook his head. "I would've told you."
"Same," Sabrina agreed. Puck took a deep breath and Sabrina thought he was going to say something, but then his gaze moved out to the field and he took off after the others. Sabrina followed, the powdery snow slowing her stride as if she was running through molasses. With every step the back of her neck prickled more, and she kept looking over her shoulder, expecting to see Moth. They were so exposed. If Ariel had his gun and horrible intentions, they were fish in a barrel.
Uncle Jake threw himself on the ground in front of the cliff and scooped out a hole in the snow, which he practically threw a wooden bowl into. Daphne spread the ingredients out around them. Keeping close to the cliff, Sabrina and Puck paced with their swords out. Sabrina tried to watch the sky for Fae, tensing up at the few birds that flew by, and the forest at the same time.
It was difficult to ignore Puck, and harder still to keep herself from obsessing over the vague decision they'd just made. She tried instead to focus on Daphne's voice, which was a frantic mutter that managed to bounce off the cliff behind her.
"Yes, we burn the seaweed. Ashes to mix with the blood, remember? Gross, I know."
Sabrina's hands were sweating in her gloves. She ripped them off and brandished her sword again, fingers stinging in the cold. At least she had a grip now.
"This needs to burn faster," Uncle Jake hissed a tense minute later, bopping his head up and down in time to imaginary music. She supposed he would be tapping his finger against his knee like he did sometimes, except one hand was holding a lighter and the other hand the seaweed above it. Sabrina watched the seaweed blacken and crumble into the bowl for a few seconds before realizing with a jolt that she wasn't doing her job and turning away.
"Good, that's enough," Daphne said after an eternity. Blowing a strand of hair off her face, Sabrina bounced up and down on the balls of her feet and scanned the sky.
"No, don't stick the knife in the bowl yet!"
"What is the dagger for, anyways?" Sabrina asked, looking up the cliff. If there was anyone at the top, she wasn't sure she'd be able to tell. It was too high up. She should tell Puck to look instead.
"Yeah, what did we run all over the coldest part of the world for?" Puck added, and Sabrina winced at the memory.
She heard rather than saw Uncle Jake's grimace as he replied, "This."
She turned and gasped at the sight of her uncle pricking his thumb with the dagger and squeezed a few droplets of blood into the bowl. Cursing under his breath, he held the dagger out to Daphne with instructions to stir and sat back hard.
"Nightingale's daggers hurt more than a normal knife," Uncle Jake croaked, sucking on his cut.
"Can't possibly be as bad as his whistle," Sabrina said, spotting movement in her peripheral vision. When she turned, no one was there. The chills returned.
"We made it out alive, didn't we?" Puck said to her, as if the incident had been nothing.
Sabrina scowled. "With no thanks to you!"
"I flew us to safety!"
"Only because I was covering your ears!"
"Can you two flirt later, please?" Daphne snapped, glaring at the two of them. "We're trying to do this quickly."
Sabrina and Puck fell silent as if they'd been slapped, looking anywhere except each other. It was a testament to the strain Daphne was feeling for her to say such a thing. It didn't mean anything, Sabrina told herself. She didn't know what had happened last night.
"Done. Uncle Jake, when you're ready," Daphne continued after a tense moment of silence, holding out the bowl.
Their uncle pulled himself together and accepted the bowl. Distracted again, Sabrina waited with baited breath to see what he would do, slightly worried he was about to drink the disgusting solution they'd just made.
Instead, he approached the cliff.
"Everyone, get close," he ordered. "Hold onto me, you'll only get in if you've got a hand on me."
Once they were clustered together, Uncle Jake used the flat blade of the dagger to smear the concoction on the cliff face. Sabrina's hand was shaking slightly on his shoulder. It was hard to believe that they were about to access the cave without even seeing Moth.
The unyielding stone in front of them began to shimmer, as if the ancient rock was warming and evaporating. A bubbling sensation ran from Sabrina's fingertips down to her toes, and looked down at herself to find that her body was blurring, smudging against the landscape.
She jerked in alarm and resisted the urge to yank her hand away. As the world began to fade, something hit her in the side and made her stumble. Just barely able to keep a hand on her uncle, Sabrina looked into the murderous eyes of a man a few years older than her, and then everything went dark.
Daphne
The first thing Daphne heard when they re-materialized inside the cliff was Sabrina yelling. Panic bubbling in her throat, Daphne fumbled for her wand, cried, "Gimme some light!" and proceeded to scream.
Ariel and Moth had appeared like specters, must have somehow tacked onto the group at the very last second. Uncle Jake was on the floor, with Ariel on top of him. A few feet away, Sabrina was struggling to keep Moth in a headlock. The hatred in the room was potent. Puck looked at Daphne in alarm, then Sabrina and Moth, and finally Uncle Jake. He seemed to trust Sabrina to handle herself and lunged at Ariel, knocking him off her uncle.
Spitting blood, Uncle Jake leapt to his feet and threw himself back into the fray. Daphne scraped her jaw off the ground and tried to evaluate the situation. Puck was right—Sabrina did have her own fight under control. Daphne whirled around, taking in the cave as quickly as they could while everyone else was distracted.
This room appeared to be carved from solid rock. It was about the size of a football field and shapeless due to the shadows that drenched the edges of the room and the ceiling, which was at a questionable height. The floor was littered with mounds of gold and silver trinkets that glimmered in the light Daphne had made. About a quarter of the way across the cave, a pedestal rose from the ground.
Daphne's heart quickened. She couldn't see to be sure, but she had to be looking at the resting place of Kladenets. Throwing a glance over her shoulder—everyone was absorbed in the fight, no one had noticed her—Daphne sprinted toward it.
It was Moth who first realized what she was doing, who shouted after her, but she was too late. Daphne slid on a pile of silver coins, grabbed the edge of the stone pedestal to steady herself, and then her hand was closing over the ancient leather of the hilt.
Daphne gasped at the feel of it. The hilt was heavy, the balance slightly off, but as she held it she could feel strength flowing from the metal into her body. The pressure at the base of her spine intensified so much that it almost hurt to stand. Despite the pain, Daphne shook her head to clear it and headed back across the cave.
"I have the sword!" she yelled. Bile rose in her throat at the way Kladenets made her body shake but she picked up the pace to a jog anyways, desperate to stop her family from getting hurt. Her head was buzzing like she'd just chugged a Monster energy drink. "So I want Moth and Ariel to back up!"
Moth, who had taken several steps toward Daphne before Sabrina had grabbed the back of her jacket, froze, her beautiful face a twisted mask. Everyone seemed spellbound by the gleam of the metal in the light. Daphne ground to a halt out of reach of the others, holding the sword the way she'd watched her sister hold every sword she'd ever wielded, across her body to protect her heart.
Daphne's heart sank when neither enemy moved. The problem, she was realizing, was that she had the teleporter, and her relatives were all so far away. Besides, there was no way she could get it out and turn it on without putting Kladenets down.
Moth broke the spell first, springing into action. But instead of attacking Daphne, she whirled on Sabrina, who was gasping for breath and bleeding profusely from a cut on her temple, grabbed her from behind, and held a knife to her throat. Moth was worse for wear, her teeth red from blood and her a magnificent bruise blooming over her left eye, but she was steadier on her feet as she hissed, "Hand over the sword or she dies."
Daphne let out a tiny yelp before she could stop herself, her heart in her mouth. She looked to Sabrina for help, but her sister wouldn't meet her gaze.
"Moth, let her go," Puck demanded, panic coloring his voice.
"Trickster King, you make one move and I'll slit her throat with relish," Moth said through gritted teeth, without moving her glare from Daphne.
Sabrina's hand flew to Moth's hilt, covering the other girl's hand with an iron grip. They struggled, Sabrina eyeing the knife in fear as she tried to push it away from her body. As if he'd been ordered to, Ariel stepped away from the men and raised his gun, leveling it with Puck's ear. It was a testament to the fact that he'd survived four thousand years of life that Puck did not flinch, did not stiffen, did not acknowledge Ariel in any other way than to curl his lip in a sneer.
"I'd stop that if I were you," Ariel's cold and melodious voice carried through the dim cavern. Sabrina's hand dropped so quickly that the flat of knife bounced against her throat, making her gag.
Daphne's mind started racing. She needed to get Sabrina and Puck to safety, but how could she do that when she had no idea how to use her one leverage piece? If she tried to fight, one or both of them would die.
So she swallowed and directed her words at Moth. "How do I know you won't just kill her anyways?" Her hands were sweaty on the hilt.
Moth laughed a laugh that was more of a wheeze. Her features were delicate and cruel, and truly Fae, Daphne could see that now. This was a girl who had watched civilizations rise and fall, whose moral compass had been obliterated sometime in her long life, who wore dried blood in her hair like a trophy.
"Let me rephrase," Moth spat. "If you don't give me the sword, I'll slit her throat and take it from you myself. If you do give me the sword, maybe I'll let her live."
Sabrina scowled. Daphne knew how much she hated being a leverage piece.
"Why are you doing this?" Puck demanded, his voice taking a childish turn, as if he and Moth were still the kids who couldn't navigate the arranged marriage their parents had tried to force upon them.
Moth pressed the dagger into Sabrina's throat, just enough so that small beads of blood broke through the skin. Closing her eyes, Sabrina pressed her lips together, like she was determined not to make a sound. Puck hissed out a breath, clenching his fists. Daphne could tell that like her, he was dying to rescue Sabrina. But what could she do? What could either of them do? Kladenets began to shake in Daphne's hands again.
"I was promised the Kingdom of Faerie," Moth said with a leer. "And I've come to collect on that promise. The King and Queen must die."
Daphne cringed, regretting keeping this small misconception from Puck and Sabrina. She watched Puck's head jerk back in horror as the pieces clicked together.
Even Sabrina, who was in no state to be talking, cried hoarsely, "I'm not the Queen of Faerie!"
"Don't lie to me, peasant," Moth said, tightening her grip. "I'm not stupid. Now hand over the sword!"
Puck was trembling with rage. Terror for Sabrina, not the gun Ariel held in an unwavering promise, seemed to be the only thing keeping him from jumping her. Through gritted teeth, he replied, "She isn't the Queen of anything. Let her go, Moth. You can have me instead, but your fight isn't with her."
Genuine surprise made Moth lower the dagger for a split second before bringing it back. "If she isn't the Queen, then why is it in your will that she gets the Kingdom, should everyone in your blood family die?"
"What?" Daphne and Uncle Jake cried. Sabrina's eyes widened, and Puck took a step back as if nothing could have shocked him more than what Moth had just said. Ariel continued to watch silently, tracing the air with his weapon to follow each one of Puck's movements, amusement playing on his face. His expression disturbed Daphne even more than what Moth was saying.
Puck was spluttering. "They told me I had to pick someone! It's never going to happen, the odds that Titania, Mustardseed, and I all die before there's a heir are…"
His voice faltered and trailed off into nothing as the full weight of the situation they were in seemed to hit him.
"You picked me?" Sabrina croaked, and then she gagged again as the knife was pressed into her throat.
Moth's voice was curt, her face a mask. "Of course he did. The boy fell in love with a foolish human who, but some stroke of luck, cheated mortality. I've seen the cycles of kingdoms, of kings and lust. It would only be a matter of time before you wore the crown, if not for me."
Sabrina stammered, looking so helpless that Daphne completely gave up. They would cross this bridge when they got to it. "If I drop the sword, do you swear to let us all go?"
Moth's cold eyes met her own for a second before they slid greedily to the blade in Daphne's hands. "You have my word, child."
Kladenets hit stone with a clatter that made everyone jump. Puck lunged for Sabrina as she stumbled, and Daphne jumped out of the way, fearing for her own safety as Moth and Ariel both ran for Kladenets at the same time. Skirting a pile of chain mail, she ran over to her family, pulling the teleporter out of her pocket. Uncle Jake grabbed her and pulled her behind him, out of danger.
"Are you okay?" Puck was asking Sabrina, anguished.
"I'm fine," Sabrina snapped, shaking her head to clear it and staggering away from him. "Why are we all just standing here? Someone stop them!"
"Regal words!" Moth mocked, brandishing Kladenets while Ariel skulked behind her. "Here's a lesson for a doomed Queen, Grimm. Always keep your promises. I'll give you all to the count of three to get out of here before I try out this beautiful piece of weaponry."
"Everybody grab on!" Daphne hissed, fumbling with the teleporter, pressing buttons. She felt three hands on her.
"Three!" Moth snarled, and then everything happened so fast that it would take Daphne several hours to process it.
Ariel shot like a dark bullet through the space between them, colliding with Puck and ripping his hand off her arm. She felt the machine come to life in her hands and looked around frantically for Puck but saw only Moth, sprinting toward them. Then she made eye contact with her sister, and could tell what she was about to do. Fresh horror rose like bile. "No!"
She struggled to turn off the machine but knew it was too late. Sabrina took her hand away too and kicked Moth in the stomach. Snatching Kladenets from Moth's limp fingers before she could recover, she thrust the hilt into the hand that Daphne had stuck to rescue her. Daphne's fingers closed around leather instead of flesh and her heart ripped in half.
Sabrina turned away from her, looking for Puck, but Daphne caught the panic on her face as she folded in half, into darkness, to a place where she couldn't help, leaving her wounded sister to fend for herself.
