A/N: Thanks so much for your reviews! Also, I'm sorry I've kept you all waiting so long. My computer broke and I didn't want to have to deal with writing on my brother's computer.
Here we have the second-to-last chapter.
The last few days were unpleasant to say the least.
The Queen of Hearts won the election.
We haven't seen Mr. Canis or the Wolf for two days, which has everyone worried. Of course nobody has seen Nottingham either (as far as we know anyway)- and that's the only speck of decent news.
And to top it off, Ms. Relda is mad at me. I think it's mostly because of the Mr. Canis thing, but I don't really care to find out for myself. My powers have gotten me- and him- in quite enough trouble. No one knows if he's coming back at all; he was having trouble with the Wolf as it was and now, because of me, it's likely that it's taken total control.
Jake was out somewhere with Briar, Sabrina was… shopping I think (surprising, but maybe she was just going to get away from the house) and Puck was playing bodyguard for Sabrina. It was only Daphne, me, and Ms. Relda in the house for the moment. I was sitting on my bed, staring into space when there was a knock on the front door. It was really more of a loud banging, but it was still knocking. "Open up in there!" somebody shouted from outside. That's never a good sign, but Ms. Relda went and answered it anyway.
"Can I help you?" she asked, in- if I wasn't mistaken- a very mocking tone. That was unusual. Relda was always polite to everyone, even when they didn't deserve it. I went into the living room so I could see just who it was that had earned her sarcasm. I expected somebody famous- or infamous- whatever the case may be, but I was disappointed in that respect. They just looked like ordinary men.
"By the order of the Queen of Hearts, for the murder of the Sheriff of Nottingham-"
"He's not here," she said bitterly before they could finish with their sure to be long-winded announcement, "so you can just go back to painting the roses red."
Card soldiers- of course. There were two of them. Now that I looked closer, I saw designs on their faces- hearts, one had 4 and the other had 5 little heart shaped spots on each of their cheeks.
They didn't seem to pick up on the fact that she was insulting them. They were definitely not the brightest sort of people. "Sorry, Queen's orders. Somebody's got to pay for the crime."
"All right then," she said, "I'll go."
"Relda Grimm, you are under arrest for-"
"Granny! No! You can't go!" that was Daphne.
"I'll be fine liebling." A lie. "Jessica, look after my girls."
"No… Granny…" tears ran down Daphne's cheeks, and even without intercepting her brain waves, I could feel her pain.
"Wait!" The soldiers noticed me for the first time. I swallowed nervously, but this was the least I could do. I took a few steps toward them, "I'll go. Take me instead."
The soldiers let go of Relda and grabbed my arms.
"Jessica, what are you doing?" she asked softly.
"I'm looking after you guys," I said, as they led me to the car they had waiting. "Don't worry, I'll be fine."
A/N: You are getting sleepy… click the green button and review…
