Hey, you mutants! I have many excuses for being lazy, but no matter how much I talk about the wonderful snow, my best friend, MP3 players, or the dreaded school, you won't accept any of them. I want to thank the amazing…107? People who visited this story on November fifth! You guys rock! So I just have a few notices:
I updated the content on the last chapter. See that little menu with the chapters? Click on the one that says "10. Being Dead is SO Boring"
Also, if you have any ideas, or even if you want to flame me, you are welcome to share them. Flames roast yummy marshmallows!
Disclaimer: I probably would get sued if I said I owned anything. So… I own nothing!
Daphne had been scared a lot in her lifetime, much more than any other nine year old you're likely to meet.
Getting stuck in the future with psychotic Everafters, dragons, and giants? No biggie.
Her parents being kidnapped, then stuck in a deep sleep? In hindsight, it didn't seem so bad.
But somehow, granny Relda's death, and disappearance, was the single most frightening thing Daphne had ever experienced.
On top of this, her sister and best friend were gone, nobody understood anything she thought anymore, and the case was still at about nothing.
"Stay close," said Henry to the little girl, an air of unquestionable, yet shaky command in his voice. "Whatever got Mom is going to want more,"
Daphne just nodded, seemingly incapable of doing more.
*~*!*~*
Sabrina stared at her Grandmother, unable to believe her eyes.
The old woman hardly looked human. She was almost completely black, the only color on her blue. It was as if someone had made a wax sculpture of her (Using only the color black, of course,) then shone a tinted light over her head, casting deep shadows on her already impossibly dark face. She looked…molded, as if she was motor oil hardened in a human – shaped cast. Sunflower hat and all.
"Do you have any ideas?" Asked Sabrina desperately.
Um…I would suggest running, but you can't physically move much in this state so…panic? Send your evil bunnies of doom after her?
"Oh, sorry, I left my rodent army at home!" Snapped Sabrina sarcastically.
Talk to her! See if she can communicate! Make social progress…something!
"Uh…Hi, granny Relda," said Sabrina, feeling stupid in spite of it all.
"Yes, Leibling?" Answered the shadow-granny in a too-sweet, distorted voice.
Officially creepy.
"Are you…okay?" Sabrina asked, thinking that she would have peed her pants if she was physically able.
"Oh, yes, dear. You haf nothing to worry about."
Sabrina was pretty sure that that made her anything but un-worried. In fact, it sent her into a boiling hysteria.
"Granny, we need to get out of here. We could die soon, and-"
"I'm sure we'll be just fine," Said Granny Relda, a slow smile dimpling her smooth, black cheeks, "Leibling,"
We need to get away The Elf inserted abruptly. This isn't good at all. I'm going to take you…elsewhere.
The strange rushing sensation passed over Sabrina once again, and she felt herself lurching to a sudden stop, glad that the blue light was even farther away than before. Only now did she realize that the blue light was her Grandmother.
"Okay, Elf-Boy," seethed Sabrina, "Now what are we going to do?"
Your Grandmother has become a shadow.
"A Shadow? And what do you mean by that?"
Sabrina halfway knew the answer as she had a sudden flashback of both a hundred years ago and five minutes.
"You will not leave," said Despereaux. "I will kill Sabrina Grimm. She will be one of us shadows."
"What?" Sabrina asked, alarmed.
"The shadows are everywhere. Even in the brightest light, shadows are cast."
Urg. She really needed to get the whole "time" thing into perspective.
She has been possessed. When mortals are pricked by the enchanted glass, they go into a sort of limbo, much like you are in. If their soul cannot endure the pain, they become a shadow. The shadows exist solely to lure others into their state, which is what makes them so dangerous – entire societies have fallen from their wrath. You cannot actually die, unless your will is strong enough. It seems that Grimms have always been of stout heart, yet your Grandmother has been taken. Her strength was lessened quite a bit once that terrible Mirror stole her body. Her soul became weak.
"Why can't you just…bring me back?"
You have suffered physical wounds. Returning you at this moment would be quite…unwise.
"So I just have to sit this out. Let my soul endure the ultimate torture." Sabrina was feeling rather put out.
Pretty much, yeah.
"Then go and tell Puck to get off his stinky fairy butt and heal me!"
~*!*~
"Mom?" Asked Daphne, curled up on the couch.
"Yes, honey?" Replied Veronica thickly.
"Shouldn't we be working on the case?" The little girl questioned.
With a soft sigh, tears still trickling from the woman's eyes, she turned to face her nine (almost ten!) year old. "I'm very proud of you," whispered Veronica "But I'm not sure how we can continue on without Relda," her voice broke on the last word. "We still don't know where your sister and Puck have gone off to, either. It's almost been a full day since we saw them last."
Daphne glanced at the old clock at the wall. Five-thirty-nine PM. Time had gone by much more quickly than she ever would have imagined.
"The last time we almost abandoned a case it only made things worse," said Daphne, crying with resolve. She picked up a random book and began flipping through it, until she realized that she was holding a bright pink copy of Witches & Warlocks – Get in Shape! She tossed the useless volume aside and began to search for something of value.
Just then, the old doorbell rang shrilly.
"I'll get it," mumbled Uncle Jake, slowly getting up and crossing to the front door. Opening it with only a slight squeak, he shrank back quickly as he saw who it was.
"I…hello, Rapunzel," Uncle Jake used to have a thing for princesses, until his girlfriend, Briar Rose, died a few years ago.
"You have to help me," said the tall, blonde woman, "Because I know how to get Relda back."
~*!*~
"This…sucks…so…much." Wheezed Puck as he scaled a hill, the constant stream of tears still running.
Yeah, "This sucks so much" seemed to sum everything up very well. Puck laid the beautiful girl on a rock at the top of this miserable mound of dirt, and buried his face in his hands.
The Trickster King had never just sat down and cried before, not even when his own father had denied him his birthright. Not even when he thought that Moth had killed Sabrina.
Maybe that was because it was his fault this time.
No! He didn't believe that, he just couldn't. Sabrina Grimm was not dead. She couldn't be dead. He would give anything to keep her alive, he might even give up his wings! …Okay, that wasn't a very bold statement now, as he couldn't fly anyways at the moment. But now that he actually knew that he (as much as he hated to admit it) loved someone, the entire world seemed to have a different kind of color to it.
The sweetest things usually have a bitter aftertaste. Said a voice in Puck's head. And love is the truest to fit that of all.
Puck scrambled to his feet, taking on a sloppy karate stance. "Who's there?" He automatically commanded into the darkness.
There is no need to worry, but you must follow my instructions with haste. Sabrina Grimm's life may depend on it.
"I'm listening," said Puck, a glimmer of hope in his eye.
The wound on her foot must be healed. Where the needle pricked her. Use your magic, for it is the only way to make this any better.
He quickly pulled off the girl's sock, exposing the pinprick to air. He said a few words in the Fearie language, and the small puncture in her skin was healed. With a few more choice words, her bloodstream was flushed free of any poison the needle might have had, so long as it wasn't an old Fearie brew.
Good. She will wake as soon as she is rested. After that, however, you must be on your own. I cannot help after that, and be warned – the shadows are dangerous. You mustn't do this alone.
Puck had no idea what that little voice just said, and he didn't care. Sabrina was alive, and she would be awake soon.
The tears streaking his face were now coming much, much more slowly.
Yeah, that chapter was short-ish. Be glad you have a chapter at all! R&R, or I will send my own rodent army after you. And they have maces on chains lit on fire shot out of a cannon into orbit!
