I heard knocking on the door leading to Granny's room and opened my eyes.
"Lieblings!" My grandmother sang through the door. "Pack up, it's almost time to leave."
Still half-asleep from the abrupt wake-up call, My eyes started to close.
"Okay, Granny." I heard Puck say in a sleepy voice.
I rolled over and came face-to-face with the grinning fairy.
"Morning..." He said, the smile fading after he saw the look on my face.
I picked up a shirt off the ground and slipped it over my bare chest. I turned around to pick my pajama pants up from the floor. Puck looked hurt. I didn't care. I didn't care at all. I hated myself for the night before. I had cheated on Jonah. I had cheated on my boyfriend. I cheated on the boy I loved. With Puck. Totally sober.
As regret sunk in, my mind drifted back to the night I met Jonah. It was the middle of the night and Milo and I were at Granny's. We got hungry, but everything was closed except for Waffle House. So, I was eating hash browns with cheese melted on them. My favorite, even though everyone else thought it was gross. The two of us were sitting at our regular booth in the back, when a group of guys I recognized from a party walked in. They waved at us, and we waved back, embarrassed that we were in our pajamas. A couple minutes later, when the group of boys got their food, I saw the waitress set down a big plate of hash browns, with cheese on them, in front of a boy with black hair and bright blue eyes.
"Milo! Look!" I had hissed, pointing at him.
"Sabrina, go talk to him, it's meant to be." She giggled.
So, I did. And I got his number, and we texted a little that night. And then we started talking about hanging out. And from there on, it was perfect. Until now. I hated Puck. But I couldn't act like I hadn't agreed. I was so stupid.
I shoved all my clothes into my duffel bag without a second thought about the Catskin. I was mad at myself. I was mad at Puck. I didn't want to lose Jonah. But I didn't deserve him. I needed advice. I didn't want to, but I had to tell Milo. I finished packing my bag and walked straight into Granny's room, without saying a word to Puck, who had fallen back asleep.
"Good morning, guys." I said, trying to seem cheerful.
Granny smiled as she pulled on a pair of socks.
"Morning, Sabrina, will you walk down with me to the breakfast buffet?" Daphne asked.
Anything to get my mind off last night.
"Sure. I'd love to." I told her, deciding I needed to tell Milo in person, not over text.
"Will one of you grab me a blueberry muffin? And maybe something for Mr. Canis and Red." Granny said.
"They're coming home with us?" I asked, my heart aching.
I knew all the two of them had wanted this summer was to travel the country. Granny gave me a look like I had just told her I was planning on dying my hair green with pink stripes.
"Of course they're coming home." She told me. "They aren't safe here. None of us are."
"Sabrina?" Daphne asked me as we stepped into the long hallway. "What did we see last night? Granny said we were okay, but now everyones coming home."
I was mad at Granny for not explaining Catskin to her.
was old enough and Granny should have known that.
"Catskin. We saw a woman named Catskin." I informed her, not bothering to be quiet.
Daphne's face grew pale.
"I read about her in Wilhelm's journal." Daphne whispered in horror. "She kills people."
I still didn't think this lady was big news.
"So did, like, everyone in... some… fairy tales." I struggled to find an explanation for why she wasn't anything to worry about.
"No, Sabrina. Not in the fairytale." Daphne whispered. "She used to be a good one. ANd then something happened."
"Well… what happened?" I rolled my eyes at my delusional sister.
"No one knows." She said, almost silently.
"Ohhh, so I should just be scared of a lady with a cat on her head." I said, rolling my eyes again, as we entered the room with the food in it.
"She… before the Everafters came to North America, she went to see Baba Yaga." Daphne hissed. "She was never the same."
Baba Yaga.
My heart dropped at her name. While she had helped us, the woman's black magic was enough to send me scurrying under my bed. She'd turned me into a frog at one point and the crazy animals that used to guard her hut with a fence made out of bones gave me the absolute creeps. Daphne looked over at me.
"Are you ok?" She asked, concerned.
"Yes! I mean, yes. I'm not scared of this Catskin lady." I laughed, trying to hide the growing fear inside of me.
I have never been more excited to get on a plane.
My sister gave me an odd look. I ignored her while I piled my plate high with eggs, sausage and a waffle. I contemplated grabbing food for Puck but decided against it. I didn't need to be nice to him. Being 'nice' last night had led to something I didn't want to think about.
"Rehfy fuh fo?" Daphne questioned, with a mouth full of pancakes and syrup.
"What?" I laughed.
She swallowed the sticky breakfast foods.
"I saiddd, ready to go?" She playfully rolled her eyes.
I watched as she sprayed whipped cream on the greasy pile of bacon hogging half of her enormous plate. I grabbed her hand and dragged her out of the room, before she could think of anything else she might want to pair together.
A few hours later…
The second we got back to Granny Relda's house, I emptied my bag onto the floor, picking out the dirty clothes and launching them into my hamper, sorting out the clean ones to hang in my closet while Milo drove over to Granny's to spend the night. I was so excited for the night, almost forgetting what I had to tell her at some point. She was bringing stuff to practice doing nails on me. Milo had recently gotten into doing designs and needed a test subject, I had gladly volunteered, with Daphne quick to follow.
I tried to look forward to getting my nails done, rather than the pit in my chest. I was mad at myself. And I knew Milo would be furious with me. We hated Becca for being a home-wrecker. And not only had I cheated on Jonah, I was the girl Puck cheated on Becca with. I wanted to ask Puck not to tell Carson, but I wasn't on speaking terms with him at the moment. Carson was coming later, as well as some of Daphne's friends. For now, all I could do was pray.
"Tell me alllll about this cat thing." Milo begged as she laid down on my bedroom floor.
She was always intrigued with fairy-tale crime, even if she didn't totally understand it. I could tell Mi was listening, because she was rolling around on the carpet. She had to be moving to focus. I told her how Red and Canis were going to stay in the Ferryport Landing hospital for while, till Red woke up from her coma. But, I skipped telling her how I had been alone with Puck the first night, and slept with him the second. That came later.
Right at the most intense part, where Catskin chased us through the park, Milo's pump started beeping. We both screamed, then laughed so hard I think I may have peed my pants. As I was collecting myself after my laugh-attack, Daphne burst in with a few other girls.
"We want Milo to do our nails. We're going to a par-tay!" She exclaimed. "Sabrina, can you pick outfits for us?"
I raised my eyebrows. This would be Daphne's first highschool party.
"Ok, three of you can sit down and pick colors." Milo said, as serious as a drill sergeant in the military.
Daphne and two other girls, I recognized as her friends, Cam and Gia. They'd been over before and they were quiet, but the times I had talked to them they were always sweet. "Sabrina, take the others to Daphne's room to pick out outfits." Milo told me.
I felt like a mother duck as the other two girls, who I didn't know, walked behind me and followed me into my sisters gigantic closet. When we had to redo the house, after the war, she had specifically requested a closet big enough to fit her, and all of Elvis's clothes. I glanced at the corner filled with dog sweaters.
"Ok, what are we thinking?" I asked the girls, who's names turned out to be Reen and Claire.
"Something short." Reen told me, side-eyeing Claire. "And tight."
I stifled a laugh.
"Yeah, in case we see Carson or Puck on the way downstairs." Claire said giddily.
Reen immediately elbowed her friend in the ribs.
"Shh! She's Daphne's sister. She's gonna tell Daphne!" Reen rolled her eyes.
Were they here for Daphne? Or for the senior boys…
I gave them a disapproving look and handed them clothes. I'd talk to Daphne later. I'd dealt with my fair share of girls who just came over to see Puck and his friends and knew how it was. The freshmen made it considerably worse, being four years younger than him.
The two girls pranced back into Daphne's room wearing the outfits I'd picked out. I gave them a look of approval and led them to have their nails painted. I wish I'd had a chance to tell Milo to clip their cuticles too short or make the nails slightly uneven.
Oh, well.
"What color?" Milo huffed.
I could tell the girls were getting on her nerves as they whispered to each other. They rummaged through Milo's nail polish, for what seemed like an hour, until they both found colors. Claire held up a neon blue. She looked like she was asking for Reen's approval.
Oh. Reen is that girl.
Reen looked closer and nodded. Calire smiled. I felt sick to my stomach.
"I want 'Red Hot'." Reen exclaimed, holding up a cherry-colored polish. "So I can look hot."
Claire burst into giggles, before seeing the look on Reen's face, telling her she wasn't kidding. At that, I took it as my sign to leave and go help Daphne and her real friends pick outfits.
I pulled Cam, Gia and Daphne out of her room into the hallway, almost begging them to walk away from the mirror for ten seconds. They loved their outfits and couldn't stop spinning in the mirror in Daphne's closet. I immediately spotted Reen and Claire sitting outside Puck's room, ears to the door, giggling.
Why had Milo let them out of her sight?
"Carson's here!" Puck yelled, I could hear his footsteps nearing the door.
Reen grabbed Claire's arm and they scurried into the bathroom, out of his sight.
Figures. They can eavesdrop, but don't have it in them to talk to him.
Daphne and her friends had already walked back into the room with Milo. It took everything in me not to go tell Reen and Claire that they were embarrassing themselves. I tried to blow it off and walked into my room.
"You're sooo lucky to live with someone like him, Daphne." I heard a voice from behind me say.
"Yeah, sooo lucky." Claire said, mimicking Reen.
Daphne looked puzzled. "Thanks?" She shot me a questioning look.
I shrugged and plopped down next to Milo.
"Let's definitely hangout soon, just us." Reen put her hand on my sister's leg.
"Just us." Claire repeated.
"I meant, me and Daphne." Reen shot her friend a dirty look.
I heard footsteps on the stairs and braced myself for the inevitable. I watched Reen jump up and sprint into the hallway.
"Uh..." I heard Puck say.
"What? You guys think I look good?" Reen flirted.
I struggled not to laugh.
"I think you look like you're on your way to a trashy bar to flirt with divorced truckers." Carson said.
I could hear them high-five and collapse onto the floor. Reen ran back to the room in a huff. When she saw everyone staring at her, she regained her 'confidence' and sat down next to Gia.
"I think they're playing hard to get." She informed us.
No one said a word. We all looked around at each other. Even Claire looked embarrassed. The silence was broken by a loud honking and a revving engine outside.
"That's my brother." Claire explained to Milo and I.
I walked back inside with Milo, after waving goodbye to Daphne and the others. It was weird seeing my little sister go to parties and talk to boys. Sometimes, I forgot that she wasn't seven anymore. She had her own thoughts and feelings, she was growing up. It was hard for me to treat her like she was her age. I had protected her for so long, it felt wrong, letting her go off on her own. But I knew how she felt. And I tried to respect it.
"That girl is a handful and a half." Milo said, blowing out a breath.
"Future Becca?" I asked her, trying my best to remain serious, but failing and going into hysterics once again.