Chapter 3- The Return of Mordred… not!
"Okay ladies, we have answers, few, but at least it's a head way." Snow White bellowed up to the women throughout the house. Immediately a shuffling of feet descended and converged into the living room, where Relda and Veronica Grimm sat delivering snacks to the women working overtime to find their families.
"What do we know about this Shadow?"
"I haven't found mention of him in any of the journals." Several of the women said,
"I found him!" Daphne yelled running into the room.
"Where did you find him?" Granny Relda asked astounded, "I've never even heard mention of this man!"
"Google." She replied as her mother chortled,
"Why didn't we think of that?"
"You're all old-fashioned, no offense. Maybe the Grimm Brother's Journal is lost, on this topic." Sabrina said, coming to her sisters' side and glancing at the cell phone,
"Well, what does it say?"
Daphne quieted the room so that she could read the story of the Shadow.
"Once there was a man from Europe who went on a voyage to the south. One night, he sat on his balcony, the fire behind him cast his shadow on the opposite balcony. As he was sitting there, resting, the man was amused to discover the shadow followed his every movement, as if he really did sit upon the opposing balcony. When he finally grew tired and went to sleep, he dreamed the shadow would also retire to the house across the street. The next morning however, the man found to his surprise that he in fact had lost his shadow overnight. As a new shadow slowly grew back, the man did not give the incident another thought. He returned home and began to write again. Several years passed by until one night there was a knock at his door. To his surprise, it was his shadow, the one he lost years before in Africa, and now stood on his doorstep, almost completely human in appearance. Astonished by his sudden reappearance, the learned man invited him into his house, and soon the two sat by the fireplace, as the shadow related how he had become a man.
The learned man was calm and gentle by nature. His main object of interest lay with the good, the beautiful and the true, a subject of which he wrote often but was of no interest to anyone else. The shadow said his master did not understand the world, that he had seen it as truly was, and how evil some men really were.
The shadow then grew richer and fatter over the years, while the writer grew poorer and paler. Finally, he had become so ill that his former shadow proposed a trip to a health resort offering to foot the bill as well, but on condition that he could act as the master now, and the writer would pretend to be his shadow. As absurd as this suggestion sounded, the learned man eventually agreed and together they took the trip, the shadow now as his master. At the resort, the shadow met with a beautiful princess, and as they danced and talked with each other each night, the princess fell in love with him.
When they were engaged, the shadow offered his former master a place at the palace, on one condition… that he became his shadow permanently. The writer immediately refused and threatened to tell the princess everything, but the shadow had him arrested. Pretending to be distraught, the shadow met with the princess and told her:
"I have gone through the most terrible awful ordeal that could possibly happen; imagine, my shadow has gone mad! I suppose such a poor, shallow brain, could not bear much; he believes that he has become a real man, and that I am his shadow."
"How very terrible," cried the princess; "is he locked up?"
"Oh yes, certainly; for I fear he will never recover."
"Poor shadow!" said the princess; "it is very unfortunate for him; it would really be a good deed to free him from his frail existence; and, indeed, when I think how often people take the part of the lower class against the higher, in these days, it would be policy to put him out of the way quietly."
When the shadow wed the princess later that night, he learned that the man was already executed." -Hans Christian Anderson (The Shadow)
Daphne finished the narrative that she'd found on Wikipedia, and looked up.
"What does this have to do with Everafters though?" Cinderella asked, thinking of all of there friends stuck with such a fiend. Many theories were spouted out, but none seemed to hit the target.
"He's still looking for a Shadow…. I don't know why, but in the story, he wanted a shadow, but didn't get it from his old master right? So maybe he's trying to find one with the Everafters?" Sabrina guessed, throwing out her hunch.
"Ladies, what questions do we need to ask ourselves now… Why only the men, and why only Everafters…" Granny Relda asked, going back to her old habits, and detective ways. There was frustration as people attempted to dissect the riddle, however, none of them were able to come up with the proper conclusion.
"We need someone to stay up and watch the mirror to see if that creep comes back. I want my family, and I want to find this man now" Veronica yelled,
"What if we could infiltrate them? We could use the fairy godmother's wand to transform one of us into a man, he's probably got a radar to detect the men Everafters, and then we send them with a shard of mirror so that we can communicate back once we are there?" Sabrina asked
"that liebling, isn't a half bad idea." Granny Relda cocked her head at the girl.
"I'll go!" Sabrina said,
"Why you?" Bella asked, "I should go!"
"One, it's my idea, two, my sister has the magic wand, three, I haven't seen my family in over a year, whereas you're with them every single day of your life!" She bellowed back at The Frog Princess.
"Nor do I trust you with a magic wand, you'll save only your father and leave the rest to rot!" Bella shrugged allowing that one.
"I don't think that you should go either, Sab." Daphne, said staring at the ground and shuffling her feet ashamed to contradict her sister the first time that they'd seen each other in over a year.
"I love you Daph, but I'm going." Sabrina said glaring at everyone as though daring them to go against her again. Nervous glances, but no one said anything.
"Good." Sabrina growled and stalked up to the mirror, and then stepped through the magical shimmering surface. Ignoring the man who rushed to her side, she jumped on the trolley, and rushed to the magical wand room, and unlocked the door. Snatched one of the various fairy godmothers' wands, and returned the way she came. She wacked the wand across her head, and the feeling of an egg being cracked on her head rushed over her, she glanced down and her body had already transformed into the body of Mordred. She nodded, and grabbed the magic carpet.
"How do you suppose you're going to find them?" Red asked, eying her curiously.
"I'm not. He is going to find me. We've seen him bringing in more Everafters by the second, I'm stepping outside of the boundary, he should detect the magic, and I should be whisked off to the chasm." Red nodded, good luck. She tucked the piece of the mirror securely into her cargo boot, along with the magic wand and her dagger, she'd received for her birthday three years ago.
….
She'd been outside of the family's protective spells for almost five minutes, when the world seemed to freeze around her. Black dots, began to protrude her vision. The blackness entered her lungs, and choked until she passed out, she smiled before she did, hoping this meant that she was successful.
'here goes nothing' was her last thought, before she blacked out.
There was utter silence back in the Grimm home as they watched the 'boy' flown through the night, and easily saw the way to his hide out. There was grinning and clapping and high fives around the room, realizing at least now they had their path to find them.
Sabrina woke up a few minutes later laying on the ground next to the several of the dwarves -yes you guessed correctly, the ones from Snow White and the Seven Dwarves.
"Are you alright, Mordred?" Mr. One asked anxiously rushing to his 'nephew's' aid, the last dwarf, Mr. Seven, had married Mordred's mother, and then been killed in the war the very next day.
"ugh, I'm alright, but I'm not Mordred." She smiled, massaging her throat. "At least we all know it worked now!"
"If you're not Mordred, then who are you?" Mr. Three demanded, immediately shoving her down, and holding her to the ground threateningly until she answered. Sabrina raised her hands up in surrender.
"Sabrina Grimm. We had to send someone to find out where you were being held." He got off of her and pulled her to her feet.
"have you seen my family?" She asked, anxiously scanning the mass of people surrounding her, one of the dwarves pointed, and walked over with her to visit her family.
"Henry-this is your girl, Sabrina." Mr. Four said, gesturing to Sabrina. Henry rushed forward, ready to embrace his daughter, but she stopped him sticking her arm out and giving him a bro hug.
"Dad, I'm playing a teenage boy right now! You can't just go up and hug me like that, it'll look to suspicious!" She said shaking her head at her fathers' lack of common sense. He nodded, seeing the wisdom in his daughter's advice, although he hated it.
"Where is everyone else?" She muttered out of the side of her mouth,
"This way." He turned and strode back to where, Puck, Mr. Canis, Uncle Jake, and Pinocchio sat waiting.
"They caught Mordred? How is this even possible!"
"Isn't the Warlock supposed to be trapped inside the barrier still?" Puck demanded eyeing Sabrina suspiciously
"This can't possibly be the rug rat!" He snapped, Sabrina rolled her eyes, realizing that Puck had grown up a lot, and was much more intelligent, and waaay more attractive she was embarrassed to admit even to herself. She blushed even thinking that, Puck caught it, and the eye roll.
"It's Sabrina" He said matter of factly, sitting down, and relaxing again. Sabrina, went-if possible- even more crimson.
"How did you know!?" She demanded confused.
"Oh, I think that you'd prefer it if I don't actually answer that question, aside from the stench it was obvious." He smirked, Sabrina looked hurt at the others.
"I smell?" She asked dreading the answer
"You're wearing perfume, child, Mordred doesn't wear perfume." Mr. Canis said reassuringly
"But other women wear perfume as well! I could have been anyone!" She said outraged that her disguise hadn't even fooled the one person that she'd been hoping to get the better of for once.
"Fine. You asked for it, the eyeroll is your signature trait, I'd recognize it even though it's been five years since I've seen you, but I am un Everafter, and we tend to have good memory." She sighed in relief as he stopped there.
"Oh, and you blushed when you saw me, that was actually the tipping point." He said calmly examining his fingertips, he glanced at her horrified expression and flashed her a dazzling smile.
"How'd I do?" He asked curiously
"Why you little bug!" Sabrina yelled, launching herself at him, then proceeded to tackling him, and punching every inch of him she could reach, that is until Uncle Jake grabbed her and pulled her off of him.
"Did I hurt your feelwings?" He asked in baby talk mocking her again. "Are you embewassed?"
"I'm calm let me go, I feel better." She told Uncle Jake as he released her.
"Ugh, it's like neither of you have grown up at all." Henry snapped, "do we need to separate the two of you?"
"Whatever snotface, do you have a plan to get us out of here or no? Did you just come because you missed me and were worried about me?" Puck asked grinning as she blushed again.
"That's a yes" He said grinning at the others
"I'm afraid that is how it looks Sabrina…." Pinocchio said trying not to laugh at her discomfort.
"Fine, I'm going back to my plan, and not telling any of you!" She snapped
"You don't have one!" Puck retorted
"Guess you'll never know!" She snapped pulling the shard of mirror from her boot.
"Daphne, I'm ready to come back! None of them want my help!" She boomed into the glass, immediately all of the women's faces fighting for a better view swam into focus.
"He's just embarrassed liebling." Granny Relda said smiling, "He's not used to being saved, her prefers the saving." The woman snickered at his discomfort. Deciding it was now time to change the subject to protect herself she said,
"So, do we have a plan yet?" Suddenly the shadow entered the clearing and landed directly in front of Puck. Sabrina hurriedly shoved the glass back into her boot, stood and walked slowly so that she was in front of Puck, and shielding him. Puck growled annoyed and shoved her to the side, so she was out of the line of vision of The Shadow. She stood up from the ground, even more frustrated then before, and again stomped over to place herself between them.
"Would you not?" He demanded, trying to push her again, but she caught his wrist, and used it as leverage to hold herself in place.
"You can't have him!" She snapped
"You cannot stop me, child, I shall have what I came for now!"
"Why him! I'll go with you instead!" She almost pleaded
"I have no use for a woman." He said waving his hand in front of her, and she immediately returned to herself, she glancing down, slightly relieved that her disguise was now gone, and she was herself again, but very bemused that her disguise had literally fooled one person!
"How did you know?"
"The fairy was right" The shadow responded in his wispy voice, chuckling.
"We know that you're looking for your own shadow, but why an Everafter?" She demanded, refusing to stop, while he was actually answering her questions.
"Because I need my own shadow, to continue to survive. I've survived for thousands of years, but my shadow always dies. An Everafter is immortal, I will never age again, and I will gain all of their powers, if they have any, as well as taking on their appearances."
"So why Puck? Did you want to take on his odor or something?" Sabrina asked snidely.
"That will not affect me, I chose him, because he is young, handsome, powerful, as well as a king. Not all of the Everafters' have the traits that I have been looking for, however, he will be a perfect shadow for me."
"I won't let you take him." Sabrina said, "I'll fight you!"
"Stop it, Grimm. You're embarrassing me." Puck said cringing, "I can fight my own battles, usually I end up fighting yours, too." He snapped hoping, to make her stop. Sabrina turned to him fighting back tears.
"Why didn't you fly away? You could have left whenever you wanted!" She screamed pointing up to the open sky.
"Because I'm not a coward! I wasn't going to abandon the rest of them, until we knew exactly what they wanted. Puck roared back leaning over Sabrina until she had to back up in order to see him without going cross eyed.
"Well now because of your stupidity, you're going to die! Or we're going to lose you! I don't understand it but it's all your fault!" She snarled pocking him in the chest as she said it.
"He flies as well?" The Shadow asked cocking his head curiously. Henry, ignored the shadow and walked to Puck and hugged him,
"We know what he wants now, take Sabrina, and get out of here. Please, go now!" he whispered, Puck snarled,
"Fine!" He bellowed, the wings exploded and began to flutter, he snatched Sabrina's hand and flew away out of the chasm, flying high, and soon enough there was nothing more to the two of them. The Shadow shrieked in outrage, he'd placed a spell prohibiting the other Everafters from flying, but he hadn't known this boy could fly as well, so he'd been left unguarded.
"I have no use for the rest of you now. Leave before I decide to kill you in my anger." The Shadow said, removing the spell he'd cast. The rest of the Everafters, were able to leave, and their wives, and children showed up outside to help them. There was plenty of hugging, crying, The Grimm's, raced to their family, and everyone was astounded when Daphne ran straight to Pinocchio and kissed him. Everyone stared, as she released him giggling,
"I've wanted to do that for a long time." She said, "But you haven't come around lately, so I never got the chance." She shrugged, unashamedly. Pinocchio, after a startled moment, grinned and kissed her back. "Aww, how romantic" Veronica sighed, watching her daughter. Henry gagged slightly still not used to the fact that his daughters were so grown up.
"What are we going to do? We need to find Puck and Brina!" Uncle Jake cried distraught.
"They are fine for tonight. I imagine they will try and make there way back to the house where the protection spells are. We should head back so we can be there in case they do show up. Also, mirror is there and will be able to find them." Granny Relda said, "Has anyone else forgotten that mirror kidnapped us and tried to take over the world and possessed you?" Henry growled. "We have forgiven him, and he has amended, plus there's now a spell that he can only be passed down from the Grimm family. Which helped to settle his nerves." Granny Relda, replied, scowling at her eldest son. Henry shrugged, unrepentant until the end apparently. Granny frowned recognizing the stubbornness in someone else as well. Namely Sabrina. Gradually, the crowd dispersed, some going to the Grimm home in order to help out more, others returning to there own homes, and some promising to return, while other merely expressed their gratitude for what Sabrina had done for the rest of them. Granny Relda nodded, and hugged and shook the hand of each and every one of her friends disappeared into the night.
….
Veronica, Daphne and Granny Relda sat and watched the mirror, keeping an eye on Sabrina and Puck to make sure they were alright. The men after being kidnapped for a couple of days, went and rested, as exhausted as they were, it was a miracle they'd stayed up long enough to even drag themselves into the house. Basil was crashed on the couch, Pinocchio on the other end, with Basils foot, shoved against his cheek. Henry was upstairs crashed on his bed, and Mr. Canis on the ottoman. Granny Relda giggled and took a picture of them sprawled all around the house.