I am going to tell you something that most authors refuse to tell their audience when they think their story isn't good. I don't think my story is well written at all, don't worry I'm not going to quit on it. Especially, not after all the work I put into the four chapters ahead of this. But, compared to most authors on this site, my story is on the lower side of things. Also to the two other people that read the actual first chapter (if you could even call it that) know that I added to it and now this first chapter is the first combined with the second. It's probably what I should've done in the first place. Confused? Yep, not gonna explain it any further.
Go on, read if you want to read eternal cringe.
"The summit of the lords is not to be trifled with under any circumstances." Queen Titania took another sip of her wine, her third cup in the hour.
"But Mother! The council will reconsider if we have the infactical will of Sir O'Connell." Musterseed desperately trifled with the papers on the desk trying to find anything that will benefit him on his side of the feud.
"You don't even have proof that the papers have been tampered with! Musterseed, I don't particularly agree with the law Sir O'Connell wanted, but it was in his will and we have to capulatate to it no matter the costs."
"Mother, Sir O'Connell loved the Glisousis. He would be sickened by this law and you know it!" Musterseed flared his arms high over his head and then slammed them into the table making a boisterous sound that made even the royal cat worried for the appliance.
"Darling it was in his will, and even if it wasn't I doubt I could do anything about it. The power I had in this kingdom was stricken years ago after–." Queen Titania set down her empty cup and looked at her son curiously.
"Musterseed there is nothing we can do about it. I'm done having this conversation with you, goodnight." Queen Titania snapped her hand, and with that, the doors out of the lounge were opened and the Queen and her young handmaiden left.
Musterseed hit the desk again, making the cat run around the room looking for hiding spots. As he watched the royal cat run for safety something caught the prince's eyes. The stars were bright and shining despite the harsh rain a few hours before. Puck had always liked them for that, always coming out and being joyful even after hours of dreariness, perhaps he related to them in some way, Musterseed thought as he opened the window to peer at them more. The stars always seem joyful and fun, but always dependable when you need to see them. He repeated in his mind, something his older brother once said to him. He smiled at the memory, then it hit him. Puck!
"Alright class, who can tell me what year the bill of rights was added to the constitution." The graceful teacher paced back and forth around the desks, patiently awaiting a raised hand that she wistfully expected from her students.
"Miss Rajavi?" The tall woman turned her head expectantly toward the young girl whose heightened hand stood alone in the class.
"Easy, 1776." The curly-haired brunette complacency replied, smiling smugly at the other students.
"Miss Rajavi, I believe you should do more studying before you try to show off." The teacher smiled at the embarrassed girl and then gave a harsh look to the interrupting snickering students. She silently put her finger to her natural colored lips, hushing the laughing children and continued with her monologue.
"1776 was the year that the colonists declared themselves free from Britain's rule. Anyone else want to try?" The tall woman walked primly toward the front of the classroom, watching every student with a vigilant eye.
"Miss Grimm?" The teacher said, tapping her long painted nails on the young girl's desk. The blonde looked slowly up from her phone, knowing she was caught, she smiled anxiously at the teacher and put the pencil that she'd been fiddling with aimlessly on her desk.
"Since you seem so intent on not paying attention, why don't you answer the question." The teacher raised her eyebrow and attentively waited for the girl to answer.
"Yes, uh, the year that the bill of rights was implemented into the constitution was in, the year, uh, 1791?" The older woman smiled and then grabbed the girl's pencil off the floor that had rolled off her desk only a few seconds before.
"Good work Sabrina—ding—well that's that bell, I'll see you all on Monday. Have a good day!." Miss Bingley said as she carefully put the pencil back on Sabrina Grimm's desk.
"Miss. Bingley is so austere sometimes, It's kind of intense." Elizabeth stated, as the girls walked out of the classroom and toward the hallway wall. When they were close enough to the wall Elizabeth kneeled on the tile floor, despite Sabrina's warning look, and started sloppily tying the shoelaces of her red sneakers.
"I don't know, Lizzy, I find her interesting." Sabrina replied, holding her hands out wide to deter kids from going near them. The things I do so Elizabeth doesn't get trampled on. Literally.
"Of course you would, you find everyone amusing, especially redheads."
"I never said it was amusing, and I don't specifically point out redheads!" Sabrina argued as she waved her hands around widely, knowing she was probably being laughed at by the passing students.
"Sorry, I was just translating what you truly meant." Elizabeth countered, smiling at Sabrina's annoyance as she finished tying her shoelaces.
"So now you're the Sabrina translator?" Sabrina insolently questioned, as she helped Elizabeth up from the floor.
"Indubilty." Elizabeth smiled and then both of the girls walked steadily toward the exit and away from what felt like eternal misery.
When they had finally gotten out, the cold fresh air touched their freckled faces with joy that both girls were internally grateful for. But this joy didn't last long and before you knew it Sabrina was shivering at the last frost of winter. When will it be spring?, she thought as she and Elizabeth joined a crowd in front of the school bus, precariously waiting until the bus driver decided to open the doors.
"We've been standing here awhile." Elizabeth said, shivering in place.
"Maybe we should knock on the door." Sabrina replied, kicking the sidewalk gravel. As Elizabeth opened her mouth to speak, a boy Sabrina knew as Rick Smith, an annoying trouble maker, shouted Hello next to the bus doors. When the bus driver still refused to look up the boy decided to continuously bang on the door, and shout once again.
"Let us in!" Rick shouted, hitting the doors so hard Sabrina was worried he'd damage them.
The round pinked cheeked busdriver instantly looked up from his phone and saw all the children waiting outside, he nervously chuckled as if thinking, On' of em' gonna snitch and then ima be as good as gone. Which is what Sabrina, and most of the other students, were thinking about doing.
The bus driver stared at the students for only a split second longer, as if wondering what he should do. Then he blinked a few times and pulled down the lever to open the doors. As the children piled in, all of which gave the bus driver a stern glare, they wandered around frantically trying to get the best seats. Sabrina started for the back when Elizabeth grabbed her hand and pulled her over to the front seats. Sabrina glared at Elizabeth as she grappled her down and next to Tamara Rajavi, when Tamara noticed that Elizabeth had done this she, as well, glared at Elizabeth.
"Hello, Sabrina." Tamara rolled her eyes and then leaned awkwardly in her seat, purposely taking as much room as she could.
"Hi, Tamara." Sabrina silently elbowed Elizabeth, who in return gave a contorted smile.
"Hey Tamara, my birthday's next Friday, and my parents are throwing a party. You wanna come?" Elizabeth asked as she continued to reposition herself to not fall off from the half seat she was given.
"No."
"Please?" Elizabeth adjured, desperately trying to get Tamara to come. Sabrina irritatedly closed her eyes, wistfully awaiting until Elizabeth stopped talking. This, Sabrina knew, was never going to happen.
"I told you, Elly—Elizabeth—whatever, that I'm not going. You already have your stupid friend going. Why do you need me?" Sabrina crudely pushed Tamara back into a normal sitting position, an action Elizabeth was internally grateful for, as the redhead scooched into an actual sitting spot.
"Oh, look. It's our stop Lizzy. Shame you couldn't convince Tamara to come to your party. Let's go." Sabrina said as the bus driver started slowing down on the girls street.
Sabrina pulled Elizabeth to her feet as the bus driver shouted 'Park Avenue!'. Tamara gave one last eyeroll to Sabrina as the girls walked out into the cold city street.
"What was that about?" Sabrina questioned as the girls walked toward the entrance to the large apartment building. Elizabeth raised a muddled eyebrow as the girls opened the door into their rather large apartment building.
Once the girls entered they were met with a large check-in granite countertop with a small call bell on top of it. Behind the counter was an apple computer that was on , but rarely ever used. To the left a large carpeted hallway leading towards the first floor that Sabrina had rarely ever seen people in. On the right of the long hallway a large indented open room with two elevators was kept, empty as usual.
"I don't know what you mean." Elizabeth finally replied, pressing the buttons to floors four and seven.
"Yes, you do. Tamara is a jerk, I don't know why you insist on trying to make friends with her." Sabrina snapped, holding tightly onto her red backpack as the elevator started going up.
"You guys were being jerks to each other. You always have been, It's like you two picked each other out to be mean too. Tamara isn't that bad, she's only mean when you're around." Lizzy looked down at her watch, avoiding looking in Sabrina's direction.
"Are you kidding? She's always been a jerk." Sabrina replied, leaning against the plain cold handrail.
"So are you, I don't know if you noticed this Sabrina, but you get pretty mean when Tamara's around. Maybe It's your auras, you must have incompatible ones." Elizabeth laughed, and looked at her watch again.
"Very funn—Well It's been nice talking to you, but this is my stop." Elizabeth interrupted as the elevator doors opened, then she laughed again and slowly walked out and into the long hallway.
"Bye, see you later!" Sabrina shouted despite her annoyance. Then the elevator doors closed again, leaving Sabrina alone and annoyed in the elevator. Sabrina pulled her phone out of her pocket and plugged in her headphones, turning on some music, she silently sang along.
The elevator doors opened again, this time stopping at the fifth floor. Sabrina looked at the doors as they opened, waiting to see who comes in the closet-sized elevator. The doors creaked open and Sabrina could slowly see a man and a teenager on the other side.
"I told you we should've talked to them. Maybe-" The boy froze and then burst into a smile at the sight of what Sabrina almost believed was the door opening, but he was staring directly at her. Sabrina raised her eyebrow, then awkwardly gave a small smile back as the boy and the man walked happily into the elevator.
"Going down?" Sabrina asked cautiously, taking one headphone out.
"Uh, no. We go off on the wrong floor, we're going to-" The tall boy paused and then tilted his head toward the buttons." The seventh one." The boy said confidently as the older brunette man opened his mouth to speak.
"Oh, okay." Sabrina moved her hand slowly away from the call buttons. This is weird. She thought, eyeing the men as they stood in the corner silently staring at her. Sabrina's had to deal with her fair share of creeps in the past. Heck, she lives in Newyork so most of the population. But this was different, and Sabrina had a creeping feeling something bad was about to happen.
Sabrina pulled her phone out from her pocket again and began texting her mother, hoping that it would warn off the men, knowing that with a click of a button she could call her mother if something went south.
Hey mom, Elizabeth's having a birthday party next Friday. She wants to know if I can go.
We can talk more about it when you get home.
Speaking of that, are you almost here? We have something planned.
Yeah, I'm in the elevator. What are we doi—
The elevator door opened again on the sixth floor, this time with people on the outside of it. Three young boys, no older than seven, and a young mother and father.
"Oh, we'll get the next one." The young woman said, and then smiled at them as the elevator doors shut again. Sabrina frowned, and then mistakenly glanced away from her phone again, finding that the boy was still staring at her. Sabrina tried to look in any direction but the people in the far corner, even using her blonde hair to cover her eyes so she wouldn't glance at them, but everything she tried failed and she ended up glancing at them again, and found that they were still staring at her.
Bing.
The elevator doors opened again, and Sabrina practically ran out. Clearly to the amusement of the boy who she distinctly heard chuckle behind her. Sabrina walked speedily along the side of the freshly painted hallway trying hard not to bump into the paint.
She could hear the footsteps of the man and the boy following behind her, noticeably trying to keep up with her pace, which Sabrina knew at least the older man was struggling to do, as he was loudly gasping for breath every second or so. The boy on the other hand, Sabrina knew if his footsteps couldn't be heard she would question if he was even there.
Sabrina made a sharp turn to the left of the hall, hoping that maybe the men were actually trying to get somewhere. But they persisted to follow her. Should I even go straight home? What if they find some way to hurt my family? Sabrina paused in her thoughts but not in her steps as she took a right turn. No, I have to go home. It's the safest option. She thought not even daring to look behind her.
Almost there, Sabrina thought making her final turn toward the family's apartment. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the reflection on the window of the boy practically running after her and the man grappling to try and keep up with her. Sabrina smiled, but knew that she couldn't keep it; they were still undoubtedly following her and if they caught her, who knows what would happen.
"Hey, wait up! I can't keep up." Said the deep-voiced older man.
"It's not my fault we got lost earlier. And the way Grimm's going we'll lose her if we stop." The boy replied, still keeping the same pace as before. Grimm? This is too weird. Could it be — No there's no way. Sabrina thought, slowly turning her head to look behind her, the boy was looking at the older man who was about twenty feet behind him and was sweating rapidly.
"I'm too old for this." Was the last thing Sabrina heard as she swung open room door 2083. Daphne ran over to Sabrina and started jumping up and down.
"Sabrina, Sabrina did you hear? Did you? Did you?. Puck and Uncle Jake are coming!" Daphne said before Sabrina could repile to any of the questions, or even close the door. Oh gosh.
"Uh, real— Hello Marshmellow!" The boy interrupted, swinging the door open, whacking Sabrina's foot. My toe! Then he pulled off what looked like a bright blue necklace of sorts, held together by a thin long black piece of leather. In a blink of an eye he transformed back to his normal, annoying, ravaging self.
I feel bad for Uncle Jake. Sabrina thought, taking her shoes off to look at her newly formed stubbed toe. Daphne jumped up on Puck and hugged him, holding on only by his neck. As Puck gently struggled to get her off, the man, supposedly Uncle Jake, came in smiling and sweaty.
Uncle Jake slowly walked over to Sabrina and held out his arms and started leaning in. Sabrina backed up.
"Oh, sorry Brina." Then he took off his transforming necklace, that looked very similar to Pucks except his was a bright green, and turned back to normal Uncle Jake, except for his unhuman stench and sweat pouring down his forehead. Puck snickered as Uncle Jake tried to hug her again, which she returned to the boy with a death glare.
"Jake!" Henry shouted, coming out from the kitchen. He held his hands high in the air and his smile was the biggest Sabrina had seen since he won the raffle and got a custom Ice machine. Sabrina backed as far as she could away from Uncle Jake who was now coming toward Henry. Saved by the bell, She thought watching Uncle Jake pursue Henry. His smell obviously messed with Henry too and retracted his arms and pretended he was stretching, which was clear to everyone in the room he wasn't.
"Henry!"
"Jake!" Henry shouted again, and then said. "Do you want anything to eat or anything?"
"No, no. Thanks." Jake smiled and then sat on the couch, to the displeasure of Veronica who Sabrina hadn't noticed until now. She was sitting in the far corner of the couch reading a library book that they'd borrowed from the library about a week ago. Veronica looked at Uncle Jake and then made a face which Sabrina assumed meant, Wow does he need a shower! Then she got up and stretched and stood next to Henry who was giving a glance at Veronica as if replying to her earlier silent statement, Yeah I know. He's doesn't usually smell like this. Sabrina could just see her father stretching the word usually.
"Hello Veronica. How's the family?"
"Oh, uh, Good. Uh, I gotta go finish doing laundry, Sabrina I'll need your help." Veronica smiled and then waved for Sabrina to follow her.
"Oh, well, see you later." Uncle Jake said as Sabrina walked past Puck to get out of the room.
Puck grabbed Sabrina's hand and pulled her close, whispering in her ear, You thought we were some wackos didn't you? Sabrina rolled her eyes making Puck smile even bigger.
Once Sabrina pushed past Puck and weaved through the tight spaced living room she ran past the hallway and over to the small closet that they used as a laundry-room.
"Hey, thanks for saving me back there. For once Uncle Jake smells worse than Puck." Sabrina said, leaning her backpack against the wall. Then she started helping her mother separate the darks and the light into two baskets.
"Does Puck usually smell bad?" Veronica asked dead seriously. Sabrina forgot that her parents barely even knew Puck, they didn't even really know the tricks that he'd always played on her. To them he was pretty much just a normal boy who made bad jokes and played an occasional prank. Now that Sabrina thought about it, he was always nicer to her when her parents were around, even if she was being super annoying herself. That's weird.
"Yes, he, infactiually, despises showers." Sabrina said almost wishing she was joking. After a moment of silence between the two women Sabrina asked almost wearily,
"Hey so, Elizabeth's birthday party. Can I go?"
"Well about that –Did I do something wrong?" Sabrina interrupted, half frowning as she dumped the lights into the washing machine.
"No, no. It's just that. The reason Puck and Jake are here," Veronica paused and bit her lip, then continued. "Faire is in some trouble."
"Okay, but what does that have to do with us?" Sabrina snapped, throwing her little brothers navy shirt into the dark basket. Veronica looked at her daughter in shock, and then disgust, making Sabrina immediately regret what she said.
"Well from what I understand the kingd—-It has nothing to do with you, in fact I don't even know why they want the Grimms." Puck interrupted, watching Sabrina with a keen eye as if she knew something he didn't. Sabrina rolled her eyes, and turned around to continue to pour the softener in the machine.
"Hey Puck, are you hungry?" Veronica asked in a startled tone.
"No, me and Jake ate before we got here. I was looking for the bathroom." Puck said, still watching Sabrina closely.
"It's that door over there." Veronica pointed to the farthest door on the left. The farthest door from us, Sabrina thought knowing he clearly came over to eavesdrop. When Puck had left, Veronica gave an annoyed gasp and then glared at Sabrina.
"Seriously Sabrina you have to watch what you say, especially while guests are here." Veronica turned the washing machine on, and then closed the closet doors, giving one last glare to Sabrina.
"Sabrina, I've been trying to get a hold of you all day!" Elizabeth paused then added, "And all weekend, I thought something happened. I was about ready to come and bang on your apartment door." Elizabeth said jokingly, running after Sabrina as she speedily walked out into the school parking lot. Sabrina glanced behind her seeing Elizabeth run down each staircase step, not even taking her eyes off the blonde.
"I know, you've been staring at me through all the classes we're in together." Sabrina respawned coldly as she slowed down to Elizabeth's pace.
"So are you going to my birthday party?" Elizabeth was practically skipping with joy.
"Uh, remember how I texted you about my cousin and my Uncle coming to visit for the weekend." Sabrina waited for Elizabeth to answer, but all she did was staired at her bewildered. "You know, after you repeatedly texted me asking if I was okay?"
"Oh, Yeah. I remember the cousin and Uncle that I've never heard you talk about ever, until yesterday." Elizabeth teased grabbing Sabrina's arm.
"Well, It's not just the weekend. My family has to go on a trip with them." Sabrina said solemnly, not even bothering to look at Elizabeth.
"Oh, for how long?"
"I don't know."
"Well, where are you going?"
"I'm not sure exactly."
"So you're not going to be able to make it to my party?"
"Nope."
Sabrina and Elizabeth sat in silence the entire bus trip, Sabrina desperately wanting for both of her 'family' members to leave and Elizabeth shuffling through her backpack that she'd put between her and Sabrina the minute they'd gotten onto the bus. Sabrina looked at Elizabeth who for the past ten minutes had been searching her backpack desperately for something.
"What are you looking for?" Sabrina asked, peering over into her backpack. Elizabeth zipped it shut and put her backpack on the floor. She crossed her legs and then gave Sabrina a crude smile while raising both of her eyebrows. A terrifying look Sabrina wished to never see on Elizabeth's face again.
"Nothing."
Then silence again. Sabrina looked at Elizabeth with concern, was she mad? Did something happen? As these thoughts filled Sabrina's head the bus driver started to slow down and both the girls realized they were creeping on their street. Sabrina frowned, as the bus driver called out Park Avenue.
The girls got off the bus and bolted to the hotel doors, desperately wanting to get out of the cold frost. As they ran into the hotel both of them kept the same pace, Sabrina because she wanted to keep up with Elizabeth, and Elizabeth because she's crazy, Sabrina thought entering the elevator.
"What's your problem?" Sabrina said, pushing the buttons to both of their floors.
"What's my problem? What's yours!." Elizabeth said the last part louder than she meant to which made Sabrina say her next sentence even louder.
"Is this because I won't go to your party?"
"Of course it isn't! This is about you lying all the time." Elizabeth glared.
"What? About what?" Sabrina wished the elevator would go up sooner and drop off Elizabeth. Then she thought about when she leaves Elizabeth she'll have to talk to Puck and she took it back.
"Seriously Sabrina you think I'd believe some stuipied story about you having to go on a vacation out of nowhere, and mystery relatives showing up out of nowhere. That, by the way, you've never mentioned." Elizabeth stated, watching the time on her watch very closely.
"But It's true. We have to go. I have to pack my bags as soon as I get home!"
"Okay, if It's true, let me see them." Elizabeth raised her eyebrow, as if challenging Sabrina.
"What?"
"Your Uncle and cousin. Let me see them." Elizabeth said snarkily, then the elevator dinged and the doors opened on Elizabeth's floor.
"Well, we can go to your floor." Elizabeth continued.
"I – I can't Lizzy." Sabrina said, quieting her tone.
"I knew it." Elizabeth walked outside the elevator doors right as it was about to close. Leaving Sabrina alone in the elevator wishing she knew nothing of the Everafter world.
I'll be honest, when I wrote this story. I thought I could end it in about five chapters, but now that I've edited (If you could even call it that) it, I realized that my plot is way to complicated to fit into five chapters, and when I tried to compact it and crossed out things I wanted to be in the story I realized what I was going for would never work unless I had at least some of the stuff or it would be very boring. So I've changed the four chapters ahead of it a lot. To the point that it wouldn't even be considered the same story. Now I know the plot I'm going for is probably going to be around twenty-five chapters. Now, before we continue, remember how I said there's four other chapters ahead of this one. Well, they're nowhere close to done. I'm an editing freak and get very upset when I post something and read it back and missed something. I've probably read this chapter about sixty times and I still don't think It's perfect. The writings sloppy, I swear that I haven't described people or things as much as I should've, and I don't think that I made Sabrina as scared as she should've been when Puck and Jake are staring her down and following her around. All of these things annoy me heavily, I bet two nickels that in about two weeks this story's going to go down and be rewritten. That was just a heads up. Anyway have a good day! :)