Good afternoon :). I'm actually updating this early today, that's good. And you won't believe this! This is 9,936 words BEFORE A/N. Also, I realized that last chapter I was so freaking panicked and rushed that I completely forgot a bottom footnote! And didn't realize it until I was doing the recap for last chapter, I didn't even realize I was trying to publish so fast.
Anyways, I just have to answer the reviews and actually write a bottom footnote this time and we're all good!
M-I am seriously honored, I don't think I've ever made people almost late for their class with my writing. And I'm glad you liked the chapter; and that it felt like a cliffhanger. I hope you enjoy this chapter, my longest one ever. Oh, and congratulations for being my first reviewer on Chapter 10!
Zay Zay-Rejoice! The name has been changed from Killing Dawn! Woot Woot! Yeah, I almost literally facepalmed when I noticed I spelled apologies wrong. I usually write Nine Books on my phone, so it's a pretty small keyboard, so every time I type a word more often than not it's completely misspelled. Thank goodness for spell check. I honestly can't remember if that happens this chapter or the next, but I've already written that scene and I love their reactions(Of course I do, I wrote it! ;)) Charming is a celebrity, but I don't really think that's how the Grimms see him.
Emily-I'm not sure who you're talking about with the age thing. But just to say, Sabrina and Puck are both nineteen, and Daphne and Red are sixteen. Basil's ten because I couldn't remember the legitimate age difference between him and his sisters. Also, I agree, real-life does stink. Your thirteen too? I am and so is another one of the reviewers. I agree about the animals and I'm really glad you like my story. Also, here it is! Puck finally shows up after...nine? chapters.
Alright, that's it, now onto the recap and then the story!
Previously on: Nine Books and a Laptop
"Well, if you know what's good for you, then you'll just forget about the whole thing," the leader said with a wicked grin that revealed the absence of a front tooth.
"If I knew what was good for me, I wouldn't be in this line of work," Mrs. Grimm replied. "Now, if you'd be so kind to let us pass, I really must get my granddaughters out of the cold air."
...
"Am I going to have to go and murder someone after this?" Veronica asked quietly.
"There's nothing to murder." Daphne whispered back.
"What?" Henry chimed in.
"You'll see." Sabrina muttered.
"In a minute, Relda." The leader grinned. "We just want to make sure you understand what we're trying to say."
"I seem to be at a disadvantage, young man. You know my name, but I don't know yours. Or better yet, who the unfortunate employer is who hired the likes of you three."
"Well, he never was very smart." Relda said reasonably.
"He really, really wasn't." Sabrina agreed.
The two big men grunted angrily, but the leader raised his hands to quiet them. "No need to get rude, Relda. We're just having a conversation, ya know, trying to avoid a confrontation."
"Boys," Mrs. Grimm said with the tone of someone who has lost her patience.
"I like how you were just scolding them." Red giggled.
"They weren't very smart." Daphne said.
"I want you to go back to your boss and tell him that he should know it takes more than three thugs to make me give up. Now, good night."
She tried to pass the men, but as she did, the leader grabbed her jacket and pulled her close to his fat face.
Jake was clearly seething even as he continued reading. Henry didn't seem much better. Neither liked hearing about their mother getting man-handled and threatened. Or their nieces/daughters.
"Some people can't take a hint."
Mrs. Grimm pulled a little silver whistle from around her neck and blew into it, but no sound could be heard. When she put it back inside her dress, the bullies laughed.
"Clever." Puck muttered. "And, now, Grimm, there's nothing to murder? How about brutally beat?"
"I'm warning you. If you don't let us pass you are going to regret it," she said. Sabrina's heart began to pound. How could Mrs. Grimm be so calm? These men were about to tear her apart!
"Oh, liebling." Relda chuckled.
"Lady, it's you who's going to have the regrets."
"Leave my grandmother alone!" Daphne commanded.
Before Sabrina could stop her, the little girl rushed forward and kicked the dumpy man in the shin. He cried out in pain and rubbed his leg. Mrs. Grimm then hit him on top of his head with her heavy, book-filled handbag. He crumpled to the ground and groaned. Seeing how easily their leader had fallen to a little girl and an old lady, the two other thugs laughed.
"Only you two could take out a thug with a handbag and a kick." Basil chuckled.
"What are you laughing at?" the leader snapped as he crawled to his feet.
"Sorry, Tony, we didn't mean to laugh," one of the goons said.
"Oh, look, here comes the stupidity train." Sabrina sang. "And the Mr. Canis bullet too, all at once."
"Is it silver?" Mr. Canis asked with a small smile.
"What are you doing?" Tony bellowed.
"What?" the tall one asked defensively.
"You told her my name. We all agreed we were going to keep our identities secret."
The tall one shrugged. "Sorry, Tony, I didn't think."
"Did they really stop in the middle of threatening you three, t-to argue?" Red looked nonplussed.
"They weren't very smart." Sabrina shrugged.
"Steve, you just did it again," the other thug pointed out.
"You did it, too!" Tony shouted. "You just told them Steve's name."
"Wow, these guys were seriously idiotic."
"Who cares?" Steve said.
"Because they can identify us to the cops," Tony complained as he turned his attention back to Mrs. Grimm. He raised his heavy crowbar above his head and snarled. "Now we have to kill them!"
Sabrina suddenly burst out laughing, "Can you imagine us now going against these three idiots? We would freaking pulverize them."
"Easier said than done," a voice said from behind them. Sabrina and Daphne turned to see Mr. Canis emerge from the shadows with Elvis close behind.
"Look out, here comes her boyfriend." Steve laughed. "You want to handle him, Bobby?"
"Oh. My. God. Why are they so dumb!?" Henry demanded.
"They're goons, and not very smart ones either."
"Shut up! Both of you!" Tony shouted. "Why don't you idiots just give them our addresses and phone numbers, too!"
"If you run off now, no one will get hurt," Canis offered. His voice was powerful and hard but the thugs just chuckled. Even Sabrina could tell that frail old Mr. Canis wasn't going to be able to stop them. Sometimes he looked as if his own clothes were too heavy for him to wear.
"I like how Grimm is both insulting you two and slightly worried." Puck smirked.
"Shut up, fairy boy."
Sabrina realized now would be a great time to grab her sister and make their escape, but it didn't feel right. The old woman and her feeble friend needed their help. She would have to do something herself—find a weapon—a rock, a stick—anything she could use to fight the men off. But the pathway was as clean of debris as it was of people.
Sabrina looked exasperated with her younger self.
"Girls, get behind Elvis, please," Mr. Canis said, taking their hands and pulling them back so that the Great Dane was between them and trouble.
"Enough of this. Get him!" Tony ordered, and Bobby and Steve lunged at Mr. Canis. Sabrina was sure they had seen the last of the old man, but he caught both of the men by the throat, one in each hand, and lifted them off the ground, holding them aloft as their feet dangled and kicked.
Every single person in the room winced at the thought. "My throat hurts just thinking about it." Jake said.
Even more shocking was the loud, guttural growl the old man released when he tossed the two thugs, sending them sprawling across the cold concrete ground.
Everyone winced again.
For ten yards they thumped and bounced, groaning with each painful smack against the pavement.
And again.
"All right, if that's the way you want to play it," Tony threatened as he pushed Mrs. Grimm roughly to the ground. He swung his iron bar wildly at Mr. Canis and rushed forward, but the old man quickly stepped sideways and tripped him, sending the thug to the pavement with his friends. Tony leaped up and rushed at Mr. Canis again, only to feel the same painful results.
"Doesn't this dude find it weird that some 'old' guy just tossed him and his two accomplices across the path? And is there no one around? I thought it was a hospital." Veronica inquired.
"It's just the way our lives work, Mom." Daphne smiled.
"Hurry girls, we should get to safety," Mrs. Grimm said as she got up and led them away from the fight. Elvis trotted along beside them, barking warnings at the goons not to follow. When they got to the car, Daphne climbed in but anxiously peered out the windows. After several minutes, Mr. Canis had still not joined them.
"I was having a mini-meltdown at this point." Daphne told them cheerfully.
"We shouldn't have left him. There were three of them, Granny! He can't fight them all," the little girl said, with tears running down her cheeks.
"We really couldn't tell." Sabrina said with a hint of amused sarcasm.
Before Mrs. Grimm could calm her down, the car door opened and Mr. Canis crawled in behind the wheel. He was completely unharmed, and oddly, he had a little grin on his face.
Red smiled, "Those poor men."
"They're about to be a lot worse off." Sabrina said darkly.
"See, lieblings? He's just fine," the old woman said. She turned to Mr. Canis. "The girls were worried about you."
"Alright, I'm bored again. When do I…" Sabrina half-lunged at him before Red and Daphne caught her round the waist.
"Sabrina, you can't kill him."
"If he asks that one more time, I swear to God…" Sabrina trailed off menacingly.
The old man turned in his seat and looked back at Sabrina and Daphne. He was his same painfully thin, watery-eyed old self. Daphne leaned forward and planted a kiss on his cheek. His face turned red with embarrassment.
"Don't you ever do that again!" she commanded as she hugged him tightly and then sat back into her seat. Mr. Canis nodded in agreement.
Puck opened his mouth, glanced at Sabrina and the threatening glare she was sending at him, and quickly closed it again.
"I, for one, am thrilled at what's transpiring," Mrs. Grimm said, taking out her notepad and pen. She began jotting notes frantically.
Sabrina was shocked. "Thrilled? We were almost killed."
"That rhymes." Basil observed.
"So it does.'
"Killed? Oh Mr. Canis, doesn't she remind you of Basil?" Mrs. Grimm tittered.
Mr. Canis nodded.
"I was regretting not running away at this point." Sabrina grinned.
"No, I think we have cause to celebrate," the old woman continued.
"Why, did you find a clue?" Daphne asked.
"No, not at all."
"Then, what's to celebrate?" Sabrina said.
"We're getting close, lieblings. When they send the goons, the bad guys are getting nervous."
"Well, they should really send more intelligent goons."
"So what now?" Daphne asked.
"We'll follow those goons back to their hideout."
"What? Why would we do that?" Sabrina cried, remembering Tony and his crowbar.
"Because they're going to lead us right back to their boss. Ladies, we're going on a stakeout."
"Mom…."Henry groaned.
"Oh shush, Henry, the girls were perfectly safe."
"Weren't you kidnapped by a giant?"
"That was actually my fault, Dad, I wouldn't get back in the car."
"What does that mean?"
"You'll probably find out, if you let me finish reading." Jake deadpanned.
"Yes, what he said."
…
Mr. Canis managed to find the thugs' car in no time and he trailed them at a distance (which had to be pretty great, considering the noise coming from Mrs. Grimm's old rust bucket), driving high into the hills overlooking Ferryport Landing. They passed no other cars, just a few deer wandering by the road in the fading light. But Sabrina wasn't enjoying the scenery. She was a nervous wreck. She had already worried about Mrs. Grimm's sanity, based on the ridiculous fairy-tale story she had told earlier that day. Now the crazy old woman had them chasing three dangerous men. She wanted to kick herself for not escaping when they had had the chance, and decided that she and Daphne would make a run for it as soon as possible.
"Such an idiot." Daphne muttered.
"I know." Her sister replied.
Eventually, the thugs' car pulled into the empty driveway of a small mountain cabin. Mr. Canis turned the engine and lights off and let the car coast along the road until they found a dense growth of trees to park behind. When they came to a stop, Mrs. Grimm opened up her, fumbled through it, and took out a pair of odd-looking binoculars.
Veronica looked nervous, biting her lip. Evidently disregarding the fact that this had all happened years ago and everyone involved had obviously survived.
"What are those?" Daphne asked.
"They're binoculars for nighttime. They're called infrared goggles. I thought they might come in handy tonight," the old woman said as she handed them to Daphne. "Want to take a peek?"
Daphne took the goggles and raised them to her eyes.
"Oh, that's horrible!"
Sabrina looked out the window but saw nothing. "What? What do you see?" she asked nervously.
"You." The little girl giggled. "Here, take a look."
Puck immediately roared with laughter, "A very scary sight, indeed, Marshmallow."
"Do,"her voice was shaking, "You want to die?"
"No?"
"Then, SHUT UP!"
The older girl stuck out her tongue and took the goggles from her sister. When she looked through them, the darkness became illuminated in green light, and she saw the three thugs going into the cabin.
"Let's see who else turns up," Mrs. Grimm said. "Sabrina, would you mind letting Elvis out? He probably needs to stretch his legs."
"You would later regret that."
Sabrina handed Mrs. Grimm the goggles and opened the door. Elvis lumbered out, causing the car to make noises that sounded like squeals of delight. With the door open, the girls could have easily made a break for it, using the woods for cover as they made their escape, but Daphne was leaning on the front seat asking questions.
"Granny Relda, are all the fairy tales true?"
"Almost all of them, but some are just bedtime stories to get kids to go to sleep. For instance, a dish never ran away with a spoon, and no cow that I know of has ever jumped over the moon."
"Bess!" Red exclaimed.
"Hindsight is always very interesting, liebling."
"How about the three little pigs?"
Mr. Canis shifted in his seat but said nothing.
Red made a little laughing noise.
"Yes, dear, they are real," Mrs. Grimm replied.
"How about Snow White?"
"Charming." Sabrina corrected automatically.
"Yes, indeed. In fact, she's a teacher at Ferryport Landing Elementary. We're going to have to enroll you two there in a couple of weeks. She's very sweet and, as you know, very good with little people like yourself."
"What about Santa Claus?"
"I've never met him, but I have it on good faith that he is alive and well."
"Hold up, I'm just now realizing this. Santa Claus is real?" Sabrina asked, eyes wide.
"Yes, dear."
Sabrina blinked, "Well okay then."
"I've got a question for you," Sabrina said. "These stories were written hundreds of years ago. How could all these people still be alive?"
"Easy child, it's magic," Mrs. Grimm explained.
"Hundreds, ha." Puck muttered.
"Yes we know, fairy boy, but you look… what nineteen?"
He muttered something that might've been, "Just ask yourself how old you are." But she couldn't be sure.
"Duh!" Daphne said to her sister, as if it were common knowledge.
Sabrina shot her an angry look, but the little girl ignored it.
"Granny Relda, have you ever seen a giant?" Daphne asked.
"She wouldn't have to wait long if she hadn't before."
"Of course, liebling, I've even been to the giant kingdom on a couple of occasions. The last time I was nearly squished by the Giant Queen's toe." Mrs. Grimm laughed. "As an apology, she gave me that piece of fabric."
"Oh, I've met her. Very strange woman." Puck commented.
"Well, if there really are giants, how come we haven't seen any yet?" Daphne asked.
"There weren't any around until yesterday," Mrs. Grimm said. "Long ago, the Everafters realized that giants were just too unpredictable. They caused as much destruction when they were happy as they did when they were mad, and once they planted themselves somewhere it was impossible to move them. Imagine trying to plant seeds on your farm with a sleepy giant lying across it! When humans started moving into Ferryport Landing, everyone realized that giants were just too big to disguise. Of course, the giants didn't agree and refused to go back to their kingdom. Your great uncle Edwin and your great aunt Matilda tricked them into climbing their beanstalks, and once they were all up there, the townsfolk chopped the beanstalks down."
"Dad used to constantly tell us that story." Henry commented.
"What good would that do?" Daphne asked.
"No beanstalk—no way into our world. Of course, there were a couple of people who didn't much care for the plan. In the old days, people would plant magic beans and climb up the beanstalks just to steal the giants' treasures. Lots of people were foolish enough to try, but only one ever survived the ordeal," Mrs. Grimm said.
Sabrina let out a half-smile.
"Jack?" Daphne asked.
It grew into a full smile.
"You are correct, liebling. Jack robbed many giants and killed quite a number of them, too. In his day he was very rich and famous, though I hear he's working at a Big and Tall clothing store downtown, now. I can't imagine he'd be too happy doing that."
"Are you going to sit here and tell us that Jack was a real person?" Sabrina snapped.
And then a laugh.
"Was and is, my love," Mrs. Grimm replied.
"So, let's just say all this is true. If all the beanstalks were destroyed, how did a giant get down here?" Sabrina asked, confident that she had tripped up the old woman.
"Ah, liebling, that is indeed the mystery we are trying to solve. Whoever did it had to have a magic bean, and I thought we had accounted for all of them. It would help if we knew why they wanted to let a giant loose."
"Because he's a jerkazoid." Daphne muttered.
"I'll bet he was a big one, Granny Relda. Probably a thousand feet high!" Daphne exclaimed.
"Oh, sweetheart, he's probably no bigger than two hundred feet tall," Mrs. Grimm said.
Sabrina looked at her little sister in the moonlight and frowned. Daphne's eyes were as big as Frisbees. Sabrina was losing her little sister to the old lunatic. For a year and a half it had been just the two of them, and Sabrina had done everything she could to keep them together and safe. She had protected her sister from nasty Ms. Smirt, the horrible kids in the orphanage, and all those foster parents, and now she was unable to protect her from a crazy old woman.
Eyes flicked to Sabrina momentarily, she was reclined with a hand in Basil's-who was sitting cross-legged, on a blanket the room had provided, in front of her; an old habit-hair and the other propping up her head as she listened to herself almost 8 years previously.
Just then, Elvis let out a low growl.
"Someone's coming," Mrs. Grimm warned as headlights flashed behind them. "Everyone get down."
They all huddled under the windows as a car passed by and headed toward the cabin. When it was far enough away, they lifted their heads.
"I don't think he saw us," Daphne said.
The old woman lifted the goggles to her eyes.
"Well, Sabrina, we've got more evidence for your theory. That's Mayor Charming's car,"
"Friggin' Charming, man."
Mrs. Grimm said. "I didn't expect to see him here."
Mr. Canis rolled his window down and sniffed the cool mountain air. Then, as if he had smelled something foul, his nose curled up. The odd thing was that Elvis, who was sitting outside of Mr. Canis's window, had the same expression. The two of them were smelling something they didn't like.
"Here we go." Red murmured.
"Charming is knocking on the door," Mrs. Grimm reported.
Mr. Canis turned in his seat. "Child, open your door. The dog should get back into the car."
"I have to admit, this is getting juicy." Puck said with a dramatic flair.
Daphne opened her door and called for Elvis, but the Great Dane stood motionless, sniffing the air as if he was dedicating all his attention to it.
"They're talking," the old woman continued, still looking through her goggles.
"Almost there."
"Get into the car, dog," Mr. Canis called sternly. Elvis turned to face him but kept sniffing.
"Wait a minute, Charming is running to his car. Something has got him spooked," Mrs. Grimm remarked. "And you won't believe who's with him!"
It was the perfect opportunity. The old woman was watching the house and Mr. Canis was distracted by Elvis. Sabrina grabbed her sister's hand, opened her car door, and pulled Daphne out.
"Wait for it…"
"What are you doing?" Daphne cried.
"We're getting out of here this minute!" Sabrina replied, but before they could even take a step Elvis blocked their escape with his huge body.
"Come on, you big flea hotel. Get out of the way!" Sabrina shouted, but the dog refused to budge.
"Come on."
"Don't call him a flea hotel!" Daphne scolded. "He's sensitive!"
Elvis let out a horrible whine. It was followed by an earth-shaking thump that sent the girls tumbling to the ground.
"One."
"What was that?" Sabrina asked, trying to stand up.
"More."
"Girls, get into the car," Mr. Canis urged. His face looked serious and dark.
"Seriously?"
"We're not going anywhere with you," Sabrina cried as she got to her feet.
"Oh, hurry up."
"Lieblings, please. Something is coming," Mrs. Grimm begged.
"Something is coming? What does that mean? Enough with the stories, OK?" Sabrina yelled. "You're just trying to scare us and give my sister nightmares so that maybe we'll be too frightened to leave you." It was almost as if the mini-earthquake had knocked something loose inside of Sabrina, an anger and frustration at being abandoned, drifting from foster home to foster home, always hoping for someplace where they could be happy, but finding that whenever they got close, it was tainted with some sort of craziness.
"Craziness, yes."
"Sabrina, we can discuss this at another time. Please get into the car," Mrs. Grimm pleaded once more.
"I don't want to hear another word about fairies and goblins and giants or Jack and the Beanstalk or Humpty Dumpty!" Sabrina raged as Elvis let out a shrieking howl. "I know the difference between reality and a fairy tale!"
"And that line is…. Gone."
But she had hardly finished her rant when something fell out of the sky. It was monstrous and encircled the car and lifted it off the ground. Sabrina couldn't believe what she was seeing, but it was there, right in front of her.
"There it is."
It was a hand—a giant hand.
"A giant's hand." Daphne grinned. The two sisters shared a look.
Her eyes traveled up the arm, higher and higher, until she found a giant head and then immediately wished she hadn't. Boils as big as birthday cakes pocked the giant's greasy skin. A broken nose zigzagged across his face, and one dead white eye seeped puss while the other one was lined with the crust of sleep. Hairs as thick as tree trunks jutted out of his nose and hung over a mouthful of broken, misplaced, yellow-and-green teeth. He wore the hides of dozens of gigantic animals, including the head of what looked like a giant bear for a helmet. The dead bear's sharp fangs dug into his bald head, threatening to pierce his brain. His boots were made from more hides, and tangled in the laces were several unfortunate saplings.
"Puck, are you two related?" Sabrina asked with a mocking look.
"Shut up, Grimm." He said absentmindedly.
The giant lifted the car up to his repugnant face and looked inside like a child inspecting a toy. With his free hand he picked his nose.
"Where is Englishman?" he bellowed. "Why does he hide from me?"
"Englishman, indeed."
Sabrina couldn't see what was going on in the car as it was nearly two hundred feet off the ground. Were Mrs. Grimm and Mr. Canis even still alive? It was all so horrible that the two girls barely noticed that something had dropped from the car, landing with a clang at their feet.
"Our little saving grace."
"You cannot hide from me, Englishman!" the giant shouted as he lifted his enormous leg and stomped down hard on the little mountain cabin, flattening it like a pancake. Pieces of timber and stone sprayed into the air, just missing the girls. Sabrina and Daphne gasped. The three thugs—Tony, Steve, and Bobby—had been inside the cabin. There was no way any of them could have escaped.
"That's… dark." Basil managed.
"Which is why there's nothing to murder or maim." Relda said with a sigh.
Looking down at the destruction, the giant let out a sickening laugh. He stuffed the car into a greasy shirt pocket, lifted his other humongous leg, and walked away, carrying the remains of the mountain cabin in the treads of his boots. The earth shook violently and a ripple spilled across the land as if someone had tossed a stone into a pond to see it skip. Because of his mammoth stride, the giant completely disappeared over the horizon after just a dozen steps. Only the distant rumbling of his disastrous footfalls and the angry growls of Elvis remained.
"And that's when I realized… I'd screwed up." Sabrina announced.
The girls stood completely frozen. Competing with Sabrina's fear was another unsettling emotion—humiliation.
"Y'know, after this fiasco, you'd think you'd have learned to trust Granny." Daphne commented.
"You would think."
Mrs. Grimm had been telling the truth the whole time and Sabrina had refused to listen. Sabrina had deliberately been a jerk to the old woman, and now she might never see her again to tell her she was sorry. She moved to comfort her sister, but Daphne pulled away. The little girl rushed over to pick up whatever had fallen from the car. It was Mrs. Grimm's handbag.
"You always think of anything." Jake grinned.
"Well thank you, Jacob."
"She was telling the truth and you have been a big snot since the first minute. Tell me now if you think she's crazy," Daphne said furiously.
"I don't think she's crazy," her older sister said, but Daphne had already turned and was marching down the road. "Where are you going?"
"I'm going to rescue our family," the little girl called back without stopping.
"Our first mission. And we majorly screwed it up."
Sabrina looked down the long empty road. They had been walking for over an hour, and not so much as a bicycle had passed them. If they didn't get a ride back to the house soon, the girls would be walking all night.
The time might have passed more quickly if there had been a little conversation, but for an hour, Daphne had marched ahead of Sabrina, refusing to speak. Even Elvis, who followed closely behind, was ignoring her, but since he was a dog, his silence was a lot easier to take. But Daphne hadn't been quiet for longer than five minutes since she was born. She was even a noisy sleeper.
"Ouch." Daphne complained.
"You really are, though." Red confirmed.
"How was I supposed to know?" Sabrina cried. "Anybody would have thought she was crazy!"
"I didn't," Daphne said, finally breaking her silence.
"You don't count. You believe everything," Sabrina argued.
"Wow, I really was the world's biggest snot."
"You were."
"And you don't believe in anything," the little girl snapped. "Why are we even talking? You don't care what I think, anyway."
"That was, very true."
"That's not true!" Sabrina said, but before the words had left her mouth she knew they were a lie. What Daphne thought hadn't mattered in a long, long time, at least not since their parents had deserted them. But it wasn't like Sabrina wanted it that way. She was only eleven and didn't want to have to make all the decisions for both of them. She would love to feel like a kid and not have to worry about whether they were safe. But that wasn't how things were. Unfortunately, she realized now, she had never considered what Daphne thought when it came to their best interests.
"Sabrina?"
"Hmm?"
"Why'd you never learn from your mistakes?" Veronica looked fondly exasperated.
"I don't know, Mom, I don't know."
"Whatever!" Daphne muttered, and continued her angry march back to the house.
Elvis followed, sniffing the air wildly for the giant's stench. Sabrina could see that he took his guard dog duties little buzz and cracking sound had to be investigated.
"I've said it before, and I'll say it again. I really want Elvis." Daphne complained.
"He's probably stuck in place since time isn't moving." Sabrina replied.
The dog darted back and forth, peering through the barbed-wire fence that separated the road from the endless forest. Once he was confident that the swaying limbs of the pines or the occasional rooting woodchuck were not a giant sneaking up on them, he trotted to the center of the road and put his huge nose back to work.
"This is ridiculous. We'll never get home if we walk," Sabrina said. Her feet were aching, and at the pace they were going they'd be lucky if they made it back to the house by nightfall the next day.
"Me to the rescue." Puck hooted.
Sabrina gave him a withering glare, "I really hate you."
"You're not helping!" Daphne cried as she spun around. Her face was red and she had her hands on her hips.
"What do you want me to do?" Sabrina asked. "The old woman …"
"That's my line, Grimm."
"Sabrina! You can't kill him," Daphne groaned for what felt like the hundredth time.
"Our grandma," Daphne corrected.
"Whoever she is … just got carried off by a giant and we are trapped in the middle of nowhere. I'm sorry, but I've run out of ideas!"
"If only she'd tried to explain,"Red teased.
"Oh shush, you."
Daphne's shoulders loosened and her expression sank. She walked over to a fallen tree trunk next to the road, sat down, and began to cry. Elvis trotted over and nuzzled her, licking the little girl's tears from her chubby cheeks, and adding his whines to her sobbing.
Veronica very much looked like she wanted to hug the present Daphne, despite the fact that she looked completely nonchalant and was sixteen years old.
Sabrina sat down beside her sister and put her arm around the little girl.
"You don't care if we ever find them," Daphne sniffled, pulling away. "Now you can run off like you planned with no one to stop you."
Sabrina thought for a moment before she responded. She had to admit to herself that running away was her first instinct.
"I knew you were thinking that." Daphne huffed.
"Can I plead eleven years old?"
"Daphne, that monster was real. We can't fight that by ourselves. Even if we knew where he carried them off to, I don't think we could get them back. What are a seven-year-old and an eleven-year-old going to do about a giant?"
"That's where I come in." Puck smiled toothily.
"You look like Charming, right then." Sabrina informed him.
Puck immediately looked offended.
"You're almost twelve," Daphne said, wiping her eyes on the sleeve of her fuzzy orange shirt. "Besides, you heard Granny Relda. We're Grimms and this is what Grimms do. We take care of fairy-tale problems. We'll find a way to save Granny and Mr. Canis."
"Oh, look, your catchphrase again."
"How?"
"With this," Daphne said, holding the old woman's handbag above her head.
"There are some pretty freaking deadly things in there,"Henry reasoned.
"Remember when we found that disarmed bomb in there?" Jake reminscened.
"Oh yeah, that stuff was awesome."
Sabrina took it from her sister and fumbled through it. Inside were Mrs. Grimm's key ring, the swatch of fabric the old woman had said came from a giant, books, her notebook, and a small photograph. Sabrina pulled it out. "Mom and Dad," she said, as surprise raced through her.
"Question, couldn't you have just shown them the picture?" Veronica asked Relda.
"It certainly would've been easier,"she chuckled.
It was a picture of their parents, young and in love. Their dad had his hand on their mother's very pregnant stomach and they were both grinning. Granny Relda stood next to them, beaming, while Mr. Canis was off to the side, stone-faced as ever.
"I like how that description, and then Papa is just casually sitting there stonily." Red laughed.
It had been more than a year and a half since Sabrina had seen a picture of her parents. The police had seized everything during the investigation and promised that when it was over they'd get everything back.
Jake read faster at Sabrina's look.
But when the cops gave up looking for her mom and dad, their promises faded away. Now Sabrina's bitterness toward her parents faded, too. She held the snapshot as if it was a delicate treasure. It was evidence that her parents had existed, that at one time she and her sister had been part of a family. And it was obvious, seeing Granny Relda and her father standing side by side, where her father had gotten his warm round face.
"Yeah, if you hadn't been being a snot..."Daphne trailed off.
"Yeah, yeah."
She glanced at Daphne and saw that face in her sister, as well. She looked at her father's blond hair and recognized her own. Daphne had her mother's jet-black hair;
Daphne tugged at her newly dyed and curled warm brown hair and grinned.
Sabrina had her high cheekbones and bright eyes. How could her mom and dad have walked away from their family? Proof that they should be together was right there in their faces.
Daphne hovered over her sister to get a better view, tears still running down her cheeks. Sabrina turned the picture over. Someone had written, "The Family Grimm—Relda, Henry, Veronica, Mr. Canis, and the soon-to-be-born baby, Sabrina."
"Can you imagine a title on a photo of the family Grimm today? You all have flipping multiplied." Puck snickered.
"You'd be there too." Basil corrected.
"Why did he lie to us about her?" Sabrina whispered as she tucked the family portrait safely into her pants pocket.
"Oh, that would be because your father is a Class 1 jackass," Veronica replied.
"I don't know," Daphne answered quietly.
"And what happens if we start to love her and she abandons us, too?" the older girl asked, trying to hide the hurt in her voice.
At Sabrina's full-on warning glare, Jake all but skimmed past this part.
"Maybe she won't," Daphne said. "Maybe she'll just love us back."
The little girl wiped her eyes and dug into Granny Relda's handbag. She pulled out their grandmother's giant key ring. "She wanted us to have these keys. She wants us to go home."
"Idiots couldn't even get in."
"Puck, stop trying to get yourself killed," Red advised.
If we can even get home, Sabrina said to herself as a light caught the corner of her eye. She looked down the road. There were headlights approaching.
"You're almost coming in now, fairy boy."
"Fi-n-a-l-l-y!"
The two girls got up from the log and brushed themselves off.
"What should we do, stick out our thumbs?" Daphne asked.
"Honestly," Puck scoffed. "You two are lucky I had my pixies watch...hunting you down."
"We were doing just fine, Puck." Daphne defended.
Sabrina didn't know. They'd never hitchhiked before. In the past, whenever the girls had found themselves alone or on the run, they slipped under the turnstiles in the subway stations and traveled New York City's subterranean highway.
"That sounds...safe." Mr. Canis blinked.
Sabrina stuck out her thumb and Daphne did the same. The car came to a screeching stop. It sat still for a moment, with its engine humming, blinding the girls with its high-beam lights so that they had to shield their eyes with their hands.
"Hamstead was creeping us out so much at that point."
"Well, that was easy," Daphne said. "What's he doing?"
"I don't know," Sabrina said, stepping to the side. "Maybe he doesn't want to give us a ride."
"Like really," Daphne confirmed.
Suddenly, the car let out a long, eardrum-rattling honk, followed by more engine revving. To Sabrina, it seemed as if the car were an animal, waiting for the right time to pounce on them. She recalled hearing stories about hitchhikers being killed by lunatics.
"How could you possibly of heard those stories?"
"Few kids in the orphanage weren't as bad as the rest. Did you know that one of the kids we knew back then is an Everafter and lives in Ferryport? I was amazed when I saw her." Sabrina commented.
"Really?"
"Yep."
Hitchhiking didn't seem like such a great idea anymore. She grabbed her sister's hand and pulled her off the road. As if in response, the car revved its engines again.
"Run!" Sabrina cried. Surprised, Daphne stumbled along beside her but did what she was told. The two of them raced back the way they had come, hand in hand. Elvis followed closely behind, turning his big head to bark out the occasional angry warning at the menacing car, but it had little effect on whomever was behind the wheel.
"You two would have been murdered so easily."
The squeal of tires on asphalt told Sabrina that they were now being chased. The car honked again, sending a shocking jolt through her bones, and then suddenly it veered to the other side of the road. It sped up and passed the girls, then spun around, leaving black stains on the asphalt and the smell of burning rubber in Sabrina's nose. It was a police car, now stretched across the road, blocking the girls' escape route.
"I feel the exhilaration." Jake said.
The door opened and a short, stout, pear-shaped man stepped out. He wore a beige police uniform with shiny black boots, a billy club at his utility belt, and a wide-brimmed hat that fastened under his three chins.
"Good old Hamstead."
His face was puffy and pink with a nose that angled slightly upward, so that a person could see up his nostrils. On his shirt was a shiny, tin star that read FERRYPORT LANDING SPECIAL FORCES and a name tag underneath it that said SHERIFF HAMSTEAD.
"Girls, why are you running?" the sheriff asked in an unusually high-pitched voice that sent shivers into Sabrina's belly.
"Yeah, it was a wonder." Veronica chuckled.
"We thought you were trying to kill us," Daphne said angrily. Sabrina flashed her a look, letting her know that she would do the talking.
"Okay, I'm bored again." Puck yawned.
"I see. Well, I'm sorry if I gave you two a start, but it's not safe for little girls like yourselves to be walking out here in the dark. These roads can be treacherous," the sheriff said.
"I foresee Marshmallow…"
"Treacherous?" Daphne asked.
"I knew it."
"Dangerous," Sabrina explained.
"I got a call that you were out here, so I came looking," the portly man continued as he hoisted his sinking pants up around his waist. "Why don't you two hop into the squad car and I'll take you home?" He pointed to Elvis. "I don't know if we can put your horse in there, but we'll try."
"Sheriff Hamstead was always quite something." Veronica grinned.
"He's not a horse," Daphne said. Then, realizing the sheriff was joking, she added, "You can't tease him. He's very sensitive."
Hamstead leaned down and scratched Elvis under the chin. "Oh, I'm sure he is, aren't you, Elvis?"
"Elvis really is, though." Mr. Canis pointed out.
The big dog growled and snapped at the sheriff's hand. Hamstead pulled it away just in time, but then rubbed it with his other hand as if the dog had gotten a lucky bite.
"How do you know Elvis?" Sabrina said suspiciously.
"That night still exhausts my brain."
"Doesn't take much for that to happen." Puck drawled.
"Why do you want to get stabbed?"
"Oh, Elvis and I have met before. You must be Relda Grimm's grandchildren. I heard you were in town," the man said. "I'm the local sheriff, Ernest Hamstead."
"Heard we were in town." Daphne scoffed with a small smile.
"I'm Daphne," the little girl offered.
"Sabrina," Sabrina muttered.
"So, do you two need a ride home or are you trying to raise a million dollars for the March of Dimes?"
"What's the March of Dimes?" Red asked.
"Nonprofit organization that helps with the health of—usually—single mothers and children."
Sabrina nodded and Hamstead opened the squad car's backdoor. Elvis clumsily climbed in and the sheriff shut the door behind him. Sabrina and Daphne walked around the car and got in on the passenger's side of the front seat.
"You didn't answer." Puck announced.
Sheriff Hamstead squeezed and shifted his way into the car, breathing heavily as if carrying a great burden. He had left the keys in the ignition (Sabrina guessed so that he wouldn't have to fish them out of his tight pants), so as soon as he was settled, he started up the squad car and headed in the direction of Granny's house.
Daphne paused, "Wait, he was heading to Granny's?"
"Yeah...did he change directions?" Sabrina tried to recall.
"What do you mean?" Jake questioned.
"We're coming up on it." Daphne told him.
"So, I assume you two have already concocted some elaborate scheme to get your granny and her friend back?" Hamstead asked. The girls looked at each other, unsure of what to say.
"With my help." Puck boasted.
"Oh shut up."
"So you know about this?" Sabrina asked, dumbfounded.
"Yep," Sheriff Hamstead said. "Hard to miss a two-hundred-foot giant carrying grandmas away into the night, don't you think? I don't want you two girls to worry. Your granny is a tough cracker. I've seen her in bigger jams than this one and besides, she's got the entire Ferryport Landing Special Forces Squad working on the case. I know you two have been trained for this kind of thing, but we like to take care of our own problems here in Ferryport Landing."
"They should have been trained for it." Veronica said with a glare at her husband.
"Still sorry." Said husband, Henry, repeated.
Daphne cupped her hand around Sabrina's ear. "Have we been trained?" she whispered.
"I don't know what he's talking about," Sabrina whispered back.
"I was still freaking confused."
"Are you an Everafter?" the little girl said, returning her attention to the sheriff.
The sheriff looked over and winked a yes at Daphne. She squealed in delight. "Which one?"
"And the explanation of the direction thing approaches." Daphne told the room.
Suddenly, the squad car's CB radio crackled to life. "Hamstead? Sheriff Hamstead?" a man's voice fumed. It sounded oddly familiar to Sabrina.
Sabrina and Daphne made identical 'here we go' faces.
The sheriff seemed nervous. When he tried to pick up the handset, it fumbled in his sweaty hand before he finally got ahold of it.
"I'm here, boss. En route now," Hamstead said.
"Boss?" Henry noticed.
"That's fantastic news, Hamstead. Nice to know you can do something that's asked of you. If you care at all, I picked up our little troublemaker about a half an hour ago and he's sitting in a cell as we speak. So all I'm asking from you is to get those little trolls back to the mansion, ASAP! I can't have any headaches ruining tomorrow's festivities."
"Let me guess." Veronica said knowingly.
Sabrina's heart froze and as she looked at her sister, she saw the same horror reflected in Daphne's eyes. The voice on the police radio was Mayor Charming's!
"Yep." Sabrina said evenly.
The car had come to a stop sign, and Sabrina knew they had to act.
"Daphne, do you remember that time Mr. and Mrs. Donovan took us to that three-day lima bean cook-off festival?" Sabrina asked casually, hoping the girl would remember the crazy foster couple they had lived with for three weeks the previous year.
"There was always a bit of exhilaration in it." Daphne admitted.
"A kind of rush, I agree."
"In what?"
"You'll see, Mom."
The little girl grimaced, obviously remembering the pickled lima bean pie Mrs. Donovan was so proud of, but then a light in her eyes told Sabrina she also remembered their daring escape. Sabrina slipped her hand into her sister's and quickly pulled on the door handle. Before Hamstead could react, the girls were out of the car and freeing Elvis from the backseat.
"In running away." Sabrina told them.
"Hey!"
The sisters ran to the side of the road where a five-foot barbed-wire fence lined the edge of the forest. There was no way to climb it; the barbed wire's sharp teeth would tear them apart.
"I'm almost here!" Puck exclaimed gleefully.
Their only chance was to try to scurry between the rusty wires to the other side. Desperate, Sabrina stood on one of the wires, reached down and grabbed a safe spot on the next highest one, and pulled upward as hard as she could, creating a hole her sister could crawl through "Go!" Sabrina shouted, carefully watching the portly sheriff struggling out of the car.
"Remembering this in this much detail now, I find our antics completely ridiculous." Sabrina snorted.
Daphne scampered through the small gap to the other side. The little girl got to her feet and tried to mimic the trick she had just seen Sabrina do. The result was a small gap Sabrina couldn't possibly fit through.
"It's heavy," Sabrina coached Daphne, "you have to be strong."
"She was like seven at this point." Red pointed out.
"I am!" the little girl cried, pulling harder.
"Girls, you can't run!" Hamstead shouted angrily, as he finally freed himself from the car. Elvis positioned himself between Sabrina and the sheriff and barked a warning when the man took a step forward.
"I thought they just did." Puck said innocently.
Sabrina got down on her hands and knees and tried to crawl through, but before she could get to the other side, Hamstead, dodging Elvis, was on top of her, grabbing her legs and trying to pull her back out.
"That was his mistake."
"You're coming with me!" he squealed.
Sabrina kicked wildly and looked back into the sheriff's face, and what she saw bewildered her.
"You kicked him in the face!?" Henry yelped.
"He was with Charming."
Sheriff Hamstead was going through a disturbing metamorphosis. His already pug nose became a slimy pink snout. His round face puffed up to three times its size, and his ears turned pink and pointy and migrated to the top of his head. His chubby fingers melded into thick black hoofs, and his back bent over until he was literally on all fours. Hamstead had turned into a pig—an angry, determined pig in a policeman's uniform.
"That's so bizarre." Jake snorted.
"I can't hold it any longer," Daphne cried, wide-eyed at what she was witnessing. Sabrina kicked one more time and felt her foot sink into Hamstead's gelatinous belly. His piggy face turned white and he fell onto his back, honking and gasping for air as his little legs flailed back and forth. Just as suddenly as he had changed to a pig, he changed back to a man.
"No, that was bizarre." Red corrected.
Daphne's arms gave out and the barbed wire came down on top of Sabrina, snagging her pants. Daphne vainly tried to lift it again, but the taut wire barely moved.
"Your first act as a hero." Sabrina said to Puck purposefully.
"I am not a hero!" He cried angrily.
"Surrrre."
"What are we going to do?" Daphne cried as Hamstead staggered to his feet. He rushed toward Sabrina, this time as a full man. Suddenly, Sabrina heard a series of notes, as if someone in the woods was playing a flute, followed by a buzzing sound that grew closer and closer.
"Thank the lord, I'm finally here!" Puck yelled.
"Not yet, just your stupid pixies."
Sabrina peered through the trees nervously, remembering the music from the night before.
Henry glared at Puck, evidently remembering how he attacked Daphne and Sabrina.
"They're coming, aren't they?" Daphne said, and before she finished the question a cloud of little lights zipped out of the forest and surrounded them. This time the lights didn't attack. Instead, they hovered as if waiting for instructions. Another note pierced the night air and the little lights buzzed into action, perching on the barbed wires that had Sabrina caught and, with a flutter of wings, pushing at the lowest wire and pulling the other one up, creating a hole big enough for Sabrina to scamper through.
"You at that age did it?" Veronica inquired surprisedly.
"I wouldn't be proud of him, you'll see why in a moment." Relda chuckled, having heard the story before.
When she got to the other side, the little lights let go of the wires.
Hamstead, trapped on the other side of the fence, squealed in frustration and searched for an opening. He waddled back and forth, huffing and grunting, but found nothing that would allow his human or pig form to pass. Desperately, he got to his hands and knees and tried to squeeze through the wires.
"I'm bored again." Puck complained.
"Oh shut up." Sabrina snapped.
And that's when Elvis made his move. The big dog ran full steam right at Hamstead like some kind of fur-covered locomotive. He leaped onto Sheriff Hamstead's broad back and used it as a springboard. The sheriff let out a painful grunt as Elvis sailed effortlessly over the top of the fence and landed on all fours.
"When you're bested by two young girls and a dog." Jake laughed.
The chubby policeman quickly recovered. He stood up, grabbed a fence post, and began to climb. Sabrina knew she had to do something. She grabbed another post and pushed all her weight against it. Discovering it was quite loose in the ground, she shook it back and forth as hard as she could, and the fence swayed uncontrollably.
"Lieblings!" Relda exclaimed as Veronica scolded, "Girls!"
"He was bringing us to Charming." Sabrina replied.
"Hey, stop that!" Hamstead shouted nervously as he clung to the fence.
Daphne rushed to Sabrina's side and together they shook the fence even harder. Suddenly, with a loud tearing of fabric, Sheriff Hamstead's body thumped to the ground on his side of the fence.
"Youch." Puck winced.
He groaned and let out an angry cry. After a moment, he picked himself up. Unfortunately, his pants had not survived the fall.
Sabrina and Daphne exchanged a look, and then tried to hide two little snorts of laughter.
They hung from the sharp teeth of the barbed-wire fence, leaving the sheriff in just a pair of droopy long johns. Defeated, he hobbled back to his car.
"He's leaving," Sabrina said as she followed her sister into the dark woods.
"He turned into a pig," Daphne whispered.
"Such a strange night."
"I saw him," Sabrina replied. "But I think we have another problem."
"Fairy boy is always a problem."
"Thank you, Grimm."
The little lights waited patiently ahead of them. They darted into the woods and then came back out, as if they wanted the girls to follow them.
"Dad is going to kill you." Daphne said amusedly.
"So's Mom."
"What do you want?" Sabrina asked, and the lights shimmered and blinked an answer.
"Should we follow them?" said Daphne.
"I don't see that we've got much of a choice," Sabrina said, thinking the lights might attack if they didn't.
"They'd better not." Henry growled.
She took her sister's hand and they walked through the dark woods, with Elvis trotting closely behind. Low-hanging branches blocked their path, and with each step the girls had to dodge and weave to get through. Several times Sabrina walked into trees, feeling the prickly spindles of a pine or the crusty bark of an oak tear at her clothes and skin.
"My pixies did very well." Puck smirked.
The lights guided them, slowing down occasionally to see if they were keeping up.
"They're making sure we're following them," Sabrina said, wondering if it was a good thing or a bad thing.
"Bad, because of them we met gasbag." Sabrina muttered.
Soon, the girls stepped into a clearing. In the center was a pile of junk. An old refrigerator, a couple of burned-out microwaves, some abandoned teddy bears, and a broken toilet had been assembled into a massive chair. Sitting on the junk "throne" was a boy with a mop of blond hair that was tussled and dirty.
"F-i-n-a-l-l-y!" Puck yelled.
He wore a pair of baggy blue jeans and a green hooded sweatshirt in desperate need of a washing, and in his hand he held a small sword. But most interesting was the golden crown that rested on his head.
"Ha. Stupid girls."
"Whatever you say...Peter."
Puck scowled.
"I am not that stupid washed up hasbin."
"Mmkay."
"Pixies," he called to the little lights. "What have you found?"
The little lights erupted into a loud buzzing.
"Spies, you say?" the boy asked. "Well, what do we do with spies?"
"Spies?" Veronica snorted.
There was more buzzing in response, and a wicked grin appeared on the boy's face.
"That's correct." He laughed. "We drown them!"
"WHAT?" Henry roared.
Sabrina, Daphne, and Red all burst out laughing.
"Relax."
"No, he's right this time." Veronica growled.
Puck recoiled fearfully.
No one lunged...yet.
When the girls protested their kidnapping, the army of pixies surrounded them and delivered several stings. Nursing their wounds, the girls were forced to follow the odd boy farther into the woods.
"Where are you taking us?" Sabrina asked, but the boy just laughed.
"Stupid idiot." Sabrina murmured, irritated.
Soon, they came to the end of the forest, where a tall fence blocked their way. Built into the fence was a door, and the boy pushed it open. The girls stepped through and found themselves standing in front of a tarp-covered swimming pool in the backyard of a two-story suburban-style house.
"I'd hide if I were you." Jake recommended to Puck.
Some pixies swirled around the tarp and lifted it off the pool, while others zipped off and returned with a rope. They stung Sabrina's arms relentlessly until she put them behind her back, and then they tied the rope around her wrists.
Henry was moving, very slowly, towards Puck.
The boy stuck the tip of his sword into Sabrina's back. He forced her onto the diving board. "You've made a terrible mistake, spy!" he shouted.
"Idiot."
"We're not spies!" Sabrina exclaimed.
"You're an idiot, Grimmazoid."
"Tell it to the fish!" the boy hollered, causing the little lights to make a tittering noise that sounded like laughter.
"The greatest moment in this book is coming up." Sabrina grinned cheerfully.
Sabrina looked down at the pool and wondered how deep the water was. There was a diving board, so it had to be deep, and with her arms tied behind her she'd certainly drown if the icy water didn't freeze her to death first.
"Jeez, so dramatic. I wasn't actually going to let you die."
She tugged at the ropes, but each pull just tightened them around her wrists.
"So, spy, would you like to repent your crimes before you meet your watery doom?" the boy asked.
Relda narrowly caught Henry's arm before he punched Puck.
"Dad, sit down." Sabrina said with a little shake of her head.
"What crimes?" Sabrina cried, and then took a deep breath, certain he would push her in. But after several moments, nothing happened.
"And it better not."
"The crime of trying to steal the old lady away from me," the mop-topped boy declared.
"Granny?" Daphne asked from the side of the pool.
"I like how all of this is because of Granny." Basil giggled.
"The one they call Relda Grimm."
"Relda Grimm is our grandmother and we're not trying to steal her. We're trying to save her!" Sabrina shouted.
"And here Puck proves his idiocy." Sabrina yawned.
"Hey!"
"Save her?" the boy asked suspiciously. "Save her from what?"
"A giant," the two girls called out together.
Sabrina could sense their captor's confusion. She turned and found him talking to several of the little lights that hovered around his head.
"I was so angry with them." Puck commented.
"Well, of course it makes a difference," the boy replied, annoyed.
"Case and point. You didn't notice a freaking giant." Sabrina muttered.
"We're trying to get home. We need to save her before it's too late," Daphne pleaded.
The boy groaned and quickly untied Sabrina's wrists. "Where did this happen?" he asked. "How big was the giant?"
"Mistake. That was a very big mistake." Red observed.
But Sabrina didn't answer. Instead, she spun around, grabbed the boy by the shoulders, and heaved him into the pool, sending a splash of water and soggy dead leaves high into the air.
"Yes, it was."
The sword had slipped from the boy's hand as he fell, and with nimble fingers, Sabrina caught it.
"Those are Grimm genes right there." Veronica told them.
"Very much so, yes." Sabrina agreed.
She leaped to safety on the side of the pool and waved the sword threateningly at the pixies. "You're going to let us walk out of here," she demanded. There was no movement at first, but then they flew around the pool, making a laughing sound, as if they were chuckling at their leader's misfortune. Sabrina stood dumbfounded, unsure of what to do next.
"Party ruiner." Puck complained.
A geyser of water shot high into the air, with the soaked boy riding its crest. When the water crashed back into the pool, the boy stayed aloft, several feet above Sabrina. Two huge wings had come out of his back and were flapping loudly. Oddly enough, the boy was laughing.
"He does know how to make an entrance."
"I'm aware, Daphne." Her elder sister replied.
"You think this is funny?" Sabrina exploded. She began making jabs at the boy, who flew effortlessly away from her thrusts. "A kid and a bunch of flying cockroaches kidnapping girls and threatening to kill them? That's how you losers have fun?"
...
I have a problem. I forgot to give credit to Michael Buckley in the top footnote, so here it is. MICHAEL BUCKLEY OWNS SG AND NOT ME IN ANY SORT OF WAY EVER, DON'T SUE ME PLEASE! Now, I really hope you liked this chapter, Puck finally shows up which I know a lot of people were excited about. Turns out she did push him into the pool this chapter, I wasn't sure at the top. Now, for the QOTHW-Question of the Half Week because I'm posting on Wednesday this week-Who is your favorite Sisters Grimm character? Mine is definitely either Granny Relda or Jake. Are those weird choices? Eh, probably. So, answer that in the reviews and don't forget to be on the lookout for the next chapter!
