CHAPTER 2
Sabrina was stood in central park near the statue of Hans Christen Andersen waiting for her family, arms crossed and foot tapping. It wasn't too hot out so she just wore jeans and a tee-shirt, her usual look if she wasn't required to be in business casual for school or work. She wasn't a patient woman in the best of circumstances, and these seemed to be the worst.
Finally they arrived, she smiled, relaxing a bit at the sight of them. Daphne ran ahead and threw her arms around her sister, and Sabrina hugged her back tightly.
"I've missed you!" Daphne said, her voice muffled into Sabrina's shirt.
"We talk all the time on the phone, and I just saw you guys for spring break a few months ago" Sabrina said "but I missed you too" she added.
Veronica, Henry, and Basil caught up and each gave Sabrina their own hugs.
"It's good to see you sweetheart" said her dad.
"I just wish it was under better circumstances" added her mom. They all glanced around at each other, clearly Sabrina was out of the loop on how much was going on. Before she could ask though her mom added, "Oh, Granny, Tobias, and Red send their love. Granny stayed to take care of the house, Tobias stayed to take care of Granny, and Red stayed to take care of Tobias"
Sabrina laughed, some of the tension lifting, "They're all in good hands".
She looked over the faces of her family. "I'm glad you guys are here," she grabbed her sisters hand and gave it a squeeze "but will you please tell me why?"
Daphne stared up into her sister's worried eyes "We don't really know that much either. Mustardseed said it was serious and dangerous."
Daph looked down and swallowed "Apparently some Fae have gone missing."
"Well let's head on in, we don't want to be late for our meeting with the king" Veronica stated, getting everyone on task. Daphne and Basil chuckled at their mom's formal title for their old friend.
Veronica walked up to Hans and told her knock-knock joke. Basil followed, then Henry and Daphne.
Sabrina took a deep breath meeting with the king she knew of course they'd be working with him but still the thought of seeing him made her heart race. She'd barely seen him the last few years. When he had first come back from his travels with Jake and she had moved to the city for school they'd struck up their friendship again. They had even almost been something more…but then she'd panicked and ran away, throwing herself into school and human friends. Well no use postponing the inevitable. She stepped up to the statue
"knock knock"
Inside the palace war room Puck was pacing. They had called it the war room but it looked more like a dining room really. A long table in the middle with chairs all around it. The only thing to indicate the purpose of the room was the china cabinets lining the walls, but instead of holding fancy dinner plates and shiny cutlery they held spoils of war. Helmets, daggers, swords, bows, armor, some of them were charred, bent, or had dried blood on them. Some of them looked like the same sort of weapons used in the mortal world but some had a sort of magic-infused glow about them.
Puck paced by all of them, staring at the ground mumbling. At one of the chairs sat Mustardseed. On the table was a scattering of papers and books. Mustardseed sat stiff and watched his brother, this king of Faerie pacing around the room in jeans and a sweatshirt. Even though he had grown up and was ruling the kingdom, he still usually sported this pedestrian look.
"Maybe it's a prank" Puck said, finally loud enough to be heard "A bad prank - and I would know - but a prank none the less"
"Why" asked Mustardseed "would someone prank us like this?"
Puck shrugged, still pacing "Retaliation? For something I did forever ago that was probably hilarious and awesome and actually a good prank."
"Normally I'd agree with you" Mustardseed replied, "about the retaliation part not the self-absorbed gloating part."
Puck was about to retort when a young looking fairy servant knocked on the door and popped his head in
"Your majesty, the Grimms have arrived"
Without even looking at the servant Puck waved a hand "Send them in." he said as he sat down at the head of the table. He frowned then stood back up. Should he be chill and relaxed in his chair when they enter as if nothing was amiss, or should he stand ready at attention for them to show off how good he was at being King. Should he be the cool guy who didn't care or the responsible man who could handle anything? What would show her - er show them, all the Grimms, that he could be the person they needed?
Before he could decide to sit back down and be cool the door opened and the Grimms poured into the room. First Henry and Veronica followed by Daphne and Basil who came crashing in. Daph ran up to Puck to give him a hug
"Heya Marshmellow" he laughed out and hugged her back.
Basil was in awe of all the war memorabilia on the shelves.
"woaahhhh," he stared up at an old rusty sword covered in blood stains "can I have it?"
"Sure" said Puck at the same time Henry and Veronica said "No!"
Daphne released Puck from his hug and joined her brother looking at all the cool things on the shelves. Then in walked Sabrina. She only took one step into the doorway before stopping, her bright blue eyes meeting Puck's. His throat caught, his breath stopped, and his heart pounded. He hadn't seen her in nearly 2 years but she'd hardly changed a bit. Still standing tall and strong, a fire in her eyes, ready for a mystery and a fight.
She looked away. Glancing at the shelves, the chairs, the table, anywhere but him. Well he wasn't about to act like an awkward little boy. He'd giver her - and the rest of them - the Puck they knew and admired.
"Glad to see you all made it in one piece," he tossed a pointed look at Sabrina "surprised this one made it alive, the pigeons in Central Park can get pretty rapacious." he smirked at her.
She took the bait "Ooh 'rapacious' good to see you got a word of the day calendar!" She threw at him her voice dripping with disdain "Lots of big words to go with that big crown on your big head."
Puck opened his mouth to retort when Mustardseed cleared his throat.
"Ahem, I think we ought to sit down and discuss the extremely important matter at hand?" he raised his eyebrows at Puck.
Puck screwed his face up and rolled his eyes but relented "Yes, everyone please sit down." He gestured to the table and each of the Grimms found a seat.
"Your Majesties"
Veronica began but Mustardseed held up a hand to stop her, "There is no need for titles here."
She nodded and smiled to him. "Will you two tell us everything now? What is going on?"
All eyes turned to the brothers, waiting for the explanation that would surely bring up more questions than answers.
Mustardseed took in a deep breath and began "There are growing concerns from the east-"
"Like, Queens?" Sabrina asked.
"No" Mustardseed answered "from the Northeast really -"
"Like, the Bronx?" Sabrina interrupted again.
Puck made a noise somewhere between a scoff and a laugh but Mustardseed showed no reaction to Sabrina's comments and continued. "The problems are even farther north and east. From Russia." He quickly added before anyone could guess another location.
"There have been reports of missing Fae. Usually it's not something that's concerning, after all fairies do have a knack for living in the woods, you should know that's where you met Puck," Puck flashed a grin at the mention of him and Mustardseen continued "but these reports were too many to dismiss."
He riffled through the papers on the desk
"We thought maybe something it was something harmless like, a band of fairies joining together in friendship or thievery or something manageable. Or, worst case an uprising to deal with. Then we received this, " he held up a piece of paper "and we discovered something even worse than we could have imagined."
He passed the paper to the Grimms.
They all leaned in to read it, their detective minds racing for clues already. But disappointment hit immediately as they found they couldn't - none of them knew the language it was written in.
"Ummm," Daphne ventured "what is it?"
Basil added in "I know I'm dyslexic but you guys can't read this either, right?" The family all shook their heads.
Puck abruptly stood up and paced again. "It's a letter," he snarled out. Everyone's eyes snapped to him and followed him around the room. "A declaration really," he stopped pacing for a moment of drama "of war."
He moved again, too stressed even for theatrics. "He's already taken our people out east and he will make his way here. He wants Faerie and he'll kill as many of our people as he wants on the way!" Puck's hands were in fists.
Sabrina blinked who was this boy - or this man, rather. She thought, And what had he done with Puck?
Any other day the Grimms had shown up he would have been ready for mischief and trickery, but this threat of his kingdom - the first real one under his rule - had brought out a side of him none of them had really seen before. A desperate love for the people he had once lost and a need to prove himself as their rightful ruler had left him prankless for days. And he hated himself for it.
Ugh he groaned inwardly here she is. Here they all are, just sitting around like ducks. This would've been perfect opportunity to set up a rig in the ceiling of this room to spill syrup and feathers and -
"We might be of more help if we knew who this 'he' was that sent the letter." Henry said.
Puck gave Mustardseed a look that said 'go ahead, tell them'.
"That's why we've called you in," Mustardseed turned his gaze back to the Grimms "the threat is from an Everafter known as Kaschey the Immortal."
Sabrina laughed out loud, a sound that made Puck's heart skip a beat.
"I'm sorry," she said "but we're all - I mean everyone in this room and lots of people outside of it are, well, immortal. Isn't that kind of a silly name?"
Puck snickered, "Yeah well Kaschey the Idiot didn't have the same ring to it." She didn't laugh, why didn't she laugh at that?
Mustardseed sighed and responded to Sabrina's inquiry "He is…slightly more immortal than the rest of us. He managed to trap his life, or perhaps trap his death, inside of an egg. It's the only way to kill him."
"Like a horcrux!" Daphne exclaimed.
"A what?" the fairy prince asked.
"You don't know what a horcrux is?" Daphne asked, appalled "Okay so in Harry Potter - that's a book series - there's this dark wizard, and you're not supposed to say his name but just so you know it's Voldemort and he -"
"Daphne," Veronica chimed in, "maybe later?"
Daphne nodded, remembering the situation. "Right," she turned to Mustardseed "don't worry about it it's not real," she tilted her head "I think." She added, realizing she was talking to fairy royalty from a Shakespeare play so who was she to say which magic was or wasn't real?
"The point is," Mustardseed got them back on track "we've called you in for your detective skills to help us locate the egg."
"Do you have any information that could help us get started?" Veronica asked.
"Or any leads at all?" Henry asked, more hopeful than when he had entered the room.
Puck who had found himself standing in between Sabrina and Daphne's chairs slammed his hands on the table, making both the girls jump. He smiled enjoying their frightened reactions. Sabrina punched his arm but he was too excited to shove her back.
"We have one lead," his eyes glinted and his smile widened, "someone who knew Kaschey before he became immortal, er more immortal." He looked over everyone's faces, finally feeling the theatrics back in him, "Pack your bags. We're going into the woods to visit my favorite witch!"
"Oh no." Sabrina groaned.
He turned to her and winked "Oh, yes!"
So what did y'all think? A little more expositional than I would've like but we'll get into action soon enough. Please do leave a review it means a lot.
And I did make a harry potter reference in this chapter, I like HP, but I don't want anyone to get the wrong idea and think I side with JKR on anything. If you don't think trans women are women I don't need your views on this story, that's all.
