Daphne woke up and stretched. She looked around her room, scanning the walls and pictures on her dresser, getting the feeling that she was forgetting something very important. Then, she eyed the fancy card she'd propped up on her nightstand that read "THIS IS YOUR MOMENT!"
Of course. She was 10 today.
She leapt out of bed and practically skipped to the bathroom across the hall to take a refreshing shower. Then, she pulled on her ruffled purple dress with patterns of white stars and sequins that seemed to twinkle on it. As a last touch, Daphne pulled on her queen Elsa wig and applied makeup before giving herself a smile as she jumped down the stairs.
"Everyone knows what day it is today, right?"
Sabrina, Puck, Uncle Jake, Henry, and Granny Relda gaped at her.
"What?" Daphne twirled her blonde braid.
"Why are you wearing a wig?" Puck asked.
"Who said you could wear makeup?" demanded Sabrina, jealous her mother had taken the liberty of teaching Daphne, a surprisingly fast learner, how to apply makeup well, while she was still wary of an eyelash curler.
"Duh! I'm a princess! On my day I need to look like one and these lovely locks give me many powers!"
"The older she gets, the more that mind of hers expands towards the west path of wild imagination," Sabrina murmured.
Daphne ignored her. "I know what I want to do today," she announced.
"What, libeling?" Granny asked.
Just then, Veronica entered the room with Basil. "Oh, there's my princess!" she cooed, hugging Daphne.
"Mom, I'm 10! I'm my own princess now," Daphne said.
Veronica looked pointedly at Sabrina.
Sabrina threw her hands up. "I'm not teaching her this stuff!"
"What do you want to do on your special day?" Henry asked.
"I wanna go skydiving!"
Puck choked on his pancakes. "The little marshmallow wants to jump off a bridge?"
"That's bungee jumping," Sabrina corrected him.
"Then what's skydiving?" questioned Puck.
"It's when you jump off a plane and yank on your parachute in hopes of landing on the ground and being able to face another day of life," Henry quickly explained.
"That's awesome!" Puck exclaimed. "I'm in on this plan!"
"It's not a good idea. I'm afraid you're too young for dangerous stunts like that," Granny said.
"I agree with your grandmother. I certainly don't want my daughter risking injury," Veronica jumped in.
"But, Mom, you've done a lot of wild things as a kid! Wasn't it fun?" Daphne asked.
Veronica winced at certain memories. "Not all things were."
"Young lady, you will not go skydiving. That's suicidal," Henry scolded.
"Just invite Kate and Liz over and watch a movie," suggested Sabrina. "Turning 10 doesn't mean you have to try new things like skydiving."
"Yes, it does! None of you understand!" Daphne ran up the stairs away from her surprised family and shut the door tightly. She slunk against it, heartbroken. They still treated her the same way they treated her when she was seven. Why didn't they see growing up as a Grimm and detective changed her?
They'll see, she thought. They'll see just how daring I can be.
Daphne peeked over the living room couch and saw her uncle snoring loudly, his slight beard twitching. She quietly tiptoed around the couch and crouched down, shifting through the pockets of his coat thrown on the floor. She found the purplish red liquid in a curved jar. "I'm going over to Liz's house," she whispered to her uncle. He stirred in his sleep and mumbled something before nodding. Then Daphne quietly crawled out of the living room and out the front door.
She hid behind the chestnut tree on their front yard before opening the jar, sniffing the potion to make sure it was the right one and discovered her hunch was correct.
Daphne was holding the Sluggish Serving potion, the very potion that would, for a short period of time, convince someone to do something for her. Jake always hid the potion from her and her sister but after years of learning all his different spells and supplies, Daphne could easily tell by a potion's scent its capabilities and advantages. This potion would be very helpful for her to be able to jump on a plane and skydive, something she's wanted to do for a long time.
She hesitated. Her next move was going to be ruthless and maybe not a good choice afterwards. It would be wise to simply put the potion back where she found it and call up her friends to see Maleficent.
But was she doing to do that? Of course not. She was Daphne, she was way too diva-deliciously impetuous (her newest phrase).
She walked down the driveway and a few blocks down towards Liz's house. She knocked on the door before Liz's father opened. "Hello, Daphne," he smiled down at her. "Happy birthday!"
"Thank you, sir. I was just going to give Liz this delicious refreshment, but perhaps you'd like to try a sample of it?" asked Daphne hopefully.
"Certainly," he took the small jug from her and studied it. "Interesting. I've never seen a refreshment this color."
"Oh, it's the latest," Daphne said quickly, eager to avoid suspicion.
Liz's dad took a few sips of it and licked his lips. "Oh, my. It's delicious." He took a few more sips before chugging the rest down.
Daphne watched him enjoy the refreshment, triumph.
Then, his eyes got a misty look over them and he grinned dumbly. "Is there anything you want?"
"I want you to take me, Liz, and Kate skydiving," Daphne said simply.
Within minutes, she and her friend were buckled in the car and were driving next door to take Kate "shopping" with them. When they paused at the airport where people were going in with parachutes, the two friends looked at Daphne, confused.
"Why are we here?" asked Kate.
"We're here to go skydiving!" Daphne replied excitedly, prying the car door open.
The girls gaped at her.
"Are you crazy?" Liz cried.
"I guess so," was Daphne's cheerful answer.
"But-but-I'm scared of heights!" Kate said, swallowing.
Daphne touched her shoulder. "But you're not going to be up for long," she assured her. "You'll jump out of that plane confident, facing your fear in the face. Literally."
"Um, how exactly did my dad agree to this?" questioned Liz.
"Oh, well, he was convinced, said we were old enough and that we'll be secured properly," Daphne said guiltily.
The girls looked doubtfully at each other before turning towards the airport.
"Come on, girls!" Liz's dad said, beckoning towards them. "You have a class to catch!"
With lessons from tying ropes to releasing parachutes, Daphne wondered if this was a sport people did often. Their coach was trying to calm hyperventilating Kate down as she told her jumping out of a plane was fast and easy.
After an hour, the trio was ready. They were buckled in with baggy jumpsuits and large helmets as they boarded the plane.
"Are you sure you're ready?" Liz whispered.
"I've been born ready my whole life," Daphne said back, jiggling with excitement.
Their pilot opened the plane's door and a howling wind blasted in their faces, blowing signed papers agreeing they could go skydiving everywhere.
"Remember, kids, stay safe and good luck!" Liz's dad said. Then, his face slowly changed from its distracted state and he blinked hard, frowning. "What is going-''
"JUMP!" Daphne screamed with such force that Kate ended up being the first one jumping, screaming loudly as she faced the ground below.
Liz stared at her dad puzzled and then at the tiny homes dotting the landscape miles of feet underneath them. "I don't think-"
"HAHHHHHHHYAAAAA!" Daphne yelled before swinging herself out of the plane, letting out a wail. She felt so free, flying through the air with her blonde wig billowing out of its braid as she glanced down. "I'M FREE!" she screamed. "I'm free and at liberty!"
Halfway through her freefall, she remembered the parachute. As she reached up to undo the knot of the parachute on her backpack to have it catch her and slow her down from making contact with any solid ground, she saw that the string was tangled and wouldn't free. Panicked, she attempted to tug on it harder but nothing budged. "HELP!" she yelled. "IT'S STUCK! IT'S-"
Now the houses didn't look as small as they first did.
With a desperate final attempt, Daphne bared her teeth and forcefully pulled on the parachute, setting it free, mere minutes before her knees skidded against the ground, she tumbled over, and consciousness faded.
Daphne slowly opened her eyes to a beeping monitor and a dim white ceiling. What happened? she wondered. Am I dead?
The door flung open and her family came stampeding in. "Liebling!" Granny cried, sobbing with relief.
Sabrina stared at her sister, her emotions a mixture of rage, fear, and relief. "What is wrong with you?" she yelled.
Puck sulked. "You could've taken me along," he grumbled.
Henry strolled over to the hospital bed and looked like he was tempted to lash at his younger daughter before hugging her tightly.
Veronica sighed sadly. "I should've known my actions would affect my daughter one day."
"Kate! Liz!" Daphne bolted upright. "Where are they? What happened to them?!"
"Kate landed safely and seemed pretty happy about jumping out in the first place, and Liz didn't go at all," Jake replied.
Daphne heaved a sigh of relief.
"You don't know how much trouble you're in," Henry leered, regaining control and releasing his daughter. "You could've gotten killed."
"But I didn't," Daphne couldn't help stating in a matter-of-fact way.
"But you broke your leg," Puck pointed out.
Daphne glanced down at her right leg, which was wrapped up in a sturdy cast. Now she would be one of those faulty children who had everyone sign their casts.
A nurse came in the room and saw the family standing over their youngest member. "Oh, good, she's awake," the nurse said. "It wasn't pleasant finding a girl stranded in the forest, hurt and unconscious."
"We'll sign her out soon and pay the charges," Jake said.
"Fine by us," the nurse said, brushing back a strand of red hair.
Jake smiled. "You look lovely in that uniform," he said, winking.
The nurse blushed. "Thank you," she replied shyly, her cheeks slowly changing to a pink tone.
"You kind of look like someone I know," Jake said dreamily. "So pretty…"
Henry dragged him away by the ear. "Honestly, what do you think you are, in high school again?"
Granny turned to Daphne once more after her sons left the room. "You aren't allowed to invite your friends over for two months" she said. "Your phone and iPod will be taken away, along with your privilege of staying up late on weekends."
"And you can't watch TV, meaning no Teen Wolf as well," Veronica added.
"What?" Daphne grumbled. "That's not fair!"
"And it's also not fair you took my favorite potion and used it for your advantage," Jake replied, entering the room with a disgruntled Henry behind him.
"Fine," she sighed.
The doctors said she could get released after one more night and an X-ray before setting for home.
Daphne threw the wrinkled covers over her head before there was a knocking at the door.
"These are for you, miss," a doctor said, handing her a banquet of pink roses. Daphne smiled and took them from him. She read the white tag and saw swirly silver words that she could only identify as some kind of cursive saying, Hope you get well soon! Love, Secret Admirer.
She had gone sky diving with her friends, had broken her leg, and now had a secret admirer. It had been the best day ever.