Chapter Four
"Good morning, Sabrina!" Daphne cheered. "I've mucho great-o news! I think I've solved the mystery! You know that the Lilliputians have been out of jail for quite some time and…"
"That's nice, Daphne," Sabrina interrupted, looking somewhat irritated. The little girl's grin disappeared, replaced with confusion. "Granny Relda will be proud of you. Where's Puck?"
Daphne beamed again. "The first signs of love," she began, her voice monotone, like she was reading out of a book, "are when the two lovers can't seem to cope without their secret crushes being around and…"
"No!" Sabrina yelled. "It's not that at all! I'm just wondering where he is. I want to know whether or not he's planning another prank."
"I wouldn't know," Daphne replied, frowning. "I left before he did. He isn't back yet?"
"Nobody has come in here so far, except for you."
Daphne looked somewhat contemplative. "I don't know where he could be. Maybe you're right. Maybe he is setting up another prank."
She pulled some thick-rimmed black glasses with tape around the middle from her pants pocket and put them on her face. Sabrina stared at her.
"They help me think," Daphne said defensively.
She grabbed her book and left.
Sabrina fell back on the trampoline. It bounced her up and down a couple of times, then went still.
Puck couldn't be planning another trick. He just couldn't.
But, just in case, she could.
Sabrina snuck downstairs and into the kitchen. She had a perfect idea for a trick.
She opened the refrigerator and looked inside it. There she found the irresistably delicious doughnuts Uncle Jake had bought from Briar Rose's earlier in the week. She took them out.
Reaching into her pocket, Sabrina grabbed a hold of a bag full of black colored flakes. Chocolate-flavored X-Lax, designed to look like sprinkles. She giggled and shook a handful onto the pastries.
While putting them back, she also noticed that there was also an unopened can of sausage on the top shelf. Just in case she needed a plan B, she took it and shoved it in her jacket pocket. She closed the door, then sneaked her way back into Puck's room.
Sabrina fell on the trampoline and laughed. Puck would never see that one coming.
...
A blood-curdling scream echoed from downstairs. Sabrina shot up. She must've drifted off to sleep.
Another scream. It sounded a lot like Daphne. She threw back the covers and leaped down from the trampoline.
She ran down the stairs two at a time, as fast as she could possibly go. When she reached the bottom she found Daphne, bent over near the front door. Sabrina's heart was pounding.
"Daphne! Daphne, are you alright?" she yelled.
"No!" Daphne sobbed. The little girl didn't straighten up from where she was.
"What's wrong?"
"Look!" She pointed to something lying on the floor.
A small pixie, no bigger than Sabrina's pinky finger, was lying on the ground. Surrounding it was what appeared to be a puddle of blood.
"I think it's dead!" Daphne wailed.
"Is it Puck's?" Sabrina whispered.
Daphne looked up, tears streaming down her face. "Huh?"
She didn't look at her, though. Instead, she looked out the door, horrified.
"Puck," she whispered.
She bolted, running as fast as she could for the woods.
"Sabrina!"Daphne called. "Sabrina!"
But Sabrina didn't turn. What if Puck was hurt? What if the Scarlet Hand had gotten to him?
Puck would be okay. He had to be okay.
She ran around the house very fast, the wind whipping at her hair. She stumbled and tripped a few times, but always got back up and kept running. Her knees stung, she ignored it. The air flew at her so fast that her eyes stung and began to water. She held her head down and commanded her legs to run faster.
She was soon at the forest. She approached the place Daphne had said was where she and Puck were going to find evidence and looked around cautiously. The boy fairy was nowhere in sight.
Sabrina ran into the forest, further and further. She continued running until she was deep inside, and couldn't see the house anymore. But she could see a mound of trash off in the distance.
Puck's fortress.
She slowed her pace and looked among the garbage. She found banana peels, egg cartons, old sofas cushions, empty chip bags, mutilated wooden soldiers, and something moldy and unrecognizable. She noticed most of the stuff was once food, and half of it still smelled like it. She also saw that there was a little refrigerator box that had a blanket and a pillow inside. There was a sign on the front that read, "DAPHNE."
Sabrina fought back a smile. She backed up into something and turned around.
She screamed.
There, sitting upon his throne, a mischievously demented smile plastered on his chalk-white face, was Puck. His eyes were wide open, gray and clouded over, and they stared blankly at the forest straight ahead. He sat limply in the chair, his arms drooping off the sides. He didn't move.
On his shirt was a blood-red handprint. The paint was still fresh.