Chapter 6

"Oh, God!" Puck screamed at four o'clock in the morning. He stumbled from his room and hit the banister, wheezing. He was clutching his stomach as if in pain. Green fumes emitted from his bedroom. "Dear Mother, what a stench!" he rasped.

Sabrina opened the door to Mirror's room and faced him, index finger pointed in his direction. "Hah!" she cried. "I've won, fartface! Surrender or die!"

Puck glanced back at his room. "That's one nasty death," he commented.

"What's going on up…HOLY MOTHER OF GOD!" Daphne cried. She clenched her nose tightly with her entire fist. "What crawled in Puck's room and died!"

"That…that thing—" Puck said, pointing to Sabrina "—did the unspeakable—revolting as a prank, even to the Trickster King!"

Daphne's face curled up in horror. "No! You didn't, did you?"

Sabrina beamed. "Elvis and Sausage. Works every time."

Daphne suddenly frowned, the corners of her mouth bending down so far they were almost in the shape of an upside down 'u.' Her face looked like it was going to pop. "Okay, both of you—OUT," She demanded.

Puck and Sabrina stared at her. "Are you crazy?" they said in unison.

"No, you are!" she yelped. "My nose is crying out for mercy, and you guys think it's funny?"

"I don't think it's funny," Puck said.

"I took anti-smell potion," Sabrina piped. The others turned and glared at her.

"And you did this all for a mucho lame-o war!" Daphne cried. She held her breath and marched up the steps, grabbing a hold of both Sabrina and Puck's arms and dragging them downstairs. "Out," she repeated. "You're a…a hazard to the very lives of all who want to live a peaceful life in this house!"

"Stay outside? With him? Are you insane?" Sabrina demanded. "I'd rather die."

"Breathe these gasses for a while and you really will. I'm going to go to Mirror and find another anti-smell potion. You two go sit in the corner of the forest, and think hard—think very, very hard—about the pain in my nose and the terror you've struck into the very heart of an innocent seven-year-old bystander. I'll come to get you in five minutes." Daphne slammed the door in their faces. A muffled, "Oh Lord, have mercy!" followed shortly after the slam.

Sabrina and Puck didn't look at each other, or say anything. They just started walking.

They hadn't been walking long when Puck decided to start talking. "You know, Sabrina, about that one prank…"

"Which one?" Sabrina spat.

Puck grimaced, stumbling for words. "You know…the one where…I…I was…"

"Dead?"

He nodded and swallowed. "I…I…you know, I never meant to…"

"To die?" Sabrina shot back. "You know what, Puck? You never 'mean' to do anything, and that's because you never think. You just act. You never considered how I'd respond to your…death." She glared at the ground, still walking.

"So you'll forgive me?" he said.

"I never said anything about forgiving anybody," Sabrina replied.

"Oh," was all he said.

They continued walking for a while, when what looked like a little firefly darted past their heads.

"Oh, Fearsome," he said, suddenly puffing up his chest in an attempt to look orderly. Sabrina rolled her eyes. "Anything to report?"

The little pixie tittered on in a language Sabrina didn't understand.

Puck suddenly looked shocked. "A mutiny?" He nodded, taking it all in. "I guess that makes since. Good work, Fearsome." He nodded, and the pixie flew off.

"What was that about?" Sabrina asked.

"Your plan was almost perfect, Grimm. Almost."

Sabrina tilted her head to the side. "What do you mean, 'almost'?"

"You forgot one little—but important—thing…"

"What?"

Screeching could be heard from not too far away. "The soldiers!" he cried. "We've got to run!"

"Soldiers?"

Sabrina looked behind her. Little creatures seemed to be approaching them. They were screaming.

"What the…" Sabrina gasped.

Hundreds and hundreds of Puck's pyromaniac chimpanzees were running towards them, army helmets on their heads, glop grenades in their hands. And they didn't look happy.

"They're not too happy about the smell of their home, I assume."

Sabrina screamed.

"Oh, quit the dramatics," Puck muttered. He grabbed Sabrina by the wrist and began dragging her into the forest.

They ran (Puck flew) for a long time, until it was almost pitch black and the trees blended into the sky. They didn't know which way to go. Everything was black on every side. Puck hit a tree for the third time and collapsed.

"We have to face them now," Sabrina said. "There's no choice."

"Meh," Puck groaned.

She stood and stared out into the inky darkness. It was only a matter of time.

Within a few minutes, the shrieks of the furious creatures could be heard. Sabrina saw beady, glowing eyes from behind a set of trees and screamed.

"Thanks for giving us away," Puck muttered.

Hundreds and hundreds of the livid creatures surrounded Sabrina and Puck, their glowing eyes reddening with fury. They howled and screeched, throwing their arms in the air and pounding their hairy chests. Not one of them seemed too happy about the current situation.

"All right! Let's just be calm about this…" Puck began, addressing the crowd.

"Calm!" Sabrina roared. "This is not a calm situation! There's nothing calm about it! Look!" She shook Puck's shoulder furiously and pointed at the growing army of angry creatures. "Do they look calm to you?"

"You need to calm down too, Grimm," Puck muttered, stretching out his shoulder. Sabrina threw him an angry look.

The roars of the sea of animals drowned out all other sounds. In their wrath they had begun picking up rocks and sticks and other various throwable objects and launching them at the two children. Puck pulled out his wooden sword and tried to bat them away, but they were still being hit. A rock smacked against Sabrina's forehead, and when she went to touch it, it stung. She took her fingers away.

Blood.

One of the creatures pulled out a shiny green object. It held it in the air.

The others immediately silenced. Then suddenly, like a wave crashing against the shore, they all began to scream, throwing their arms at the two.

The green thing sailed past them and exploded not too far away. A tree burst into flames. In a matter of seconds, it was devoured by the fire, which had already spread to more trees in the forest.

"Hey!" Puck yelped. "No grenades!"

They couldn't hear him over their furious screeching.

"Can't you just fly us out of here?" Sabrina yelled.

Puck shook his head. "The fire'll spread to the top branches before I get a chance to fly out!"

"Aren't you fast enough to get us out before it spreads?"

"Not when I'm carrying you, tubby."

Sabrina ignored the comment. She stared out at the creatures, whose rage was now beyond control.

"They're going to kill us," she whispered.

"I'm too young to die!" Puck cried.

One of the chimpanzees screeched and reached out at the two. He took a swipe at Puck's legs, but thankfully missed. The chimpanzee (Puck had called him Johnson) grabbed a portion of his pants instead.

A resounding rip echoed through the forest. Sabrina could see that the entire backside of Puck's pants was missing. Underwear painted with little glowing rainbows shown clearly through.

Puck looked behind him and whimpered. "Aw, man!" he cried. "Why's everybody out to get my wardrobe? I know I'm beautiful, people, but still. Vandalism is a crime."

"You're one to talk," Sabrina muttered.

Something that sounded like evil laughter echoed from behind the chimpanzees. Sabrina glared at Puck.

"If this is your idea of a sick joke, I'm not laughing."

Puck's face was red, as only a person's face can get when it has made contact with poison ivy. "I didn't do this," he said. "Although, you're right—it would make a pretty awesomely sick joke."

Sabrina frowned.

Another rock came sailing towards them, and it hit Sabrina squarely in the chest. She doubled over and coughed, the wind knocked out of her.

"Hey!" Puck cried. Something popped, but Sabrina couldn't tell what. "Nobody messes with Grimm but me!"

Sabrina felt something brush past her arm. She looked in front of her. "Puck?" she gasped, standing up. His wings surrounded her, protecting her. He had never looked so determined before in his life. In fact, he had never looked determined before, not once.

"I'm protecting you, stupid. Now shut up."

A stick sliced its way through Puck's wing, creating a small hole. He grimaced.

"Puck! You'll kill your wings!"

"There's something that matters more to me than those wings that could get hurt," Puck replied. Sabrina stared at him, and his face turned a brighter shade of red, as if he had just realized what he'd said.

"Uh…Just shut up, stinkpot," he stuttered. Sabrina couldn't tell whether or not he was talking to her, or to himself.

Another evil laugh emitted from the forest. The chimpanzees cheered, and more grenades flew.

Sabrina watched as a stray grenade blew up near Puck. Another one was sailing right toward his head.

"Watch out!" she screamed, throwing her arms around him and pushing him down just as the grenade exploded right over their heads. The two sat in shock.

Something flashed, and the voice of the occasional wicked chuckles erupted in merciless laughter. "Hahaha!" it cheered. "I won! I won!"

Sabrina quickly released Puck, and he folded his wings back under his shirt faster than he ever had before. Both were blushing beyond recognition.

"I did well, didn't I, Bobble?" it giggled.

The voice stepped out into the light.

It was Daphne, in the forest, with a camera.