No spoilers for this chapter but this is still a non-magic AU, anything that seems like magic is just… dreams. I'm also a big fan of hinting at canon and such through dreams and such, so it's not meant to be interpreted as magic.
Okay also. Um. I am so sorry for being four months late. I had this like half done for about three months but I wasn't really happy with it. I'm still not but I don't feel like redoing it so. Here.
Edit 2/15/17: So, even after editing this chapter, I'm still not super satisfied with it. It feels… awkward, but I don't feel like ripping the story apart by the seams yet so. I'll do something about that later. In the meantime, do any of you feel that it the progression of Puck and Sabrina's friendship is awkward? Or is that just me.
Edit 5/1/19: I feel better after another round of editing, but this chapter might be subject to a lot of change once the story is completed. New scenes added, and others revised.
Enjoy; feedback is highly appreciated!
Chapter Two - I Know I'm A Wolf (Young Heretics)
Rabbit my claws are dull now so don't be afraid
I could keep you warm as long as you can just try to be brave
Yes I know I'm a wolf and I've been known to bite
But the rest of my pack, I have left them behind
October
Part 1 (Saturday, October 4th, 2014) – Sabrina
That morning, Sabrina woke to the loud bang of her bedroom door slamming against the wall as it was thrown open. Blinking blearily as her heart raced from her sudden awakening, she spared a glance at her alarm clock and felt a part of her soul wither and die.
7:02 a.m. On a Saturday.
"Wakie wakie! Today's the day!" Daphne cried as Sabrina rose up on her elbows, muttering and groaning to herself. She blinked and tried to clear the sleep from her eyes, still terribly exhausted, and threw an arm over her eyes to shield them from the sudden light. Keeping her eyes closed, she wondered if she could just wish it all away, or that if she stayed still, Daphne might give up. Unfortunately, her dreams were shattered (quite literally) as Daphne climbed onto her bed and tossed Sabrina's limp arm to the side. She began shaking Sabrina's shoulders.
Sabrina pushed Daphne's hands away, scowling up at her sister. "You mean Saturday? I was looking forward to sleeping in, you know. It's only 7."
"No, silly! Today's the day we decorate for Halloween!" Daphne shrugged off her comment easily, as if Sabrina had gotten enough sleep and she'd been waiting for her to wake up and just got impatient. Which, Sabrina wouldn't put it past her. "You do remember Granny telling us that, right?"
No. "Yes, of course."
"Then get up!" Daphne jumped off Sabrina's bed and hit the wood floor with a heavy thud. She flashed Sabrina a triumphant, yet insistent, grin.
"Why are we even decorating yet? It's barely October…" Sabrina muttered, sitting up fully. Her mind was still clouded from sleep and she had to prop herself up on her hands. It seemed pretty ridiculous that they were decorating this early.
"'Cause," Daphne replied, as if that was a perfectly acceptable answer to Sabrina's question. And then she fled from the room so quickly that, to Sabrina's sleep heavy eyes, she seemed to blur, like a small, female, and overly excited Flash. Sabrina wondered where she got all that energy from, and why Sabrina had pulled the short end of the stick.
Sighing and resigning to her fate, Sabrina dragged herself out of bed and lazily got dressed. As she pulled on a long sleeved white shirt, a pair of jeans, and mismatched socks with her white high-tops, she mourned the loss of her precious sleep time. She also pulled on a grey cardigan and left Puck's hoodie tangled in her sheets, where it had ended up the night before, stuffed halfway beneath her pillow and half twisted in her comforter.
Surprisingly, he didn't mind that she'd kept a hold of it, and even wore it more often than not when finding a clean sweater or jacket in the morning was too much hassle after just waking up. In fact, even when she returned it (and then stupidly forgot her jacket the next day out of habit from wearing his, which happened more than she would like to admit; at least twice) he would still offer it. The best part? It always smelled like him.
Not that she'd admit that. Out loud. Or at all. Ever.
In fact, she never thought about it at all. Didn't happen. Nope.
Even so… Sabrina also didn't really want to admit that the stupid idiot had become the closest thing she had to a best friend in this tiny town. Sure, Penelope from chemistry class was nice (almost suspiciously so), Bella was a good friend, and Charlotte was cool (if a bit intense…) but they didn't share what Puck and Sabrina had. What that was, she honestly wasn't sure yet.
She didn't know if she wanted to find out.
Speaking of Puck, maybe he could save her from the tortuous day ahead of her. Excited at the thought of escaping the laborious day ahead of her, she shot him a text as she headed downstairs to the dining room for breakfast.
Sabrina
Granny is forcing us to decorate for Halloween. Can you come pick me up or something?
Slipping her phone into her pocket to wait out a reply, Sabrina glanced over the food set out on the table. Gold waffles with silvery syrup and thankfully normal orange juice. She managed to eat one of the waffles but refused the syrup, and she drank three cups of orange juice like it was going out of style. When Sabrina didn't get an answer from the Trickster King by the end of breakfast, she realized he was probably still asleep, as he often was at this hour. Even at school. Especially at school, at least when he wasn't bombarding her with texts during class.
Looks like she'd have to continuously call him until he picked up instead. Clearly that was the only solution.
As she was leaving to go back to her room and call Puck, Granny called out after her. "Oh, liebling, don't take too long! We have to get to decorating as soon as possible if we want to be finished by tonight."
"Sure thing Granny," Sabrina replied, cringing to herself at the idea of them taking the entire day to decorate. She took the stairs two at a time; if decorating was supposedly going to take all day, she was all the more eager to get out of it. She had already dialed Puck's number by the time she got to her room. He predictably didn't pick up the first time, or the second. But third time's a charm, as they say.
"Grimm? Why the hell are you calling me at the asscrack of dawn? You woke me up from my beauty sleep." Puck's voice floated through the phone, heavy with sleep and groggy. Luckily, he didn't sound irritated, merely confused. "You better be dying or something."
"Yeah, I've been stabbed," she said in monotone, sinking into the armchair in the corner of her room and gazing out the window at the early morning sky. "I need to be rushed to the hospital immediately."
"What?" he exclaimed, and she could hear him sit up in bed so quickly that there was a quick rustle of sheets and a thump. He groaned, and she suspected he'd fallen out of bed in his haste. She snickered.
"No, I'm fine. Plus, idiot, it's not the asscrack of dawn, it's hardly 7:30," she replied, frowning at the reminder of the time. "Listen, I don't want to be up this early either but Granny is making us decorate for Halloween today and I really don't want to. Can you pick me up? We can go hang out in the hub instead. Or the park. Or like, anywhere but here."
The hub was the large treehouse in Puck's forested backyard. The two of them spent a large amount of time there together, either studying and doing homework or planning malicious schemes against other students and family members; Puck's far more malicious than her simple pranks or jokes. They had just begun refurbishing it as well as the treehouses connected to it, but the main treehouse was their pride and joy.
There was silence at the other end, followed by an exasperated sigh. "I dunno how the old lady would feel about that. As much as I love playing hooky, you spend practically all of your time with me anyway; maybe she's just trying to get some quality family time in? That's why you're in Ferryport Landing, right?"
"I guess," Sabrina mumbled as she felt a guilty pang surge through her. She hadn't thought about it that way. And here she was, trying to get away from family she cared so much about but barely knew, who was just trying to spend the day with her. Puck was right, and even if it was surprising that he was making such a good point, it was just that: a good point. "Okay, fine. I'll do it. Sorry for calling and waking you up."
She was about to hang up without saying goodbye when he hastily replied. "Wait, wait! I'll still come over or whatever. Um… if you want, that is. I'm sure the old lady would love an extra set of hands."
Pausing, a small grin tugged at her lips. "Sure thing, but expect to be put to work, monkey boy."
She hung up before he could get a word in edgewise, knowing that it would just be complaints and reminders of his so called 'allergies' (which was horseshit and Sabrina knew it; there was no conceivable way that he could be allergic to books or hard work). It seems she'd get to do both then, and despite waking up so early, she was feeling considerably better.
Feeling a lot more confident about the day now that her kinda-sorta-maybe-not best friend was coming, Sabrina shoved her phone into her pocket and strode back downstairs, ready to face the day.
Half an hour later, Puck finally arrived. Sabrina had been precariously perched on a pile of thick books on top of a desk in the corner of the living room hanging the last of the cobwebs and sticking fake (but scarily realistic) spiders in them when the doorbell rang.
"Got it!" Sabrina shouted at the top of her lungs, startling Elvis, who had been asleep next to the fireplace. He sat up, looking around in confusion and alarm, only to whine when nothing was taking place. In her haste to get to the door, she nearly fell from her stack of books and knocked a painting of a long dead relative off the wall. "Sorry," she told it.
She flung the door open and was greeted with the sight of Puck in his dirty green pullover and a pair of probably just as dirty jeans. His shoes were caked with mud and fallen leaves of all shades, from yellow to red, hinting at the forest walks that she knew he liked to make every day. And, to her surprise, his hair was damp and he smelled faintly of soap (though his earthy smell still remained, clinging to him in a way that never seemed to fade).
"Hey," he said, raising a hand in greeting and then shoving past her without ceremony, looking around the entryway. "I thought you said you guys were decorating. You must be horrible at it, because so far this place looks no different. In fact, I'd say it looks less scary. There's no way you could get this dollhouse to look like a haunted mansion anyway. The old woman's too sweet for that."
Sabrina rolled her eyes. "We've only just gotten started, duh. Besides, we're working on the living room right now, but Uncle Jake took Daphne to go get extra cobwebs because we ran out and Granny is decorating her bedroom while they're gone. Anyway, you can come help me."
She grabbed his wrist and practically dragged him to the living room, where she had been decorating for the past half-hour since they'd gotten off the phone. Cobwebs hung in every corner with different kinds of plastic spiders in them, books were fitted with fake covers that displayed titles like 'Cooking for Flesh-eating Ghouls' and 'Tales from Down Under: The Spirit's Guide to the Underworld', their small TV had a skull sitting on top of it, and pumpkins sat on the fireplace mantle. The lights were dimmed, giving an ominous feel to the room.
"Whoa," Puck said in awe, glancing around. "When did your living room become something out of Scary Godmother?"
Sabrina gave him a funny look, trying to ignore the pride that swells in her chest. That movie had been her favorite as a child. "I told you we were decorating. You need to work on your listening skills."
Puck rolled his eyes. "Duh, I knew that. I just didn't think that the old lady would go all out this year. She used to when I was a kid and everything, but she didn't last year. Probably because she's been living alone or something."
Sabrina shrugged, feeling a sad feeling for her Grandmother arise in her chest, suddenly glad that she was here in Ferryport Landing instead of back in Manhattan. The idea of Granny all alone made her heart hurt, especially when she was so happy to have them around.
The two approached the window, where her next task was to hang up a pair of curtains. They were blood red and covered with black lace, resembling something right out of The Addams Family. After they were hung, Sabrina needed to put up window decals, and then the room would be finished.
Together, they got to work, turning the living room into the ultimate haunt.
Two hours later, Uncle Jake and Daphne got home with a lot more decorations than just fake cobwebs, and Uncle Jake looked like he had just seen a ghost; Sabrina suspected he was just spooked by Daphne's keen shopping skills. By then, Sabrina and Puck had completely finished the living room and moved onto other rooms.
In the dining room, they replaced the normal green checkered table cloth with a black one embroidered with pumpkins, ghosts, and skeletons that Granny had made when Sabrina's dad was a kid. More window decals and curtains went up, bats hung from the ceiling (as well as a skeleton) and candelabras were placed on the table. They took the fresh sunflowers from the vase on the middle of the table and filled it with orange and black roses that Granny prepared for them.
Just as they were finishing, Puck had taken two of the roses and presented them to Sabrina, citing one of his lines as Romeo from Romeo and Juliet with a cocky grin. Sabrina had, in response, snatched them from his hand and returned them to the vase. She couldn't hide the fire creeping over her cheeks, though, as she socked him in the arm while he laughed.
After they finished in the dining room, they found themselves with Granny in the kitchen, helping her change the light fixture so that the light would be orange and the kitchen would be bathed in an orange tint. The warm light was actually fairly soothing to Sabrina, though the orange tint was a bit severe.
"Look what we got Granny!" Daphne cried as she ran into the kitchen, holding a giant plastic raven over her head. Uncle Jake trailed lethargically after her, placing several plastic bags full of Halloween things on the counter.
"That's wonderful, liebling," Granny smiled. "Would you like to put it on the fireplace mantle with the pumpkins?"
Daphne nodded eagerly and raced from the room to complete her task as Uncle Jake spoke up. "Well, that certainly was a trip I'll never forget," he said, blinking as he tried to rid his brain of the memory. Sabrina imagined Daphne dragging him all across the store by his trench coat, describing in detail the gruesome decoration plans she had as he tried not to throw up.
Granny laughed and turned to Sabrina and Puck. "Will you two take care of the outside? I know it's a big task, but Jake and Daphne will help me finish the rest of the inside. Once you're done, we can work on getting some dinner made!"
"Sure thing, Granny," Sabrina nodded, grabbing Puck's wrist and tugging in their universal 'let's go, idiot' move. "C'mon fairy boy, let's work."
She carted Puck outside with his arms full of the outside decorations, tuning out his complaints about his (fake) 'allergies' acting up.
An hour into decorating the exterior of the house, Sabrina sat and slumped against the tree rooted in their front yard to take a break. Her fingers were frozen and red from the cold autumn air, and she felt like they were going to fall off. Even when she tried to warm them up with her breath, they remained cold. Which sucked, because they still had at least half an hour more of decorating before they were done.
"Hey, what are you doing?" Puck asked, dropping down next to her with a thump. Leaves fluttered around in his wake, resettling onto the ground. "You're not trying to saddle me with the rest of the work, are you?"
Sabrina sent him a glare, pulling her hands inside the sleeves of her sweater. "No. I need to take a break. My hands are really cold…" she trailed off, rubbing them together in a desperate attempt to warm them up.
"Give 'em here," Puck said, holding his hands out. Warily, Sabrina set her hands (still balled up inside her sweater sleeves) into his. Puck rolled his eyes and pulled her hands out of her sleeves and set them on his neck.
Which was weird.
But also nice? His neck was crazy warm (or maybe she was so cold that she was close to death). It was mystifying how he managed to stay so warm after being outside so long. Blushing, she looked away, keeping her hands stiff and motionless. "How the hell are you so warm?"
"Runs in the family, I guess," he chuckled, and Sabrina nearly jumped. She could feel his neck vibrate when he talked. It was an odd feeling, and she couldn't help the laugh that burst out of her at the feeling.
Looking over at him, she scrutinized his face. He had twinkling green eyes that almost always held mischievousness, but Sabrina had seen a whole other side to him; something softer, and more vulnerable. She had seen that mask of humor drop before. It was nice, knowing that she was probably the only person to do that.
Being close friends with him, no matter how annoying he could be, was… pretty great. Despite his gross exterior, he could be a really good friend.
After she could feel her fingers again, she pulled her hands away, her cheeks still warming from the touch. "Thanks. We should probably get back to work, though."
Puck sighed, and Sabrina swore that it was almost wistful. "Yeah, back to the grind, I guess."
About forty-five minutes later, the outside of the house was finally finished. Graves were planted with hands sprouting from them, skeletons hung from the tree, and orange fairy lights were strung up around the house. All in all, a massive success. It had taken a bit longer than planned once Puck started chasing Sabrina around the yard and throwing mushy balls of leaves at her, which had devolved into a leaf-ball fight, but they managed to get it done regardless.
By the time they were done messing around, Sabrina's hands were back to feeling like ice. The two teenagers hurried inside, where they found the rest of their family sitting at the dining room table.
"Oh, just in time!" Granny pointed to two fresh mugs of hot chocolate, complete with marshmallow ghosts floating in them. A plate of pumpkin chocolate chip cookies sat in the middle of the table, and Uncle Jake and Daphne had already stolen some of them. "I was about to call you both in."
Sabrina smiled with relief at the normal drink and took a grateful sip. It had a slight cinnamon aftertaste and the room smelled heavily of pumpkin, but it was a delightful treat. It didn't do much for her poor hands, though, only warming them as much as a warm mug could.
"Now that you're both here, I'd like to discuss something," Granny said, her face settling into a grim expression, one that looked strange on her otherwise cheerful person. Sabrina's heart dropped, and she set down her mug anxiously, listening intently. "I got a call ten minutes ago from a good friend of mine, Mr. Hamstead, the police chief. It seems as if he has a case for us. As soon as you can get your coats on, we're going to go investigate the scene of the crime."
Sabrina had to admit, she actually got a little excited at the idea of a mystery. When Granny had told them about the family business, she wasn't sure they'd actually be allowed to help out, but it seemed that she was just as enthused to have them participate in solving the crime. Daphne squealed, biting her palm. "What is it? A robbery? A missing person or pet?"
Granny's eyes dropped to the table sadly, and with it Sabrina's heart sank. "Oh, I'm afraid not, liebling. What we're dealing with is a murder."
The hunk of junk that served as the family car was, for the first time, silent. Every now and then, the car would let out a sequel of protest, but otherwise the five people and one dog in the car remained quiet. A sense of dread had settled over the family. Sabrina wasn't feeling excited anymore after Granny's announcement, and she got the sense everyone else felt the same.
As much as she was excited to work on a case, she hadn't expected it to be a murder, especially not in a fairly close-knit community like this one. It was a little overwhelming, and extremely heartbreaking.
What felt like an eternity later, Uncle Jake pulled up to the crime scene. It was located in a small house, right near the edge of town, close to the train tracks. There weren't any other houses grouped nearby; the nearest neighbor was a block away. The house was covered in peeling powder blue paint and broken yellow shutters hung from the windows. The plot that the house sat on was surrounded by yellow caution tape, and a police car sat on the side of the road. Mr. Hamstead stood waiting for them at the edge of the scene.
Uncle Jake killed the engine and the family stepped out of the car.
"Relda, I'm so glad you're here," Hamstead said, wringing his hands. He frowned and lifted the tape, allowing the family to step onto the lawn. It was yellow and decaying, sprouting with weeds and covered with junk, such as broken patio chairs and an old dog leash. The pavement of the walkway was cracked and uneven and dandelions were growing out of them.
"Of course, Ernest. It's the least I could do." Granny smiled warmly and then motioned to the house. "What can you tell me?"
"Forensics tells me the victim is female, around the age of 17. House shows signs forced entry and a heavy struggle. No suspects are currently determined; I questioned her mother and it's unlikely that she was behind it, as she has an alibi. We won't know anything more until the tests get back, but it's also unlikely that they will help. They're more of a precautionary measure."
"Why don't you girls stay out here for now, lieblings," Granny says. Her eyes look watery and worn when she smiled, and the two girls nod. Puck stays back with them as Mr. Hamstead opens the door for the family, and the rest of them filed in.
"We've been sidelined," Daphne pouted, crossing her arms over her chest. "I thought we were working on the case too?"
"We could peek inside?" Sabrina suggested, shrugging. Daphne's eyes lit up and the two girls peeked into the house through the doorway, still standing in the doorway. Immediately, Sabrina can see why Granny wanted to keep them out.
Sabrina couldn't tear her eyes away from it. Her. The body. She… wasn't sure what to call the corpse laid out against the wall, eyes open and lifeless, glazed over with death. She didn't even notice how the house was a mess of broken glass and ripped up couch cushions, tipped picture frames and lamps. All she could see was the girl, lying against the wall with a heavy cleaver sticking out of her chest. The wound was still fresh; couldn't have happened more than an hour earlier, by her estimate.
The worst part of the ordeal? Sabrina recognized her.
They had gone to school together. Sabrina never explicitly knew her, but she saw the girl around the halls all the time, sitting alone at lunch, or crouched in the library pulling books from the shelves. They exchanged words sometimes, but otherwise the girl was quiet and always unaccompanied, and she seemed to like it that way. And she wouldn't be there anymore, reading in the corner or smiling quietly.
She was gone.
Sabrina felt devastated. There must have been something she could have done, right? Maybe she should have made more of an effort to include her, to go out of her way to talk to her. Maybe invited her to lunch once in awhile. But now…
It was Puck that broke her out of her stupor.
"Hey," he whispered to her, putting a hand on her arm. He hadn't seen the body, hadn't looked through the doorway, just stood next to the girls on the porch. Sabrina was thankful he wasn't drawing too much attention to her. "Are you okay?"
"Yeah," she said, but her voice shook. She backed away from the door, unable to meet Daphne's tearful gaze as her sister also stepped away. It was an unconvincing, pathetic attempt. "I'm fine."
He must have sensed her lie, though, because he gave her a doubtful look and then did the most un-Puck-like thing in the history of un-Puck-like things. He hugged her. He actually wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close, her face going into his chest. She breathed in the smell of the forest deeply as tears clouded her eyes.
Alright, maybe it wasn't that unrealistic; clearly he had some sort of soft side. Nevertheless, it still took her by surprise.
She wrapped her arms around him as well, burying her face in his chest (why was he so tall?) and allowed herself to just calm down and breathe in his earthy scent. He rubbed her back, ran his fingers through her hair. It was an intimate show of affection and comfort, and as much as Sabrina was disgusted by him and his dirty sweatshirt and lack of manners and wanted to push him away, she… needed it. That if she didn't allow it to happen, she'd probably cry. And there was no way she was going to let that happen.
"I knew her," Sabrina mumbled into his chest, and his arms tightened around her. She felt his chin press to the top of her head, hand gliding across her back, rubbing circles idly, distracting her from the reality of the next room.
Puck stayed silent. She wasn't sure if he didn't know what to say or just didn't want to ruin the quiet comfort, but she was grateful all the same. He didn't speak when he released her, only lightly tugged on her sweater sleeve. She let Puck lead her away from the horrifying scene just within the threshold of the home, glass crunching underfoot as they went back towards the sidewalk.
Together, they sat on the cracked pavement and picked weeds out of the concrete. With their legs pressed together, Sabrina picked apart dandelions and dropped them at their feet. She felt safe next to him, but her stomach continued to churn.
After they finished at the scene of the crime, the five of them gathered in Briar Rose's coffee shop with mugs of hot chocolate and coffee. Briar sat with them, her hand resting on Uncle Jake's, her lips pulled downwards in a concerned frown.
Sabrina was still shaken from seeing the girl, and she couldn't get the image out of her head no matter how hard she tried. That, and the red hand print on the wall next to the girl's head, dripping and fresh. It had probably been her blood. Her face must have twisted in an expression of horror, because Puck gave her a small nudge and worried look. He was sitting next to her, giving her similar looks every few seconds. She pretended not to notice.
"What was up with that hand print?" Daphne asked, taking a sip of her hot chocolate. She didn't seem as upset as Sabrina, but she knew that Daphne would be by to brush her hair that night. Daphne may have grown a lot since they were kids, but she was still quite young at heart. It was one of the things Sabrina loved about her sister. "Is that supposed to mean something?"
"Well, liebling, we're not quite sure yet," Granny replied, bleakly taking a sip of her coffee. She'd had a worried look in her eyes ever since they got the call. "This is the first instance of a red hand print that Ernest has heard of. It looks like we'll just have to keep our eyes peeled and our ears to the ground."
Daphne, unsatisfied with this answer, slumped down in her seat, clearly defeated. Sabrina was not going to have it, though. She slammed her hand down on the table, expression fierce, startling everyone around her, especially Puck, who nearly choked on his pumpkin cookie.
"No," she said, voice as hard as steel, surprising herself with its force. "That's not good enough. There's got to be something we can do. We can't just sit here and wait while more people get murdered!"
"Sabrina, there are multiple reasons the hand print could have been there," Uncle Jake spoke up. "The girl could have made it during her struggle, the killer might be making a threat, or something else. But we won't know for a while. We have to do research; that's the only way we'll get closer to finding out the truth. We'll get all the information we can from the scene and conduct research, and only then will we get any closer to figuring this out."
Her lip shook, but she managed to hide it behind her hot chocolate. Uncle Jake had a point "Okay."
Puck shot her another concerned glance, but stayed silent as the discussion of clues continued.
Two hours later, the Grimm family (plus one Puck and one Briar) returned to their home and gathered around the kitchen table for a late dinner. Granny rushed around the kitchen, quickly whipping up some sandwiches and lemonade while the rest of the gang grouped around the dining table.
During their stay at the coffee shop, they discussed what they had seen at the house. They didn't have much to go on, though. Mostly just the hand print and anything that forensics could tell them about DNA on the scene. The rest was conjecture, though clearly there was a struggle. The killer was out there.
The group ate silently, though Sabrina pushed her plate away and only had a few sips of her purple lemonade. It's not that she didn't want food, it was just too weird for her to process at the moment. She was glad for the blueberry muffin she'd had at the coffee shop. After dinner, Granny announced that they should put a rest to the case for the night. It would do no good to dwell when there was no work to be done.
Sabrina retreated to her room, Puck and Daphne following behind her. The three of them sat on her bed, Puck next to her and Daphne behind her with the brush.
"It's 8:00," Sabrina said, glancing at Puck as Daphne ran the brush through her long blonde hair. "Don't your parents want you home?"
He shrugged and smirked at her, leaning back on his hands. "Who cares what they think? I live on the edge, Grimm."
Sabrina raised an eyebrow in his direction as he lowered further, dropping down to lay back on the bed. "Won't your dad get mad?"
"Nah, it'll be fine. He's probably too busy running his business into the ground to notice that I'm gone. Besides, I'll just crash here." Sabrina opened her mouth to argue as Daphne inhaled sharply with excitement, but he interrupted before they could speak. "Hey, it's fine, okay? You obviously need a friend right now."
"I have Daphne," she mumbled, and Puck looked momentarily hurt by the rebuttal. Daphne 'accidentally' tugged too hard with the brush, pulling Sabrina's hair. She winced. "I mean, thanks."
His face lit up in a smile, but Sabrina went on before he could get too excited. "I'll have you know that I still don't need protecting. I can take care of myself."
"Of course you can," he chuckled. "You're Sabrina Grimm. But I saw how seeing that girl made you feel, and well, everyone needs to have a friend around from time to time anyway. You can protect yourself, I know that, but I'm here anyway. Now let's get this party started, shall we?"
Sabrina rolled her eyes.
"This is the coolest thing ever," Sabrina said, staring in awe at their creation from the inside. Together, Sabrina and Puck had collected all of the spare blankets in the house and turned Sabrina's room into a giant blanket fort. They sat together on Sabrina's bed, a canopy of blankets above and underneath them, orange fairy lights left over from decorating strung around the inside. Between them sat a bowl of popcorn and a DVD player rested on the pillows in front of them.
Daphne had deserted them after she finished with Sabrina's hair, winking and slamming the door shut behind her. Traitor, Sabrina had thought.
"I knew we could do it," Puck said triumphantly. "Now let's watch a movie already. I need some Pirates of the Caribbean in my life desperately."
They sat shoulder to shoulder and draped a blanket across their laps, reciting lines from memory. Puck played the roles of Jack and Will while Sabrina voiced for Elizabeth and Barbossa. Halfway through the second movie, they had a sword fight with the wooden swords they found in Puck's treehouse two weeks earlier, knocking the popcorn over onto the floor.
Three movies and several hours later left them at midnight with an empty popcorn bowl and a gigantic mess. Sabrina's ribs hurt from laughing and her cheeks were sore, the afternoon's grievances pushed from her mind.
"We should probably go to bed now, Grimm," Puck said, setting his sword aside.
"Okay, sure. But we have to clean all this up first."
Puck made a fake gagging noise and Sabrina smacked him with her sword. He hit the floor with a groan, and they dissolved into laughter as Sabrina tried to shush him.
After all the blankets had been safely stowed away and the spilled popcorn was cleaned up, Puck departed from Sabrina's room to go crash on the couch in the living room, which left Sabrina alone with her thoughts.
She pulled off her day clothes and tugged on a pair of grey sweats and a white tank top. She also pulled on Puck's hoodie, cherishing it for the small amount of comfort it brought her. That, and it was starting to get pretty cold at night.
Climbing under the covers, she replayed the events of that day in her head until she drifted off to sleep.
Regrettably so.
Why am I back here? Sabrina thought, looking at the peeling blue paint of the small house where a girl had been murdered earlier that day. The sun was barely setting over the horizon, unlike the way it had been that afternoon, and Sabrina realized she must be dreaming.
A small creak caught her attention, and her eyes jumped to the front door.
It was wide open.
Warily, Sabrina stepped towards the door and frowned. She moved like she was in jelly, or walking through water. Everything felt mushy and as if it was pushing against her, and the world blurred in front of her before focusing again.
It felt like hours by the time she made it to the door.
The house was the same way it had been earlier, when she had taken a peek inside through the doorway. Glass crunched under her feet, and even though she was just in socks and her pajamas, it didn't hurt. The only difference was the other person, if you could call it that.
A form stood over the poor girl's corpse, staring down at her. It had inky, pitch black skin and blood red hair cascading over its shoulders, as red as the hand print had been. Sabrina sucked in a shocked breath and froze when the thing's head starting to turn towards her. The body didn't move as its head turned, clicking and pausing every now and then until it was turned completely around.
"Free me," it croaked. The voice itself echoed within the room and seemed to come from every direction. Sabrina whirled around, and upon finding nothing behind her, she turned back only to have her voice hitch in her throat.
The creature was hardly a foot from her. She tried to scream, but her voice failed her.
Raising its hand, Sabrina noticed how its palms were blood red and dripping. The monster pressed it against her forehead before she could move, hissing.
Its hand burned her like scorching hot water, and she screamed at the top of her lungs in anguish.
Disoriented and scared, Sabrina jolted awake to Puck groggily shaking her shoulder. She scrambled away from him in fear, her mind still caught up in the dream, only calming when he spoke her name.
"Sabrina," he whispered, his voice heavy with sleep. Clearly he'd just woken up himself, and she hoped that she hadn't actually screamed. "Wake up."
"Mm?" she squinted at him in the dark, keeping one eye closed. He was standing over her, looking down at her worriedly. The moonlight filtering in from her bedroom window highlighted his features, making his curls look like spun gold. "What?"
"You were having a nightmare."
She blinked and took a shaky breath. Her forehead throbbed from where that… thing had touched her, and her heart was racing with adrenaline. She rubbed her forehead quickly, and pulled her hand back to look at it, relieved when it came back clean. "Yeah, I was. I'm sorry."
"Hey, don't apologize," he replied. He lifted the covers slightly and paused, waiting for her approval. When she gave a drowsy nod of consent, he climbed under the covers with her and pulled her close. She turned on her side and buried her face in his chest, taking deep breaths.
This was the most intimate thing they'd ever done. They weren't exactly overly affectionate in their friendship, and being close like this wasn't something she was sure she wanted… until now. She had to admit, the relief of crawling into his arms after the dream she just had made it feel okay. She felt safe.
Her shoulders shook with tears that were unable to come out, and Puck simply stayed silent and rubbed her back. He seemed to know that she didn't want to talk about it, and only held her close. He ran his fingers through her hair, and it was so like Daphne brushing her hair that she was instantly lulled into security.
"Thanks, Puck," she whispered, her voice muffled by his t-shirt. He didn't reply, but he didn't have to. She was already slipping back into sleep, feeling protected and calm. The position was close and personal, almost uncomfortably so, but it was just what Sabrina needed. Within minutes, the steady beat of Puck's heart lulled her to sleep.
This time, she dreamt of crooked smirks and green sweatshirts.
Part 2 (Friday, October 24th, 2014) – Puck
"Hey, it's Friday!" Puck cheered as Sabrina climbed into his car that morning, shoving his bag to the floor and taking its place like she did every morning. She grabbed the green hoodie from Puck's lap, as she was accustomed to doing nearly every morning at this point. Even on days she didn't wear it, it was there for her. "You know what that means?"
"It means that tomorrow we don't have school and we can sleep in," she replied in a deadpan voice, likely already knowing what he was going to say. She slipped the hoodie on and zipped it up halfway over the grey flannel and white t-shirt she wore underneath, and he had to keep himself from watching her.
"No, stupid, it means that next Friday is Halloween!" He beamed, and she groaned. Of course, he knew that she loved Halloween as much as he did; she just hated hearing about it so much. She knew it was coming, and sure, she was excited, but did they really have to make such a huge deal about it? "And, it also means that I get to spend the night tonight!"
Spending the night at the Grimm household had become a regular activity of Puck's; the old lady was cool with him spending the night usually, but only let him on the weekends because it would 'cut into his study time' or something. Honestly Puck couldn't remember because he hadn't been listening; he only remembered her bringing up school because he nearly vomits at the mere mention of it.
Puck spent every opportunity to spend the night with the Grimms, and any other time really, especially after the tragic death of one of his classmates earlier that month. Sabrina had been the most affected out of the bunch, though she seemed to be getting better as she put her grief into her research instead of dwelling on it. She hadn't had another nightmare since that first night. They didn't often share a bed; he usually slept on the couch in the living room, and only woke up in her bed when they passed out during a movie or something, but when they did Sabrina usually slept with her back to him and pretended like he didn't exist.
It wasn't weird or anything. Just two friends, sharing a bed, like they do at sleepovers sometimes. That's all it was. At least, that's what he told himself.
He actually loved it, sleeping next to her. She looked so at peace when she was asleep, instead of scowling or grumpy like he was used to. And when she would wake up, her eyelids would flutter and then she'd hum and look up at him, stretching. It was so cute that the first time he witnessed it, be thought his heart was going to explode.
Of course, the next thing she would always do involved scowling and pushing him off the bed. That was less cute. Still cute, but less.
"Whoop-de-doo," Sabrina replied, turning up the heat a smidge and shoving her hands underneath her. "Let's just get this show on the road, okay? I don't want to be late."
Puck frowned but relented, pulled away from the Grimm house. "Fine, spoil sport."
She stuck her tongue out at him and smiled.
School went as it always did, especially the morning classes (which were especially boring due to the lack of Grimm, who he couldn't antagonize). Homeroom was a bore and he wasn't able to avoid Moth this time around, like he had for a few weeks. She grabbed his arm and wouldn't let go. It was like a death grip, and he swore he heard the bone break a little. He let out a wheeze of pain and tugged it away, without luck.
"Puck," she cooed, drawing out his name. The sound made him want to throw up; it reminded him of pancakes soggy from being drenched in syrup. Gross. "I miss hanging out with you. I feel like it's been years since we last saw each other."
Her hand trailed down his arm, but before she could grab his hand he finally ripped his arm away and shoved his hands deep into his pockets. She looked offended, her eyebrows rising in shock and the corners of her mouth dipping into a frown.
"What do you want, Moth?" he asked coolly. He really didn't want to deal with this right now. Anything but this. Math instead of this. Yeah, that's right. Numbers.
"Well, we don't hang out as much as we used to," she said, grabbing his arm and yanking his hand from his pocket forcefully so that she could hold it in her death grip. He cringed, and stiffened his posture. "I was wondering if you would like to join me for dinner at my mother's house tonight? It would be good for us to reconnect! I feel like we've been drifting and it makes me so sad…"
Puck seethed at her terrible listening skills and her inability to take a hint. How many times did he have to say no before she understood? "No, I will not come have dinner at your house, nor will I have dinner with you in any other establishment. Not now, not ever. Even if I wanted to, I already have plans tonight. Doing something else, not with you."
"With that Grimm girl?" Moth sneered, wrinkling her nose in disgust at the thought of the other girl, her features pinching.
"Yes, as a matter of fact," Puck said, slowly, hoping that this time it would actually get into her head. "Not that that's any of your business."
She gave him a harsh glare and squeezed his hand awfully hard before releasing him. He rubbed his hand carefully, frowning. She didn't talk to him for the rest of homeroom (even though he didn't make that much of an attempt to start conversation).
The distance between them made him almost sad. Sure, she was terrible and rude, but for a long time, she'd been the only person that Puck had considered to actually be his friend. Now, though, he wasn't so sure. Well, he was sure that she wasn't his friend. That felt pretty bad, even if he didn't like her. Losing a friend never felt good.
Even if she was terrible.
In his second period, Puck had tried to convince Grimm to go see a movie with him and skip school again, but it didn't go that well. You think that after asking continuously for days that she would break down and say yes.
Trickster King
can we please ditch and go see a movi
Movie*
i'll buy ;)
Queen of Sneaks
Hmm… As tempting as it sounds…
No.
Trickster King
Pls?
Queen of Sneaks
Stop texting me.
At least lunch was alright. He had brought a lunch from home for once, and traded with Sabrina. She happily munched on regular potato chips and a PB and J sandwich while Puck ate the lunch Granny had prepared for her (a piece of something that looked like fruitcake but tasted like fizzy soda and some purple pear slices).
Over lunch, Sabrina rambled on about the mystery novel she had just finished. Puck listened to her, even though he didn't care about books, watching the way her mouth moved as she talked.
If anything was a mystery, it was the feeling that rose inside of him at the sight.
"Again!" their theatre teacher cried at Sabrina. "And this time, with more passion!"
Sabrina scowled but repeated her lines, her voice heavy with sickly sarcasm. "O Romeo, Romeo! wherefore art thou Romeo?/Deny thy father and refuse thy name/Or, if thou wilt not, be but sworn my love/And I'll no longer be a Capulet."
The teacher clapped and grinned as Sabrina gave her an incredulous look, having clearly not been passionate at all; Puck hid his snickers behind his hand, eyes darting between the two. "Yes, yes! Just like that! Now, Romeo, your line please."
Puck cleared his throat and spoke his lines to himself as the script directed. "Shall I hear more, or shall I speak at this?"
"'Tis but thy name that is my enemy/Thou art thyself, though not a Montague/What's Montague? it is nor hand, nor foot,/Nor arm, nor face, nor any other part/Belonging to a man. O, be some other name!/What's in a name? that which we call- Okay, I can't do this." Sabrina tossed her script down, staring at it's place at her feet. Puck thought she might burn it just with her stare. "This play is utterly stupid."
The teacher and half the class gasped and held their hands to their hearts as if Sabrina had just told them that she was actually the Boogeyman and then peeled off her skin to prove it. Sabrina gave them all angry and slightly bewildered looks, then looked at Puck with an expression that said 'can you believe this shit?'.
He shrugged and pulled the collar of his shirt over his mouth to hide his laughs. She glared at him, though the corners of her mouth tugged up into a smile.
"Again, from the top," the teacher said, frowning. "And Juliet, it would be wise to recite your lines correctly, or you could be in danger of failing this class."
Sabrina glared at the teacher and reluctantly picked up her script, and they started again.
Next period, they gathered at their table in Chemistry and glanced over the sheet the teacher had passed out. It detailed an experiment with chemicals they were to use their time to accomplish, with lots of pouring and things fizzing and all that. Classic chemistry assignment, and also extremely boring, but hell if it didn't make him feel like he was Harry Potter in potions class.
"Okay, take this one," Sabrina said, holding out a vial to him. "Pour it into the beaker next."
Their hands brushed as he took it from her, and it took all of his willpower not to spill the vial's contents all over himself at the jolt his heart felt. He quickly poured it into their beaker, watching the contents color turn from clear to a lighter blue.
"What's this supposed to do, anyway?" he asked as she rearranged things on the table, moving vials into correct order of usage and pushing the beaker to the center.
"It's supposed to foam or fizz or something like that," she muttered, glancing over their sheet again. It seemed pretty easy, but there were a lot of components to keep in mind, and getting one wrong might mean they fail the assignment.
Sabrina poured the next vial in herself, and frowned when nothing happened. "Shit, it's not doing anything."
"Here, let me see," Puck said, pulling the worksheet closer to him and glancing over it. Then, he pulled two vials from their places and poured them in at once.
"What are you doing?" Sabrina hissed, grabbing his arm as if to stop him, though it was too late. He'd already poured, and they watched as the mixture turned purple and foamed and fizzed up so much that the beaker overflowed, spilling onto the table. "Oh."
"Yeah, see! I totally know what I'm doing," Puck said, trying to mask the fact that he did not, in fact, know what he was doing.
The teacher wandered over as she saw the commotion, and gave an approving nod. "Well done, you two. Full marks, for result and speed. Keep up the good work."
Puck beamed at Sabrina, and when she smiled back at him, he accidentally knocked their beaker off the table and sent it crashing to the floor. Moment broken, the teacher and Sabrina both leveled him with glares, and he shrugged sheepishly at them.
That's how things usually went for him, anyway. One step forward, two steps back.
Sabrina groaned from her place in the passenger seat, slumped and curled up, arms wrapped around her knees. "I'm so glad that's over. Today was a terrible day. I thought that it would never end."
Puck sent her an incredulous look. "I'll say. You nearly murdered half of our P.E. class during dodgeball. I think you broke Wendell's arm."
"I did not," she frowned. "I only sent 4 to the infirmary, that's all. That's less than last time. And he's fine, it's probably just a sprain. It's not my fault that he doesn't try to dodge so he won't have to play. So really, that's his own fault."
Puck chewed his lip in thought. "Don't worry Grimm, it's Friday. Tonight will be great, and then we'll have all weekend to just hang out."
She stayed silent, but he could tell that she was begrudgingly looking forward to it.
"Oh good, you're home!" Granny called as the two teenagers entered the house. "Once Daphne gets home, we're going to carve the pumpkins you picked out last weekend and make some sweets! Pumpkin seeds, cookies… The whole nine yards."
The old lady had dived into keeping the kids busy to keep her mind off of the case. After the forensics research had come up with no solid results, she had spent all her time fretting over her grandkids (and Puck). It was obvious that she was worried about how it would progress, as there was nothing more that they could look into at the moment. Puck had to admit that he himself was feeling downtrodden by the lack of evidence, even though he wasn't as invested in the case as the ladies were.
Puck waved to the old lady and nodded in understanding, flopping down onto the couch in the living room that he'd spent more time on than the one in his parents' house. Sabrina sunk down next to him, sighing and laying her head on his shoulder tiredly, her eyelids drooping.
A grin crept across his face. Over the past month, Sabrina had become more comfortable with the idea of the two of them being friends (or kinda-sorta-maybe best friends as she referred to it). She seemed to be able to relax more in his presence, and was more comfortable with intimate actions like this.
There was just one problem.
Puck kind of liked her. Like liked her. At least, he was only a little sure that's what he was feeling. She was earthy and she didn't care what people thought about her. She was smart and headstrong and stubborn. She wasn't like the other girls that the quiet town of Ferryport Landing had to offer, and he loved that about her. (Not that he didn't appreciate the other girls, of course, there was just something about Sabrina that clicked with him, something he'd never experienced before with anyone; something that pulled his heartstrings and didn't let go).
And she certainly wasn't anything like Moth. Sabrina was… genuine in a way that Moth wasn't. That, and Sabrina wasn't so nasty. She didn't gossip, or snarl at people in the halls, or spread rumors. She was kind, and she cared about other people. She didn't try to tear them down at every turn. Sure, she was grumpy sometimes, but Puck had never seen her laugh at people openly like Moth.
Not that he needed to compare them; they were their own people. But everything he disliked about Moth, he liked about Sabrina, and there was something that just drew him to her like a moth to a flame.
It was such a cliché, but Puck just appreciated how Sabrina was so wholehearted and genuine in everything she did. That and she could totally beat him up. He admired that.
Sabrina's voice snapped him out of his stupor. "How about a round of Mario Kart?"
"Oh, you're so on."
As soon as Daphne got home, the family was herded into the kitchen for some quality pumpkin carving time. Uncle Jake even brought Briar, and Elvis was there too (though he mostly tried to munch on his own pumpkin since he couldn't carve it, leaving toothmarks in his wake). Daphne's friend Red was there too, as well as a man who introduced himself as Mr. Canis, Red's father. The old lady called him "old friend", and Puck remembered the man dimly from days spent at Granny's house when he was a kid. The two were clearly close.
As they were emptying the pumpkins of their insides, Puck tried to initiate what he called a 'gut fight' by throwing 'pumpkin guts' at Sabrina. This only succeeded in making her angry. He got the wind knocked out of him for it. That still didn't stop him from stuffing a glob of the stuff down the back of her shirt, and running when she threatened to do the same to him.
The pumpkin carving process itself was long and strenuous. Puck carved a gruesome face into his that had scared the daylights out of Red, while Sabrina and Daphne carved simple faces (though Daphne's was… quirky with its mismatched eyes and sideways mouth). Uncle Jake carved a rose into his and presented it to Briar, who in turn showed him her pumpkin carving of himself, an insanely accurate portrait of the man. The old lady didn't carve a pumpkin and instead collected the insides of the pumpkins for soup and pies and stuff.
After all the pumpkins were carved, the kids carted them outside and arranged them on the porch, setting candles in them and lighting them. They admired them for a moment before they got too cold to properly enjoy them, and they headed back inside to commence making treats for the rest of the evening.
Afterwards, Sabrina and Puck were put on cupcake duty while everyone else worked on cookies. Granny made the pies all by herself, claiming that she had a 'secret recipe' that the girls would one day learn. Because Halloween was just around the corner (and, subsequently, their Halloween party), Granny needed many ghoulish treats to be made for the event. Most of the dishes would be made that day, but the sweets were being made early while there was help to spare.
The baking itself was rather boring in Puck's opinion, but after getting the wind knocked out of him (twice) he wasn't sure if he wanted to try and start something. Instead, he dutifully helped Sabrina in making the cupcakes. She made him make the frosting, but after he ate half of it in the process, she let him have the rest and made her own batch.
And as she put her all into making the best cupcakes that she could, Puck sat on the counter eating frosting out of a bowl with his fingers, watching her work with a dreamy expression.
"What movie are we going to watch tonight?" Puck asked, flopping down on Sabrina's bed next to her after that exhausting round of baking (or eating, in Puck's case). The popcorn bowl nearly tipped over and she gave him a murderous look. He smiled at her sheepishly.
"We aren't going to watch a movie tonight," she said, and he opened his mouth to argue when she surged on, not letting him. "We're going to spend the whole weekend marathoning Parks and Recreation instead."
He considered the idea seriously, as if it was a life or death situation. "How many seasons?"
"Six, currently. The final one is coming in January, though."
"Funny?"
"Hilariously so."
He was still a little doubtful, especially because when they breezed through the first season, it still hadn't really caught him. But halfway through the second season, he was beginning to actually enjoy it. After the final episode of season 2, despite how his eyes burned for sleep, he needed more. He was hooked. This was one of the funniest shows he had ever seen in his entire life.
"Sabrina, nex-" He began, looking over only to find her passed out cold. His voiced died in his throat and she grumbled something unintelligible, rolling over so that her back was facing him. Glancing at the clock, Puck realized why. It was already 2 in the morning.
Sighing, he turned the DVD player off and leaned back against the pillows, pulling the covers over the both of them. It was best if he went to sleep; Sabrina would murder him if he watched any more of the show without him, and well… he wanted to share it with her.
Turning so that the curves of their backs were pressed together, Puck instantly drifted off to sleep.
Part 3
Halloween (Friday, October 31st, 2014) – Sabrina
At least it isn't Christmas morning, Sabrina thought glumly as Daphne jumped up and down at the end of Sabrina's bed, wearing her Daphne costume from Scooby Doo. Sabrina swore she hadn't taken it off since they bought it two days ago; every time she turned the corner she spotted the orange wig and purple dress.
Rubbing her eyes tiredly, Sabrina crawled out of bed and wobbled toward her dresser. Today was going to be a long day, even though it was a half-day at school. Granny was having a party later, so the house would be crowded and she would be forced to socialize with people other than Puck, which was bad enough as it is. She still didn't know that many people in town, after all, so there would be a lot of introductions.
"Wear your costume Sabrina!" Daphne cried from the end of Sabrina's bed, still bouncing back and forth on her heels. "You said you put something together but all you got from the Halloween store was a black witch hat. I wanna see what you are!"
Sabrina rolled her eyes and got dressed nonetheless. Really, she just pulled on clothes she usually wore; a navy blue cardigan, white t-shirt, and black skinny jeans with her white high-tops. To top it all off, she put on her witch hat.
"Sabrina," Daphne said, shooting her a confused look, as if it was starting to dawn on her that Sabrina hadn't put together a costume at all. "What are you supposed to be, exactly?"
"I'm Sabrina the teenage witch," Sabrina said proudly, grinning. Daphne glared at her, obviously annoyed by Sabrina's cop out of a costume. "Hey, don't be like that. You know I'm not that fond of dressing up for Halloween. I like the scary parts better. That's what Halloween is all about, after all."
"I know," she mumbled, crossing her arms. "Still, you could have at least tried a little harder."
Sabrina frowned at her sister as she watched her storm out of the room, stomping her feet dramatically as she went. "Jeez," Sabrina muttered, following her close behind. From the smell wafting up the stairs (honey, pumpkin, and lavender) it seemed like breakfast was ready.
"What's for breakfast?" She asked as she entered the dining room and taking her usual seat. "It smells… interesting, whatever it is."
"Honey and lemon waffles with lavender syrup," Granny said, setting a plate of food in front of her. "And completely normal pumpkin pie for you, liebling."
"For breakfast?" Sabrina asked incredulously, but she couldn't help but smile. A good, normal food item for breakfast. Well, pie for breakfast was about as normal as you could get in this house. It looked like her prayers were answered after all!
"Hey, Grimm. You ready for today?" Puck asked as Sabrina climbed into the passenger seat of his car and nabbed his hoodie from the seat and stuffed it into her backpack.
"Not really," she sighed, turning the heat up and Puck's horrible taste in music down. "Where's your costume, anyway? Daphne nearly had a fit when I told her this was my costume. She might not talk to me for a week."
Puck turned a little so she could see the pink fairy wings taped to his dirty green sweatshirt. "I'm me, duh! And who are you supposed to be, anyway?"
Sabrina rolled her eyes at him. By 'me', Puck probably meant Puck from A Midsummer Night's Dream. At least his costume was just as bad as hers, by Daphne's standards. "I'm Sabrina the teenage witch. Obviously."
Puck glanced at her with a perplexed expression. "I didn't know that you were a witch, Grimm. Cast any spells recently? Did you forget your cat?"
"No, idiot, it's a TV show about a teenage girl named Sabrina who, shocker, is a witch."
"Don't sass me or I'm turning this car around."
"Shut up."
He stuck his tongue out at her but obliged, opting instead to turning the music back up, Monster Mash blaring from the speakers louder than was strictly necessary.
School was an extremely boring event after all, just as she predicted. Most of the students were dressed up in their costumes, though many claimed that they were too old for Halloween (in Sabrina's opinion, they were right, but Daphne would probably murder her if she agreed with them). The school itself wasn't decorated and the teachers were even more grumpy and dull than usual.
Homeroom was even noisier than what Sabrina was used to, which she had thought was impossible. Apparently, she was wrong. Her peers were far more rowdy during the holidays, it seemed. She spent the entire duration of time with her fingers in her ears and her eyes glued to the clock, counting down the minutes.
English was incredibly boring and quiet. The teacher had decided that there would be no lesson, but the students weren't allowed to talk at all, so in between reading sections of her most recent novel, she spent most of that class period texting Puck.
Sabrina
This is so boring.
Fairy Boy
Suck it up, grimm
Sabrina
No offer to ditch?
That's new.
Also, rude.
Fairy Boy
Of course not
who do you think i am? ;)
Sabrina
An idiot.
Fairy Boy
Lmao jk
Wanna meet me in the hall?
We can eat 2nd breakfast at denny's
Sabrina
No.
Fairy Boy
aw :(
To be honest, Denny's actually sounded a little good right now and the offer was tempting, but Sabrina had never ditched a day in her life and she wasn't about to start now. At least the class itself only lasted for a little over half an hour.
Just a little longer.
The rest of the day was short, thankfully, and they picked lunch up from Briar Rose's cafe on the ride home. It wasn't a traditional lunch by any means, but on a day such as this, it was nice to enjoy some coffee and a slice of Briar's wonderful pumpkin bread, a seasonal treat that would be gone by the end of fall, not to return until the next year. Puck had gotten some coffee as well, and an array of treats such as a blueberry muffin and a scone, as well as one of those jelly cookies Briar makes that are well known around town.
They ate their treats at the dining table at home, and Sabrina spent most of the meal staring out the dining room window at the falling leaves, hands wrapped around the disposable paper cup her coffee had come in. Puck sat quietly across from her, eating quietly (a rare thing for him).
Sometime between the end of her pastry and draining half of her cup, Granny joined them at the table, sitting quietly with her own meal and gazing out the window with Sabrina.
"What's on your mind, dear?" Granny asked as Puck got up to clear his garbage and use the restroom. Sabrina looked at her in surprise, having been so lost in her own thoughts that she'd barely noticed the woman arrived.
"A lot of things," Sabrina admitted. She looked down at the cup in her hands and took a long drink. "School, friends, my parents… The case. Just a lot of stuff. It's all… it's everywhere in my mind, y'know?"
"I know, liebling," Granny said, her mouth flattening into a grim line. "I worry about you. You're a very strong woman, Sabrina, but you take things to heart. You can't trap this case inside you."
"Thanks, Granny," Sabrina said, turning her gaze back to the tree outside. She didn't know how to tell her grandmother that the case was already trapped inside her. The damage was done. "I'm okay."
"I'm glad you have him," Granny said, standing. She placed a hand on Sabrina's shoulder, then gathered her dishes and left the room. Sabrina didn't have to ask to know who she meant, or what she meant. And she was right.
Sabrina was glad too.
Later on in the afternoon, just as Puck and Sabrina are settling onto the couch to start the movies and wait for Daphne to get home, her phone buzzes in her pocket with a phone call. She pulled it out, surprised to see her mother's name flash across the screen. She stands and motions to Puck, a I'll be back in a second gesture, and took the call in her room.
"Hey mom," Sabrina said when she answers.
"Hey sweetheart, happy Halloween!" her mom said, and Sabrina is instantly comforted by the sound of her mother's voice. They called as often as they could with their schedules, often right before bed, but it was still nice to hear from her. "How's your day been so far?"
"It's been great," Sabrina said, running her free hand through her hair as she sunk down into her armchair. "School was short today, and Puck and I went to Briar's café for lunch. Now we're going to watch movies with Daphne until trick or treating time and then we have Granny's party…"
"That sounds like fun. How's Puck? You two still the best of friends?"
Sabrina scoffed, but blushed at her mother's mention of her friend. "He's good. Just as annoying as always."
"Well, I'll let you get back to it. But call me tomorrow, okay? And your father says hi."
"Okay. Thanks mom, I love you. Tell dad I said hi."
"Love you too."
Sabrina lowered her phone to her lap as the call end screen blinked at her. She let her phone turn off by itself as she sat for a moment, thinking about the call. Then she stood and went back downstairs, finding Puck and Daphne arguing in the living room.
"Grimm! Tell Marshmallow that we need to watch The Shining. She wants to watch some kiddy movie," Puck exclaimed as soon as Sabrina returned.
"No way!" Daphne said, shoving Puck with both her hands. He barely moved. "I want to watch Scary Godmother!"
"Hate to break it to you, monkey boy, but I'm with Daphne on this one," Sabrina said, shoving herself between the two of them and draping her legs across Puck's lap. "We can watch the scarier stuff later when she goes to bed."
"Ugh," Puck groaned, flopping backwards. "Fine."
Daphne squealed and jumped up, shoving Scary Godmother into the DVD player. Puck laid his arms over Sabrina's legs and beamed at her, and she returned his smile.
And there, they stayed.
"Alright, lieblings, have fun and be safe!" Granny called after them as they ran down the driveway, smiling and laughing. "And don't forget to be home by 9!"
Sabrina waved to Granny as she, Puck, Daphne, and Red headed down the street to begin their trick or treating adventure. Ferryport Landing was an extremely small town, so she figured that they wouldn't have any trouble navigating or getting lost, but she was a little worried about Daphne running off. Sometimes when her sister spotted something that interested her, she would take off in its direction without any warning. She'd gotten lost a lot when they were younger.
It did happen a few times while they were out, but luckily Red kept her in line most of the time.
The hours passed by faster than any of them expected and soon enough the sun had set, sinking below the horizon and casting pastel hues through the sky before darkening into the inky black that it was now. The October sky turned from shades of orange to dark, spotted with stars brighter than any she would have seen in the city. The sight was beautiful.
"We should probably start heading back," Sabrina spoke up as she checked the time. 8:34 blinked up at her in bright red characters from her watch. "Granny's party starts soon."
"Aw but my bag isn't completely full yet," Puck whined, digging his hand through the candy in his pillow case. "And some of it sucks. We need to keep going!"
Sabrina ignored the similar arguments from the two younger kids and rolled her eyes. "You have plenty. And besides, if we get back in time, we can trade candy, okay?"
Puck's eyes lit up and he nodded eagerly, excited by the prospect of getting better candy and not having to work for it. "What are we waiting for then?"
Puck looped his arm through Sabrina's and started skipping, dragging her in the direction of Granny's house, and Sabrina allowed it with a small huff in complaint. They were nearing Granny's house with 10 minutes to go when they passed it. Sabrina dug her heels into the ground, pulling herself and Puck to a stop.
The moon shone over the house where the girl was murdered just weeks earlier, still surrounded in yellow police tape. It seemed to sag underneath the moonlight, and the area felt eerie. The door was closed, but Sabrina could almost see through it, back to that day when they found her there. The giggles and footfalls of Daphne and Red as they ran in circles waiting for them masked the unusual silence that encompassed the area, but Sabrina felt it in her bones. She shivered and ran a hand across her forehead.
"What is it?" Puck whispered in her ear, jolting her out of her thoughts. She turned to look at him, his expression looking vaguely worried. It was hard to see in the dark, though, so it was probably just a trick of the light. Puck, worried? Yeah right.
"Nothing," she replied shortly, though a spike a grief and fear tore through her as she was violently reminded of her nightmare, several weeks before. She grabbed his arm once again and continued on, and Puck silently complied.
They arrived back home just in the nick of time; the party was only just beginning. Sabrina and Puck sat across from each other on the floor of the living room, dumping their candy into separate piles in front of them.
"I'll give you two Kit Kats for three of your chocolate eyes," Puck said before they'd even had time to sort the candy, pointing to the chocolate eyeballs in Sabrina's pile.
"Deal," she said, sliding the candy to him in exchange for the Kit Kats. They weren't her favorites, but they were close enough that the exchange was a great deal.
They spent most of the party seated there on the floor, munching on the candy that they had worked so hard for and the cupcakes that they had toiled over earlier that week. And when the party wound to a close, they scooted closer and popped a horror movie into the TV.
The last thing that Sabrina remembers before drifting off is her head on Puck's shoulder, his fingers combing through her hair and the smell of pumpkin pie and candy as the actress on the TV screamed in terror.
So rabbit please stop looking the other way
It's cold out there so why not stay here
Under my tail