AN~ Happy Easter, everybody! And wish me a happy birthday Tuesday! I'll be an adult! ...Scary.
Invisibleme1835: Thanks for the review!
PsychoBrunetteD: Which parts are confusing? I might go back and edit this someday, and it'd be good to know what needs fixing. And yeah, my summary failed. Like, a lot. Also: If I can find you, I'll read them.
Brittany Davis: I could try to write that story for you. But I won't. And you may think I'm just making up excuses because I'm a busy senior who doesn't want another story on her plate, but... if I wrote it for you, it wouldn't be your story anymore. It would be your idea, but not your story. And it wouldn't really be my story, either, because I didn't come up with the plot. Another reason I won't write it for you is because there are a lot of similarities between your idea and the story I'm writing now. And thanks for reading the whole thing! I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have the patience to do that.
Purpleflower23: I'll look into that story, but parodies don't necessarily have to be random, you know. The one I'm talking about would be poking fun at people. I already have a crackfic that's in progress. And the Scarlet Hand in my story was silent then attack-y because I was boring myself and decided it was time to practice writing action. It makes absolutely no sense plotwise.
After Sabrina made her announcement, Jake berated himself: "That's... why didn't I think of that? I mean, it's so obvious! We're being watched through our mirrors! I feel so stupid now!"
"None of us saw it." Granny said. "It seems obvious now, but before the pieces were put together, they were just random events. Wonderful job, Sabrina!"
"And you thought you weren't cut out to be a fairytale detective." Daphne grinned at her.
Sabrina blushed a little. "Thanks." She grinned, ducking her head.
"Don't get a big head." Puck shoved her. "One smart moment does not a genius make."
"Look who's talking about bigheadedness." Sabrina stuck out her tongue.
"So what do we do?" Veronica asked.
"Get rid of all our mirrors?" Henry suggested.
"Stop planning things in the bathroom." Briar joked.
"Both are good ideas." Granny said. "We'll put all our mirrors in one safe spot, and not plan anything there."
"Where?" Red asked. "There's nowhere that nobody talks. And if we're being spied on, I don't really want any more mirrors in the bathroom."
"The basement?" Bella suggested. "It's mostly cleared out, and we don't really go down there..."
"Absolutely." Granny said. "We'll leave a mirror in the bathroom, and maybe one or two in a few bedrooms, just so that we can make sure we look fine."
"I want one in mine." Bella said immediately.
"I can live without a mirror." Sabrina said. "How about you, Daph?"
"I'm fine." Daphne said.
"Well, let's go collect our mirrors." Granny said. "But I need someone to go to Fort Charming and tell them what Sabrina's figured out. We need to get rid of all our mirrors as soon as possible, with the exception of the enchanted ones."
"I don't suppose figuring that out and then coming to you with the information counts as being mature enough to get ungrounded?" Sabrina asked.
Veronica looked at Henry thoughtfully. "What do you think?" She asked.
"Probationary period?" Henry suggested. "She can go out, but not by herself, with permission, until she proves that she hasn't just been acting good to get out of the house."
"Sounds good." Veronica smiled. "All right, Sabrina, you can go. But you're not really free for a month."
"What about everyone else?" Daphne asked.
"Still grounded." Granny said. "You haven't proved yourselves mature and responsible yet."
"So I can go?" Sabrina asked, eyes widening. "For real? I can leave the house?"
"Yes." Veronica smiled at her. "Have fun."
Sabrina jumped up from her chair, pulling Bella with her, and swung her friend around in circles, chanting, "I can leave, I can leave, I can leave!"
"All right, no need to rub it in." Puck grumbled eventually, pulling Sabrina back into her chair by the belt loop on the back of her jeans.
Sabrina slapped his hand. "Keep your hands off my pants, bucko." she told him, glaring.
Puck raised his hand in a gesture of surrender and scooted his chair away from Sabrina's.
"Anyone else want to go with Sabrina?" Granny asked.
"I will." Jake offered. "We can take the house."
"I wish I could go." Red said quietly as Uncle Jake and Sabrina stood to leave.
"Stick up for yourself." Sabrina whispered in passing. "You're smart, but you let the rest of us be in charge too much."
Sabrina and Uncle Jake took the chicken house- surrounded by a barrier, courtesy of Sabrina- to the fort to warn the rest of the army, and the others stayed at home to search the house for mirrors. The cleaning the kids had done out of sheer boredom in the past months proved useful, because all the mirrors the family owned were openly visible. Still, there were a lot of them, and they had to be transported carefully so that none broke. Puck was afraid of the bad luck, but everyone else just worried about cleaning up the broken glass. All the mirrors had to be sorted through so that those who wanted one of their own got a mirror that could be hidden away when not in use, and then boxes and such to store the mirrors had to be found. Then the other mirrors had to be moved to the basement and leaned against a wall- which first had to be cleared- with their shiny sides facing said wall.
As a result, it was nearly dinnertime when they finished, but Sabrina and Uncle Jake still hadn't returned.
The duo finally arrived well after dinnertime, looking exhausted and slightly depressed.
"It's worse than we thought." Jake told the others as he and Sabrina sat down to eat their food.
"What is it?" Red asked.
"Charming's had things stolen from out of his magic mirror." Sabrina said around a mouthful of food.
"We're going to have to clear Mirror out." Granny realized. "Or at least, remove all the important things. There's no way we could remove everything in time. And if we did, where would we put it?"
"But... but Mirror's huge." Daphne pointed out. "That's going to take forever!"
"Well, it's a good thing you won't be missing out on anything." Puck said bracingly. "It's not like we could go anywhere anyway."
"Oh, joy." Daphne sighed, sounding less than thrilled.
It did take a very long time. In fact, they weren't even a quarter of the way done when Moth started causing trouble again, sometime around January. School had been proceeding as usual, with everyone pretending to take normal classes while they were really studying for the war, and the Advanced Gym class was studying tactics and strategy when Moth started.
"Oh Pucky..." she called in a singsong voice.
"What?" Puck asked wearily, not looking up from the battle map the Beast had put in front of him and Sabrina.
"I was just thinking..." Moth said, leaning over his desk. "About that blood oath we made..."
Sabrina, head bent over the same map as Puck, reached up suddenly and grasped the necklace Puck had given her. It felt warmer than usual, and the key she'd hung next to it seemed cold in comparison. Why did Moth have to bring this up now? Things were going good! There'd barely been any battles, because it was so cold, training had been going well, she wasn't in any trouble at home...
Stupid Moth.
"What about it?" Puck asked warily.
"Well, I've held up my end of the deal." Moth pointed out. "At least... mostly. And I was wondering when you were planning on cashing in on your end."
Sabrina clenched her fist harder around the necklace, wondering, at the same time, why. It wasn't as if the necklace was actually a sign of engagement. It was just something to keep Puck of out a sticky situation he'd gotten himself into. It wasn't like he was hers.
"We're in the middle of a war." Puck hedged. "That's kind of a bad time to get married. Especially since we're, you know, enemies?"
Moth pouted. "Don't be like that."
Puck sighed. "Can this wait until after class, at least? Besides, your mom has to ask, not you."
"Oh, she will." Moth said, managing to glare at Sabrina and grin prettily at Puck at the same time.
When she was gone, Puck looked up at Sabrina, horrified. "What am I going to do?" He whispered.
Sabrina shrugged. "Practice your acting skills?"
"What?" Puck blinked at her.
Sabrina held up the necklace that she was still holding and shook it a bit. "I doubt your mom will believe we're in love and engaged unless you're a much better actor than you look."
"You'd better work on it, too." Puck pointed out.
Sabrina sighed. "When can we practice this? I mean, you're stuck at home all the time, and if we do anything too realistic, they'll think we actually do like each other, and then my dad will flip, and... Why did you have to make that stupid oath to begin with?"
"What?" Puck exclaimed. "I was trying to protect you! It's kind of my job!"
"Well, now we're both in a mess!" Sabrina snapped. "... And not doing a very good job. Maybe we should get some help. From someone who won't completely flip out on us. Like... Mustardseed."
Puck shuddered. "He'll probably kick me off the honor guard."
"The what?" Sabrina asked.
"The honor guard." Puck said. "It's these four fairies whose job is to protect the king of faerie, and sort of the rest of the royal family, but not as much."
"And you're on it?" Sabrina asked.
Puck nodded. "I'm technically the captain. But it's really just for show. We don't do much."
"So who else is it?" Sabrina asked.
"Art and Jonas and Ariel." Puck ticked them off on his fingers.
"Ariel?" Sabrina asked. "Like, The Tempest's Ariel?"
"That's the one." Puck agreed. "Haven't you met him yet?"
"No." Sabrina said. "Do you-"
"Met who?" The Beast's voice boomed overhead. "This better have something to do with that battle plan, kiddos."
"Ummm..." Sabrina tried to think of an excuse, then gave up. "Just how much trouble would I be in if I told you it wasn't?"
"You'd have extra homework." The Beast said. "And you'd have to finish this, too."
"Then it totally was." Puck said. "I was talking about... a guy who was... in one of these battles."
"Somehow I doubt that." The Beast said dryly.
"Smart." Sabrina said, shoving Puck a little. "We'll just take the extra homework, thanks. It's not worth the effort to think up a lie, really. Especially one as pathetic as that." She glared at Puck.
"Also smart." The Beast said approvingly.
"But what about Moth?" Puck asked. "I mean, she was the one who-"
Sabrina stuck a hand over his mouth and told the Beast, "You can go now. He wasn't going to say anything important anyway."
The Beast gave Sabrina and Puck a look that might have been called amused, if it was on someone else, and walked away. Sabrina removed her hand from Puck's mouth, wiping a bit of spittle off on her jeans.
"What was that for?" Puck asked. "Don't you want her to get in trouble?"
"Of course." Sabrina said. "But I don't want you to rat her out. He'll think you're a tattletale, and tattletales turn into spies or traitors. Let her get into trouble on her own time, without making his opinion of you any lower than it already is. Now come on, maybe we can finish this before the end of class."
They didn't. But their extra homework didn't take them too much longer, so they were almost finished when Titania barged through the front door. She raced for the living room, grabbed Puck's right hand, and pulled it towards her. As she did so, Sabrina noticed a scar across his palm for the first time.
"It is true!" Titania screeched. "Puck, how could you be so unbelievably stupid?"
"What is going on in here?" Granny asked, drawn to the living room by all the noise. "Oh, hello, Titania. Can I help you?"
The other members of the household followed after Granny, coming in a few at a time.
"What happened?" Red asked.
"Puck, here," Titania seethed, "has made a blood oath with Moth."
"A what?" Daphne asked.
"An unbreakable oath." Veronica supplied. "Sealed in blood."
"What exactly was that oath, Puck?" Jake asked, passing a hand over his eyes.
"I promised Moth that if she left Sabrina alone, I'd marry her- if her mom asked my mom." Puck said, looking a little shamefaced, but mostly defiant.
"Why?" Titania asked. "What on earth would make you do something so incredibly foolhardy? You hate Moth. And we're enemies now. What could cause such an idiotic decision?"
"Relax." Puck told her. "I have a get out of jail free card."
"Which is...?" Titania asked.
"I'm just gonna leave now..." Sabrina said, edging her way to the door.
Puck grabbed her arm and muttered, "No you don't."
Sabrina sighed, and felt her face turning bright red.
Puck took a deep breath, then said, "I'm engaged to Sabrina."
"You're what?" Henry asked.
"I think we all second that comment." Briar said dryly. "Explain?"
"Is this simply a way to avoid marrying Moth?" Titania asked, "Or do you genuinely have feelings for this girl?"
"It wouldn't work if it was just an escape clause." Puck pointed out. "Love trumps the blood oath, not lies. We are genuinely engaged."
"And how long have you been engaged?" Veronica asked.
"And why didn't you tell us?" Bella asked.
"We've been engaged for like, a year?" Sabrina asked Puck, who nodded. "And why should we have told? I mean, it's not like we were planning on getting married next week."
"Uh, because I'm your best friend, and the rest of the people here are related to you?" Bella pointed out.
There was a knock on the door.
"Excuse me." Granny said, leaving to answer it.
The room was practically silent for a few minutes as everyone listened to Granny and the two other voices in the hallway. Granny reentered a moment later, followed by Moth and Queen Mab.
"Uh-oh." Red muttered.
"Well?" Mab looked expectantly at Puck and Titania.
"My son says that he is engaged to Sabrina Grimm." Titania said. "And, under the high rules of Faerie, their engagement of love takes precedence over the blood oath. As long as they remain engaged, Moth and Puck will not be forced to marry."
"Then force them to become unengaged!" Moth snapped, glaring daggers at Sabrina.
Sabrina grabbed her necklace protectively, glaring right back.
"May I?" Granny asked Sabrina politely, gesturing to the necklace.
Sabrina sighed and nodded. Granny gently lifted the necklace and attempted to pull it over Sabrina's head, but it wouldn't go. Sabrina felt it getting warmer around her throat and chin, until it was almost unbearable. Granny let go of the necklace quickly, and it fell back on Sabrina's chest, cooling off faster than it had warmed up.
"No good." Granny said. "It's stuck."
Titania nodded. "And most likely will be unless either of the two decides to cancel the engagement. I'm sorry Mab, Moth, but I cannot end the engagement."
"Then they shall have to go through with it." Mab said.
"What?" Puck asked.
"Pardon me for having difficulty believing that the trickster king has fallen in love after so much time." Mab said, not sounding sorry at all. "And with a human, at that. I'd like some proof. They'll marry, if they're in love. And soon. After all, what lover wouldn't want to hurry things along?" She gave the two a look.
Sabrina and Puck just stared at her, shocked. Marry? Now? For real?
"They can't." Henry said. "Puck may truly be ancient, but Sabrina's not even fourteen yet, and it's illegal for her to get married until she's at least sixteen- and that's with parental consent, which I won't be giving. Which means that the earliest they'll be getting married is in over four years."
"Very well." Mab said curtly, nodding. "We can wait, can't we, Moth?"
"But-" Moth started.
Mab put a hand on her shoulder. "Much can happen in four years. They might even fall out of love, dearest."
Moth nodded, but as her mother left, she turned and told Sabrina ominously, "This isn't over yet."