AN~ NeverGonnaHappenObsessed: You're really boosting my ego here. I think somebody better flame me before I get too bigheaded. :)
Kendra1212: Thanks for the review! Yup, poor Sabrina. She shall pull through.
Puckabrinafanfictionrocks: You deserve a hug for that comment. Seriously, do you know how RARELY I hear that? Slow puckabrina? I think most people think that's an oxymoron.
Purpleflower23: I'm glad you liked it. Thanks. :) And whichever name works for me. As long as I know who you are.
Scarlet Wolf: Ah, that's what happened. :) And my assumption is that all fairies have the same basic powers: flight, fire-breathing, and shape-shifting.
EvilScapbookerJW13: I don't blame you at all for not reading this. It's enormous. I wouldn't want to read it. Now, responses to your points, in order, starting with likes:
1. This school is where I'd like to go if it existed. 2. Bella=Love. 3. Yeah, forever is scary. But Sabrina being an everafter is the best way to make Puck not be heartbroken someday. 6. YOU LIKE IT? Holy heck, I think that makes TWO people other than me. 9. ^.^ I try. 11. Thank you. I thought Sabrina needed more time to develop, but I think MB wants to keep her the same age for most of the series. Which is weird, because she was my age when the series started, and I'm an adult now... 12. I think I'm the first one to do it. :) 13. Sweet! I kept them in character! 14. :D 15. I inspired you! Yay! I don't have anything finished enough to try publishing, except one kid's book. Thank you!
Now for the dislikes: 1. I'm going to go back and rewrite that, because it fails. A lot. I didn't explain it, and you have to know a lot about ancient gods and actually care about them to even begin to get it, and if you don't, then it will make no sense. 2. It is OOC. Forgive me. But I'm keeping it that way. However, I'll try to throw in more pranks. But a big part of the reason I write them this way is that I can never think of good pranks. 3. Her strength is her talent with weapons. By the end of this school year in this book, she'll be very beast. However, all the rest of this town is several times her age, and it'll take time for her to be as good as they are. See, I'm not trying to make her unskilled, I'm just trying to make her progression realistic. But I see what you're saying.
Thank you very much for your well-rounded critique. I appreciate it a lot. And yes, I am a beta, though I have no idea how to work the DocX system. And about books 7 and 8, really? I understand 8, but 7 was my ultimate favorite, followed by 4, then 5, then 3, then 8, then 6, then 2, then 1. Not that the order is really THAT important...
After she'd taught Moth and taken a break for dinner, Sabrina badgered Puck into teaching her how to be a proper fairy.
"This is impossible." Sabrina sighed. "I don't even know what I'm supposed to try to be doing."
"I don't get it." Puck scratched his head. "My wings always just sort of came out on instinct, and went away the same way. Why won't yours move? I mean, you can fly just fine in your body."
"Maybe Moth is different." Sabrina shrugged. "She's a Fae, after all."
"But we're the same species." Puck said. "Just different kingdoms. It's not like... I dunno, greyhounds and poodles or something."
Sabrina snickered, saying, "I just got a wonderful image of you as a poodle."
Puck sighed, then smiled. "Let's take a break from this. You can practice turning into animals."
"Which will go just as badly." Sabrina said gloomily.
"Will not." Puck said. "Stop being such a Debbie Downer."
"A what?" Sabrina blinked.
"A Debbie Downer." Puck repeated. "Like a pessimist."
"Sure..." Sabrina blinked. "So, how do I do the turning into animals thing? I have to spin, right?"
"Yeah, but it's not just that." Puck said. "You think about the animal you want to be, and you spin clockwise on your right heel."
"I've seen you do it without spinning." Sabrina pointed out.
"That only works for partial transformations." Puck said. "And I'm really good at this. Like, awesome."
"Thank you, Mr. Modesty." Sabrina said, then stood up to try the spin.
"You're welcome." Puck bowed.
Sabrina balanced a little shakily on her right heel, then tried the spin and promptly fell over. Puck burst out laughing.
"Let me try that again." Sabrina said.
"Be my guest." Puck waved at her.
She tried again. And again. It took five tries before she could spin without falling over, but she still hadn't transformed.
"I almost wonder if I didn't like it better when I was getting my own powers and they exploded at me." Sabrina muttered. "At least then I could figure out how to work them."
"Try again." Puck suggested. "And this time, think of an animal. Think really hard about that animal, for a long time before spinning. Then, when you think you've got the animal down, spin. It might work."
"Might?" Sabrina asked skeptically, but when Puck gave her a look, she shut up and concentrated.
When she thought she was ready, she spun, and it worked. She was suddenly a lioness. Who could talk.
Puck blinked. "Nice. I didn't know if you'd get it on the first try."
"Great." Sabrina said. "Now how do I get back?"
That was much longer and more complicated, because lions find it very difficult to spin counterclockwise on their left rear paw. But she ended up back in Moth's body after another fifteen minutes, and found that she almost fit in the lion's body better than she did in Moth's. It was better to be in a body that was completely foreign than one that was almost the same but not quite.
"Ready to try with the wings again?" Puck asked.
"Not really." Sabrina said. "But let's do it anyway."
Puck snorted. "Remember what you're supposed to be doing?"
"No." Sabrina glared at Puck reproachfully. "All you said was concentrate on trying to fly. But I can't, because I don't have any wings right now. And mine never disappear, so I can't figure out how to get them to come out."
Puck looked at her thoughtfully. "Hmm... maybe if we... or, no. Wait. I've got it."
"Got what?" Sabrina asked warily.
"An idea for how to get your wings out." Puck said. "But you're not going to like it."
"Why am I not going to like it?" Sabrina asked, even more warily.
"Because my idea is to drop you out of the sky and see if the fear gets your wings to come out." Puck muttered.
"WHAT?" Sabrina stared at him. "You're joking, right?"
"No." Puck said. "I promise you'd be safe, Grimm. If it doesn't work, I'll catch you."
"No." Sabrina said flatly. "No, no, no no, nonononono."
"Please?" Puck asked. "It's better than doing nothing, right?"
"Absolutely not." Sabrina said firmly. "You're not dropping me off a cliff, Puck."
"And you're supposed to be brave." Puck scoffed. "How many times have I saved your life? And now you don't trust me to catch you? What a coward."
"I'm not a coward." Sabrina snapped, defensive now.
"Prove it." Puck taunted. "'Cause I don't believe you."
Sabrina glared, then sighed. "Fine. But if you get me killed, I'm not going to be pleased."
Puck grinned. "Come on, then."
He grabbed her and, as they flew upward, Sabrina realized that she'd missed having Puck fly her around. Flying herself was all well and good, but she liked it when Puck held her as he flew. It was nice, being taken care of like that. ...Not that she needed it.
"I knew you'd fall for that." Puck grinned down at her.
"For what?" Sabrina asked, getting suspicious.
"Me messing with your ego." Puck said. "I knew if I said you were being scared, you'd have to prove me wrong."
Sabrina gaped at him angrily, but her stare changed to one of horror as Puck let her go.
"Puck!" She screamed as she fell, "There aren't any wings here!"
"Wait!" Puck called. "And try to fly!"
Sabrina tried as hard as she could, but she was still falling. "I'm gonna die." She whimpered, squeezing her eyes shut. "I'm gonna die, and I'll never see the baby, and I'll never grow up or have a boyfriend or- why am I not dead yet?"
"Because your wings came out." Puck said, and she could hear the smile in his voice.
Sabrina opened an eye cautiously and looked down. She was flying, and Puck was next to her. She opened her other eye and blinked. "I- I'm flying again."
"Told you it would work." Puck smirked.
Sabrina glared at Puck, then punched him in the arm. She looked down at her hand- well, Moth's hand, and sighed. "That was pathetic. This girl needs to work out."
"Yes it was." Puck said, not even bothering to rub his arm. "Why'd you hit me?"
"Because I almost died!" Sabrina snapped. "That was terrifying. Why didn't you catch me?"
"I knew you'd be fine." Puck said breezily. "It's a self-defense mechanism. Fairy wings are more than just wings. I was right there the whole time, in case it didn't work. But I know it would." Then he looked at her, a little hurt. "Did you really think I'd let you fall?"
"Yes." Sabrina said. "No. Maybe. I wasn't really thinking. But... never do that again. Ever."
"I won't." Puck grinned, then shook his head. "You have no idea how weird it is talking to Moth like this."
"It's weirder from this angle, I promise you." Sabrina assured him. "So, now that I can fly, will you teach me to breathe fire?"
Puck laughed. "What, you don't want to fly around more?"
"Can't I fly and breathe fire?"
"No." Puck said firmly. "I don't want you setting fire to my bedroom, thanks."
Sabrina made a face. "I can always fly later, I guess."
They touched down, and Sabrina tried to make the wings go away. They didn't cooperate for some time. But she eventually removed the pink-streaked wings from her back, then practiced popping them in and out for awhile longer.
"Great, you can manage the wings." Puck said, sounding bored. "Now can we move on? It's getting kind of late, and I want to go to bed."
Sabrina stuck her tongue out at him, but stopped messing with Moth's wings. "Right. Breathing fire. How?"
"I burp." Puck grinned. "But with fire."
Sabrina stared at him, one delicate eyebrow raised.
"Your eyebrow's escaping." Puck pointed.
"I'm aware." Sabrina said. "I'm trying to see how high it can go."
"Pretty high, apparently." Puck observed. "Shall we get on with it?"
"I'm not going to spend the next hour burping on purpose." Sabrina said testily.
"Don't, then." Puck said complacently. "I'm just the fairy here. What do I know?"
"Don't be like that." Sabrina begged. "Isn't there any other way to do it? 'Cause that's not only embarrassing, it's really vague."
Apparently, there was not. So Sabrina burped and burped and burped until she caught on.
"I can breathe fire!" Sabrina sang, dancing in circles around Puck. "I can breathe fire, and turn into animals, and make my wings go away, and- what?" She stopped, turning to look at Puck, who was staring at her.
"Nothing." Puck shook his head. "Nothing at all. I think we should both go to bed."
"Night, Puck." Sabrina said with a smile. "Thanks for teaching me."
"I'd say no problem or anytime, but it was a problem, and I never want to do that again." Puck flashed her a lopsided smile. "But it was fun anyway."
Sabrina flashed a smile back at him, Moth's shiny white teeth glistening in the moonlight, then left for her bedroom.
When she pushed the door open, Daphne turned and jumped, staring.
"Sorry." Daphne apologized. "I forgot what happened for a second, and seeing Moth come into my room like she belonged here..."
"I get it." Sabrina said. "You want me to sleep someplace else? So that you don't wake up in the morning and have the same thing happen?"
"Please?" Daphne asked, sounding kind of scared.
Sabrina, once she realized what Daphne was scared of, toyed with the idea of being offended by her sister's eagerness not to have someone who looked exactly like Moth in her bedroom, but decided it wasn't worth the effort. She had been the one to suggest it, after all.
She got downstairs just to realize that the couch was already occupied by Moth. She stood in the doorway for a few minutes, watching herself sleep, before she went upstairs to Mirror's room.
The bed her parents had used before moving up to the attic was still in the room, unoccupied. She climbed into it, under the covers, and dozed off almost immediately.
The next morning, it took her a full five minutes to remember that she was still in Moth's body.
"Crap." She muttered, looking at her reflection in Mirror. "I really don't want to take a shower in someone else's body."
"What's going on?" Mirror asked sleepily. "Moth? What are you doing here?"
"I'm not." Sabrina said. "I'm Sabrina. Moth stole my body, so I took hers."
Mirror looked taken aback, but after a few seconds, he said, "Sounds like Moth, all right. I'm sorry, Starfish."
Sabrina smiled wryly. "Eh. I'll deal. It's only for three days, after all. Two and a half, now."
"That's the spirit!" Mirror smiled at her. "Now hurry up, or you'll be late for school."
Sabrina smiled at Mirror, then ran downstairs, to the kitchen, which was already full.
Moth took on look at Sabrina, then shrieked. "What are you wearing?"
Sabrina looked down at herself- well, Moth. "I think it's a dress." She said. "I'm not sure, though. It might be a piece of gauze. Or a long shirt, or a skirt that you just pulled up over yourself. You should know, though. You put it on."
"You can't wear that." Moth whispered, horrified. "I wore that yesterday! People will think I'm dirty."
Sabrina blinked several times, then took a deep breath and said, "Um... Right. I don't think I- well, you- smell, and I thought wearing the same clean clothes for two days in a row was a better option than changing while I was in someone else's body. Sorry. Obviously, I was wrong. I see it didn't stop you." She noted, glancing at her body, which was wearing a blue dress that Granny had bought her some time ago.
"Yes." Moth said. "I noticed you haven't hit puberty yet."
"What are you talking about?" Sabrina snapped defensively. "Of course I've hit puberty."
"Mm-hm." Moth said skeptically. "You're not particularly... well-endowed in certain areas I'd expect someone who has hit puberty to be."
"I'm slender." Sabrina glared at Moth. "Not flat-chested. Slender."
"Oh, no no no, my girl." Moth smiled cruelly. "I am slender. And I have much more chest than you do."
"Can we not discuss this here?" Sabrina hissed, looking around at the table. She wasn't blushing, though. Maybe Moth's body didn't blush as easily as hers did.
"What's the matter?" Moth asked innocently. "Don't want your fiance to hear about how much of a manly figure you have?"
"I honestly don't care what Puck thinks about the size of my chest." Sabrina said. "However, my little sister, my dad, and my grandmother are all in this room right now. So is my uncle. I don't want them hearing this, any more than I think they want to be hearing it!"
"I, for one, don't." Jake piped up. "I think today would have been a good day to eat in the chicken house."
"I concur." Henry added.
"See?" Sabrina pointed at them. "Suitable conversation for polite society! This is not! Gosh, Moth, where's your filter?"
"She's never had one." Puck put in. "And you two ought to hurry up, or we'll be late."
"To school we now must go, to school we now must go, hi-ho, the derry-oh, to school we now must go!" Daphne sang to the tune of 'The Farmer in the Dell.'
"But I didn't eat anything yet!" Moth complained.
"Deal with it." Sabrina snapped. "You can get food at school."
They all piled into the cars and drove off to school, Sabrina and Moth thankfully in separate vehicles. When they arrived at school, most of the Scarlet Hand already seemed to know about Moth and Sabrina's switch.
"How do they know?" Daphne whispered. "Did Moth tell them this plan?"
"I doubt it." Sabrina said. "But I slept in Mirror's room last night, and I told him what was up this morning. The spy was probably watching."
"Why would you tell him that?" Daphne asked.
"Because he saw Moth in our spare bedroom?" Sabrina said, sounding as if she were stating the obvious.
"Oh." Daphne said. "Right."
Bella rolled her eyes. "Shouldn't you two be getting to class?"
"Right." Sabrina sighed. "Here I go." She slouched off, not looking forward to a day at school spent in Moth's body.