AN~ Christmas present for y'all. I meant to get it up earlier, but it kind of stalled out in the middle, and it took me a while to get it going again. Finals are OVER! I don't have to do any schoolwork 'til the 19th!
Eponine Thenardier: Thanks! I hope you have a merry Christmas, too!
CUDDLY CUTIE: Thanks!
Agd: You and your logic. Gosh. Throwing off my groove here! :) My theory was, she had the bad parts of their personalities, but not the spark that drove them, which meant she could think and want and all that, but she couldn't care. Like, the only emotion she felt was want, and the rest was just acting like the girls do... on a bad day.
babef**k of chapter 12: Sorry, had to censor your name. We've got kids reading this. I'm confused. I translated your comment from Hindi with Google, and who exactly are you referring to as a 'hot babe'? Kind of hope it's not me, considering your username...
Naya Lopez: Thanks! Glad you liked it! And I hope finals went good.
ANannyMouse: Thanks! :D You didn't come across as nasty, 'cause I don't like An, either. I think I might have, once. I have NOT seen that BBC show. My friend watches it with her mom and says it's awesome.
JOSIE: Nice? An has no soul. She's like, a robot, kind of. She acts like a person, but she's not, really. Also, what did you mean by 'how could they be rude'?
Granny, Sabrina, Daphne, Veronica, Jake, and Briar all stared at Morgan and, in concert, asked, "WHAT?"
"I have a spell that lets you find your blood relatives." Morgan said. "It works best for children, siblings, and parents, but it's OK for other things. I used it on Arthur back in the day, but now I mostly use it to keep track of Mordred. Don't tell him, though. He'd be furious!"
"Sure, sure, sure, we won't tell." Veronica said hastily. "Just... can we use it, please? Or can you do it for us?"
"Absolutely." Morgan said. "I'd have let you have it ages ago if I'd known."
"It's just for blood family?" Briar asked quietly.
Morgan nodded. "But it should work for you, too, since marriage is 'blood of my blood'."
"Well, can we get started?" Daphne asked.
"Certainly." Morgan said. "I've got the incantation memorized, I've had to use it that often. I'll just substitute your names for mine, and we should be good to go!" She began chanting in another language, and the others listened, waiting, until they began to feel tugs in all different directions. Morgan stopped speaking, and the tugging got stronger immediately.
"So we're being tugged toward our relatives?" Granny clarified.
Morgan nodded.
"So how exactly do we undo the tug?" Sabrina asked, shaking herself all over, like a dog. "This is weird."
"Oh, just touch your family member." Morgan said, offhand. "It's simple, really. It won't end until you've touched them, so you'll probably want to do it fast, but it's strong."
The Grimms all went around touching each other for a minute, and when they were finished, they were left with a higher number of tugs than they'd expected. Daphne seemed to be the best at telling exactly how many there were, and she counted eight tugs, but three of those, Uncle Jake, Briar, and Granny didn't feel, though Veronica and Sabrina did.
"You must have extended family somewhere, Veronica." Granny said. "That's the only explanation."
"I guess." Veronica shrugged. "So that leaves us with five."
"Two are coming from the same direction as home." Sabrina said. "And two are coming from that way. And there's the one lonely one. Who are all these people?"
"I don't know, but we have to check all of them." Veronica said. "None of us should go alone, so... Briar and Jake, you two take the two that way, Relda, you want to go with me or home?"
"I'll go with you." Granny said. "It seems the most likely, and this way the girls can go home, tell the others what's happening, and get backup before they look for the last one."
"Glad we got to make that decision." Sabrina said dryly. "Come on, Daphne, we'll take the house."
"No you won't." Veronica said, grabbing Sabrina's shirt. "Your grandmother and I need that. You two can both fly, so you can do that."
"It's freezing!" Daphne complained. "And what if it's dangerous? We won't have our full reserves!"
"That's why you're getting backup." Jake grinned. "Have fun!"
The girls made faces, but left reluctantly, Daphne remembering to turn and call, "Thanks, Ms. Le Fay! That was very helpful!"
They flew home as fast as possible, both to keep warm and because the tugging was getting unbearable. Once inside the house, both girls ran up and hugged their father quickly, then gave him the rundown on what had happened, talking over each other.
"-And I love you." Daphne finished, then took a deep breath.
"Wow." Puck said. "I owe you congratulations. First, I think that was one breath, and second, I didn't understand any of it."
"We'll explain later." Sabrina said. "Right now we need to go... she stopped, tilting her head to one side. "...Upstairs?" She said, sounding confused.
Daphne nodded. "Upstairs."
"What?" Ghepetto asked, looking up, finally.
"We're related to someone upstairs." Sabrina said. "So we need to touch them, otherwise-"
The doorbell rang.
"I'll get it." Sabrina said.
She crossed the hall and opened the door to see a teenage boy that she vaguely recognized from school. He had pale red hair and was a few years older than she was.
"Hi, I'm looking for a Sabrina and Daphne Grimm?" The boy said, looking with interest at her eye. "Veronica sent me?"
"I'm Sabrina." Sabrina said. "Daphne, come here! I think mom sent our other relative over for the spell!"
"Wait-" the boy said. "You're Sabrina Grimm? But you're an everafter! And- you're that girl from school! Holy crap! You're the one with the body thing! Holy- you're my cousin! I hit on you! Auugh, gross, I hit on my cousin!"
The others had come in to the hall at the noise, and now they were all staring at the boy. He blushed. Sabrina blinked at him a few times, trying to keep her own face from turning cherry-red.
"Want to start that over?" He suggested.
Sabrina nodded, pressing her lips together. "Yeah. Let's." She stuck out her hand. "I'm Sabrina Grimm, nice to meet you. You're...?"
"Will, descendant of Jakob Grimm." The boy said, shaking Sabrina's hand. "And... which one of you's Daphne?" He looked at Bella, Red, and Daphne questioningly.
"Me." Daphne stepped forward.
Will did a double take. "Two everafter Grimms? Now? But that's impossible! The book's been closed for a century!"
"Book?" Puck asked, scratching his rear end.
"That's disgusting." Bella told him, wrinkling her nose.
"The Book of Everafter." Will said. "It tells the history of every everafter on the planet. Some people say it has the power to change things, too. My ancestors kept it for a while, but when they heard you guys had a magic mirror, they sent it this way for safekeeping."
"So it's in mirror?" Bella asked. "Maybe we should go check that out."
"Most likely." Will agreed. "Since, if they're everafters, that means the book is open, because otherwise no new everafters would exist. And if it's open, that means someone went in the room, and nobody should be able to do that, according to the letters your family sent to mine."
"This is kind of crazy." Sabrina said. "So you're saying that if it wasn't for this book, I'd never have become an everafter?"
Will nodded. "And presumably, if the book were destroyed, everafters would start aging at a normal pace."
"But they'd still be magic?" Daphne asked, and when Will nodded, she said. "That doesn't make sense. They should stop being magic, too, then."
"It doesn't work that way." Will said. "You need the book to GET the magic, unless you're born with it, but you don't need it to keep it, except for living forever."
"This is crazy." Sabrina said. "Can we just deal with it later? We're in the middle of a situation right here, and I don't want to wait any longer. If whoever it is is in our house..."
"What is this?" William asked.
"They're looking for their brother." Bella explained. "He's been missing for... going on three years, now, and they just got a spell that will let them find their relatives, and they have to go find him."
"Fast." Daphne said. "You can come with us if you want."
"I'm not sure that's a good idea." Henry said. "We've just met him, how do you know we can trust him?"
"I can't go, anyway." Will said. "I have to get back to my dad and my sister."
He walked off, and Sabrina said, "He's definitely related to us, Dad. I know that much. Maybe we can't trust him. But we have to go, now, so we'll talk about it later."
"We have to talk about you going, first." Henry said. "This could be dangerous. No charging in without a plan."
"But da-ad!" Daphne complained.
"Sorry, squirt." Henry said. "Now, first we're discussing who's going."
"Daphne and me." Sabrina said quickly. When Henry looked like he was about to protest, she said, "We have to! We're the ones with the spell!"
"Someone has to stay here with Ghepetto." Bella said. "And probably not alone, just in case."
"You and Red." Henry said. "I don't want any of you alone in the house with Puck, and I have to go with the girls."
"Wait a second!" Bella said. "I want to go!"
"We need Red." Daphne said. "She was in the hand, she might be able to help."
"Did I just say I wanted to go?" Bella asked. "I changed my mind. Dangerous. Right. Sorry. Got caught up in the moment."
"I was gonna say..." Sabrina grinned at her. "That was out of character for you."
Henry sighed. "I can't let you kids go off alone. What if you get hurt?"
"Puck and Red are too useful to stay behind, and you can't really leave Ghepetto here with just Bella." Daphne pointed out. "I wish you could come, Dad, in case it is the baby, but..."
Of course, that wasn't the end of it. Henry was never one to be easily convinced of anything, but the kids wore him down eventually. Only Sabrina was silent, and that was because she wasn't sure which side to take. On one hand, having her dad with her would be a great help with anything, and just make her feel safer. On the other hand, Daphne was still trying to prove herself, and this would let her. After all, how dangerous could this upstairs thing be? Finally, Henry agreed to let them go it alone, as long as they promised to check in every fifteen minutes via their swords, and call if they had any trouble.
"And I'm coming up after you if you're gone more than two hours." Henry finished.
"We get it, Dad." Daphne said, walking up the stairs. "Relax. We'll be fine. We've handled worse than this before."
"And almost died." Sabrina muttered under her breath. "But hey, no biggie."
"What was that?" Red asked.
"Nothing." Sabrina said. "Just making passive-aggressive remarks to remind people we're not all powerful."
"Oh." Red said. "You do that a lot."
"Hey!" Daphne said. "This reminds me of when we first got here and we had to go to Mirror's room, but we thought he was, like, evil or something! Doesn't it? ...Except with Red."
"Red's quiet enough that we can ignore her anyway." Puck grinned.
"Shaddup." Sabrina told Puck, then turned to Daphne and said, "A bit, except we're not wearing colanders or pots or carrying kitchen utensils. And Mirror isn't evil. ...Except it's... coming... from... his... room..."
"The baby's in mirror's room?" Puck wrinkled his forehead. "Wouldn't we have noticed?"
"Not if it was in Mirror." Sabrina said darkly.
"Come on." Daphne said. "We have to go."
She pushed open the door and walked inside slowly, the others following after her on tiptoe. But there was none of Mirror's usual 'who dares disturb my slumber' routine. In fact, even though they called for him several times, he never appeared in the mirror's surface. Puck was busy searching the room for a baby while they did this, but the others, deciding that something had happened to Mirror, just walked in.
"Hey." Sabrina said, sticking her head back out. "Puck. Come on."
Puck, who was looking under the bed, turned, then followed the girls into the mirror.
"-been here before." Red was saying, staring around.
"Well, of course you have!" Daphne said. "You've been living here for over a year!"
"Actually, she hasn't." Sabrina said. "Most of the time, we just have Mirror bring us stuff, remember? And besides, why would Red need to come in here?"
"I've never been here with you guys, but I have been here. Back when I was..." Red trailed off.
"Oh." Daphne said. "Oh."
"I don't like this." Sabrina said, looking around shiftily. "Mirror's not here, and the baby is in here, I can feel it, and Red was here when she was in the Hand, and we've been spied on from mirrors, and Granny said that when they were cleaning out Mirror 'cause we thought he wasn't safe, a lot of stuff had disappeared, remember?"
Daphne nodded. "And Jack got his magic bean, even though they're all supposed to have been in here."
"The man with two faces." Red said, horrified.
"What?" Puck asked.
"The master has two faces." Red explained. "An angry face he wears sometimes, and a normal face... and lightning... He uses lightning!"
"The master sounds like-" Puck started.
"No." Sabrina said. "Don't finish that thought. It can't be. Don't say it. It's a coincidence."
"But Grimm-" Puck started again.
"No!" Sabrina snapped. "He can't be! He was my first friend in this town, Puck, and if you finish that thought-"
"Fine." Puck said. "But if we get to the end of this and I'm right-"
"How do we get to the end of the hall?" Red asked, peering down it "I can't see the end."
"Puck has superspeed." Sabrina reminded Red. "If Daphne turns into something small and sits in his pocket, and you and I hang on, we should be able to get there. If we have to get to the end, that is. He may not be all the way down there."
"Why do I have to be in his pocket?" Daphne asked, wrinkling her nose. "It's gross in there!"
"Fine, go in my pocket." Sabrina said.
Daphne transformed into a mouse and Sabrina slipped her into her pocket, then Red and Sabrina both grabbed Puck's filthy hands, making faces as they did so, and Puck, wings sprouting out of his back, took off into the air.
"Remember, not too fast!" Sabrina cautioned him. "We want to be able to see if there are any open doors or anything!"
"I got it, Grimm." Puck said irritably. "I'm not an idiot."
Then they were off! Puck was going faster than he'd gone anytime he was racing Sabrina, but just slow enough that she and Red could see what was happening. None of the doors were open, and they all had labels, and none of them looked like places that would be good to hide a baby in, especially as they went further along, where the doors were much more frightening. Finally, they reached the end of the hall, where there were three doors: one a plain wooden door, like there would be on a study, one a big stone creation with a handprint cut into it, and one an archway leading to what looked like other mirrors.
"That's weird." Sabrina said. "I always thought you wouldn't be able to take a mirror inside a mirror. It just seems like something you shouldn't do, you know?"
Daphne nodded, but didn't look at Sabrina. "Mirror?" She called, looking inside the archway. "Are you here?"
"I don't know, but the baby is through this door." Sabrina said, pointing at the wooden door. "Come on, guys."
"Maybe we should make a plan, first..." Red said hestiantly.
But it was too late. Sabrina was already through the door, and the others were following after her.
Inside the room was an easy chair, a crib, and a wall absolutely full of broken shards of mirror. In the crib was a sleeping boy, about three years old, with red hair and the same nose as Sabrina and Daphne.
"Told you it was a boy." Puck muttered to Daphne.
Red, though, was just looking around. "I've been here before." She said. "It's his... his..."
"Study." Sabrina said, and her voice was completely flat. "It's his study. Come on, guys, let's get out of here. I have a bone to pick with a certain friend of mine."
"I was wondering when you'd figure it out." A voice said from behind them.
They all spun, but only one of them was surprised by the sight before them: Mirror, with a Scarlet Hand print on his chest.