AN~ I felt kind of unloved when I saw the review count for this chapter. But I won't complain. I'll just say that you guys should be glad I don't sit on chapters, 'cause if I did... Those of you who DID review were great, so this update is dedicated to ANannyMouse, Kate Kesseberg, PsychoBrunette, and Epiphany On Toast.
Oh, another thing! Whoever guesses where the chapter name from correctly will get something cool, 'cause there haven't been any neat review numbers worth a prize recently. Hint: it's a song. Rules: don't go to youtube to find out.
ANannyMouse: Well, if you see, I may not be using your title, but I did incorporate fried elephants. My theory for why there aren't new everafters is because the Book of Everafter stopped recording their stories. I THOUGHT I'd written that in here... well, I guess not. But yeah, it was MB who had the plothole, not you. Guess who just learned that Everafter is SUPPOSED to be capitalized? This chick! So bear with me for a few chapters while I get used to it. Puck is being maturer because of crisis and is going to go back to being normal shortly. Like... now. Chaucer wrote the Canterbury Tales. Which might not TECHNICALLY be about Everafters, 'cause they're a book of allegories, but I always liked Chanticleer. NEVER apologize to me for long reviews again! Never ever EVER! I love long reviews! They're just awesome!
Kate Keseberg: Nope, she's going to keep maybe three powers. I mean, who needs more than three superpowers? I've been saying from the... I dunno, towards the beginning, anyway, that she'd lose most of them. There's actually a poll on my profile about it, but I think you have to be a member of FF to vote on polls.
When they got home from school that day, Sabrina blinked. They'd flown, again, and arrived after everyone else, but it seemed to her that there were entirely too many people in the house- more than the usual entirely too many, anyway.
"What on earth?" She said, staring at the crowd in the living room and yard. "Who are all these people?"
She worked her way to the kitchen, where Granny was, and repeated her question.
"They're the descendants of Fairy Tale Detectives, just like you, liebling." Granny said.
Sabrina blinked. "All of them?"
Granny nodded. "All of them."
"And what are they doing here?"
"Living." Granny responded.
There would have been silence, except for the constant background noise of strangers talking. Sabrina's eyelid twitched.
"Living like moving in living?" She clarified. "As in now?"
Granny nodded. "There was no room in town, and even if there was room, it wouldn't be safe. So I offered to let them live in Puck's room."
"Did you maybe think about asking us first?" Sabrina asked. "There's no bathroom in Puck's room. And there's like, a hundred people out there! We can't have a hundred people living here!"
"I've worked it all out with Boarman and Swineheart." Granny said breezily. "They'll be building a village in there with indoor plumbing, so you'll be fine. In fact, we may even be able to work it so that they don't have to use our door to get back to the real world."
"Yeah, but still." Sabrina said. "Until you do, there's going to be more people in here than we have square feet of floor space, and they're all strangers to everyone but you and Uncle Jake. It would have been nice to have some warning. Especially 'cause Puck's going to freak when he finds out how many people you've moved into his room."
"They needed a place to stay, liebling." Granny protested. "What did you want me to do, put them out in the street?"
"No." Sabrina said. "I wanted you to talk about it with us. Like you always want me to do with you. You know, 'cause important decisions that effect the whole family are supposed to be made by the whole family?"
Granny sighed. "I suppose you're right, Sabrina. I have a bit of a blind spot when it comes to helping people in trouble. I forget that not everyone is as eager to give a home to the homeless as I am."
"Oh, now don't make me come off as the bad guy here." Sabrina protested. "You made a mistake, you live up to it without making me seem wrong, too."
Granny smiled. "Fine. Help me with dinner, will you? We're going to need a lot of food for all these people."
"Sure." Sabrina said. "What are we making?"
"Fried elephant." Granny responded.
Sabrina blinked at Granny again. "Never mind." She said. "I can't do that. They're, like, endangered. It's illegal."
"It's the only recipe I have that will feed this many people." Granny protested.
Sabrina was saved from answering by Puck, who came barging into the room, flying low and tight over everyone's heads. "Old Lady, they're telling me they're moving a hundred and seventeen people into my room!" He said. "Tell them they're wrong!"
"I'm sorry, Puck, but it's the truth." Granny responded calmly. "They have nowhere else to stay, and you have plenty of extra room."
"You're kidding!" Puck snapped, and flew out again, knocking into several heads on his way.
Granny sighed. "Sabrina, liebling, I hate to ask you to do this, but you're the only one he really listens to, so could you-"
"On it." Sabrina sighed.
Oh, well. She'd rather talk Puck around than help Granny cook.
She worked her way through the crowded house, trying to ignore the strangers who were looking through Granny's books, leafing through the family journals, sitting on the couch, eating the food, and picking up the nick-knacks. She had to talk to some of them, though, to ask where Puck had gone. They pointed her outside, and, with relief, she followed their directions.
Outside, she didn't see him anywhere, so, after standing on the porch for a few minutes, she took to the sky, and, on a hunch, flew out into the woods.
When she reached the abandoned home that housed Puck's old junkpile and toilet throne, she was unsurprised to see him there, throwing rocks into his disgusting pool. She touched down beside him quietly and sat on the cleanest, driest piece of garbage she could find without saying anything.
Puck broke the silence first. "She treats me like I'm some... pet, or a charity case, or..." he trailed off, unsure what he wanted to say.
"One of her own kids?" Sabrina suggested.
Puck growled. "Yeah, except she expects me to give up more! I had everything in that place! All my stuff for pranking is in there! My plans, my tools, my supplies... Do you know how hard it is to find powdered roadkill?"
Sabrina shuddered. "I'll take your word for it."
"And she wants me to give all that up for... for... people!" Puck complained. "I'm a prince! I could have been a king! And she just forgets that, 'cause she wants to open a homeless shelter!"
"She has her reasons." Sabrina said quietly. Before Puck could protest, she continued, "I know. I hate it, too. But you know Granny. She wants to help everybody, no matter what. And she expects all of us to be just as selfless as she is."
Puck snorted. "I don't see her giving up her bedroom."
"You could move back in with your mom, if it bothers you that much." Sabrina suggested, though it hurt her a bit to say it. What was with her? She's see him every day anyway, at school. And if he wasn't living with her, she wouldn't have to be pranked as often. She'd never have to find out what he wanted powdered roadkill for. But the facts remained that Puck was one of the cornerstones of her life, and having him there made her feel secure.
Puck shook his head. "I got out of there once. If I go back my mom will make me do something useful. But I'm not going back to live in the attic, either."
"Gonna stay out here, then?" Sabrina asked, deciding that that was even worse. No telling whether or not he'd come to school if he was free to do whatever he wanted again.
"Why not?" Puck asked. "I'd be free! My own space, my own bedtime, nobody telling me what to do, nobody asking me to rescue them all the time..."
"Well, it's raining, for one thing." Sabrina pointed out. "And you don't have a roof. Plus, Granny's making fried elephant tonight. Dunno if she can feed you if you're out here again, now that things are like they are."
"Yeah." Puck made a face. "That would be inconvenient." After a second, his eyes lit up. "You could feed me!" He suggested.
Sabrina blinked. "Ah... no. I'm not coming all the way out here in who knows what weather to give you food just 'cause you don't want to put up with a little inconvenience."
"That's the problem!" Puck snapped. "I'm running away! Years ago I'd have set up a trap that dumped them all in ten feet of killer unicorn manure for even thinking of trying to take my space! Now look at me! Back to this! Granted, it's pretty sweet." He said, looking at his throne, "But it's nothing like that place."
"So what's wrong with that?" Sabrina asked. "You're changing."
Puck didn't say anything for several minutes until he suddenly rounded on Sabrina and demanded, "What am I, Grimm?"
Sabrina blinked. "What?"
"I used to be the prankster extraordinaire!" Puck said, making big, sweeping gestures with his arms. "The Trickster King! The laze of all lazies on the planet! Now... now what am I? I don't prank barely ever, I live with a sweet old lady, I protect little girls, I'm clean... What happened to me?"
"I don't know." Sabrina said with a shrug. "You grew up?"
"Yeah, but I didn't want to!" Puck snapped. "We talked about this, remember? And I don't know what you did, but you should stop, because I'm tired of this! Tired of... caring about people! It was so much easier back when I could just be selfish and lazy without wondering who was going to get mad at me for it."
"Look, I don't know what I did, either!" Sabrina snapped. "All I wanted was to grow up normal! And I didn't get that, either! I got my parents kidnapped, a completely horrible year and a half, and then I got thrown in the middle of a war! I never asked to be an Everafter any more than you asked to get mature!"
"Yeah, well, at least you..." Puck trailed off.
"Yeah." Sabrina said. "Both our lives suck. So can you stop whining and deal with it?"
"Depends." Puck said. "Will you? Stop whining, I mean."
"Probably not." Sabrina said.
"Then heck no!" Puck snapped. "Hypocrite." He paused. "See what I mean? I'd never have called someone a hypocrite before! It's all this school. Making me learn stuff..."
"I like you better this way." Sabrina said hesitantly.
"Which is exactly why I need to change!" Puck said. "Girls aren't supposed to like me! They're supposed to fall at my feet but think I'm disgusting!"
"Sorry, no can do." Sabrina said.
"Well, something needs to change." Puck said. "I can't go on like this! Being mature... it's just not me!"
"So what are you going to do?" Sabrina asked.
"Stay out here for a few days." Puck said. "Work things through. Tell the Old Lady I won't be back for dinner. Or anything. Not for a while."
"How long?" Sabrina asked, telling herself, I will not miss him, I will not miss him...
"Dunno." Puck grinned at her. "You'll know when I show up on your porch."
"All right." Sabrina said, standing and stretching her wings out. "Take care of yourself, slimebrain."
"You too, dogface." Puck said, still smiling. "Don't get killed before I get this stuff sorted out."
"I take offense to that!" Sabrina called, taking off and heading for home.
Instead of going back inside, Sabrina just flew around to the kitchen window and told Granny what had happened. "So he'll be back when he's ready." She finished. "And I'd bet he'll have more pranks when he is."
"Oh, dear." Granny said. "I'd hoped he'd take it better than this."
"I think it's more than just you, he's growing up, goodness knows why, and he's trying to deal with that, too." Sabrina said.
"I know why he's growing up." Granny said. "But yes, that would be hard for him to come to grips with."
"Listen, Granny." Sabrina said. "I... I don't want to eat with all these people. Would it be OK if I went down to Sacred Grounds for dinner?"
"Take Puck-" Granny cut herself off. "Take the chicken house. For safety. And don't go by yourself."
"Sure." Sabrina said.
Daphne was in the kitchen with Granny- Sabrina could see her through the window- but she looked to be having too much fun with the new people to want to go anywhere. Briar was already at Sacred Grounds, because it was her shift, and had taken Red with her. So should she take her parents, Uncle Jake, or Bella?
When she opened the door and looked into the house, she decided that whichever person she saw first would be dragged with her. They would have no choice, because she wasn't fighting through that throng.
It happened that the first family member she saw was her mom, who was talking with some other motherly figure, both of them holding small children on one hip.
"Mom?" She interrupted. "Mom?"
"What is it?" Veronica asked, turning finally. "This is my eldest, Sabrina." She said to the woman. "Sabrina, this is Mrs. Baum."
"Great." Sabrina said. "Listen, mom, Granny's making fried elephant for dinner and she said I could go to Sacred Grounds if I get someone to go with me, and you're the first one I saw so can we go? You can come back and talk to Mrs. Baum later, I don't care. I'll just go home with Aunt Briar."
Veronica sighed and looked over at Mrs. Baum. "Sorry." She said, "I should be back soon. It was nice meeting you!"
"Thank you." Sabrina said vehemently, snaking off through the crowd back to the front door.
Veronica sighed and followed, still holding Basil on one hip.
Once she reached the front porch, where the chicken house was conveniently standing with its steps butted up against the big house's steps so that nobody would have to be in the rain very long, she asked, "Why don't you take Puck with you instead? I'm sure he'd like to get out of the crowd."
"He already did." Sabrina said shortly, trying not to let her sadness show.
"So are you upset that he didn't take you with him, or what?" Veronica asked, sitting down as the house stood, putting Basil next to her.
"No, I mean he left." Sabrina said. "Like, moved out left."
"Ah." Veronica said, patting the seat next to her. "Sit, sweetheart."
Sabrina sat, leaning on her mother's shoulder. Veronica hugged her, one-armed- she couldn't put Basil down because he was in one of his spacey moods- and they just sat there for a few minutes. Sabrina didn't cry, but she may have sniffed a few times.
"I'm sorry I was short with you." Veronica said. "I didn't know, and it's been so long since I've been able to talk with people who are just mothers..."
"It's OK." Sabrina said. "Sorry I bugged you."
"Already forgiven." Veronica said breezily, stroking Sabrina's hair. A few seconds later she asked, "Did he move out for good, or...?"
"He's trying to figure stuff out." Sabrina said. "Like, who he's turned into. 'Cause he's growing up. And he doesn't like it. So he's staying back in his junk heap in the woods until he's worked stuff out."
"Do you think you'll miss him?" Veronica asked.
Sabrina snorted. "I shouldn't. He's been absolutely horrible. But... he was my first friend here, you know? Even if it was more of a frienemies kind of thing than an actual friendship."
"Of course." Veronica said. "What will you do while he's gone?"
"Take complete and utter advantage of the lack of pranks, then spend a girl's night with Bella and whoever she's probably going to invite from the new people. Maybe move into the chicken house until Granny and Uncle Jake get everything figured out."
"Good idea." Veronica smiled. "I love your grandmother dearly, but she really could have thought more before moving a hundred people into our house."
"A hundred and seventeen, actually." Sabrina said. "That means there's a hundred and twenty three to a hundred and twenty six people living in our house or on our property."
"Maybe it's a good thing you put up that barrier permanently." Veronica said. "This way, at least when it's nice, they can stay in the yard."
"Mom, we're not going to have any privacy." Sabrina complained. "I bet there were people in my room. I know there were people in Granny's room."
"I know, sweetheart, but we're just going to have to learn to live with it. They're here to help, you know."
"So's Faerie, but we didn't move them into our house." Sabrina muttered.
"That's because they brought the Golden Egg, which is capable of holding at least half of them." Veronica pointed out.
Sabrina sighed. "I know there really wasn't any other way to do it, but it's just..."
"I know." Veronica said sympathetically. "But you've lived through worse, haven't you?"
Sabrina nodded. "I guess."
The house stopped bouncing around, a sure sign that they'd stopped moving.
"We're here." Veronica said. "Come on, let's go in and get you a nice Mallowbarb Special. That'll perk you up."
"I thought you were going home." Sabrina said.
"I can't leave my baby girl in suffering by herself, now, can I?" Veronica asked, hugging Sabrina around the shoulders. "What kind of mother would I be? Come on, now, the house is waiting."
Sabrina smiled and walked out.