AN~ I keep finishing these earlier and earlier. I don't know why. But I get out of school in a week from Wednesday! I will be DONE WITH CLASS! Also two other kind of important things: 1) I think it was dontcrossmeX who was asking for this. But it's here. 2) I have more reviews than No Matter What! Do you know how ecstatic this makes me?
The Winner of Last QotD: emowriter. Because. Why do I need to justify myself to you people? Gosh! You're not my REAL moms!
New QotD: If you could do one thing to change the world, what would you do? (Please don't be serious, I'm looking for stuff like 'turn everyone purple,' not 'cure cancer'.)
silverwombat: Yeah, Sabrina's still growing like she's not an Everafter. She wants to be treated like an adult. You know, if you go to Barnes and Noble, you can get book nine already (I know 'cause my friend just gave it to me for my birthday). Thanks so much!
Kathie: But every review is special! Like guests at a birthday party! (this was written on my birthday, so yeah...) I think you might be right about the marshmallows being on purpose. I mean, it's like they cut and pasted them! You know what? Your nook can go take a bath, 'cause I can take my books in the shower, and you can't. XD QotD: I WANT THAT UNICORN! YOU CAN'T HAVE IT! Also: why would I suffer? That was funny!
PenguinLoverGurl: Theoretically, it could be done. With a VERY strong robot face-cracking machine. Euuu... seal barf? Ew! I don't know how I come up with this, other than showering. Showers help everything. Puck fears you killing him and thus say he shall not die. QotD: Who's Sharlene? I think I missed something. Other than that, hahaha...
Agd: Maybe. Maybe that'll happen. Except that would be kind of weird. 'Cause what if it was like, his left armpit or something? QotD: DUDE, it's like that GIF of the girl tied in the chair with Friday playing in her headphones! Torture!
NinjaBunny: Yeah, it did sound like that Moth right there for a second...
"Mirror!" Sabrina gasped, drawing her sword up in front of her.
"Hello, Starfish." Mirror said. His voice still sounded the same, though his jaw squeaked a little when it moved.
"How are you here?" Sabrina asked. "And don't call me that!"
Mirror smiled. "Oz discovered a way to transfer my consicousness to one of his robots. Far more convenient, this way I don't have to grow old and die or fight to take over someone else's body."
Sabrina glared at him. "Give me one good reason I shouldn't kill you right now."
"Because you can't, Starfish." Mirror said. "I was never born, you see. So I can't die. I'll just go into the nearest available body and take it over. And you wouldn't want that to happen to poor Puck, would you?"
Sabrina gasped.
"Oh, yes, I know he's there." Mirror smiled. "You hid him quite well, but you've underestimated me, little one. I can tell where everyone is. I'm more powerful than you can imagine. You're helpless against me."
"Well, if you're so powerful, why aren't I dead yet?" Sabrina challenged, knowing it was stupid.
"Simple, Starfish." Mirror said. "You can open the barrier. I can't. I need you."
"I'll never help you." Sabrina hissed.
Mirror smiled. "We'll see about that. I have leverage, you know."
Sabrina glared at him and popped a barrier into place between him and her, one that nothing that contained any magic could cross. She didn't disconnect herself from it, but she left the merest thread of power connecting her to her creation.
For the first time, Mirror frowned. He shoved his hands in front of him, and lightning bolts exploded out of them, ricocheting off the barrier to hit trees and the tail of a passing squirrel, which scampered off in terror.
Sabrina sat down, and, faking a serene expression, said, "I can do this forever."
"So can I, Starfish." Mirror said. It occurred to Sabrina how realistic his facial expressions were, for a robot.
Sabrina smiled, laying her bravado on thick. "Can you, now? You have to run out of power eventually, or at least be needed elsewhere. I can leave this thing up for eternity. Or I can stop time, and just walk off and leave you in the dust."
Mirror glared, and Sabrina could see him dying to squash her. Good. She thought. Serves him right, for what he did to me.
"Fine." Mirror muttered. "You've won for now, Starfish. But you can't keep this up forever.
"We'll see." Sabrina said. But Mirror was already gone, vanished without a trace.
She sighed, and putting her hand on the barrier, reabsorbed as much of the energy from it as she could, heading back to the battle.
As she was on her way back, she was met by a horrifying sight: fifty feet in the air and rising higher was a robot, and on its back was Tim, hanging on for dear life. His feet were scrabbling at the thing weakly, searching for a foothold- So Art was right, she thought, detached, he was faking- but his legs weren't strong enough to give him purchase, and he couldn't fight back against the robot without falling. And the only person in range to help him was Art himself, fighting three more flying robots (she wondered where they were coming from), completely unaware of the situation six yards away. Apparently Red had been successful in getting the people in the Golden Egg free.
"Help!" Tim called, and Art turned as Sabrina ran forward.
Sabrina was going to give Tim the gravity-free boost he'd need to be safe and fight back, but before she could, she was met by a robot of her own, the kind that shot lasers out its eyes, and she couldn't do anything except dodge, try as she could, except pray that Art got there in time.
Except that she saw him clearly turn his back on Tim and continue fighting his own almost-dead opponents.
And then she saw Tim fall.
And she couldn't stop him in time. She slowed him a few times, but controlling gravity, dodging lasers, fighting back, and watching for other dangers was too much, and instinct took over, making her take care of herself first. If it had been Daphne, she might have been able to do it. But not for Tim. Of course, if it had been Daphne, she wouldn't have had to, because Art would have gotten there in time. She'd known Art and Tim disliked each other, but she hadn't known it went this far, that he would sit back and let him-
She couldn't finish her sentence.
But her feelings had given her a burst of energy, and she destroyed the robot in under a minute, running over to Tim, hoping, hoping- but when she made it to him, it was too late.
"Oh no." She whispered.
She fought there for the rest of the day, fiercely, determined, killing zombies and robots left and right, with a fire in her eyes that kept anything with a brain away from her. Night came, and still she fought, along with the others, in a war zone lit by magical fires in all colors and an ever-decreasing number of robot lasers. The fight lasted 'til dawn, and when the sun crested the horizon, the children and Everafters were left alone in the killing ground around the Golden egg, with the Scarlet Hand nowhere in sight.
Daphne found her, then, standing over him. She didn't notice, at first, just hugging her sister as tight as she could, but then she saw, and it broke Sabrina's heart to see how her sister cried. Or it would have, but she was feeling strangely detached about the whole thing. Shock. She registered numbly. I'm in shock.
Daphne's wailing brought the others over, and they stood in a circle, each grieving in their own way. Art put his arms around Daphne. It set a little flame burning in Sabrina's heart, thawing her, and for the first time since she'd seen him fall, Sabrina heard sounds up close again, not in the muffled way she'd been. She stalked off. How could he- After he'd- Like he hadn't- And Daphne- All his fault!
She found that she was crying. She wiped the tears away brusquely, stalking off in search of Puck. She didn't have time to grieve. She had to make sure they only lost one. She couldn't bear it if Puck-
But he was there, too, still unconscious, with her makeshift bandage around his head, stained a reddish brown color. The blood was dry, though. She bent down to pick him up, but found herself incapable of getting back up, and she wrapped her arms around the unconscious boy and lay down, sobbing into his shirt.
She must have fallen asleep that way, because suddenly Red's voice was calling to her.
"Huh?" She said, rubbing her eyes blearily to remove the crust that fought in vain to hold her eyelashes together. She grabbed her sword and pulled it up to her face. "What is it?"
"Where are you?" Red asked, and her voice cracked. "We've been looking everywhere for you. They want to have a meeting. And do you know where Puck is? Or Marcus?"
"Puck's here with me." Sabrina said. "He got hurt during the battle, and I went to get him, and I must have fallen asleep. I don't know where Marcus is, though."
"Well, get back here fast." Red said. "Daphne needs you."
"All right." Sabrina said, shoving her sword back in her belt. She stood and maneuvered Puck out from inside the rocks, levitating him back through the woods and to the battlefield, which was already majorly cleared- at least of the machinery. The remains of a great number of the zombies remained outside. Sabrina wrinkled her nose, walking faster through the carnage.
Red was waiting for her at the door, and when she saw her, she gave a relieved smile.
"There you are!" She said. "They've just started planning. You should get in there before they shove us all in a corner for the rest of our lives."
Sabrina nodded tiredly, then did a double take. "You're talking a lot."
Red shrugged. "I feel... different. Now hurry up!"
Wide-eyed, Sabrina nodded and followed after the small girl, still trailing Puck, through the front room of the Golden Egg, which was a mess. But they passed through the door into the rest of the building, the room with all the chairs, and found that in perfect shape, the chairs arranged in a far more orderly circle around the edge of the room than usual.
Sabrina sat in an empty seat next to the door, lowering Puck to the ground at her feet as she did so, and turned to the group to find them all watching her expectantly.
"So... now what?" She said.
"Now we can begin planning." Mustardseed responded. "Since you're here."
"All right, wanna debrief me first, so I know what's what?" Sabrina asked, tapping her feet impatiently. Why were they all so weird right now?
Mustardseed nodded, and launched into an explanation. Apparently the only ones left in the Golden Egg were those physically under eighteen, because when the attack had come, the adults had made the children swear to stay inside and gone out to fight. They'd never come back, though Mustardseed was almost certain that they were still alive. Tim had been the only casualty- Daphne's breath hitched audibly when the boy's name was mentioned- though several people were injured. Red had been in contact with Bella, and everything was quiet at the house. Sabrina's chicken house was missing, and several of the other children who hadn't come had yet to be accounted for.
"All right." Sabrina said. "Now what?"
"That's what you're here for." Art said, giving her a look.
Sabrina ignored him pointedly and turned to Mustardseed. "Seriously, do we have a plan of action or anything?" She was getting a sinking feeling in her gut, though. She was pretty sure she knew what was up, and why the adults had been captured. If Mirror wanted to get her to help, all he had to do was threaten her parents. He knew what lengths she'd go to for them.
Mustardseed shook his head. "I've got some ideas, but that's about it. We were waiting for you to discuss things."
"Right." Sabrina said. "Do we know who's left at the fort?"
"Nurse Sprat, Ghepetto, and a few other older people." Jonas said. "Most of them are pretty useless."
"Useless like we're useless, you mean?" Daphne shot back. "Just 'cause they're old doesn't mean they can't do anything. Someone should go talk to them once we're finished here. They can help. They can at least work with the fort."
"All right, all right." Jonas said, putting his hands up. "Relax."
Daphne glared at him silently, eyes glistening.
"That's a good idea." Sabrina said. "We should be getting everyone together, and if they work with the fort, and everyone back at my house works together to get everything we can use out of the Hall of Wonders-"
"But we can't get in to the Hall of Wonders." Daphne pointed out.
"Oh." Sabrina said. "I guess you didn't know that. Right."
"Know what?" Everyone asked at once.
Sabrina took a deep breath and sighed. "Mirror's out." She said. "He's inside a robot. I saw him. Talked to him, even."
Everyone gasped, but nobody asked how she wasn't dead.
"So we have the Hall of Wonders back." Mustardseed said. "That's a plus. And if we get everyone together, at the fort, or your house, we should be able to come up with a plan of attack. We need to find out where the adults are, though, and we need people to get everyone together, and someone to treat the wounded, and it would be so useful if we had that house of Baba Yaga's!"
"I might be able to help with that." Sabrina said. "As long as they haven't burned it down or anything, I've got the key, and it'll come when I call. May take a while, though."
"Right." Mustardseed nodded. "Until then, I want anyone with any skill at healing to go help Peaseblossom with the wounded, and anyone with skills that can get them somewhere stealthily to come see me. I'll be sending some of you out to the town to look for stragglers, and some of you to the the fort to talk with the people there. After that, we'll all meet back here. If Sabrina gets the house, she'll be shuttling people to the fort from here, all right?"
Everyone agreed in one way or another, and stood up and began milling around. Sabrina grabbed the key on her necklace and, stepping over Puck, headed over to Art. When she reached him, she grabbed him and pulled him aside.
"What is it?" Art asked, allowing himself to be dragged.
"I saw what you did there. On the battlefield." Sabrina told him harshly, getting straight to the point. "You could've saved him. I know you could have. But you didn't."
"Sabrina, I-" Art began.
She cut him off. "I know you didn't like him, but how could you?" She snapped. "You let him die, Art! I might understand a bit if it was just for you, or me, but how could you do that to Daphne?"
This time Art said nothing, looking stricken.
"I was starting to think you were the right one for her, Art." Sabrina said quietly. "Guess I was wrong."
"So what are you going to do, then?" Art asked. "Tell her?"
Sabrina shook her head. "I'm going to let you live with the guilt of knowing what you did to Daphne by not doing anything. I think it's the worst punishment I can give you."
She walked off, leaving Art behind her, heading for the outside.
She spent the next hour waiting for the house, hoping it hadn't been destroyed, too. Because goofy as it sounded, she loved it. The house was as alive as Elvis, even if it was in a different way. She was deciding whether to call it for the fifteenth time or give up when it finally showed, a chicken trailing chains.
"Wow." Sabrina said, bending down to pluck some of the chains off it. "You really had to work to get here, didn't you?"
The house clucked and morphed back into its true, large form, and Sabrina found herself on the porch.
Sabrina grinned. "All right, we've got work to do. Sorry you can't have a rest before, but I'll be right back."
She ran inside to find Mustardseed. He was in the room Peaseblossom was using as a makeshift hospital, and she stopped dead at the sight of several giant purple cocoons. "Not again!" She wailed, backing up.
"What?" Peaseblossom asked, turning. "Oh, no, don't worry, Puck's already done."
"Thank you." Sabrina said emphatically. "I don't want to stink again."
Peaseblossom snickered. "Well, he's still out cold, but I closed his head up, and he should heal fine without a cocoon."
"Great." Sabrina said. "So, listen, Mustardseed. The house just came back. You want me to shuttle some people someplace? Like to Nurse Spratt or my house?"
"Your house first." Mustardseed said. "It's better protected."
"Right." Sabrina said. "I can take maybe five sick people at once. Does that work?"
Mustardseed nodded. "Pease? Pick out some people to send and someone to watch them?"
Peaseblossom hurried off, and returned later with Jonas in tow. "Get out of my hair and go where you can do something useful." She told the boy. "We're sending the cocoons first, 'cause they can take care of themselves 'til they hatch. I'm hoping most of them will be out before they'll need to mark a protector."
Sabrina made a face, but leaned down to grab a big, sticky cocoon. She tried to breathe through her mouth as she lifted the thing up and began carrying it out to the chicken house. It was going to be a long day.