AN~ Sorry for the long wait, guys. I've had a rough two weeks. I told you earlier that my dad was in the hospital with cancer. Well, last Wednesday, my mom told us that the doctors had decided they couldn't do anything more, and they were sending him home. He came home Saturday, and was here until this Wednesday. And now he's gone. For good.
The Winner of Last QotD: Psycho Crazy Curly Girl, who told me that twelve newborns get sent home with the wrong parents every day. (Those of you who just looked up a ton of stuff, I can see through that.)
New QotD: What would you like your headstone to say? Make it cool.
blaxon: Thanks! And Sabrina's just going shopping (so she says). What's to get her in trouble about groceries? I'm WORKING on the Puckabrina. Slowly. QotD: Werid... Not all of those can be enforced.
kgirl: Bess and Hamstead didn't actually die... Thanks, though! QotD: I did NOT know that.
PenguinLoverGurl: I forgive you. Unfortunately, those two don't realize 'cause they're clueless. QotD: Wow. You'd be good on game shows.
K. A. J.: Thanks so much!
"We're going shopping?" Puck asked incredulously. "All this for groceries?"
"Yeah." Sabrina said. "Also there may kind of be something else planned for after maybe, but mostly we're going shopping. See? You don't need to come."
"Mm-hmm." Puck said, sounding unconvinced. "Except for that one part you said really fast in the middle there."
"No idea what you're talking about." Sabrina said. "Carpet, up!"
She and Puck were in the front yard on the carpet, armed with their swords and three hundred dollars. They'd had to tell someone where they were going to get the money, which put Sabrina off a bit, but it was going to make things go smoother, because nobody would miss her. At least not for a while.
"Grimm..." Puck said warningly. "We're stuck on this carpet for the next however long it takes to get to a grocery store. I'm going to drive you insane until you tell me what you're planning."
"I'm planning to go buy food." Sabrina said innocently.
Puck gave her a Look. "I don't believe that for a minute. Do I need to prank you?"
"Good luck with that." Sabrina said. "Red and Basil cleaned out your pockets while you were eating breakfast. I don't know how you keep all that stuff in there, but man, Puck! You've got quite a stash."
"Stop, Grimm, you're making me blush." Puck pretended to fan himself. "It's a spell on the sweatshirt. Haven't you ever put anything in the pockets?" He nodded at Sabrina's sweatshirt, which had been his once.
Sabrina shook her head. "I don't use sweatshirt pockets for anything but my hands."
"Why not?" Puck asked.
"Things fall out of sweatshirt pockets usually." Sabrina said. "And my hands don't fit all the way in my pants pockets."
Puck gave her a quizzical look. "Why?"
"Have you seen girl's pants?" Sabrina asked. "They're ridiculously tight. All of them! I can't find anything that stays up that doesn't hug everything. And the pockets are all tiny! I can't even get my middle finger all the way down in there. The only thing they're good for is making sure little things don't fall out."
"Oh." Puck nodded. "Like money."
"Yeah." Sabrina said. "And the money would fall out of a sweatshirt pocket."
"Not mine." Puck said.
"Yeah, because you have supermagic clothes." Sabrina rolled her eyes, inwardly congratulating herself. She'd distracted him!
"Just the shirts." Puck corrected.
"Well, excuse me." Sabrina said, putting her hands up. "Carpet! Left!"
"So what are you planning?" Puck asked.
"Nothing." Sabrina said. "Geez, fartbreath, where is the trust?"
"I trust you to be scheming. All the time." Puck said.
Sabrina rolled her eyes. "Oh, come on. All I want to do is get us food, and... maybe go to the town hall of the closest place for a bit just to look around. Nothing scheme-like at all."
"And why do you want to go to the town hall?" Puck asked, narrowing his eyes.
"No reason." Sabrina said. "Just interested."
"In what?" Puck asked.
"I'll tell you when I find it." Sabrina said. "Now can you stop, please?"
"Fine." Puck muttered, lying down on the carpet and crossing his arms in front off him, his chin leaning on them.
Sabrina leaned back and looked up at the sky, her fingers drumming at the carpet, and she smiled. It was so nice to be on her own, with nobody telling her what to do, on a sunny summer day, even if she did have to drag Puck along.
"So do you know where we're going?" Puck asked.
Sabrina shrugged. "No. But I think the carpet does."
They'd reached the barrier, so Sabrina popped a smaller barrier into existence around them and the carpet flew forward slowly, until they'd cleared Ferryport Landing, when the small barrier popped, the energy sliding back into Sabrina.
"So... what?" Puck asked. "We're just gonna say, 'carpet, take us to the closest grocery store,' and it'll take us there?"
The carpet took off to the west, zooming quickly, and Sabrina, laughing, said, "Yeah, pretty much. And look, it's working!"
Puck shook his head. "That's way too convenient. How does it know where it's going?"
Sabrina shrugged. "I guess it's got a built in GPS or something. Don't question, just be grateful we don't have to find a ShopRite on our own."
Puck didn't answer, and most of the rest of the trip (which took about fifteen minutes in super-quick carpet speed) was silent, until they touched down behind an A&P and walked around to the front of the building, hoping nobody had seen them.
"So what do we need?" Puck asked, peering over Sabrina's shoulder to look at her list.
"Everything." Sabrina said gloomily, looking at the long sheet of paper riddled with tiny writing. "This is going to take forever."
"Not if we split up." Puck said. "But how are we paying for this?"
Sabrina held up a credit card between her second and third fingers with a flourish and grinned. "Your mom's."
Puck blinked. "Did you swipe it?"
Sabrina shook her head. "Mustardseed did."
Now Puck was gaping. "I didn't think he had it in him." He said quietly.
"Me neither." Sabrina said.
"Well, let's get going!" Puck grinned at her.
He ran for the cart return, and Sabrina followed, shaking her head. This was nothing to get that excited about.
The trip did turn out to be kind of fun, though, and they filled up their two carts to the brim, mostly with canned stuff that would last a long time. After paying (Sabrina was afraid of what Titania would say when she saw the bill), they dumped everything on the carpet in the most orderly fashion possible, and walked to the conveniently nearby town hall municipal building thing (Sabrina wasn't sure what it was). They were hit by a blast of too-cold air conditioning as the door swung closed behind them.
"Excuse me." Sabrina said to the receptionist at the heavy oak desk in the front room. "Can I see some maps, please? It's for a school project, and I need to-"
"School project?" The lady asked, looking up. "It's August!"
"I know, right!" Sabrina said without missing a beat, though she had forgotten about that. "Can you believe how much homework they're giving over the summer? It used to just be reading, but not my social studies teacher wants me to do stuff, too! It'd ridiculous!"
"Oh." The receptionist's expression shifted. "You poor thing. Summer is supposed to be for kids to have fun! So what do you need?"
"Property lines?" Sabrina asked. "Like who owns what and all that? I can see them, right?"
"Sure, honey." The receptionist said, standing. "You want me to get them for you, or you wanna come see them?"
"We'll go look at them." Sabrina said, following her. "Do you have to stay back there with us to watch or something?"
"Normally they wouldn't want you back there alone 'til you're a bit older, but I think we can make an exception." The receptionist said, opening the door to a room full of filing cabinets. "The ones for all over the county are in here."
Sabrina flashed her a bright, cheery smile. "Thanks so much! We'll be out when I've got what I need." She turned away from the lady to find Puck gaping at her. "What?" She asked.
"Where did you learn to do that?" Puck asked.
Sabrina shrugged. "I've been watching my mom. She's all convincing. 'Cause sneaking won't get me everywhere."
"Really?" Puck blinked. "I think it's gotten you pretty far before now."
Sabrina grinned. "That's the nicest thing you've ever said to me. Now come on, time's a-wastin'."
"What are we looking for?" Puck asked. "I refuse to do anything 'til you tell me what's up."
Sabrina shrugged and said, "Fine, I'll do it myself." She pulled open a filing cabinet labeled 'F' and began rummaging through it. It took her a few minutes to find the most current maps she was looking for- Ferryport Landing and Surrounding Area, and even longer to compare with the map she'd brought from home, and double check everything.
About halfway through her process, Puck got bored and wandered over to her, peering over her shoulder. "What are you doing?" He asked.
"What does it look like?" Sabrina asked, making some more notes on her own map.
"It looks boring, is what it looks like." Puck returned, but he kept watching her, and she knew he was lying.
She shrugged and kept working, and Puck kept watching. After another few minutes, she was finished, and she stood up swiftly, putting her pencil away and folding up the map she'd borrowed. "We need to make a couple stops on the way back, all right?" She asked. "I have something I want to do."
"Grimm, you have to tell me." Puck said firmly. "We are not leaving this room 'til you let me in on what's going on."
Sabrina rolled her eyes. "You know I could just stop time and run off on you, right?"
"Yeah, but you haven't." Puck said. "Which means you must have something else you're saving your strength for. And I want to know, 'cause this could be dangerous."
"Puck, I promise I'll be fine." Sabrina said with a sigh. "Can we just go, please?"
"You have to at least tell me where we're going." Puck said firmly.
Sabrina pulled out her map and pointed to three locations outside of town. "Here, here, and here." She said. "And then back to town. All right?"
"Fine." Puck made a face. "But you better tell me what you're doing once we're done."
"Once I'm done?" Sabrina said. "Sure, that sounds great."
"What?" Puck said, eyes widening. "No, that's not what I meant! Once we're there. Not done."
"Too late." Sabrina said, putting the town's map away and sliding the filing cabinet closed. "You said done. I'm going with done."
"Grimm..." Puck said, and his tone told Sabrina that he wasn't in the mood for games.
"Jeesh, relax already." She rolled her eyes, folding her own map and putting it in her back pocket. "I have to tell you sometime, right? Don't worry."
Puck followed her out of the room, grumbling under his breath. Sabrina rolled her eyes. This was nothing to get that worried about. At the door to outside, she smiled at the receptionist, who was on the phone, and held two thumbs up, then headed out through the doors back into the muggy August sunshine and walked around to the back, where the carpet was waiting.
"Hey, carpet." She said, smiling and rubbing it a bit. "Thanks for waiting." She held out the map, pointing to what she figured was the closest spot. "Can you get here? Puck and I are going to follow you, since you're so full of groceries. It'd be great if you didn't spill any."
The carpet took off rather slowly, and Sabrina took to the skies after it. Puck, still muttering, followed.
"You talk to it like it's alive." He said, once they were all three in the sky at a safe distance from anyone who might look up.
"Isn't it?" Sabrina asked. "You have to admit it does things on its own. I mean, look at it now!"
Puck shrugged. "It's a spell. It isn't really thinking."
"So is Mirror just a spell." Sabrina retorted. "And he certainly thinks. I mean, look at what he's done! No spell gone wrong could do that."
Puck shrugged again. "Maybe."
"The way I figure, if you put enough magic in a thing, it kind of comes to life on its own out of all the power in it." Sabrina explained. "Like the Chicken House."
The carpet had slowed down ahead, and Sabrina and Puck dove to follow its descent. They landed by a small dilapidated house with a weed-filled garden behind it. Sabrina knelt down about ten feet away from that garden and put her hands to the ground, forming a small silvery bubble half in the dirt, then covering it with leaves. Once she was done, she stood up, brushing her hands off on her pants, and pulled the map out of her pocket.
"Carpet, now here, all right?" She said, pointing at the next circled location. "Don't go through the barrier, though."
Another flight later- it was getting late, and Sabrina was a bit worried about the groceries. Maybe she should do this tomorrow? No. She had to get it done while she had an excuse to be out. At least they hadn't bought any ice cream- they arrived at the next spot: a large 'log cabin' in the distance, though the spot they were at was just woods, and Sabrina repeated the same process. And then again, at a seaside quay that served some brilliant fish and chips that Puck forced her to stop and purchase, two more silver bubbles half-buried in the dirt. Puck pestered her the whole time, but she refused to answer.
"All right, we can go back to Ferryport Landing, now." Sabrina said. Puck breathed a sigh of relief, and she shot him a look. "We're not done yet, though. I need to get to the very center of the Barrier."
"What the- why?" Puck asked, flabbergasted.
"Because I need to finish this while nobody's looking for me." Sabrina said.
"Finish what, Grimm?" Puck asked. "I've been following you around on your stupid little trip all day, the least you can do is tell me what you're up to."
"I'll tell you when we get there." Sabrina said. Seeing the look on Puck's face, she turned so she was facing him straight on and said, "I promise. As soon as we're where I need to be, I'll tell you everything."
Puck gave a sigh of defeat. "Fine." He said. "This better be good."
Sabrina smiled at him in a way that was meant to be reassuring but probably wasn't, and took to the skies. As she lifted off, the carpet zoomed up after her, taking the lead. They flew higher this time, to avoid any Scarlet Hand eyes that might be on the hunt for easy prey, and they didn't talk until they reached the center of the barrier.
"Tell me now." Puck said, folding his arms in front of Sabrina, his wings fluttering rapidly. "You're not landing until you dish."
Sabrina shrugged. "I need to go up, anyway."
"Why?" Puck demanded.
Sabrina sighed and said, "I'm expanding the Barrier."
Puck stared at her and let out a strangled, "You're what? Can you- you can't do that!"
"Sure I can." Sabrina shrugged. "It'll be easy. All I have to do is go up there and push. I'll feed power into it as I go so it doesn't get weak, and if I concentrate, I can make sure it stays put instead of just going up."
"But how far are you going?" Puck asked. "And why?"
"The silver things?" Sabrina reminded him. "They were markers. When the Barrier hits them, it'll stop. It's the edge of the stuff people own."
"But why?" Puck repeated.
"We need more space." Sabrina shrugged. "There's thousands of us crammed in this place that isn't even twenty miles square. And if I do it now, the Scarlet Hand won't know, and we can use the space. We can learn it before they do, get comfortable there. It's an advantage."
Puck glared at her. "It's a stupid idea."
"It's not and you know it." Sabrina said, though she winced a little internally. What if he was being honest?
"Can I talk you out of it?" Puck asked, resigned.
Sabrina shook her head, flying upward slowly, hoping he wouldn't notice.
Puck grabbed her ankle before she got too high. "Not so fast." He said. "I will drag you home kicking and screaming if I have to, but you are going to make me a promise before you start this."
"What?" Sabrina asked, tugging her leg away from him.
"It's gonna take a lot of energy to expand that thing. You have to promise me you'll only go as far as you can, all right?" Puck said. "I don't want you passing out on me. So if you feel like you're gonna collapse, stop." Sabrina started to protest, and he shook his head. "No. I don't care how big you think you can make it, you're stopping as soon as you feel like you're gonna give out."
"Fine." Sabrina sighed. "Let me go, all right?"
Puck let go of her, and Sabrina flew up, hands above her head, until she hit the Barrier with a thud of palms against almost glass. She began feeding energy into it as she flew up further, pushing it outwards, expanding it. Puck was right, it did take a lot of energy, but she was pretty sure she could do it. After all, it wasn't that much bigger. She kept pushing and feeding, thinning the Barrier as much as she felt was safe, to save herself some energy. She was getting weaker, now. She maybe ought to stop, make Puck happy. But she could still do it. She'd be fine. For another ten minutes or so. Even if the air was getting a bit thinner, she was all right. Wasn't she? Now just another ten feet up... twenty... she could keep going, she could. She had to. She was not quitting. Shouldn't she be hitting one of the markers soon? Maybe she should have done this in the morning, when she was fresh. And she knew she should stop, she was going to pass out if she didn't soon, but she had to keep going and- there. The closest marker.
She fell away from the Barrier with a slight smile, wings fluttering weakly. She hoped she wasn't going to fall. But she was done.
Suddenly Puck was there, and he was talking to her, but it seemed a bit far away. He looked worried, and a bit angry. She hoped she hadn't made him look like that. She'd hate to upset him.
Before she could tell him that, though, her eyes fluttered shut, and she was out.