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Chapter 3
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Sabrina is awoken by the ground shaking violently beneath her. "Ahh!" she yells, trying in vain to sit up, only to be bounced around so forcefully that she falls from bed onto a heap upon the ground.
"Oh, ow," she complains, opening her eyes to see three giggling faces above her. It takes her a moment to recognize them since the world has to stop lurching first. Daphne, Red, and Basil are about ready to burst with the genius of their prank, and the glare Sabrina sends them only increases their mirth.
"It was Daphne's idea," Red says, looking a bit sympathetic towards her plight.
Sabrina takes a moment to take in her surroundings. Trampoline. Forest. Boxing ring. Impossible noon sky indoors. Puck's room.
Wait. What?
"Why am I-" she starts, before the sound of her voice sends her a flood of memories from last night. She holds her hands up just to be sure. Yep, she thinks with a grimace, really happened.
"What are you pipsqueaks doing in my room?" she asks, remembering that 'pipsqueak' is what Puck had been calling the younger kids since the last time they were together.
"Pranking you," Basil says, face breaking into a grin. His hair is bright red in the sunshine and he's wearing overalls that used to belong to Daphne.
Red reaches down a hand to help her up, and she takes it, getting to her feet groggily. It's hard to stand without feeling like she needs to lean to correct her balance. The three kids, thirteen, thirteen, and seven hop down to join her.
Daphne claps her hands once. "Nice work everyone, tomorrow is operation soap grenade, got it?"
Her little troop dissolves into giggles again.
Suddenly, the fact that it's her sister hits her-her sister who she hadn't seen in two months. "Da-Marshmallow," she says in excitement, hugging her for all she's worth.
Daphne laughs with a small 'oof'. "Da-Puck to you too," she says when they part, a sparkle of good humor in her eyes.
"Geez, you've gotten taller," Sabrina remarks, looking the younger girl up and down.
Basil launches himself at her leg, and her already questionable balance almost fails.
"Just wait til I grow up!" Basil crows, looking up at her with that angelic face. "I'm not gonna be a pipsqueak anymore. I'm gonna be taller than a tyran-tyrana..."
"T-Rex?" Sabrina supplies, fondly ruffling his hair. "We'll see."
Daphne tugs at her hand. "Let's get downstairs, everyone else is already up, lunch is nearly ready."
At the word lunch, Sabrina's stomach sits up on its heels and begs.
Red laughs lightly. "Hungry?"
"He wouldn't be if he got up for breakfast," Daphne says in a singsong voice, pulling her along. "Even Sabrina made it."
"Wait," Sabrina says, dread curling in her stomach. "She's up?"
Daphne wriggles her eyebrows up and down at her mischievously. "What, miss her already?"
"No," she admonishes, "it's just we got back here at like, four AM."
Basil throws open the door to the hallway.
"Yeah, okay," Daphne says with a knowing smile.
The group trots down the stairs through the living room. In one of the big arm chairs, with Elvis resting at his feet, is Jake, nose buried deep in an old tome. Sabrina barely makes out the title. Secrets of the South American Jungle.
"He's been like that all morning," Daphne whispers dramatically. "Barely reacted when we arrived."
Sabrina feels a pang of gratitude in her chest. He was trying to find out how to switch her and Puck back, she was sure of it.
She briefly considers helping him, but Daphne tugs her along.
Inside the kitchen, several people are bustling around. Henry and Relda are busy with food while Veronica sits at the table, sipping coffee. It takes Sabrina a moment, but she finally spots her body, with the annoying boy inhabiting it, leaning over the sink, struggling to peel an apple.
Veronica smiles at them. "Good to see you in the land of the living, Puck. Food's almost ready. Daphne, Red, can you set the table?"
Daphne smiles brightly. "Yeah, no problem!"
As the two girls hustle to put out utensils and plates, Sabrina squeezes her way through to Puck.
"Having fun?" she asks dryly, noting a small cut on his thumb.
He glowers up at her like this is all her fault. "This contraption is ridiculous," he growls, shaking the vegetable peeler in her face. "They should have given me a proper knife. If I'm going to skin something, at least let me do it right."
"Here, let me do it," Sabrina says, taking pity on him.
Relieved, he hands over the tool and fruit. Expertly, she begins to peel it, spinning it in a circle.
"Sleep alright?" Puck asks quietly.
"Nope," Sabrina says, tossing the full peel into the sink before grabbing another apple. "I still feel like passing out for another thirty hours."
Puck smirks at her. "Yeah, that feeling will go away in an hour or so."
"How's your morning been?" she asks pointedly before lowering her voice to a hiss, "manage to out yourself yet?"
"No," Puck groans, stretching his back as she peels the last apple, "I've been good all morning. Greeting everyone, even letting Marshmallow nearly squash me with a hug, doing the menial labor."
Sabrina rolls her eyes and tosses the peeler into the dirty side of the sink, flicking the moisture from her hands. "Helping with getting the meal ready isn't menial labor."
"It is when you're royalty," he remarks with a haughty expression.
Sabrina hopes she never makes faces like that-it makes her look like a spoiled brat. She takes a closer look at Puck. Something's different, and when she realizes, she chokes. "Why," she seethes in a harsh whisper, taking one furitive glance around them to make sure everyone else is preoccupied, "why did you change your clothes?"
He's now wearing shorts and a red t-shirt. Puck blushes despite himself. "I had to, alright?" he answers, "your mom told me I had to because the stuff we wore in Costa Rica was still soaked and grimey when I got up. I closed my eyes when I changed, honest."
Sabrina would've continued, but she's bumped from behind as Relda hustles by them, taking the peeled apples with a thank you as she puts them on a cutting board. At the same time, Veronica starts to speak.
"Kids," Veronica says, as they rush past her, making her almost spit out her coffee. Basil has thrown Daphne and Red into an impromptu game of tag, nearly toppling the half set table. "Daphne, please finish with the table and Red, go get Tobias from his room. And Basil," she catches the excitable boy by the back of his shirt, "can you get your uncle?"
The three pout, but go about their necessary jobs.
"Sabrina," Relda says as she finishes chopping the apples, "put these on the table, will you? And Puck, go take your seat."
Sabrina flashes him a, we'll talk about this later, look and finds her place.
Puck puts the fruit bowl Relda gave him in the center of the table and sits next to Sabrina.
Daphne flits behind them, giving them each a plate and a cup. "You guys need to tell me about where you've been," she says. "Where'd you go first?"
Sabrina opens her mouth to speak, but realizes that Daphne is addressing Puck. She rubs at her temple. This is so confusing.
As he chats with her little sister, Sabrina considers telling Daphne the truth, but soon comes to the conclusion that she would most likely mercilessly tease them about it. Things were bad enough any time Sabrina mentioned him around the girl. She always got this look in her eye-like she was planning their wedding.
"You'll have to tell me the rest later," Daphne says, placing her last cup. "And then I'll give you the deets on my summer so far. It was crazy!"
Puck tilts his head. "What do you mean?"
The girl puts a hand on her hip. "What do you mean, 'what do you mean'. I only raved about Camp Everafter for weeks."
"How was Camp Everafter?" Sabrina blurts out before she can think about what she's saying.
Daphne turns to her with a questioning look, but before she can ask how Puck would know this, Sabrina coughs and covers her blunder. "I mean, Sabrina told me about it. Seems boring though. All those sissy Everafters but no me! How great could it possibly be without the Trickster King?"
Puck glares at her with an expression like, aren't you laying it on kind of thick?
Daphne either doesn't notice the excessive boasting or doesn't care. She turns to Puck and grins, hugging the remaining plates to her chest. "It was amazing! I got to meet so many cool people. Everafters and mortals alike. I made a ton of friends. Did you know that Thumbelina has a grandson, and he's a total hottie?"
Sabrina can see from the way Puck's face pulls into a smirk that he's about to make a stupid comment, something like, but not as hot as me. She elbows him in the side to shut him up.
Then Daphne tells the two of them everything she can remember about Anthony, hardly taking a breath.
Sabrina remembers how ecstatic her sister had been about Mayor Snow Charming's idea of how to integrate the mortal world and the Everafters. From the outside, it seemed like just a regular old summer camp where kids and teenagers could experience a plethora of old timey activities like archery with Robin Hood, novice architecture classes from two of the three little pigs, and how to avoid demon possession by the former Big Bad Wolf.
You know. Normal stuff.
Bit by bit, the participants were exposed to the magical world and for the last week, parents would come and see the same with the help of their children. That was the picture-perfect version, anyway. Forgetful dust would always have to be in the pockets of camp directors.
Back in May, Snow had invited Daphne and Red to the first year of it as ambassadors of sorts and they had nearly lost their minds. She's sure she sustained some hearing damage from how loudly the girl had shrieked.
Sabrina feels so proud of her and wishes that she could express that. Being trapped in the form of Puck, however, limits her from being overly sincere.
Red comes back with Tobias, who clicks across the floor with his cane. Basil follows shortly after, announcing that Jake needed a few more minutes. The adults fill the table with a seemingly endless barrage of dishes. Some are normal, like turkey and swiss sandwiches, but others are bright purple puddings with wriggling tentacles.
Sabrina is ready to take half of what's there when Relda comes up behind her with a plate full of...she wasn't sure if it was food or dog chow. They were donut shaped, covered in chunks of flakey meat and some kind of gelatinous goop.
"Uh, what's this?" she asks.
"Halibut donuts with jellyfish icing," the old woman says proudly. "You told me how much you loved them last Christmas so I figured I'd surprise you with some."
"Oh," Sabrina says faintly. "That's nice and all..." she knows that she needs to keep up the act, but the smell coming off those-the smell, sweet Lord, it's rank.
"I'll take one," Puck says, attempting to cover her hesitance, reaching forward to pluck one from the platter. Everyone stares at him in disbelief as he sits back down.
"What?" he asks, taking a bite. His face goes a little green and he almost spits it back up, fighting to swallow. "Ugh, that was gross!"
Relda looks put out from the insult, but more so confused. "You usually don't try the more exotic dishes for that reason, liebling."
"Oh, right," His cheeks flush, and Sabrina almost laughs, except it would be at her own expense.
Daphne, however, has no such qualms and snickers. "Why did you do that?"
Puck looks lost. "Uh, girl hormones?"
Sabrina silently promises that he will pay for mortifying her like this when everything is back to normal.
"Here, um, let me at those," Sabrina interjects, trying to drag the table out reflecting on his embarrassing performance. She takes two, the fishy smell overwhelming. She prepares to force them down, if only to appear normal, but is pleasantly surprised. The dough and meat pieces are salty that meets a balance with the sweetness of the jellyfish icing. It is good. And she's so hungry. Before she knows what she's doing, she's shoveled five of the twelve pastries into her mouth.
"Hey!" Daphne cries in outrage. "We just got back too, you don't get to hog them all."
Once they begin to fight over the prime food (aka the things that Sabrina would usually stay away from like the plague)the strained mood dissipated.
Puck picks from the food more carefully, glowering at Sabrina every so often. Her taste buds were broken or something! Not only did most of everything in front of him smell odd, but everyone kept talking to him constantly and if he tried to talk with his mouth open, the family gave him weird looks.
"Hey everyone, sorry I'm late."
Sabrina looks up to see Jake. His appearance is haggard, like he only got four hours of sleep tops. He has dark bags around his eyes and his smile is obviously an effort. He leans over Daphne and Basil to grab a few rolls from the table.
"Aren't you going to sit down?" Granny asks with a small frown.
He looks up sheepishly. "Uh, sure." He takes his place by Henry and eats a few things rapidly with his fingers. His brother gives him a disapproving look and glances at Basil, hoping he wouldn't pick up on his bad manners.
"What was that book you were reading earlier?" Veronica asks, trying to pull Jake into the conversation.
"Oh, that?" he says, sitting back. "Ah nothing. Just reading up on a rumor we heard about in the last place we were."
Daphne launches into questions about when, where, and who, making Jake a bit flustered.
"Well, peanut," he says, scooting out of his chair. "I'm sure we'll have time to talk all about it later." He clears his throat. "Hey, Puck, 'Brina, can I borrow you two for a sec?" Jake asks breezily. He puts his arms behind his back awkwardly. "I need to discuss something about the...talk about something that happened while we were out."
Sabrina puts her head in her hands. Could he be more obvious that something was wrong?
Henry narrows his eyes at his brother and looks disapprovingly at Sabrina.
Why me? She wonders desperately before quickly taking her head out of her hands since that's definitely not something the real Puck would do.
"What happened?" Daphne asks curiously, Basil perking up.
"Yes, Jacob," Henry says testily, "can't you share with all of us? Seeing as we haven't been all gathered together since Christmas."
"It's nothing," Sabrina says, an edge to her voice, glaring at her uncle.
Her parents are shooting her and Puck looks, trying to figure them out.
"C'mon, Stinky," Puck mutters, pulling her by the arm. "We'll take care of this."
The two follow Jake upstairs to the secluded hallway, as much as it annoys her parents.
"What's wrong with you?" Sabrina accuses as soon as they're out of earshot, gesturing with her arms angrily. "You could've been more discreet. My dad probably thinks you caught us making out in the woods somewhere and you're trying to slap our wrists over it."
Puck sniggers at that, and Sabrina scowls at him.
Jake waves his hand dismissively. "That's not the point. Anyway, I think I've found a solution to our little problem."
Sabrina nearly cries out in relief. "Thank heavens. Where is it? What did you find?"
Jake holds up his hands. "Woah, slow down. I don't have an instant cure, not yet at least."
Sabrina wilts.
Puck glowers at the man. "Then what is it? I don't know how much longer I can go on like this!"
"First of all," Jake says, rummaging around in his coat and pulling out two vials. "Drink these. I'm assuming the two of you haven't used the bathroom in hours. This will relieve that."
Sabrina blushes slightly and takes the vial. "Thanks. I was starting to worry about that."
Puck snatches one up and drinks it immediately. His mouth screws up for a moment at the taste, but then his expression melts into one of relief. "Oh, man. I didn't think I'd make it." He glares at Sabrina. "You have a tiny bladder, y'know."
She puts one hand on her hip and holds the vial with the other, pointing one finger at him in irritation. "Well maybe-"
"Shh," Jake shushes them, "now's really not the time to fight. Everyone will be done eating soon."
Sabrina sighs through her nose, counting backwards from ten. "Alright, fine, what did you find?"
"I did some digging on our mystery artifact and on the Quetzals and learned why such an item would exist. Turns out the kings of the tribes were often assassinated, so, the king of the guatalami would just swap bodies with his soldiers and continue ruling from the sidelines."
Puck raises an eyebrow, unimpressed. "Not only were they bird-brained but they were cowards too. Who hasn't had an assassination attempt over their head? It's something you deal with head on."
Sabrina gives her uncle a bewildered look and he shrugs. She clears her throat. "That's nice and all, but that doesn't really help with fixing it."
Jake sighs, rubbing the back of his neck. "Yeah, that's the harder part. The only person I can think of is a bit...difficult to work with."
Sabrina's heart beats faster. "But you found someone?"
Jake nods, though he doesn't look happy about it. "A man by the name of Raken. He's a professional magical item and artifact researcher. I've dealt with him twice before, not that either time was pleasant."
Puck leans back against the hallway wall, kicking one foot up to rest against it. "So why bother with him and not someone else? The Anderson Triplets are researchers and they're great to deal with."
"It's a good point," Jake admits, "but we need someone with more experience. Raken's the best in the business, if a bit reclusive. Spends most of his time reading from old tomes and researching magic of all kinds but-"
Puck coughs, "nerd."
"-he doesn't get out much," Jake concludes. "Look, the point is, if we go to him, we will get an answer on how to fix the artifact guaranteed."
"Then we're going," Sabrina confirms in a no-nonsense tone. "Where is this guy, and when can we leave?"
"Not far, he lives under Jersey. We can get there with the Ruby Ring tonight after dinner-we'll be in and out before anyone knows we're gone." Jake looks confident, but Sabrina feels a sense of unease swirling in her belly. Although, that may have been from the seventh halibut donut she somehow ate.
Puck puts his hands on his hips. "Great, guess I'll dedicate these last few hours as a girl seeing what I look like with short hair."
Sabrina just barely misses her tackle, Puck already five steps ahead of her, cackling like a maniac.
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AN: The story continues! New Jersey next chapter. Who is Raken? Will Puck cut Sabrina's hair? Can the device be fixed? Find out next week in the thrilling conclusion-just kidding, definitely not the conclusion. But that sounded cool, didn't it?
Reviews:
M: Yes! I love thinking that Granny Relda is already three steps ahead of them when it comes to their feelings about each other.
ralphenation: Something off? Perhaps haha...
Curlscat: Canis was always full of great stuff, that time in New York when S and D were being chased by that serial killer and Canis jumped down and was like, "only seven? Hardly a number I'd brag about." So good.
Dyed Fox: Oh, that is a good one.
Sisters Grimm4ever: Update is dropped! No Matter What is a legend.
BDemon1995: Yes, reread for sure. Revisiting the series from time to time does not disappoint.
See ya next week,
-Pinklily8