.-.-.-.
Chapter 6
.-.-.-.
"We need an alibi," Sabrina suggests as they materialize in the forest at the edge of the Grimm's property. She peers out between the trees where the house can barely be seen.
Uncle Jake rubs the back of his head. "I don't know, 'Brina. They won't like how long we've been gone. It's past noon. Maybe we should tell them-"
"NO," Sabrina interjects, turning on her heel, pointing at her uncle imposingly. "Not an option."
He holds his hands up, eyebrows shooting to his hairline. "Alright, geez, just a suggestion." He lowers his arms and puts a hand to his chin in thought. "It'll be difficult to convince them of anything. Especially Veronica. She has a nose for this stuff, she'll see right through us."
"We'll just be convincing," Puck says, stepping forward. "What are they going to say? 'We found out you two switched bodies and secretly went to dragonkin artifact collector?'" He pauses, waiting for Jake to object, but the man stays silent. He rolls his slim shoulders. "Right. We stick with our story from last night, keep it as vague as possible. We stayed the night because they invited us to and we were all exhausted from yesterday."
Sabrina nods. "That's the best we've got." She turns to Puck, who looks disheveled, having not bothered to smooth the unruly blonde curls or brush the dust from his shirt and pants. "C'mere, you look like you just got out of a battle."
He purses his lips, a strange sort of dark quality to his eyes. "I did."
She steps forward and runs her fingers through his hair, which makes him stiffen at first before relaxing, letting her tease out the worst of it. She's able to work with a degree of gentleness that she wasn't expecting to be capable of in this body, letting the hair fall into semi-decent waves in her wake. As she does this, she feels a shiver start on his scalp and move down his head. His expression lightens, and he leans ever so slightly into her touch. She wonders if anyone has ever played with his hair. Judging from his reaction, probably not. She'd have to remember that for later.
Once the hair is done, she moves on to the clothes, and, using the back of her hand, beats off the worst of the stuff clinging to him. After this, she takes a step back to look at him. She admires her work. Not bad, for no tools or water. Even the thin pink line where they'd healed the knife wound on his neck looks passable, half hidden by hair. "What about me?" she realizes, giving Puck a worried look. "Don't I look conspicuous too?"
He gives her a critical once over. "You look dirty, a bit beat up and..."
"And?" she presses.
"In short, you look like me," he intones flatly, earning a small laugh from Jake who had also been cleaning himself off a few feet away.
"Let's go," Jake says. "With any luck we'll walk in and the house will be empty of prying eyes and questions.
It's a nice thought.
They only get half way across the yard before Henry Grimm stalks out of the house, his mouth set in a firm line. Surprisingly, Granny Relda follows a few steps behind him, arms crossed.
Puck sighs and mutters under his breath, "no, not the old lady."
Sabrina couldn't help but agree. Her dad was bad enough but could be thrown off the scent with a few nudges. Granny, on the other hand, is a detective through and through. Not to mention it was much harder to lie to her than her dad. At least her mom wasn't here.
"Hey, Hank, hey mom!" Jake greets casually.
Henry opens his mouth with that trademark 'I'm going to chew you out so hard' look but Granny puts a hand on his arm.
"Lieblings," she begins, kindly, the kind of way that makes Sabrina want to spill all of her guilts, "we missed you for breakfast. And lunch."
An unspoken question hangs in the air. If not at the family meals, then where were you?
Jake doesn't bite. He frowns. "Oh, darn. And here I was looking forward to those chicken salad and squid sandwiches you promised."
Henry loses his patients quickly. "Where were you three last night?"
A beat of silence.
"Right, sorry we couldn't call you, we all left our phones at home."
That much was true; none of them wanted to risk their phones in the sewers.
Granny nods, waiting for her younger son to continue.
He rubs the back of his neck. "We uh, went to see a friend and-"
Henry stops him. "A friend, right. You never did say who."
Jake flushes slightly. "Sullivan."
Henry and Reldas share a bewildered look.
"As in Old Man Sullivan, the retired pirate?" Henry's voice drips with skepticism.
Sabrina darts a quick, what is he thinking, look at Puck who shrugs subtly.
"Yeah," Jake replies like it's an obvious choice. "I owed him twenty bucks and then we played some cards and we all kind of fell asleep in our chairs." Jake rubs the bridge of his nose, playing up his weariness. "It's been a long few days, okay?"
Henry scowls and crosses his arms. "That's irresponsible and ridiculous." He looks at Puck, the boy who looks like his daughter and asks, "And why didn't you realize the time and get them up to come home?"
Puck looks panicked like he has no idea how to interact with his 'father'. Sabrina tucks her hands into her pockets and reminds herself that she can't come to his aid.
"Like he said," he mutters, trying to not look him in the eye, "we fell asleep."
Granny Relda, who'd seen their exhaustion first hand has more sympathy. She steps forward, warming them all with her kind expression. "I understand the tiredness, you three have been running around so much in the past weeks."
Henry butts in. "But that's over for now-you can't just disappear! Especially you Sabrina, you know better than to leave us all worried and upset." He frowns. "You're grounded."
"Lay off her," Sabrina says before Puck can speak, pushing in front of Jake. "We all lost track of time, we all couldn't control the situation, you don't need to ground her." She fiercely meets her father's gaze, suddenly furious that he's trying to pin this all on one person. There's a moment of struggle before Puck reaches forward and places a hand on her arm, breaking the tension. She steps back, taking a breath.
"Henry," Jake says more soothingly. "C'mon you don't need to treat us like kids. I had everything under control."
His older brother scoffs, shaking off his mother's hand. "It's like you never can get this through your thick head! We've missed you, we've worried, we've called and all we get is static. It was bad enough when it was just you and him-" he points at Sabrina, "-but now you've brought my daughter into this mess of yours and I don't like it. And now," he's on a roll, not listening to Granny trying to reassure him of something, "she's acting like she's a different person since she's gotten back."
Henry turns on Sabrina. "And you," he says accusingly, rounding all of his frustration onto her, "you've been acting strange ever since you've got back too."
The anger leaks out of her, replaced with confusion. "M-me?" For some strange reason, she's a bit offended. She thought she'd been doing a pretty decent job of acting like Puck! Besides, who was her dad of all people to know the ins and outs of how what was 'Puck-like'? She twists her mouth into a scowl, trying to think up every interaction of her father and Puck she has ever witnessed. "I don't know what your problem is, old man," she begins taking a flippant route, "but mine is that you're in the way of me and raiding the fridge."
Henry's eyes narrow. "So you're oh so accommodating friend didn't give you anything to eat?"
Sabrina fumbles for a moment before catching back hold of the conversation. "You think just anyone's pantry could sustain me?" She laughs a bit too forcefully. "Nah, not even close."
Henry scrutinizes her, and she tries not to fidget. Then he turns his gaze to Puck, trying to understand something between them. It causes this deep line to form on his forehead which, for some reason-maybe all the stress she's under or the sheer comedy of his expression-makes Sabrina's lips tug at a smile.
The scowl flips to a grin, and suddenly she's laughing to herself. How easily could she tick him off in this form? Before she knows it, she's speaking ahead of herself. "Oh come on Hank, don't tell me you're so worried that I'll take your daughter off your hands early. Really," she walks forward and pats his shoulder, "you should be jumping for joy when I do." And then she winks at Puck, whose jaw drops. So does Jake's, but he hides it better.
Henry opens his mouth to deny the statement, but Sabrina is already sauntering past him, hands in her pockets.
"I'll see you all inside when you've figured this out," she calls over her shoulder, leaving the rest of them behind.
.-.-.-.
Sabrina stares at herself in the mirror. She simply can't get used to this, seeing through Puck's eyes. After a small nap and a late lunch, she'd retired to the bathroom, stripped down to only underwear and then put on a fresh pair of shorts before giving herself a sponge bath. It had been a long, arduous process but finally she feels some semblance of clean. She studies the lines of Puck's body. There's the perfect arch of the collarbones, the swoop of strong shoulders, and a full, broad chest. She'd seen him without a shirt plenty of times, yet she feels strangely guilty looking at his body in this way. Never had she taken the time to really look-anything longer than strictly a glance would get her teased mercilessly. She argues with herself that she's not doing anything wrong, only looking. Just thinking of a few...improper things.
She tilts her chin up, rubbing the stubble that lines her jaw. She'd never seen Puck with facial hair. She frowns. When does he shave? She has no idea.
A soft knocking on the bathroom door makes her jump, leaving her musings in a jumbled heap in her head.
"Coming," she says, brushing the damp waves of blond hair away from her forehead. She opens the door wide, ready to quip some silly Puck-like line of rushing royalty, but stops when she sees Puck standing in the hallway, worrying his bottom lip with his teeth. For some reason, she's caught on this detail, the way it brings attention to his full lips. That moment, she forgets that they've switched bodies, fascinated with the movement.
Puck straightens, seeing her there. "I need your help."
Sabrina stares at Puck in confusion, letting her eyes dart up to his. She rubs a hand over her face, snapping back to reality. "Help with what?" Seeing him makes her feel guilty, she hadn't seen him since she walked off without him and Jake, leaving them to her father's anger and Granny's prodding questions.
The teen looks ruffled, deep bags set under his eyes like he hasn't slept at all in five days. "I don't want what happened last night to happen again." Almost unconsciously, he brings a hand up to his throat, the place where Aspen had held a knife to get them to comply. "I know you can fight," he says sternly, as if in accusation, "But I have no idea how to access it."
Sabrina sighs, leaning against the doorway. "Y'know, we're probably not going to get stuck in a situation like that again."
He rolls his eyes, looking very much like Sabrina with the gesture. "As if, you're a danger magnet Grimm. Just teach me something and I'll do my best to help you as well. Deal?" He holds out a hand and she eyes it thoughtfully.
"You'll help me learn how to shift into animals and fly and stuff?"
He nods like this is obvious and Sabrina reaches forward and shakes his hand. "Deal."
Against his will, a smile spreads over Puck's face. "Great, I'll meet you in the Mirror room, we can use the empty hall to train."
Sabrina nods, seeing the good sense in this. "Alright. Just let me get dressed first."
Puck seems to notice how she is situated, her lack of clothing. "Wait a second. Why aren't you wearing a shirt?"
Sabrina looks down at herself, realizing how she must look. "Oh-" she starts, unable to hide a small, nervous laugh, "no reason, I was..." she becomes tongue tied, the only words coming to mind being, oh, just staring at your body. Nothing creepy or anything.
His eyes stray down to her chest and then back up along her face and ears, well, his face and ears in a way. "Why are you so red?"
"Red?" she asks dumbly, leaning back a bit, like the extra distance will hide the rapidly rising blush.
"Yeah," he agrees, taking a step. "Like you're embarrassed." Something seems to dawn on him and his eyes widen. "Oh my God. Have you been looking...?"
If she had been flushed before, now Sabrina feels like she's going to pass out from the heat and pounding in her head. "What? No! Of course not!" she tumbles over her words, trying to justify herself. "I had to wash up and I...and I was..."
Puck snickers, his head cocked with a pretty half smile. "Enjoying the view?"
A small squeak finds its way free of her throat, and without another word, she slams the door in his face.
.-.-.-.
Even though Sabrina splashed her face several times with cold water, she's still a silly shade of crimson when she goes to meet Puck in the Mirror room.
It's at the end of the hall just like it had been in the old house, complete with the now vacant magic mirror. This room had the uncanny ability to make her feel sad. The magic mirror made her think of lost friends. Dead ones. She stares into the glassy surface, seeing Puck. But if she looks right into her eyes, she can see herself, buried beneath. And then, her real face is there, popping out the other side of the magic mirror.
"You gonna stand out there all day?" He reaches forward, grabbing her by the wrist and pulls her in. Unprepared, she's rushed into the mirror, into the fancy archways of the hall of Wonders.
"Really," Puck chastises as she rights herself, "it's flattering and all that you want to stare at my body all day, but it's getting ridiculous." He grins at her slyly. "Especially considering that," he switches to a lower tone, imitating his voice with her own, "'when I take you off of everyone's hands'" he switches back to a normal pitch, "You'll have plenty of time to bask."
Sabrina covers her face with her hands, then slides them off. "Listen, I don't know why I said that. It kinda slipped out."
He chuffs, a little annoyed sound with his mouth. "You really left us with a mess to clean up. I had to deal personally with the old man." He puts his hand to his forehead, exasperated. "I thought when Oberon died I'd be out of fatherly lectures forever, but nooo, I have to play as you and pretend like I care about responsibility and 'not doing anything inappropriate with that boy.'"
Sabrina gapes at him. "He said that to you?"
He puts one hand on his hip and smirks a little. "Uh huh. Sounded like a well-worn message, Grimm."
Her mouth twists in discomfort. She can't deny the statement so she tries instead to change the subject. "Are you still grounded?"
He blows out a puff of air and shakes his head. "No, the old lady and Jake talked him out of it. But he basically promised that anymore missteps and I'd be stuck at home the rest of the summer."
"Sounds neat."
Puck rolls his eyes. "Yeah, a real treat. Now, are you going to teach me how to-" he holds his hands out, an almost distasteful look on his face, "-how to be awesome again?"
Now it's Sabrina's turn to roll her eyes. "When you put it that way..." She sighs, remembering their deal. She'd like to be 'awesome' again too. "Come on."
Puck is stubborn as a bag of rocks, but with some explaining and gentle prodding, she guides him to a stance and leads him through some exercises, focusing on simple things. Despite her patients, he begins to sour, tripping over his own feet and widening his arms with every step.
Eventually, he snaps. "How am I supposed to fight like this?" he exclaims, shaking his arms like they're useless noodles. "You're built all weird and you can't even turn into other animals."
"Says you," Sabrina mutters under her breath then puts her hands on her hips, about as fed up as him. "It is possible to fight, you just need to use your weight and body differently than you're used to." She steps forward and hovers behind Puck, placing her hands on his shoulders. "Your arms aren't as long so you need to tuck them more to protect your center."
He huffs and shifts, taking a less awkward stance, relaxing.
"Good," she says with a grin, recognizing the ease that her own body has in this kind of thing. "You won't feel so wobbly anymore."
"This is still way too weird," Puck bemoans, clenching his fists.
Sabrina sighs. "You think I don't know that? This is the best we can do for now until we track down the items. Now," she says, going back to a soothing, encouraging voice, "When you go to hit something or grab something," she moves her hands down to his hips, "you need to use your hips in the movement-"
Puck yelps, jumping away from her. "What the heck! Don't-don't do that!"
She furrows her brow and crosses her arms. "What's your problem?"
"You touched me!" he says, his cheeks rapidly turning red.
She shakes her head. "Oh, get over yourself. It's my body afterall."
"Yeah but," he pauses, the look on his face downright flustered, like he doesn't understand what's happening either.
She cocks her head with a little smile. God, that's adorable, she thinks to herself before frowning. Okay, no, that's too weird. Thinking about herself like she wasn't her-or finding Puck in any way cute. Both are too strange. "Nevermind," she says brusquely, "try again." She gives him a sidelong glance. "I won't touch you this time."
"Good!" he says hotly, moving back to his previous position.
Sabrina watches for a while as he gains his bearings, looking half-way decent until he gives her a miserable look. "Just give me a sword already, I feel ridiculous."
She actually laughs, "Yeah, no. Neither one of us should be handling long sharp pokey things in our current condition."
Puck grumbles but complies to her ministrations, following her instructions to great effect. After half an hour drilling him, Sabrina nods, telling him to relax. "Not bad."
Puck huffs, blowing a strand of hair from his face. Sabrina catches sight of a half knotted hair tie in his hair. Looks like he tried-and failed-at basic hair care. She moves forward and holds up the offending band. "Lose another fight?" she asks wryly.
Puck pulls back, irritated. "I've never used one of those things before. I'm not trying to become you."
"That's a good plan," she agrees, carefully removing the hair tie before redoing it for him, her hands a bit awkward in the motion but managing it all the same. "But for now," she steps back, holding her arms out wide, "it's my turn. Teach me how to fight like you."
Puck absently brushes his fingers against the ponytail. He cracks his neck. "Alright, Grimm."
She nods, readying herself for one of his 'unique' lessons.
"First thing we'll work on is your wings." He tracks around her until he is to her side and slightly behind. He pauses there, thinking.
"What?" She asks defensively. He hadn't told her to do anything yet. Did he expect some display?
"Quiet, I'm thinking." He has a hand to his chin, then claps once. "Right. I've got it. Think of something like-" he mimes with his hands, making her turn her head to look. Has she always been this short compared to him? "Holding a trigger. When you hold it, you can't untuck the wings."
Sabrina tilts her head and nods. "Okay, makes sense." Even so, she doesn't know where he's going with this.
"So when you want the wings to come out, you pull that trigger."
"Alright," she agrees, but continues on, "what about tucking them away?" As she says this, focusing on his words, there's a loud pop as wings fly free from her back. She manages not to stumble, but only just.
Puck grins, slapping her on the back. "Excellent question. Tucking the wings away is more of a…" he struggles to find the right words, "...a release. Relaxing until there's no tension."
Sabrina remembers him telling her that back in the quetzal ruins. A release, the breath of fresh air after battle. This skill only takes her a few tries to get the hang of, Puck occasionally placing a hand on that spot right above her wings to help. The warmth from the touch actually has the opposite effect, making her feel wired and unfocused, but she doesn't say so. She wonders how much of what she experiences in this strange body swap is from her and what's from the body she's in. As she lets the wings unfurl an uncomfortable thought hits her like a bag of bricks. If this is what she feels, then how much of her body's feelings and sensations could Puck tap into?
She gasps, leaping out of his reach, the space letting her fold the wings away. "Let's-" she pants, not from exertion but panic, "let's do something else."
He furrows his brow at her, one foot crossing over the other.
"It's getting boring, okay?" she says, trying to regain calm.
Puck shrugs. "Okay. What else do you want to do?"
Sabrina takes a moment to think about it, spewing out the first thing she can think of. "Teach me to shift."
Puck sighs, muttering something under his breath to the effect of, thank goodness, I thought she was going to ask to fly, then shakes his head in ascent. "That's not so hard. Start with clearing your mind."
Sabrina points at her head and jibes, "There's thoughts in this brain of yours?"
Puck scoffs. "Only when I want there to be. C'mon, you wanted to learn, didn't you?"
Sabrina bites the inside of her cheek but follows his orders, letting her errant thoughts float away.
Seeing the concentration on her face, Puck continues. "Now, think hard of a specific animal. One you know well-either smaller or about the same size as you to start."
Sabrina closes her eyes, breathing deeply to center herself. She brings up an image of a patchy house cat, a stray that prowled around their apartment at home at night, searching for scraps.
"Once you've got it," Puck says, voice low and smooth, "imagine your own self morphing into that creature while spinning on your heel."
Sabrina does as he says, even though she feels silly. She tries it once, twice-five times, all to no avail. She looks up at Puck who gives an encouraging nod. She tries again and again, growing more dizzy every time until, suddenly, she loses her balance altogether. She teeters, arms flailing, eyes open wide.
Puck sees her distress and reaches out to steady her but is a second too late, and she falls over her ridiculously bumbly legs. Groaning, she looks up at him, splayed in a heap on the ground. His image spins around and around, giving the illusion that there's three, maybe five of him.
Unable to help himself, Puck begins to chuckle, covering his mouth with his hand.
Sabrina narrows her eyes and shakes her head until everything stops swirling. "What're you laughing at?"
He tries to stop, but one more look at her and his laughter redoubles. "It's just-" he gasps, giggling almost, "so funny to watch."
She sits up, ignoring her dizziness. "I'm you, remember? So haha, what a clutz."
Puck snorts. "Yeah, but I know who you are, Stinkpot."
The words rankle her, bringing back countless moments of ending up on the wrong side of a nasty prank. Irritation prickles at the back of her neck. She eyes his knees, only a few feet from her. She lunges at him and he only manages to skip out of the way at the last second, tripping over her outstretched arm.
He whirls around to face her as she gets up, scowling. "Hey! You almost-" his words end in a squeak as she pounces on him. The two grapple then trade quick punches. Sabrina snags Puck in the gut with a kick that nearly doubles him over then he grabs one of her fists, twisting to the point of pain. The teenagers spring apart and back together, wild eyed, lessons forgotten. This is for pride now.
They had sparred plenty of times in the past, but this fight is stilted, accented by strange movements and confused footwork. Puck tries to fly above her only to remember he has no wings. Sabrina crouches lower to try and get under his guard before realizing that she is too tall for the tactic.
Sabrina feels blood rushing in her pointed ears. This isn't easy-trying to make her kind of fighting work with Puck's body. What made Puck good at hand to hand? She clenches her fists. He's fast and agile, but so is her body. He's strong too, by nature and his Fairy blood. She grins.
The next opening she gets, Sabrina wraps Puck's arm and blocks the other, forcing them to be face to face, chests pressed together. Sabrina smiles, knowing from experience what she must look like. "Ha! Take that, fairy boy!"
Puck's lip curls at the nickname before smirking himself. His gaze darts down, and with a thin twinge of doubt, she looks down too.
He has his foot behind her leg, a look of triumph rising with the trick. His foot kicks out, and he shoves at her upper body.
Frantic, Sabrina tries to twist out of his grip, but her balance and flexibility are all wrong and all her flailing earns her is getting more tangled with his legs. They land with a hard thump, Sabrina trapped underneath him.
Breathing hard, Sabrina looks up at Puck. He did something she usually would have done, using her own bulk against her. She attempts to wriggle out from under him, but he manages to catch her arm. Now, with her hip already wedged securely under his leg, she can't think of a way to escape without hurting him.
"Alright, alright," she concedes, the energy and victory draining out of her. Turning her face enough to look up at him. "You got me. Let me up."
"Ah," he says, pouting, "what's the fun in surrendering?"
Sabrina struggles, irritated. "Do you have to be such a pain?"
"Always," he promises fervently. He grins flippantly. "It's why you love me so much."
Her face screws up, embarrassed and annoyed. "I do not l-love you."
He shifts his weight, and with one fluid movement, he's sitting on her hips, that half-smile half-smirk still on his face. Without warning, heat floods through Sabrina. He laughs, sitting right above her to remind her of the control he wields right now. "Does my face always look this ridiculous when I blush and lie?"
The hall, which had felt so cool before, begins to feel stifling, practically on fire. Sabrina feels her heart pick up, racing ahead of itself. She should really just get on with it and move him, but...well, her limbs won't listen, filled with that fuzzy warmth.
Puck looks down at her, his expression loosening a degree.
"Woah! Should've knocked."
The fuse between the teens immediately snuffs out and their heads snap as one to look at the interloper, who stepped through to the hall.
"It's not what it looks like," Puck says immediately.
Daphne blinks from her place by the mirror portal. The two teens hadn't moved yet.
Sabrina sits up, shoving Puck off of her with more force than necessary. He lands on his backside, nearly tottering over.
Daphne giggles at this, covering her smile with her hand. Sabrina hopes her sister will spare them the embarrassment of biting her palm and jumping around like a fangirl. Or remembering that she has a phone that could record all of this.
"What is it, Marshmallow? Can't you tell we're busy, uh-training here?" Sabrina tries at nonchalance, but her place on the floor makes it a sad attempt at best.
Daphne shakes her head, amused. "Guess I should've checked here first. You guys have been awfully hard to pin down the last few days."
Sabrina swallows a smart response. Of course they hadn't, they'd been trying to lay low and avoid any conversations that could get them into trouble. She scrapes herself off the floor and rises, considering helping Puck up for a moment before deciding that's not something she should do with her sister watching. Instead, she crosses her arms and nods slightly at Puck, hoping he knows it's his turn to speak.
He groans, taking his time to get up and stretch his back. "Something the matter?" He asks bluntly.
The corner of Daphne's lip quirks. "You mean other than catching you two...training?" Daphne chuckles to herself, but calms quickly and shakes her head. "Actually, yeah. Something is the matter."
Sabrina tries to keep her composure, putting her hands on her hips like Puck would do. She doesn't know she doesn't know she doesn't know. "What?"
Daphne purses her lips. "Something's going on, demeaning you guys and Jake aren't telling the rest of us." She pulls a book from her side bag. Holding it up for them to see. Sabrina recognizes it as one of the South America mythos that Jake had been pouring over.
Sabrina bites her lip unconsciously, thinking hard. Daphne is smart and clever, and very able of letting her parents know her suspicions. Which would lead to questions that could lead to their exposure.
"We broke a magical artifact," she blurts out.
Puck's eyes widen and he shoots her a withering look.
Despite his disapproval, she forges on. "The last place we visited we destroyed it and just yesterday we went to an artifact researcher to appraise it and see if there was a way to fix it. He gave us a list of ingredients that will do it."
Daphne listens, holding her chin in thought. "That does explain a lot." Her expression turns sad and disapproving. "But why not tell the family? We could help you."
Puck thankfully picks up the conversation, quick with his tongue even if he doesn't approve. "It's really stupid that we broke the thing in the first place and worse, some of the ingredients that we need to fix it are going to be dangerous to collect. But you've got to understand," he implores, "we have to repair it. We can't have the rest of the family stopping us from finishing what we started. They wouldn't understand how important it is." There's an unspoken plea there: we need you to understand and not spill the beans.
Daphne considers the two of them for a long moment. Sabrina holds her breath. Something about her gaze makes it seem like she can see straight through their half-truths, half-lies. Then, miracle of miracles, her little sister nods. "So," she says, shattering the relief, "what's first on that list of ingredients?"
.-.-.-.
AN: This chapter may be only a transition to the next piece but I love it. Thanks for continue to read and be engaged with this story! Your reviews make my day. I'm excited to share this and writing it has been a nice diversion from finishing my labs for Motor Learning class...I'm sure it'll be fine. Question, if you had the choice to switch bodies with your crush/SO would you? For me, I'd say yes, as long as I would get my body back in a reasonable amount of time. I could go to the gym and get crazy pecs-seems like a very entertaining time.
