The Problem Child (The Sisters Grimm, Book 3) Read online

  A wave of emotions overtook her--emotions she didn't understand: genuine concern for the boy, anger at his recklessness, confusion at the memory of their kiss. She felt like crying when she realized how vicious her rejection of him had been.

  "Hey, stink-bottom," Sabrina said, wondering if the boy could hear her. If he could, he'd never let her live down any kind words she might say to him. Besides, trading insults with her seemed to be his favorite game. Maybe it would make him feel better deep down.

  "You realize you're a terrible burden on all of us. Look at you lying in that bed. You're not fooling anyone. I'd bet a hundred bucks that you're faking all of this just for the attention. Well, your pampering is about to come to an end, buster. When we have all the pieces of the Vorpal blade, we're going to find the Blue Fairy and put them back together. Once we kill the Jabberwocky, Red Riding Hood will be no problem. Mom and Dad will come home and then we're shipping you off to the Faerie folk. You'll be back to being a pain in my butt in no time at all."

  She looked over at her sister to make sure she was still sleeping, too, and then removed the wand from her pocket. She laid it on the bed and examined it with awe. Just having it near made her feel like everything was going to be fine. She could handle everything herself. Puck would live and she'd bring her parents home. Nothing could get in her way.

  "Are you OK?" Daphne asked.

  "I'm fine," Sabrina said, snatching the wand off the bed and stuffing it back into her pocket.

  "You were staring at that thing for fifteen minutes," Daphne said. "I said your name a few times but you didn't hear me."

  Sabrina shot a glance at the clock on the wall. Her sister was right. "I have a lot on my mind."

  "I want you to give that thing to Granny," Daphne insisted. "It belongs in the mirror where it will be safe."

  "It'll be safe with me."

  Daphne got out of her chair and crossed the room. She stood over Sabrina and looked at her closely. "But are you going to be safe from it?"

  "You're being silly."

  "No, I'm not," the little girl said a bit too loudly. "I saw your face when you used the wand. It was the same face you had when you used the shoes."

  "What face is that?"

  "You looked like you wanted to hurt someone," Daphne said.

  "No, what I looked like is someone who isn't afraid anymore," Sabrina said. "Daphne, aren't you sick to death of running all the time?"

  "The first thing I learned in Ms. White's self-defense class is that there are things that you stand and fight and there are things that you run from. A smart warrior knows the difference. You used to know the difference."

  "You know, when I woke up in the hospital you claimed that I didn't include you in things anymore," Sabrina complained. "Did you ever think that the reason is because everything I do is wrong in your eyes?'

  "We are still a team," Daphne said. "And you are still wrong. You're getting add… add… what's that word Granny said earlier?"

  "Addicted?"

  "Yes, addicted."

  "Whatever."

  "Don't you 'whatever' me!"

  They sat in silence and eventually Daphne got up from her chair. "I'm going to bed."

  "Fine," Sabrina said, still angry at her sister's accusation.

  "Be careful, Sabrina," Daphne whispered and she stepped out of the room.

  * * *

  A loud, raspy breath woke Sabrina from her sleep. The room was dark and a girlish giggle sent Sabrina dashing to the light switch. She flipped it on and realized at once that she wasn't in her grandmother's room anymore. She was in her own bed and standing by it was the Jabberwocky and Red Riding Hood. Sabrina reached into her pocket and took out the Wand of Merlin. She aimed it at the monster and thought about big bolts of lightning rocking the sky.

  "How did you get in here?" she asked.

  The little girl laughed. "Silly."

  "Where are my parents?" Sabrina demanded, eyeing Daphne. She was sound asleep and snoring heavily. Daphne could sleep through a war.

  "They're safe. I've got my grandmother now and my doggy."

  "You lie!"

  The little girl giggled.

  "Granny!"

  Sabrina shouted, but the old woman didn't reply.

  "Mr. Canis!"There was no sound.

  "All I need is one more member of my family before we can play house. I need a little sister," Red Riding Hood said. Sabrina gasped and the Jabberwocky took a step toward Daphne's slumbering body.

  "No!" Sabrina cried and a flash of light exploded through the window. It hit the Jabberwocky in the back and knocked it to its knees.

  "Stop!" Red Riding Hood cried. "You'll kill my kitty!"

  Sabrina didn't care. She scampered out of bed as another bolt hit the downed beast. It screeched in pain. Dozens more blasts lit up the room. The Jabberwocky cried out as each one fried it with white hot light. To Sabrina, the cries sounded like pleas for mercy, but she wouldn't listen. She wanted this thing dead and soon she got her wish. The monster slumped to the ground, gasped, and was still.

  Red Riding Hood rushed to the Jabberwocky's body and cried in despair.

  "You killed her!"

  Sabrina smiled in triumph. She walked over to get a better view, but was surprised to find the monster was no longer there. Its massive, smoldering carcass had been replaced with the body of a young girl with blonde hair. Stunned, Sabrina dropped to her knees to see the girl's face. She brushed away the hair and gasped. "It's me!"

  Sabrina turned to the mirror in her room and nearly screamed when she saw her reflection. Her legs were gone, replaced with hulking clawed feet. She looked down at them and noticed that she also had a long reptilian tail. It swung around the room uncontrollably, destroying the little desk and dresser. Her arms had become a scaly mass of muscles and tendons with razor sharp talons on her fingertips. She screamed for someone to help her but no one came. She was turning into the Jabberwocky. She was becoming a monster and no one could help.

  "They tried to warn you," Red Riding Hood said. She laughed maniacally as she put a huge leash around Sabrina's neck. "Come on, kitty. Let's play."

  "Sabrina!" a voice shouted. She felt someone's hand gently shaking her shoulder. She looked over and saw Granny Relda's concerned face.

  "You were having a nightmare," she said.

  Sabrina looked down at her body. It was back to normal. She had had another of her awful dreams. "Are you OK?" her grandmother asked. Sabrina nodded.

  "Well, put on something warm. Your uncle and I have discovered who the hag of the hills is," Granny Relda said. "Good! Where's Uncle Jake?" Sabrina asked as she got up. "He's downstairs having a drink," the old woman said. "A drink? Why?"

  "To calm his nerves, I suppose. He's not too excited about who has the last piece of the Vorpal blade."

  "I don't understand," Sabrina said. "Who's got the last piece?"

  "The witch," Granny said. "The one they call Baba Yaga."

  Chapter 9

  Sabrina had heard many stories about Baba Yaga and read even more. What she knew was disturbing. Baba Yaga was thousands of years old and it was rumored that she was a cannibal. Many of the family journals described heart-stopping encounters with her. They talked of her home, decorated with the bones of her latest meal. She seemed like an odd ally for the Grimm family, but time and time again the family had turned to her for help.

  Baba Yaga was responsible for the barrier that kept the Everafters in Ferryport Landing, but nothing she did came without a price. As payment for the spell, Baba Yaga had stolen the Grimm family's freedom forever. A Grimm would have to stay in the town as long as the barrier existed.

  "So she eats people?" Daphne whispered to her sister in the backseat of the car as they drove to see the witch. Her arms were wrapped around Elvis as if he were a life preserver and she was lost at sea.

  Sabrina nodded. "That's the story."

  "That's so gross," Daphne said. She hugged the Great Dane. "Don't let anybody eat me, Elvi
s."

  Elvis whined, then turned his attention to a paper sack Granny had given them for the trip. Granny had stayed behind with Puck and said they would need whatever was inside to get to the witch.

  Uncle Jake was silent and pale as he drove the car along the road that snaked across Mount Taurus. The girls tried to ask him more about the witch. After all, he had come face to face with her and survived, but he seemed to be in a different world. Sabrina reached into her pocket and clutched the Wand of Merlin. A little charge raced through her and made her nervousness vanish.

  We'll be just fine, she told herself.

  And if we aren't, that old lunatic is going to regret it.

  Suddenly Uncle Jake pulled over to the side of the road and parked the car.

  "Why are we stopping?" Sabrina said, glancing out the window at the dense, snow-covered forest. The trees that lined the road looked black, even in the morning sunlight, as if their life force had been sucked out of them.

  "We're here," Uncle Jake replied. He looked out the car window into the woods and cracked his knuckles nervously.

  Daphne stared out the window. "Where's here?"

  Jake ignored her question. "You two stay in the car. I'll be right back."

  "What?" the girls cried.

  "I'll be back soon."

  "No way!" Sabrina cried. "We're going with you."

  "It's too dangerous," Uncle Jake said. "Trust me, girls. If I didn't have to go, I wouldn't. The last time I ran into Baba Yaga she told me she'd skin me and eat me as jerky. It's best if you wait in the car."

  "I can't believe you!" Sabrina complained. "You're treating us like a couple of little kids!"

  "Uh, we are a couple of little kids," Daphne said.

  Sabrina ignored her. "We've seen bigger trouble than this Baba Yaga lady. We killed a giant. We stopped Rumpelstiltskin. Why, a couple of hours ago I rescued us all from a hermit crab as big as a house. We're going."

  Sabrina opened the door, got out of the car, and turned to her sister, "Come on."

  "Fine, but if we get turned into jerky, I'm telling Granny," the little girl grumbled, getting out of the car and pulling Elvis with her.

  "Just stay close, then," Uncle Jake said.

  "Wait! The bag!" Daphne said. She crawled back into the car and grabbed the paper sack, then rejoined the group.

  Elvis led the way through the woods. They journeyed deeper and deeper into the forest, through glades that were deadly quiet. The trees were closely packed, as if huddling together might save them from something. The Grimms could feel an odd creepiness around them, as if they were being watched. Every twig that snapped or bird that whistled caused Uncle Jake to jump. Sabrina noticed he was sweating even in the frigid winter air.

  They soon found a path made up of white oval stones that stuck up from the ground at different angles, making it difficult to walk. Daphne quickly lost her footing and fell to her knees. As Sabrina helped her up, the little girl screamed.

  "What?" Uncle Jake stammered.

  "Look!" Daphne cried as she pointed down at the path. Sabrina bent down and brushed some snow off one of the white stones and her heart stopped. The path wasn't made of stones at all. It was a collection of human skulls all looking up at them with horrible grins of death. "Gross!" Daphne shouted.

  "At least we know we're getting close," Sabrina said.

  "That's what they all thought, too!" Uncle Jake said.

  Just then, a bright orange cat appeared. It stood on the path hissing and baring its fangs. Elvis growled menacingly but the cat was not impressed.

  "Let's go back," Uncle Jake said.

  "What? Why?" Sabrina said. "It's a cat!"

  "It's not a cat," her uncle argued.

  "Come on, stop being silly," Sabrina said as she walked toward the angry feline. Much to her surprise, the cat changed with every step she took toward it. It grew and morphed until it was a creature somewhere between a tiger and a man. Sabrina stared up at it and reached for her wand, but Daphne rushed over and yanked her back to the group. With every step backward the creature morphed back into the cat.

  "Okay, so it's not a cat," Sabrina said as she tried to catch her breath.

  "His name is Bright Sun," Uncle Jake said. "You could say he's one of Baba Yaga's bodyguards."

  Suddenly, there was a low growl behind them. The group spun around and found a little black terrier on the path behind them. A high-pitched shriek from above sent their gaze upward to a red-tailed hawk landing on a tree limb over their heads.

  "We're being attacked by a pet store," Sabrina grumbled.

  "The dog is Black Midnight and the bird is Red Dawn. They want an offering before we can pass."

  Sabrina pulled Merlin's wand out of her pocket. "Well, I have a solution to this problem."

  "Uh, hello?" Daphne said as she shook the paper sack. "Granny gave us this for a reason. Maybe there's something in here that can help that doesn't require you to blow anything up."

  The little girl opened the sack and her face curled up in revulsion. She reached inside and took out a small, brown mouse. It was dead. Daphne tossed it to the ground and the hawk swooped down and snatched it in its sharp talons. Daphne reached into the sack again and pulled out a can of sardines. She turned the key and rolled back the lid, then set the can on the ground. Bright Sun bounded toward it and ate the little fish hungrily. Finally, Daphne took a small rubber bone out of the sack. She squeezed it and it squeaked loudly. She tossed the bone to the terrier, who caught it in his mouth and chewed happily. Then, without a sound, the three animals stepped off the path.

  "Looks like Granny is right," Daphne said. "You don't need magic to solve everything."

  Sabrina shrugged, put the wand back in her pocket, and the family continued farther down the path.

  Soon they came to a clearing where a small one-story shack stood. A little white fence encircled the yard and made the house look quaint, as if it were a summer cottage in need of a bit of tender loving care. But as Sabrina got closer she got a jolt of surprise. The fence was actually made from bleached human bones. The yard was full of broken cauldrons and animal skeletons, including the skull of a catlike animal with massive tusks. The house had a heavy wooden door on the front and two little windows that looked like eyes staring down at them. If Sabrina hadn't known better, she would have thought the house was scowling at them.

  She opened the gate, stepped into the yard, and walked to the front door. A wind chime on the fence clinked as it caught a soft breeze. Sabrina examined the chimes. They were made from dried ears and rusty screws. She cringed. "Don't look," Sabrina said.

  "We won't," Daphne and Uncle Jake replied from far off. Sabrina turned to see her little sister, her uncle, and Elvis still cowering at the gate.

  "Come on!" she said, reaching into her pocket for a boost from her wand. "Don't be a bunch of cowards."

  "I've got a bad feeling about this," Daphne said as she and the group took a hesitant step into the yard.

  Sabrina knocked on the heavy door but there was no reply. She knocked again with the same results.

  "Maybe she's out," Daphne said.

  "Out? Where is she going to go? She's a witch," Sabrina argued.

  "Maybe she's at the witch grocery store. I don't know," Daphne said testily.

  "There's no such thing as a witch grocery store," Sabrina argued. Her little sister was getting on her nerves.

  "Girls!"

  Uncle Jake shouted. "Let's just go in and get this over with. If she's not home, then we'll search for the sword and count our blessings that we didn't have to see her."

  Sabrina pushed on the door and it opened. "Stay together," she said to the group as she stepped inside. Immediately, Sabrina felt her body tingling. Magic was all around her. She scanned the room and found it filled with old jars and buckets of icky black goop. There was a table off to the side littered with ancient books and odd potions that bubbled and hissed. The floor was filthy and the only light source was a roaring fire in
the fireplace.

  A crud-covered chandelier hung from the ceiling and there were little dried apples on the fireplace mantel. A door on the opposite wall was ajar but from where they were standing they couldn't see what might be on the other side. Sabrina stepped over to the table and picked up one of the enormous books. Inside she found the scrawls of a shaky hand, describing mysterious incantations in both English and a language she had never seen before. Something inside her wanted to speak the words out loud. She was sure something amazing would happen. She flipped through more pages and realized the paper felt odd on her fingertips. It felt almost alive. She looked at it closely and realized little hairs were sticking out of it. It was made from skin! She dropped the book and took a step backward, only to feel a blast of intense heat from the fireplace behind her. She spun around and saw the flame reaching out to her. She could have sworn there were faces in the fire--faces that cried out for mercy and freedom.

  Suddenly, there was a horrible scream. It had come from behind the door of a neighboring room. Everyone froze. Uncle Jake looked like he was going to be sick. They crept toward the door and pushed it open. Gathering all her courage, Sabrina stepped inside.

  There was Baba Yaga. The crusty looking woman had dry gray hair and a long pointy nose. Her fingernails were nearly as long as her arms and her face was wrinkled and scarred. She had one milky white eye that seemed to look in a different direction than the other, and her teeth were sharp in a way that could have only happened by filing them down. She was sitting in a chair made of bones and animal skins watching a soap opera on her television.

  "Welcome, Grimms. I'm sorry. I didn't hear you knock," she said in a thick Russian accent. She grinned and gestured to her TV. "I get so caught up in my stories. Hope just caught Bo having an affair with Marlena. You should have heard her scream. It was hilarious. But, that's what Hope gets. She was cheating on Bo with John when they went to Spain. Now's not the time to get on the moral high-horse."