The Fairy-Tale Detectives Page 18

  “Don’t give up, girls. The First can be defeated,” Donovan shouted.

  They exploded. The broken shards of mirror ricocheted across the room. Sabrina shielded Daphne with her body while also trying to cover her face as best she could. But the pieces still ripped into her arms and legs and back. Each one felt like a tiny razor slicing across her skin followed by the sting of a red-hot brand.

  When it was over, she got to her feet and helped Daphne up. Though her sister was sobbing, she appeared uninjured. However, drops of blood fell from Sabrina’s body and rained down onto the silver shards beneath her feet. There was one large chunk sticking out of her arm, and when she tried to pull it out, it melted and seeped into her skin.

  Daphne hugged her tightly. Sabrina trembled until she could no longer hold back her tears. And she stood, crying and bleeding, and doing her best not to give in to the ease of losing her mind. She shook herself, then she and Daphne raced out of the room and through the portal, plowing through the woods as screams filled the air. But where was her army?

  “Sabrina, your arm!” Daphne said, staring at the bleeding line.

  “Forget it. We’ve got to find Mom and Dad,” Sabrina said. “Uncle Jake! Mom! Dad!” No one answered. Where was her family? Were they wounded? She started to panic. “Puck!” There was an odd tightening in her chest, and her skin broke out in a sweat. She used to get the same out-of-control feeling when she was around magic, but she forced herself to concentrate. Her army needed her.

  She and Daphne ran through the camp, which was deserted and on fire. Footprints led them up a hill and down a steep embankment, but still they found no signs of life. In the distance she could hear more screaming, and when she looked to the ground—blood! They followed its trail through a patch of trees until they were face-to-face with Atticus. Next to him were two enormous trolls, standing nearly eight feet tall and packed tight with muscles. They were terrifying creatures, but not nearly as fearsome as Atticus’s smile.

  “So you are the little ones causing all the trouble,” Atticus said. He raised his sword and slashed at them. They managed to leap out of the way just in time, but Sabrina stumbled on a stone and fell. While she scampered to her feet, Atticus stalked her. “You know, whatever that is in your grandmother isn’t happy. You should hear it screaming and shouting. It even rambles on when the body is asleep.”

  “Sorry for the inconvenience, but it wasn’t my idea for Mirror to steal my grandmother’s body.”

  Atticus laughed, then turned to the trolls. “Get to work, boys. We don’t have all day.”

  The trolls grunted and lumbered into the woods, sending a flock of frightened crows flying into the sky.

  Facing Atticus without his monsters didn’t make Sabrina feel any less confident. She found a long branch and scooped it up, remembering what Snow had taught her about the bo-staff. This one was similar in weight and length. She spun it around with all her strength, then hit Atticus in the side of the head.

  He fell over cursing and shouting threats, then staggered onto his knees, and Sabrina hit him over the back of the neck.

  “I thought this suit of armor made him indefensible,” Sabrina said.

  “Maybe that only counts for parts that the suit covers,” Daphne said.

  Sabrina brought the branch high over her head and aimed it at the villain’s skull for a second blow, but as it came down he caught it in his hand. Wrenching it from her grasp, he leaped to his feet and with a ferocity and anger she did not expect, he kicked her hard in the belly. She slammed back against a tree, and was pinned there by the heel of his boot.

  “Let her go,” Daphne said. Sabrina turned her head to see the little girl standing next to the tree. Elvis stood by her side, growling.

  Atticus laughed. “Shoo, fly.”

  Daphne reached into her pocket and took out the fairy godmother wand. She shook it in her hand and with a flick, sent a blast of magic at the man. Both she and Atticus were enveloped in purple smoke.

  “What are you doing?” Sabrina shouted to her sister.

  “Changing his outfit. If we get him out of that armor, we can beat him,” Daphne cried through the fog, but when it drifted away, Atticus was still wearing his magical armor. He looked down and laughed.

  “Child, you amuse me. After I gut your sister, you will be next and for a laugh I will make it quick,” he said.

  “Hmmm, I suppose I need to go with plan B,” Daphne said.

  Elvis leaped forward and chomped down on Atticus’s groin, where he had no armor to protect him. He fell over into the leaves, moaning. While he lay there, Daphne snatched Sabrina’s hand and they, along with Elvis, ran.

  Once beyond the clearing, they darted into the woods shouting for their mother and father, but they heard nothing in response. Eventually, they stumbled upon Puck, who looked as panicked as they had ever seen him.

  Puck raced into the clearing. “Come quick! It’s Gepetto.”

  The girls followed him into the woods. They found Pinocchio leaning over his father. The old man wasn’t breathing. He had a ragged wound on his chest, probably created by Atticus’s sword. His face was calm and his eyes closed. Pinocchio held his hand and wept.

  “Papa?” he cried, as if the old man were merely sleeping. “Papa, please be OK.”

  But he wasn’t.

  ctober 23

  It seems as if every time I open this journal I have to write down another death. I hate these pages. I hate this pen. This is not supposed to be a record of the people who have died because of me. I want to throw this book into the woods, maybe bury it deep in the ground where no one will ever find it, but I don’t have time to feel sorry for myself. I have to help dig graves.

  The Frog Princess (who I’m told was really named Sharlene), Sir Lancelot, Friar Tuck, and Gepetto were all killed fighting Atticus and his trolls. Poor Pinocchio. He blames himself. He says he was the one who opened the Book of Everafter and set Atticus free. Uncle Jake has tried to console him, but hasn’t had much luck.

  Sadly, we have another tragedy on our hands. Atticus has taken Snow White. Apparently murder wasn’t enough for him. Bunny is beside herself with worry. She wants to race after him, but Baba Yaga has reminded her that she doesn’t have the power to stop him. With Morgan trapped in the old castle, the coven is broken and only the super-charged power of the three kept them alive the last time they encountered Mirror and the blood prince.

  We left their graves in the woods and moved our camp in case Atticus or Mirror returns. We have to keep moving and I need to share less with the others about where we are going. I’ve asked everyone to destroy any mirror they might be carrying. I can’t take the risk that he might be able to see us through them, and the mirror room is locked and off limits.

  And then there’s me. Something is happening. I’m sick. But sick isn’t the right word exactly. I feel weird. When the mirrors exploded, a little piece flew into my arm, and I haven’t felt myself since. It started out with dizziness and feeling tired, but now, well, I feel like I’m dying. My eyes are blurry and my head is pounding. I just want to lie down, but I know I can’t. Everyone is counting on me.

  Sabrina stood before her army, their faces fresh with grief. She tried to stand strong. She knew that she could not let them see how terrible she felt.

  “I didn’t know this until very recently, but Mirror has been watching us through the Council of Mirrors. He could see us making our war plans from the beginning. The only reason we were able to trap the Hand inside Charming’s castle is because the Master let us.”

  “So he can see us?” Goldilocks asked.

  Sabrina shook her head. “Not anymore. The mirrors have been destroyed.”

  Some of the crowd gasped.

  “And we have to deal with him, but first we have to deal with Atticus. He took Snow.”

  “He tore through us, Sabrina,” the Frog Prince said. “Nothing we did stopped him. He’s a monster.”

  Mr. Canis stepped forward. In his hand was
the glass jar that trapped the Big Bad Wolf. “Perhaps it’s time we had our own monster.”

  “Absolutely not!” Henry cried. “You are not letting that thing loose again. Canis, you spent hundreds of years trying to get rid of it and now you want to subject yourself to the misery again?”

  “I don’t want to, Henry. It’s just what must be done.”

  “Having the Wolf running loose is no better than having Atticus,” Mayor Heart said. She looked as if she might faint just thinking about the dire possibilities.

  “I do have a certain level of control over him,” Canis said.

  “Which you lost,” Mr. Swineheart squealed. In his anxiety, he transformed into his true form as a pig, snorting through his round nose.

  “Then you will have to find a way to stop him,” Canis said impatiently. “There is always the horn of the North Wind.”

  “It disappeared when the Hall was looted,” Daphne said.

  “Then perhaps Beauty can help,” he argued.

  “I could try,” she said. “Though it isn’t easy singing to someone who is running around tearing people to shreds.”

  “I don’t like it,” the Pied Piper said. “Someone will get hurt.”

  “This is not your decision to make!” Canis bellowed. Everyone stood agape at his boiling anger. “I know you’ve all found it perfectly convenient to have me babysitting and watching your belongings, but I am not and never have been a person who stands aside and lets others do what I must do myself. My dearest friend Relda Grimm needs help. The only way to get to her is to take Atticus out of the picture. I’m not here to ask any of you for permission. I’m telling you what I’m going to do!”

  Red broke into tears and ran from the camp.

  “She needs you, Canis,” Veronica said. “She’s already been abandoned so many times. Are you going to abandon her too?”

  “I’ll go and speak with her,” he said, scooping up his jar and cane. Sabrina watched him, bent over and struggling, as he disappeared into the trees.

  “Sooo,” Puck said. “That’s going to be interesting.”

  “He wants to feel necessary,” Goldi said.

  “He’s going to get someone killed,” Beauty argued.

  “Isn’t there someone else who should be here?” Cinderella asked. “Where’s William?”

  Without warning, Sabrina felt something slice through her thoughts like a knife. She doubled over. The sensation was hot and painful, but along with it came a clear vision of the prince. He was curled on a dirty mattress inside the former mayor’s mansion. But how could she see him like this? Was she just imagining things? It made no sense. She staggered and would have fallen if her mother had not been there to catch her.

  “Sabrina, are you OK?” Veronica asked.

  Sabrina shook off the vision. She nodded. “Just a little tired. We’ll go to Charming and convince him to help us,” she said. “But listen, if we manage to get lucky and stop Atticus, there will be no more obstacles between us and Mirror. I want to be honest with you all. I don’t know what will happen. Our army is savaged, our coven is broken, and Mirror wants the spell that turns off the barrier. I have no idea what he’s going to do to get it, but it’s not going to be fun. I just know he can’t have it. If you’ve thought about bailing on us, you should do it now so we know what we’re working with.”

  Beauty stepped forward. “I have known your family a long time, and my rage at being trapped in this town has caused me to do things I regret. But there was always something that I respected about your family—your infernal principles! Wilhelm taught his children to stand for something, to look after our community and protect us, even when we didn’t want it. Douglas taught Sterling, and Sterling taught Spaulding, and Spaulding taught Josef, and so on and so on. Well, you can imagine how that integrity made us crazy. Now I marvel at it. I envy it. I will do anything to emulate it, so my daughter will know what it is to be a good person. I will die to protect you.”

  “I will lay my life down for you,” the Wicked Queen said.

  “You can count on me and my son,” the Pied Piper said.

  “You have the birds,” the Widow crowed.

  “You have my men,” Robin Hood said.

  “And mine,” King Arthur shouted.

  “It was never a question,” Goldi said. The roars of three fierce brown bears echoed her promise.

  “I will fight,” Pinocchio said through his tears. “I will fight.”

  All present made the promise, though Mayor Heart did so reluctantly. At the end of the chorus of cheers, the only person who hadn’t spoken up was Puck. The crowd looked at him for his answer.

  “Well, duh!” Puck said.

  • • •

  Sabrina, Puck, and the Wicked Queen marched out to find Charming. Bunny claimed she would force William to come back to the army if he wouldn’t listen to reason. The group hiked toward the old mayor’s mansion. The others were perplexed as to how Sabrina knew where to find the prince. She couldn’t explain, but she was beginning to believe that whatever gave her the visions was also making her sick. She was both fevered and chilled and had to stop several times to shake off dizzy spells and nausea. She was having a difficult time concentrating and her mind kept flashing on something she had seen many times before—a fiery red handprint. There were times when she thought she couldn’t take another step, but she couldn’t go back. Charming had to know what happened to Snow.

  “What’s wrong with you?” Puck said. “You’re starting to look a little green.”

  “I’m just tired,” Sabrina lied.

  Puck spun around on his heels and transformed into a donkey. Bunny helped Sabrina climb on his back, but not before examining the jagged slash on her arm where the piece of magic mirror had cut her skin. Bunny’s face looked worried, but she didn’t say anything.

  The front door of the mayor’s mansion hung open, and all the windows were broken. When they stepped inside, it was obvious that it had been looted. There were huge holes in the floors and graffiti covered the walls. Sabrina hardly recognized the place.

  The group climbed the once-grand staircase and found Charming asleep on the floor of his old office, just as in Sabrina’s strange, painful vision. His weapons and maps were gone, as was the portrait of Snow he kept on the wall, and the poor man looked and smelled as if he had been drinking.

  “Wakey wakey, eggs and bakey,” Puck said.

  Charming lifted his head as if the motion hurt him. He groaned and closed his eyes. “I told you to leave me alone.”

  “That’s not an option anymore,” the Wicked Queen said. “Atticus has Snow.”

  Charming strained to focus his eyes. “What? When?”

  “A few hours ago,” Sabrina said.

  “We would have come sooner, but we weren’t sure you were finished feeling sorry for yourself,” Bunny said.

  Charming growled. “How dare you, Bunny? You meddled with my life—my memories, my identity—and you think I should just snap out of it? You try to be a fictional character for a minute!”

  “I’ve been a fictional character just as long as you have, William. I had to rewrite myself to keep Snow safe. I had to give up my daughter! I had to make her believe I was evil. I had to make her fear me, not to mention every Everafter I’ve encountered since. Do you think that was easy, being the scorn of an entire town for hundreds of years? I had to take on a completely different persona for centuries.”

  “That was your choice,” Charming cried.

  “So you were edited! It’s not like I made you into a fool. I gave you courage and strength. I made you the heir to a fortune and I gave you a girlfriend who is the most beautiful woman in the world. Was it really that intolerable?”

  “This fighting is stupid,” Sabrina said. “We need a hero, and Billy, that’s you.”

  “Bunny should open her magic book and write herself a new one,” William said.

  “You know what? You’re not fictional at all and you never have been,” Sabrina cr
ied. “Because you’re a jerk!”

  “What?”

  “She just said you’re a jerk,” Puck said. “I know because she calls me one all the time.”

  “Bunny remade you into the ideal man: brave, strong, and clever. What she did not make is a grouchy, impatient, and arrogant crybaby.”

  “She’s right, William. You really are an insufferable boor, which proves you are not a toy that I wound up and let loose. I wanted you to be dashing and romantic and ever-smiling. I wanted perfection.”

  Charming slumped back onto his makeshift bed. “OK, I’ve heard enough insults for one day.”

  “You don’t understand,” Sabrina said. “You constantly turn from perfect into a sour old lemon. So if Bunny didn’t write that into her daughter’s story, it must be coming from you. You’re a real person, William—warts and all.”

  Charming sat up and looked them group for a long time. “This is the worst pep talk in the history of the world.”

  Puck laughed. “It really is.”

  “Is it working?” Bunny asked.

  Charming nodded.

  “So are you ready to put away the sad face so we can go save the love of your life?” Sabrina asked.

  Charming snatched his sword off the ground. “I am.”

  “Great, we got the band back together,” Puck said. “Now, where do we find Atticus?”

  Once again, Sabrina’s mind was ripped open. She staggered and fell as visions of Atticus flashed through her mind. He was camped in a house that overlooked the river. It was perched on a rocky edge, probably the home of one of the humans who had abandoned the town when the trouble began. Atticus was hitting Snow White. She tried her self-defense techniques, but he was too strong. Nottingham stood nearby, watching as if amused.