The Fairy-Tale Detectives (The Sisters Grimm, Book 1) Read online

  Daphne's face lit up. "I do!"

  "Are you warm enough? Do you need anything to sleep in?"

  The little girl opened one of the suitcases and pulled out two extra large T-shirts that read "Bermuda Is for Lovers."

  "No, we have these," she said.

  "Very good," Mrs. Grimm said. "Good night, don't let the bedbugs bite."

  "She's nice," said Daphne when the old lady was gone.

  Sabrina clenched her fists. "It's all an act. That woman is hiding something and we aren't sticking around to find out what it is. Get some sleep. We're running away—tonight."

  • • •

  Sabrina lay in bed staring at the ceiling, listening to her hungry belly grumble, and planning their getaway. With a little luck she and Daphne could hide in a neighbor's garage for a couple of days and then hitchhike back to New York City. After that, she didn't know. In the past they had just gone back to the orphanage, but this time Ms. Smirt might act on her threat to skin them alive. The next place she sent them would be a million times worse. The girls were on their own now.

  "We have to go," Sabrina whispered to her sister when she was sure the rest of the house was asleep.

  Daphne sat up and rubbed her eyes but said nothing. Her heartbroken face said it all. Why is she acting like such a baby? Sabrina wondered. Running away wasn't exactly a new experience for the two of them. The sisters Grimm had pulled off several daring escapes from foster parents in the last year and a half. They had tied bedsheets together and climbed out of the Mercers' window one night, feeding their pit bull, Diablo, meatballs stuffed with cayenne pepper to keep him busy. And after the Johnsons had ordered pizza, the girls had slipped into the backseat of the delivery boy's car and were miles away before he even noticed them. Mrs. Grimm was no different than any of the other lunatics they had run away from. Eventually, Daphne would understand.

  When they were dressed and packed, Sabrina slowly opened the door and looked out into the hallway. It was empty—and as the two girls crept out with their tiny suitcases, she used her skills to the fullest. They tiptoed down the stairs, being careful to step close to the wall to avoid making them creak. At the bottom, Sabrina slowly opened the closet door so the latch wouldn't click and the stack of books inside wouldn't fall over and wake the house. She snatched their coats and the girls put them on, then walked to the front door. Sabrina was just thinking that this was the easiest escape they had ever made when she tried to turn the knob. The door was locked. When she looked closely she noticed something unusual that she had not noticed before.

  "There's a keyhole on this side, too," she said. They were locked in. "We have to find another way out."

  The girls crept through the house, doing their best to avoid knocking over any books. They tried all the windows only to discover each had been nailed shut. They found a back door off t lie kitchen but it, too, had a lock on the inside.

  "Let's go back to bed," said Daphne.

  "We have to get her keys," said Sabrina.

  The little girl cocked an eyebrow. "How are we going to do that? She has them."

  "You'll see," Sabrina whispered.

  The sisters found their way back up the stairs to Mrs. Grimm's room. The door was shut tight, but Sabrina was happy to find there were no locks on it. She slowly turned the knob and it swung open.

  The old woman's room was scary at night. The tribal masks they had seen after dinner were even creepier in the dark, and the swords mounted on the wall flashed a ghostly light around the room. Mrs. Grimm was asleep in her bed, unaware of their presence, and snoring loudly. Daphne had the same annoying habit.

  "Where are they?" Daphne said, only to have Sabrina's hand clamp over her mouth.

  "Keep quiet," Sabrina whispered. The old woman turned in bed but stayed asleep.

  Sabrina scanned the room and spied the keys glinting in the moonlight, on a table on the far side of the bed. She looked at Daphne, pointed to herself with her free hand, and then pointed to the keys. Daphne nodded and Sabrina let go of her mouth.

  Sabrina took a small step forward to test for creaky floorboards. This is going to be easy, she thought, but as her confidence was building, she noticed that Daphne had taken an interest in one of the masks on the wall. The little girl took it off its nail and held it against her face.

  "Don't do that!" Sabrina whispered.

  "Why not?"

  "Put it back. Now!"

  The little girl frowned and placed it back on its nail. "There! Are you happy?" she whispered. A split second later the mask fell off the wall, landed with a loud clunk, and rolled toward the bed. Both girls dove to the floor as Mrs. Grimm sat up.

  "Who's there?" she asked. "Oh, it's you. What are you doing down there?"

  Sabrina was sure they had been caught, but the old woman leaned over, picked up the mask, and set it on the nightstand. "I'll have Mr. Canis give you a new nail tomorrow."

  Then she fell back onto her pillow and within minutes was snoring as loudly as ever.

  "You did that on purpose," Sabrina seethed.

  "Whatever," Daphne whispered, and rolled her eyes.

  Sabrina scowled. Was her little sister trying to sabotage their escape?

  Sabrina crept around the bed to the table, picked up the keys, and then tiptoed back across the room and into the hallway with her sister behind her. Downstairs, she quietly went to work on the front door lock. There were so many keys, it took a long time to find the right one, but eventually she heard a loud thunk. The girls waited for several moments, sure that someone had heard, but when no sound came from upstairs, they scurried outside.

  "Good-bye, dollhouse," Daphne said sadly as she ran her hand lovingly across the door.

  "We'll go through the woods. We don't want anyone to see us on the road and call the police," Sabrina said, grabbing her sister's hand and leading her around to the back of the house.

  The girls looked into the dark forest in front of them. Crooked limbs twisted and turned in painful directions. Sabrina had the sense that the trees were horrible, mutated guardians, threatening anyone who stepped onto their land. A cold wind whipped through the branches, bending some of the smaller trees over and making a breathy moan. Sabrina knew it was just her overactive imagination, but the woods seemed to be alive and reaching out for them.

  Behind them, the girls heard a surprised yelp and Elvis suddenly appeared. He trotted over and planted himself between them and the trees. His happy face was now serious.

  "Go away, Elvis," Sabrina commanded, but the dog refused.

  "See, he doesn't think we should go, either," said Daphne as she wrapped her arms around the big dog and kissed him on the mouth. But Sabrina had made up her mind. She pulled her sister away and into the forest, with Elvis trotting after them.

  Inside the trees, everything was deadly still. There were no scurrying animals, rustling branches, or snapping twigs. Even the whistling breeze had faded away. It was if someone had turned the volume down on the world.

  Suddenly, a high-pitched note filled the air. It seemed to come from deep inside the woods.

  "What was that?" Daphne said.

  Sabrina shrugged. "Probably the wind."

  Elvis whined loudly. Then he rushed to Sabrina and clamped his jaw onto her coat sleeve, trying to yank her back toward the house. She pulled away. The girls hurried on with the dog close behind, barking warnings.

  Just ignore him. He'll go back when he gets bored, Sabrina said to herself as something zipped past her eye. She turned to get a better look and saw it was a firefly, just like the ones that had been outside their window earlier that night.

  "Look, Daphne. Here's the big menacing invader Mr. Skin-and-Bones was afraid would get into the house." Sabrina laughed. The little bug fluttered around her head and then circled her body.

  "Pretty," Daphne said, only to find that she had her own little bug floating nearby. "I've got one, too!"

  Elvis let out a very low growl.

  "What's the matter, b
uddy?" Daphne said as she scratched the dog's ears. This did nothing to sooth Elvis. The Great Dane howled menacingly and lunged at the lights with snapping teeth.

  "Hush up!" Sabrina ordered, but the dog wouldn't stop. He was going to wake Mrs. Grimm and Mr. Canis if he didn't calm down.

  "Sabrina," Daphne said. The nervousness in the little girl's voice pulled Sabrina's attention away from the dog. Daphne had her hand over her nose, but what startled Sabrina was the fear in the little girl's eyes. She had seen the same look the morning after their parents disappeared, when they had woken up in their parents' bed, alone.

  "What's wrong?" Sabrina asked.

  "It just bit me," Daphne said as she removed her hand from her nose. It was covered in blood. Sabrina was shocked. Lightning bugs didn't bite. At least no lightning bugs she had ever heard about. And at that moment, she felt a sting that brought blood to the top of her hand. "Ouch!"

  Daphne cried out. "I got bit again!" Blood trickled down her earlobe. Sabrina rushed over and wiped her sister's ear with her sleeve. The two bugs became ten and then a hundred and then a swarm that circled the girls—thousands of angry little lights, zipping back and forth, diving at their heads and arms and lighting up the ugly trees around them. Elvis growled at the bugs, but there was little he could do.

  "Cover your face with your hands and run!" Sabrina shouted. The two girls ran as fast as they could, with Elvis at their heels. Sabrina looked back, hoping the bugs weren't following, only to see the swarm close behind and gaining.

  In seconds they were stinging the girls again. Daphne cried out and tripped over a tree root. She curled into a ball and tried to hide any exposed skin. Elvis leaped on top of the little girl, doing his best to cover her as the bugs dived, stinging her uncovered hands and legs.

  Sabrina had to do something. Elvis couldn't protect Daphne. She waved her hands and screamed at the bugs and they instantly darted in her direction. She turned to run, but before she could take even a step she slammed into something and fell to the ground. It was Mrs. Grimm.

  "It's OK, liebling," she said.

  "We have to run, Mrs. Grimm," Sabrina cried, but the old woman stood calmly, as if she was daring the bugs to come closer. When the swarm was nearly on top of them, the old woman raised her hand to her mouth and blew a soft blue dust into the air. Many of the bugs froze in midflight, falling to the ground like snowflakes. The blue mist took out half of their numbers. The rest regrouped and began to circle the old woman again.

  "I have a whole house full of this," Mrs. Grimm shouted. Incredibly, the bugs seemed to weigh their options, and in one mass they darted deep into the woods and disappeared.

  "That wasn't very nice!" Mrs. Grimm shouted into the forest. She turned back to Sabrina and extended her hand. "I'll need your help getting Daphne into the house."

  • • •

  Sabrina was sure the old woman would be furious with them. There was no telling if her craziness could extend to violence. Who could tell what a woman who had swords hanging over her bed was capable of? But Mrs. Grimm didn't seem angry at all. In fact, she looked genuinely concerned.

  She asked Sabrina to undress her sister while the old woman rushed into the bathroom and returned with a bottle of calamine lotion and some cotton balls. She applied the lotion to Daphne's stings and tucked the little girl into bed.

  "She'll be fine in the morning, maybe itchy, but fine," Mrs. Grimm said as she handed the calamine lotion to Sabrina. "Pixies are harmless unless you are overwhelmed by them."

  "Did you just say pixies?" Sabrina asked, unsure if the old woman was joking.

  Mrs. Grimm wrapped her arms around her and gave her a big hug. "Liebling, it's OK now. You can stop crying."

  Sabrina wiped her face and felt the tears on her hand. She hadn't known she was crying.

  • • •

  In the morning, Sabrina was as hungry as she had ever been. But she was still not going to eat. She'd already looked like a crybaby in front of the old lady. She wasn't about to give up any more ground. By the time the girls heard Mrs. Grimm calling them for breakfast, Sabrina had spent twenty minutes trying to explain her philosophy to her sister.

  "You can stay up here if you want, but I'm starving," said Daphne. The idea of skipping a meal was beyond the little girl's imagination.

  "We're not eating that woman's food," Sabrina said, her stomach growling. "We can't let her think she's breaking us down. We have to stay strong."

  "I have an idea," Daphne said. "Why don't we have breakfast, eat her cookies, play with Elvis, and enjoy the bed. She'll think she's won us over and then one day, when she least expects it, we'll be gone."

  Sabrina thought about her sister's plan. She had to admit it was pretty good. She just wished Daphne hadn't sounded so sarcastic when she said it.

  The girls got dressed and walked tentatively into the hallway. As they approached the stairs, Sabrina heard something coming from the locked room across from Mrs. Grimm's. It sounded like a voice, but she couldn't be sure. She put her head to the door and the noise stopped.

  "Did you hear someone talking in there?" Sabrina asked her sister.

  "It was my belly. It's screaming for breakfast." Daphne grabbed Sabrina's hand and dragged her downstairs to the dining room. Much to Sabrina's relief, creepy Mr. Canis was nowhere to be seen. After several moments, Mrs. Grimm came out of the kitchen with a big plate of pancakes.

  "I hope everyone likes flapjacks," she sang.

  "Yum!" Daphne cheered as the old woman stacked three on her plate, along with a couple of sausage links, then turned to serve Sabrina, whose mouth was watering. Sabrina hadn't had pancakes since her parents disappeared. Her empty belly was telling her to seriously consider Daphne's plan.

  "Hold on, lieblings. I forgot the syrup," Mrs. Grimm said, rushing back into the kitchen. As soon as she was gone, Daphne looked underneath her pancakes as if she were expecting a buried surprise.

  "They're just pancakes," she said.

  "You sound disappointed," Mrs. Grimm said, laughing, as she returned with a large gravy boat.

  "Well, after last night's spaghetti I thought maybe you cooked like that all the time," Daphne said wistfully.

  "Oh, liebling, I do." The old woman tilted the gravy boat over Daphne's pancakes and a sticky, bright pink liquid bubbled out. To Sabrina it looked like gelatin that hadn't had time to set. When Daphne saw it her eyes grew as wide as the pancakes on her plate.

  "What's that?" she cried.

  "Try it," Mrs. Grimm said with a grin.

  Naturally, Daphne dug in, greedily wolfing down bite after bite. "It's delicious!" she exclaimed with a mouth full of food.

  "It's a special recipe. It has marigolds in it." Mrs. Grimm, proudly poured it onto Sabrina's pancakes before the girl had a chance to refuse. Sabrina looked down at the funky, fizzing sauce. It smelled faintly of peanut butter and mothballs and Sabrina's stomach did a flip-flop in protest. She dropped her fork and pushed her plate away.

  Suddenly, there was a pounding from upstairs.

  "So, perhaps we should discuss last night's excitement," said Mrs. Grimm as she sat down at the table and tucked a napkin into the front of her bright green dress. She gazed across at Sabrina and arched a questioning eyebrow.

  "It wasn't my idea," Daphne said. Sabrina scowled at this betrayal.

  "Well, no harm done. No broken bones or anything," the old woman said.

  "Granny, you have some mean bugs in your yard," Daphne said as she poured more of the syrup on her breakfast.

  "I know, liebling. They sure are mean."

  "What is that hammering?" asked Sabrina.

  "Mr. Canis is nailing your windows shut," Mrs. Grimm said as she took a bite of her breakfast.

  "What?!" the girls said in shocked unison.

  "I can't take any chances that something could get into the house or someone might try to get out," the old woman replied over the loud banging.

  "So, we're your prisoners?" Sabrina cried.

&nb
sp; "Oh, you're just like your opa." Mrs. Grimm laughed. "What a flare for the dramatic. Let's put it behind us. Today is a new day with a new adventure. This morning I received a call. There's been an incident that requires our attention. How exciting! You two haven't even been here a full day yet and already we're in the thick of it."

  "In the thick of what?" Daphne asked as she placed a fat pat of green butter on her second stack of pancakes.

  "You'll see." The old woman got up from her chair, went into the living room, and came back with several shopping bags. She placed them next to the table.

  "Mr. Canis went to the store to buy you some clothing, just a couple of things to tide you over until we can go shopping."

  Sabrina looked in the bag. Inside were some of the strangest clothes she had ever seen. There were two pairs of bright blue pants that had little hearts and balloons sewn onto them. There were two identical sweatshirts that were as awful as the pants— bright orange with a monkey in a tree on the front. Underneath the monkey were printed the words "Hang in there!"

  "You expect us to wear these?" Sabrina moaned.

  "Oh, I love them!" Daphne said, pulling the orange monkey sweatshirt out and hugging it like a new doll.

  After breakfast, the girls got dressed and looked at their new outfits in the bedroom mirror. Daphne, of course, thought her crazy outfit was the best she had ever had and strutted around like a giddy fashion model. Sabrina, on the other hand, was sure Mr. Canis was trying to punish them for attempting to run away.

  "Hurry, girls, we have to get going," Granny called.

  "I feel like a movie star," Daphne said as the girls hurried downstairs.

  "You look like a mental patient," Sabrina remarked.

  • • •

  The sisters stood by the door, waiting for the old woman to collect her things. Mrs. Grimm rushed around the house, grabbing books off of shelves and from underneath the couch, creating a tornado of dust that followed her from room to room. When she had collected as many as she could carry, she handed them to Sabrina.

  "Almost ready," she sang as she rushed up the stairs.

  Sabrina looked down at the top book. It was entitled Fables and Folklore: The Complete Handbook. Before she could question the book's purpose, she heard the old woman pull out her keys and unlock the mysterious door upstairs.