Magic and Other Misdemeanors Page 9

  Mr. Canis led them around the back of the house and deep into the woods. The ground was muddy and there was still a chill in the air, but little buds were sprouting on tree limbs. Sabrina couldn’t remember the last time she saw something growing, but soon spring would be in full bloom. Sabrina wondered what the forest would look like when it was fresh and alive.

  They climbed along a small ravine and up a hill littered with sharp stones, then down into a gulch. A tiny creek trickled along with shards of ice floating on top of it.

  “Are we about to lose the house?” Daphne asked the old man.

  “Your grandmother is a resourceful woman,” Mr. Canis said.

  “That’s not an answer,” Sabrina said. She didn’t want to anger the old man, which had become increasingly easy to do, but she needed him to be honest with them.

  “She will not let you down, girls. In the time I have known her, she has never failed or disappointed. I trust her. You should as well.”

  “Three hundred thousand dollars is a lot of money,” Sabrina pointed out.

  “Yes, it is,” the old man replied. “Fortunately, this situation will benefit you in your training. Stress is an enemy. It confuses us and makes us question ourselves. The calm, rational mind is the one that finds answers in difficult times. Remember, you will not always have the carefree lives of children, but you will always be Grimms and you will have to find ways to set aside private matters.”

  “So you want us to forget about the tax bill?” Daphne said.

  “The three-hundred-thousand-dollar tax bill?” Sabrina added.

  Mr. Canis took an impatient breath. “Close your eyes.”

  The girls did as they were told.

  “In the past we have tracked deer and rabbits, as well as the family dog. You’ve learned to follow and recognize the prints of many wild animals. Today, you will follow the prints of the most dangerous animal of all—me. I will hide from you in this forest and you will have to use your senses and what I have taught you to find me. Your grandmother has achieved great skill at this with practice, and she uses these talents quite frequently. Remember—use your senses. Learn to trust what you see, smell, hear, and feel. Allow them to work together and you two should have no problem locating me.”

  “I’ve got a question,” Daphne said.

  There was no response.

  “Mr. Canis?”

  Sabrina opened her eyes. The old man was gone. She pinched Daphne softly and the little girl looked around.

  “Well, that was mucho rude-o,” Daphne complained.

  Sabrina scanned the dense woods. Canis was nowhere in sight, but he had left a trail in the snow. Following it wouldn’t be too difficult—after all, in his semialtered form Mr. Canis had what amounted to size-22 shoes.

  Sabrina pointed to the tracks. “He went that way.”

  The girls followed the footprints through some heavy brush. The old man’s path showed he was running in one direction and then cutting back in the other, obviously trying to confuse them.

  “Are we really going to have to live in a refrigerator box like Puck said?” Daphne asked. “I don’t think we’ll all fit in a refrigerator box. Mr. Canis won’t for sure, and what about Elvis? I guess we could get a washing machine box for him. We could even decorate it and cut out some windows.”

  The little girl rambled on, describing how with a little creativity they could turn an old cardboard box into a two-story Colonial, while Sabrina led her along the trail Mr. Canis had left. It took them up a steep climb, but they found a couple of branches that doubled as walking sticks that helped their ascent. At the top of the crest they found more trees, but Mr. Canis’s footprints had disappeared.

  “Where did he go?” Daphne asked.

  “Maybe he’s soaking in our cardboard-box Jacuzzi,” Sabrina replied.

  “OK, fine, I’ll concentrate,” Daphne grumbled. “It’s just I wish I had a magic wand or a crystal ball.”

  Sabrina scanned the area but saw nothing. He couldn’t have just vanished into thin air, but . . .

  “Look!” Sabrina said, pointing up at the trees. She saw dozens of limbs splintered and broken, with fresh yellow wood erupting from their rich brown bark. “He jumped up there and grabbed those branches. They snapped when he swung to the next tree.”

  “I thought he was a wolf, not a monkey.”

  Sabrina scanned the next tree and saw a similar limb. “Then he swung over there.”

  “See!” Daphne said. “You’re mucho excellent-o at tracking.”

  Sabrina swelled with pride. Her sister was right. She was good at tracking. “Thanks,” Sabrina said as she pointed toward a row of trees. “He went that way.”

  The girls held hands and continued through the woods. It dawned on Sabrina that this was what Puck must have done when he was stalking them during escape training. He used their environment against the girls, finding the little clues their feet and bodies left behind. With a keen eye, the woods could become like a road map leading them to their destination.

  It wasn’t long before they found another set of Mr. Canis’s footprints that led to a churning brook. There his trail ended. Sabrina studied the banks of the stream and searched the trees but saw nothing.

  “What now?”

  “Close your eyes,” Sabrina told her sister. “He told us to use all our senses.”

  She stood quietly, trying to sort through the noises around her: the bubbling water, the creaky branches swaying in the breeze, a bird chirping high in the trees. And then she heard it: A twig snapped in the brush nearby.

  “He’s in there,” Sabrina said, pulling her sister along. They pushed through the bushes, even getting on their hands and knees to crawl through. It wasn’t easy and the girls were filthy, but that was the least of their worries. Without warning the gray sky had filled with dark clouds and a storm swirled above. A crack of thunder shook the trees and bolts of lightning burst out of a black hole in the sky. It looked just like the storm that had occurred when the odd men had attacked Baba Yaga, and the one on the night Sabrina had imagined Uncle Jake’s death.

  “Maybe we should call it a day,” Sabrina said as she examined the troubling storm. She turned to crawl back the way they came. Once through the bushes, she struggled to her feet and helped her sister do the same.

  “Mr. Canis!” Daphne shouted. “We’re going home!”

  “A storm is coming!” Sabrina shouted. “Can you hear us, Mr. Canis?”

  “I don’t know if Canis can hear you,” a growling voice said from within the bushes, “but I certainly can.”

  Sabrina studied the brush, trying to find the source of the strange, yet familiar voice. She heard rough laughter that seemed to come at them from all sides. Finally she spotted a pair of eyes peering back at her, and then a monstrous figure pushed forward, uprooting an unfortunate tree that was in its way. When the creature was out in the open, Sabrina nearly screamed. Standing before her was a wolf as big as a grizzly bear, though it stood on its two back legs like a man. It snarled and snapped at Sabrina as it looked over the girls curiously.

  “The Wolf,” Daphne gasped.

  The girls stumbled backward and fell to the ground. Sabrina’s mind was reeling. What had happened to cause Mr. Canis to lose control of himself? Why had he let the Big Bad Wolf loose?

  The Wolf stomped forward, shoving its snout into Daphne’s face and blasting her with a foul spray.

  “Don’t try to run, girlie!” the Wolf said as he snatched Daphne by her coat and lifted her off the ground. “You’ll just build up my appetite.”

  Sabrina was terrified, but she couldn’t let her sister be hurt. She leaped to her feet and rushed at the Wolf with her fists clenched. She was met with a painful backhand that sent her slamming into the ground. Her shoulder fell hard on a stone. She cried out and forced herself to stand. Her arm didn’t feel broken, but the pain was excruciating. She knew fighting was pointless. The Wolf is too big and strong, but I have to do something. She spotted a sha
rp black rock on the ground, snatched it up, aimed, and flung it as hard as she could. It hit the Wolf and bounced off his chest like she had tossed a peanut at him.

  “Was that supposed to hurt?” He laughed.

  “No!” a voice said from behind Sabrina. “But I bet this will!”

  A flaming rocket blasted past Sabrina and hit the Wolf squarely in the chest. He howled and fell backward, releasing Daphne, who tumbled to the ground. Sabrina rushed to her sister’s side and dragged her away, then turned to find out who had saved them. Two women were standing behind her. One was tall and fierce with long blond hair and a deadly looking sword in her hands, as well as an array of weapons strapped around her waist and legs, including daggers, grenades, and a whip. The other woman had dark brown hair and wore a long trench coat that had hundreds of extra pockets sewn into it. It looked just like Uncle Jake’s coat. The brown-haired woman was also adorned with necklaces and jeweled rings, one of which was glowing. Her expression was stern and serious, like hardened steel. She was beautiful, but her face was marred by a horrible scar.

  “You’re not going to touch them, mutt,” the blond woman said, waving her sword in the air.

  “Or someone is going to get fixed,” the woman in the coat added.

  The Wolf clambered to his feet and eyed the women. “Back off. These are my kills!”

  “You back off, or I’ll take your other eye,” the woman with the sword replied. It was then that Sabrina noticed that the Wolf’s left eye was white with blindness and framed by an ugly scar.

  The monster growled and leaped at the blond woman. She swung her sword and hit the beast in the arm. The Wolf shrieked and swung back, hitting her so hard she flew against a tree. The brunette rubbed the glowing ring against her jacket and another blast rocketed at the monster. The Wolf leaped out of the way, dodging the projectile by inches.

  The woman with the sword sprang to her feet. With the Wolf in pain and confused, she climbed up onto his enormous back. Raising her weapon high over his head, she brought the hilt down hard between the beast’s eyes. He staggered, dazed. “He’s all yours, sister,” she shouted to her companion.

  The dark-haired woman pulled a wand from inside her coat. She flicked her wrist and said, “Gimme some chains,” and a ray of light shot out of the wand’s tip. The woman’s aim was perfect and a stream of particles fluttered out of the wand, forming a chain so thick it looked as if it could tie down a battleship. The chains themselves weaved around the Wolf, binding him tightly. He struggled, snarling and snapping at the women, but he was momentarily helpless.

  “Who are they?” Daphne whispered to her sister.

  Sabrina searched her memory for any reference to a couple of tough chicks who could take down the Big Bad Wolf. She’d never read anything in the family journals about them. “I was hoping you would know.”

  The blond woman turned to Sabrina and looked at her closely. Suddenly her confident face turned pale, as if she had just seen a ghost. “It can’t be . . . ,” she began, but she didn’t get to finish. The Wolf broke loose from the chains with a powerful shrug. He pounced forward, slamming into the women and knocking them both to the ground.

  “I’ve been waiting a long time for this meal,” the Wolf said, licking his huge jaws.

  “Uh-uh-uh,” said a voice from above them. It was deep but had a playful, boyish quality. Sabrina looked up and saw a man with golden hair descending from the trees. On his back were a pair of huge insectlike wings. “I hate it when people threaten my family. It’s so . . . well, rude.”

  An arrow flew from the crossbow in his hands. It hit the Wolf in the leg and the monster bellowed, crashing to the ground. The fairy attacked again, his head morphing into that of a sabertoothed tiger. He sunk his heavy fangs into the monster’s back and the Wolf shrieked.

  “We need to go get help,” Sabrina said to her sister. She snatched the little girl by the sleeve and pulled her into the woods, leaving the battle behind.

  “But the house is back the other way,” Daphne cried.

  “We’re not going to the house,” Sabrina said. “Granny’s at the bank, and so is our secret weapon.”

  he girls hurried through the woods, clambering over rocks and down hills until they finally found a road. It was there that Daphne pulled away to catch her breath. “We should go back home and get Uncle Jake,” the little girl said.

  “He’s not there, remember?” Sabrina said. “Everyone is out running errands.”

  “But what about those women and the fairy? We can’t just leave them back there. He’ll kill them,” Daphne argued.

  “I think the three of them can defend themselves,” Sabrina said as she scanned the edge of the forest in case the Wolf had indeed slaughtered the odd trio and was now on their trail. “Besides, we’re just a couple of kids. We need help if we’re going to try to stop Mr. Canis.”

  “What kind of help?”

  Sabrina approached her sister. “You remember the key that Mr. Hamstead gave us before we left New York City?”

  Daphne slipped a hand inside of her shirt and pulled out a necklace. Dangling from its end was a small silver key with several numbers engraved on its side. “This?”

  Sabrina nodded. “Remember, Hamstead gave us this and told us to use it only if Mr. Canis ever lost control of the Wolf. It opens a safety-deposit box. Hamstead said there was a weapon inside that could stop the Wolf in his tracks.”

  Daphne looked down at the silver key. “What’s a safety-deposit box?”

  “It’s like a safe. You put your valuables in it. They keep them at the bank.”

  “That’s where Granny is.”

  “I know. She can help us too.” Sabrina took Daphne’s hand. “We have to hurry.”

  Unfortunately the road they were on was the long way to town, and it took several hours of steady walking before they came across any hint of civilization. The first thing they recognized was a farm they had driven by many times. Granny had told them it was owned by Old McDonald, the farmer from the famous nursery rhyme. But as they approached, they were shocked to see that the farm looked as if it had been abandoned. The fields were overgrown with weeds, the barns were falling down on themselves, and the cattle pens and livestock houses were empty. As they got closer they realized that the farmer’s house had been destroyed by a terrible fire. Oddly, the destruction appeared to have occurred long ago.

  “What happened?” Daphne said, asking the question Sabrina had knocking around in her own head.

  “I don’t know,” Sabrina said. “Did Granny mention this?”

  Daphne shook her head.

  “C’mon,” Sabrina continued. “We can’t hang out here all day. I think we’ve got another half an hour of walking before we get to Main Street.”

  They soon came across the rusty railroad tracks that ran along the Hudson River and led to the train station in the center of town. As they walked along the tracks they saw more surprising scenes. The stern of an enormous sunken ship was sticking out of the water. Several broken-down cars lined the grassy beach. When they finally stepped into town, they noticed a sign above the train station. It had once read WELCOME TO FERRYPORT LANDING, but someone had crossed out the FERRYPORT and added a more sinister message. The sign now read BEWARE! YOU ARE NOW ENTERING FAIRYPORT LANDING!

  Even more shocking was the state of the town. The little shops were abandoned, their doors torn away and windows broken. Many stores were in flames. There were sounds of fire alarms in the distance, but no sign of any fire trucks. The streets were deserted, riddled with potholes and smoldering automobiles.

  Sabrina couldn’t believe what she was seeing. “I guess Uncle Jake isn’t doing such a good job of keeping Baba Yaga in check.”

  “This is going to take an awful lot of Forgetful Dust,” Daphne said as she gaped at all the destruction.

  When they came upon the bank, they were stunned to find the building was nothing but cinders. Everything inside it was burned to a black ash, including the telle
rs’ windows, the ATM, and most important, the safety-deposit boxes. There was nothing left.

  “Granny!” Daphne cried, nearly in hysterics.

  Sabrina reached down and scooped up a handful of ash. It was cool to the touch.

  “Daphne, this happened a long time ago,” Sabrina said, trying to reassure her sister while deciphering the puzzle before her. “If the bank burned down this morning, why is the ash cold?”

  Sabrina looked around at the little town. The streets were empty. In fact, there wasn’t a living soul in sight. Where were all the people?

  “Something’s wrong,” she said. “I must be having another hallucination.”

  “Well, I’m having the same one you are,” Daphne said.

  Suddenly, the street went dark, as if something had blocked out the sun. Sabrina watched an enormous shadow zip across the street and vanish. The sunshine returned as fast as it disappeared.

  “Uh, what was that?” Daphne said nervously.

  Sabrina scanned the skies. “Must have been a cloud.”

  Just then, there was an enormous roar, like the angry threats of a thousand lions. It rattled Sabrina’s ears as well as a loose shard of glass in the window of Dr. P’s abandoned dentist office. The glass fell from its frame and broke on the pavement.

  “Clouds don’t make noises like that,” Daphne said. “Clouds don’t make noises at all!”

  Sabrina continued studying the sky. She spotted something far off on the horizon. At first it was tiny—no bigger than a bird—but as it approached, Sabrina could see that it was actually quite large and incredibly fast. As it drew closer, Sabrina could make out its bright red wings, which spanned the width of a football field. They supported a huge, reptilian body covered in scales and a long tail that slashed through the air. The creature’s neck was snakelike and it had enormous teeth. Sabrina had seen a drawing of it in an old children’s book. She had even seen a movie about a kid who had one as a pet. But this thing was no pet.

  “Run!” Sabrina yelled as she latched onto her sister’s hand. Together they sped down the broken street, dodging potholes and burned-out cars.