The council of Mirror

ALSO BY MICHAEL

PUBLISHER’S NOTE: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data has been applied for and may be obtained from the Library of Congress.

ISBN 978-1-4197-0186-3

Copyright © 2012 Michael Buckley
Illustrations copyright © 2012 Peter Ferguson

Published in 2012 by Amulet Books, an imprint of ABRAMS. All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical, electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher. Amulet Books and Amulet Paperbacks are registered trademarks of Harry N. Abrams, Inc.

Amulet Books are available at special discounts when purchased in quantity for premiums and promotions as well as fundraising or educational use. Special editions can also be created to specification. For details, contact specialsales@abramsbooks.com or the address below.

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New York, NY 10011
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For Sylvie and Phoebe Sanders.
Thanks for riding this flying carpet.

The Sisters Grimm would never have existed if not for my beautiful wife, Alison. She’s as important to this series as Sabrina and Daphne, and her presence is written into every sentence. It’s nice that she’s my literary agent too. She’s managed me through ups and downs, my insecurities, and temper tantrums and helped me grow this “silly idea” into a career.

There are three other people who have made outstanding contributions. The first is my editor, Susan Van Metre, who has been a friend and mentor to me. The second is my other editor, Maggie Lehrman, who came on board midway and has added a new layer to the stories. The third is Jason Wells—probably the hardest-working man in, well, anything. I have been blessed by his cleverness and understanding. They are backed by an army of talented and hardworking people at Amulet Books: Michael Jacobs, Chad W. Beckerman, Laura Mihalick, Chris Blank, and the sales and marketing departments. I am a truly lucky person to have such brilliant people helping me, holding my hand, and demanding the best from me. You have my undying respect, admiration, and loyalty.

I want to thank my family, Wilma and James Cuvelier, Michael and Kassandra Buckley, Douglas Lancaster and Beth Fargis-Lancaster, Paul Fargis and Rev. Dawn Sangrey, Chris Fargis, John and Vida Fargis, Edwin and Maria Buckley, and all the nieces and nephews both here in the United States and in China. I want to thank my good friends Joe Deasy and Josh Drisko. Thanks to Autumn Heard and Jannelle Purcell at Starbucks as well as everyone at Ted & Honey’s for the chair and the free Wi-Fi.

Many thanks to Peter Ferguson, who brought these books to life. At my house, Peter’s drawings and paintings have always been received like Christmas presents. Thank you for your vision and inventiveness. Your pencil is forever linked to my laptop.

Thanks to Finn. I love you, son.

And to every teacher, librarian, student, professor, blogger, and kid who ever took a chance on this series. Reading takes time. I have appreciated all that you gave me. As Daphne would say, you are all very punk rock.

Contents

Acknowledgments1 Two Weeks Earlier23456789101113 Years Later16 Years After That . . .About the Author ONCE UPON A TIME there was a sleepy river town called Ferryport Landing. It was nestled on the bank of the Hudson River in upstate New York, where mountains look over valleys and water runs down into the great river and on to the sea. Quaint little shops filled the town center, and trees freckled the landscape. The town’s citizens bicycled along cobblestoned lanes and through community gardens. Apple pies cooled on windowsills, and few people locked their doors at night. If a person didn’t know better, he might have suspected Ferryport Landing had been propped up on wheels and rolled out of a storybook.

But that was a long time ago.

Now it was dead. Its demise wasn’t slow, like so many other tiny dots on the map that rust and decay when the mill closes or the steel plant shuts its doors. No, Ferryport Landing was murdered. Its citizens tore it to pieces. They smashed shop windows and looted goods. They spilled great heaps of trash onto its streets. They lit fires whose hungry flames still lapped at the few buildings left standing. They tipped over cars, leaving them scattered on the streets like the forgotten playthings of a huge child. The little town was wrecked and then abandoned.

The Grimm sisters stood over Ferryport Landing’s poor, broken corpse to pay their respects to a fallen friend.

“Is that it?” Daphne said. “Is that the end?”

Sabrina nodded. “Yes. And it’s about time.”

ctober 14

My name is Sabrina Grimm and this is my journal. My family has been bugging me to write in it for a while. I tried a few times, but to be honest I thought it was stupid. I never wanted to get involved. I wanted to be a girl who lived on the Upper East Side of New York City. I wanted to go to school and make friends and buy bagel sandwiches at the deli on York and 88th Street every morning. But that’s not what happened.

If you’re reading this, you’re either Puck (stop snooping, stink-face!) or you’re one of my descendants. If you’re a descendant, then maybe you’re like me and you kind of got dumped into this life where everything is upside down and nothing makes sense. Well, I need to fill you in on a few things, and you might want to sit down for this.

You know those bedtime stories your parents read to you at night? You know, the ones filled with fairies, giants, witches, monsters, mad tea parties, princes on white stallions, sleeping princesses, jungle boys, cowardly lions, and guys with straw for brains? They’re not stories. They’re history. They’re based on actual events and actual people who are as real as you and me. They call themselves Everafters—real-life fairy-tale characters—and that’s where our family comes in. We’re Grimms, descendants of one-half of the Brothers Grimm, and we keep an eye on the Everafter community—which is no picnic. OK, I know you’re probably thinking I’ve been sitting too close to the microwave, but I’m telling the truth.

Let me start at the beginning. Two years ago my parents, Henry and Veronica Grimm, disappeared. My sister, Daphne, and I were tossed into an orphanage and bounced around the foster care system for a while. For a long time we thought we had been abandoned, but it turned out Mom and Dad were kidnapped (long story). Enter Granny Relda, our long-lost and believed dead grandmother (another long story). Once she tracked us down, she brought us to live with her in a little town called Ferryport Landing. That’s where a lot of the Everafters live.

You’ve probably never heard of Ferryport Landing. As I write this, the town is being destroyed. There’s an angry mob of ogres, trolls, talking animals, and assorted creeps running down its streets, terrorizing everyone. Anyone with any sense has left or gone into hiding—but not us. Oh no! Our family has no sense to lose, which means we’re knee-deep in trouble and things don’t look like they’re going to get any better.

But you still need to know about Ferryport Landing and what happened here. Which gets me to another of the Grimm family responsibilities. According to tradition it’s our job to keep a journal of everything we see and hear that involves Everafters. The journals might just help you out, and your journals might help out the Grimms that come after you. So, take it from me: just bite the bullet and do it. I can’t count how many times the journals have saved my sister and me.

Of course, there may not be any more Grimms after me. I might die and then no one will be reading this. Like I said, things are pretty bleak.

But that’s enough backstory for today. I’ll write more when I can. For now I have to go save the world.

Sabrina snapped her journal shut and tucked it into the folds of her sleeping bag for safekeeping. She rubbed the sleep from her eyes, then got to her feet, stretching the stiffness from her aching body. Sleeping on the cold, marble floor of her bedroom was no fun.

Not that where she and her little sister, Daphne, were sleeping could actually be called a “bedroom.” A bedroom had a bed. A bedroom had a window. A bedroom had a place to put your clothes, a closet, a rug, and other things to make it comfy and homey. What the girls had was an empty space with walls of stone and an unforgivingly hard floor. Sabrina hoped the living situation was temporary, but to make sure, she knew she had to get to work.

Next to her sleeping bag she kept a rusty cowbell and a drumstick. She scooped them up and padded over to where her sister lay, still slumbering. First she called out to the little girl. She even gave her a few shakes, but Daphne could sleep through a tornado and rousing her meant Sabrina had to take drastic measures. She found that the most effective of those tactics was a cowbell ring to her sister’s ear.

DONK! The cowbell clanged as the drumstick smacked its side.

Daphne did not stir.

DONK! DONK! DONK!

Nothing.

“Wake up! We’re under attack. Monsters and lunatics and weird dudes with pitchforks! They’ll be here any second!”

Still nothing.

DONK! DONK! DONK! DONK! DONK! DONK!

Finally, Daphne poked her head out from underneath the flap of her sleeping bag, as did the humongous brown snout of Elvis, the family’s two-hundred-pound Great Dane. Both of them eyed Sabrina sourly.

“You are a terrible human being,” Daphne croaked.

“Woof!” the dog agreed.

“C’mon. Get up. We’ve got to get to work,” Sabrina said.

Daphne scowled but did as she was told. When she and Elvis were on their feet, they stretched and yawned in unison. Sabrina noticed a huge book hiding in the folds of her sister’s sleeping bag, and she frowned. It was called the Book of Everafter, and it was a collection of magical fairy tales. A person could do more than read it, though. They could actually go inside and visit the stories they loved. It gave people powers, too—dark powers, like the ability to rewrite the past and entrap people in its literary prison.

“You shouldn’t leave that lying around,” Sabrina said. “I told you when we took it out of its room that you had to be careful with it. Haven’t we had enough trouble without that thing falling into the wrong hands?”

Daphne snatched it up in her arms. “Sorry.”

“Have you found anything in all those stories we can use to fight Mirror?”

The little girl shook her head. “There’s a lot of stories—like thousands! I’m still reading.”

“Let’s see if anyone else is having any luck,” Sabrina said, then led Daphne and the big dog into a huge hallway known as the Hall of Wonders.

Massive columns held up a ceiling as high as the sky. Beneath it were hundreds—maybe even thousands—of doors. No one knew for sure. Each opened into its own unique room, and even after many months, the closed doors still sparked the curiosity of Sabrina’s inner detective. The Hall of Wonders was a magical place. She could spend a lifetime exploring it, but now there were more important concerns at hand.

The sisters stopped at a door that opened into a room not much bigger than their own, but its contents were quite a bit more unusual. Mounted on every wall were a number of beautifully ornate, full-length mirrors—twenty-five of them, to be exact. Of the twenty-five, only five were intact. The rest were broken, only their frames remaining, but Sabrina had collected their shards and carefully glued them onto the walls of a room much closer to the Hall’s exit than the original Room of Reflections. When the light hit the fragments just right, it created a dazzling play for the eyes, full of twisted reflections.

Moving the mirrors from their home at the far end of Hall had another advantage: other members of Sabrina’s group could keep an eye on them. At the moment, two people watched the mirrors. The first was an elderly man resting in a chair. He had hair like a lightning strike—white and untamed. His suit was several sizes too big for his thin frame, and his arthritic hands trembled in his lap. His name was Mr. Canis. The second figure was almost his opposite. She was no older than Daphne, with amber curls that spilled down to her shoulders. She wore a red sweatshirt and hand-me-down jeans, and her face was full of possibility and hope. Everyone called her Red.

“You two look tired,” Sabrina said.

“We’re all tired,” Canis said without taking his eyes off the mirrors. He was an old man, and recently his age had been catching up with him fast. He was prone to coughing fits and seemed to wince when he walked. Sabrina was very worried about him.

Red turned to the girls and smiled. “He won’t sleep. He’s been up for days.”

“I will sleep when Mrs. Grimm is safe and sound,” Canis growled, then turned his attention to Daphne. “You two should really lock that book up where it belongs.”

“Geez, the walk to its room is like three hours long. I won’t let anything happen to it. See anything new?” Daphne asked.

“As a matter of fact, yes,” Canis said, gesturing to the five intact mirrors. Instead of reflecting back Sabrina’s image, they revealed a bird’s-eye view of Ferryport Landing. Ugly purple and ebony clouds hovered in the sky—the same clouds that had appeared two days earlier, and now sat over the town, blasting lightning and ear-splitting claps of thunder. “We have found your grandmother. Mirrors, tell them.”

The five mirrors suddenly glowed with otherworldly light. They shimmered and rippled like the surface of a wishing well recovering from a tossed penny, and when they calmed again, Ferryport Landing was gone and four strange faces materialized. In one mirror, a brutal barbarian named Titan appeared; the second showed a seventies-era nightclub owner who went by the name Donovan; the third was a West African with long dreadlocks named Reggie; and the fourth was Fanny, a roller-skating waitress with hair as alarmingly red as a fire engine. The fifth mirror remained empty but continued to glow.

“One of the reasons we couldn’t find her is we were looking in the wrong places. She’s still in Ferryport Landing,” Fanny said. She stood in what looked like an old-fashioned ice-cream shop, complete with red counters and matching stools. Behind her, a milk-shake machine hummed and a jukebox waited for a nickel. Fanny chomped on chewing gum—she never seemed to run out—and could be very sweet, but she had a tendency to spin around on her roller skates from time to time, which made Sabrina dizzy.

“What? How?” Sabrina asked.

“He hasn’t broken through the barrier,” Canis said.

“But—why not? Mirror is in Granny’s human body now. That was his whole plan,” Sabrina said.

“Who cares?” Fanny cheered. “Let’s just be happy Mirror is stuck here in Ferryport Landing with the rest of us.”

“He can’t be thrilled about that,” Daphne said.

“You said it, kiddo. The light show outside isn’t a storm. It’s a temper tantrum,” Reggie said. When he spoke, his long, thick dreadlocks shimmied like streamers at a New Year’s Eve party. “He’s as stuck as ever, and quite salty, if the storm’s any indication.”

Daphne slipped her hand into Sabrina’s and gave it a squeeze. Sabrina knew her sister must be just as relieved as she was. Since Mirror hijacked their grandmother’s body two days prior, Sabrina had feared his plan to escape the town had worked. If Mirror had gotten free, he could have gone anywhere, unleashing his magic on an unsuspecting and unprepared world and taking their grandmother with him. But now . . .

“Serves him right!” Titan roared, and Sabrina spun to face his mirror. He was a rugged man with long rust-colored hair and a scraggy beard. Everything he said came out in a blustery rage, turning his face the shade of his mane. He appeared in front of a medieval torture chamber filled with spiked weapons and boiling oils. Despite his fearsome appearance and strange living quarters, Sabrina could see his heart was in the right place. Now he cried, “If only I were a living, breathing man, I would put a painful end to our brother’s atrocity!”

“He’s no brother of mine,” Reggie grumbled in his thick Caribbean accent. “The First is a scoundrel of the worst kind.”

“The First?” Sabrina asked.

“That’s what we’ve been calling him, sister. He was the first magic mirror the Wicked Queen ever made—you know, the prototype,” Donovan explained.

“Anything is better than his other name,” Red said. “‘The Master’ is—”

“Creep-tastic?” Daphne asked, pretending to shudder.

Sabrina didn’t have to pretend. Every time anyone mentioned Mirror her blood cells flash-froze inside her veins. How could she have ever called him friend? How could she have confided all of her hopes and fears to him? He had played her like a child’s toy, betraying her and her entire family, and now he had her grandmother, manipulating the old woman like a helpless marionette in his twisted puppet show.

“Whatever his name, our brother will pay! He has stained the honor of magic mirrors everywhere!” Titan roared.

“You mean, all four of us?” Donovan said. “We’re all that’s left of the original twenty-five.”

Titan snarled. “All the more reason to respect our heritage.”

“Calm down, sugar.” Fanny applied another layer of ruby-red lipstick as she spun around like a top. “You’ll get your blood pressure up again. Now that we know where our brother is, it’s time to focus our energies on how to catch him and free Relda Grimm from his control.”

“Please tell me you have some ideas,” Sabrina said. Her plea was met with heartbreaking silence.

“What about you?” Daphne said to the fifth undamaged mirror. Its surface appeared empty. Was its guardian in there . . . listening? Daphne softly caressed its frame as if coaxing a shy puppy out from under the bed. “What do you think?”

“You’re wasting your time,” Canis said. “I haven’t heard so much as a peep from that one.”

Daphne turned from the empty mirror with a sigh. “Have you spotted Uncle Jake yet?” she asked.

Donovan shook his head. “He’s harder to find than your granny. It’s like he disappeared off the map. We can sense his presence but can’t pinpoint it. Wherever he is, he doesn’t want to be found, and I suspect he’s using magic to make sure he stays that way.”

“What about these broken pieces? Any sign of him in here?” Sabrina examined the shards. Most people would sweep a broken mirror into a dustpan and toss it in the trash, but these pieces were far too special to throw away. Though their guardians were long gone, these pieces retained powerful magic. One look and a person could peek through the reflections of ordinary mirrors all over the world. Now Sabrina glimpsed a man putting on a necktie in a department store, a woman washing the makeup off her face, and a high school student practicing a speech in a bathroom mirror. In other shards she saw people closer to home. One showed Sheriff Nottingham struggling to tie Mayor Heart’s corset. His boot was planted squarely on her back for leverage as he tugged and tugged. In another, an ogre smashed through the bicycle store on Main Street. In yet another, dwarfs looted the local grocery.

Canis shook his head in disgust. “Nothing.”

“Well, Uncle Jake can take care of himself,” Sabrina said. “We need to focus on Granny. Now that we know where she is we can go rescue—”

“You and your sister are sitting this one out,” a voice said from behind her. Sabrina spun around to find her father and mother along with her baby brother, Basil, standing in the doorway. Henry was a good-looking man dressed in a heavy jacket and hiking boots. Like Canis, he looked tired. “I can’t put you girls into that kind of danger.”

“But danger is my middle name,” Daphne said.

“Your middle name is Delilah, young lady,” Veronica said. Sabrina’s mother was a true knockout, but her face also showed signs of weariness. “Some jobs are just for grown-ups. Besides, I could use your help with Basil.”

“Babysitting!” Sabrina cried.

“He’s having trouble adjusting,” Henry said. “He won’t eat or sleep. I’m worried.”

As if to prove Henry’s point, the boy fussed and struggled, his little fists pounding on Veronica’s chest, and tears running down his face.

When Basil was just a newborn, Mirror had kidnapped him with plans to steal the young boy’s body as a vessel for his corrupt soul. Poor Red had become entangled in the plot as well, and was forced by a manipulative Mirror to act as Basil’s babysitter while struggling with her own demons.

“I’ll take him, Mrs. Grimm. He knows me,” Red said.

Veronica looked pained. Sabrina could tell her mother did not want to let the boy go, but Basil needed sleep like everyone else, and Red had a knack with him. Despite the sad circumstances of their life with Mirror, Red and the little boy had a bond that no one could break. Veronica reluctantly surrendered the little boy into Red’s arms and his tears transformed into giggles.

“I’ll get him something to eat,” Red said.

Veronica watched them exit the room. The moment they were gone, tears fell from her eyes. She looked as if she might collapse, but Henry swept her into his arms and held her fast.

“It will take time, ’Roni. He doesn’t know us yet. But he will,” he assured her.

Veronica clung to him like he was a lifeboat in a stormy sea, but Sabrina could see her father’s despair as well. If people could break in two from grief, Henry and Veronica were very close to cracking up. It frightened Sabrina to realize her parents were so fragile.

“So you have a plan to save your mother?” Canis asked Henry. Henry shook his head. “No. But it can’t hurt to take a look. That storm has been hovering over the southern end of town, so I assume he’s near the rail station, probably on Route 9. I’m going to sneak over there and see what’s what. Maybe I’ll see something that can help us.”

“I’ll get my things,” Canis said, and snatched the white cane that leaned against his chair. He struggled to his feet, using what looked like every ounce of his strength. The cane itself skittered across the floor, desperate to find purchase. Poor Mr. Canis looked like an old tree struggling to stay rooted in the face a hurricane.

“Mr. Canis, it would be best for you to stay here and keep an eye on things,” Henry said.

Canis looked into Henry’s face. “You have several babysitters already, Henry, and your mother and I shared important tasks and worked as partners. I was not her assistant and I certainly wasn’t her wet nurse.”

“I don’t need you for babysitting. I need someone to help get things ready. What if I go down there and find a way to rescue Mom? She’s going to be exhausted, maybe even hurt. We need to get a room ready for her if that happens,” Henry said quickly, almost sheepishly. “Veronica’s got her hands full with Basil, and I can’t trust the kids to do it the right way. You’re needed here.”

Canis frowned. “Babysitting.”

Sabrina braced for an argument. Staying put and preparing bedrooms was not what Mr. Canis was accustomed to doing. Once he had been the family’s fiercest and most intimidating ally. He sent tremors of fear into the wickedest of villains, wielding the full barely controlled savagery of the Big Bad Wolf. Leaping into action was more his nature, and Henry’s request seemed to hit the old man like a sucker punch. But no fight came. Instead, Canis turned and exited the room.

“He wants to feel useful,” Veronica said.

“He’ll slow me down. If something happens, I don’t want to have to worry about getting him back here,” Henry said, though Sabrina could see he immediately regretted his choice of words. “Not that anything will happen, of course.”

“I’d feel better if Jake was going with you,” Veronica said.

“I would too,” Henry said as he buttoned his hunting jacket. “But Briar’s death is still fresh, and Jake always took loss very hard.”

Losing Uncle Jake’s girlfriend Briar Rose was a shock to everyone, but for Jake it set off an emotional typhoon. She was the second person he had lost to violence, after his father had been killed by a mindless monster known as the Jabberwocky fifteen years ago. Now the love of his life was dead. Briar was killed by a dragon controlled by some of Mirror’s goons—members of a group called the Scarlet Hand.

Sabrina heard a fluttering of wings and then a voice above their heads. “Who needs Jake when you have the Trickster King?” Something wet and sticky landed on Sabrina. It dripped down into her ears and collected under her chin, smelling like the livestock tent at a state fair. Sabrina looked up, even though she didn’t need to. She knew the slime bomb was from Puck, and sure enough his pink fairy wings beat furiously to keep him aloft. He held another balloon with funky green ooze sloshing around inside.

“What was in that balloon?” Sabrina growled as she tried to wipe the muck off her face.

“You know . . . I don’t have a clue. I found it collecting in a pool near the sewage treatment plant. It was just sitting there—free for the taking! Can you imagine? Who would just leave this stuff around?” He tossed the second balloon and it hit her in the shoulder, splattering all over her face and neck. “This is Grade A filth—top of the line.”

Sabrina clenched her fists.

Puck looked genuinely shocked. “Don’t tell me you’re angry! You should be honored. When I found this slop, you were the first person that popped into my head. How could I test it on anyone else? I didn’t want to offend you. And now, because of you, I can go into battle confident that my crud bombs bring the right amount of stomach-lurching awesomeness. I couldn’t have done it without you!”

Before Sabrina could snatch his leg out of the air her father called Puck’s name, and the boy darted down the hall after Henry, toward the portal to the outside.

“You’re really leaving us here?” Daphne cried, chasing them into the hallway. Sabrina and her mother followed.

“We are,” Henry said.

“You can’t keep us locked up in this mirror,” Sabrina shouted, but Henry didn’t hear. His body vanished as he stepped through a magical portal that led outside to the real world.

“Smell you later,” Puck said, and flew after Henry.

“I just got put back at the kids’ table,” Sabrina said.

“I never left the kids’ table,” Daphne grumbled.

Veronica patted them each on the shoulder. “There’s plenty to do around here. Go find Pinocchio and get him to help Canis with that room. It would be good for him to lend a hand. We are feeding him, after all.”

Sabrina stalked away. “Fine!”

When the girls were out of earshot of their mother, the complaining began.

“They treat us like we’re babies!” Sabrina said.

“Yeah, why not put us in diapers?” Daphne said.

“We’ve been in dangerous situations before.”

“Very dangerous!”

“We’ve fought dragons and Jabberwockies and creepy guidance counselors covered in fur!”

“Ugh. He was creepy.”

“I killed a giant once!”

“I ate ‘fish surprise’ in the orphanage cafeteria!” Daphne shouted.

The two stomped on until they came to Pinocchio’s room. The odd little boy was largely responsible for the family’s uncomfortable living situation. He had opened the doors in the Hall of Wonders and released the magical creatures that were locked inside. The chaos that followed destroyed the Grimms’ home, so Sabrina was stunned when her father invited Pinocchio to stay with them. In her opinion he should have been locked away—or even better, sent out to live in the wilderness, possibly to be eaten by coyotes and rabid beavers . . . or whatever lived in the wilderness. But Henry wanted to give him a chance to prove himself. So far he had proved himself to be rude and lazy.

“He’s going to laugh in our faces,” Daphne said.

“I hope he does,” Sabrina said, channeling all her anger at her father toward the little snot. She pounded on his door harder than she needed to.

“Whoever it is, please go away. I’m having some ‘me’ time!” the boy shouted from behind the door, his voice a high-pitched whine.

“Get out here! You know I have keys to this room,” Sabrina shouted back. “Open the door or I will open it myself and kick your puppet behind!”

“I was not a puppet! I was a marionette!”

Sabrina growled and reached into her pocket for her set of keys. She sorted through them to find one that fit the lock and threw the door open so hard the force almost knocked it off its hinges. The girls stomped into the room and found Pinocchio lying on a king-size brass bed, flipping through an architectural magazine.

“Hey! This is private! You’re invading my . . . what on earth is all over you? Oh, that smell! You are putrid!”

“What does putrid mean?” Daphne said.

Before Sabrina could answer, Pinocchio spoke. “It refers to something that is in a state of foul decay. You children have always lacked a sense of personal pride when it came to cleanliness, but your current state is a new low.”

“He’s saying I stink,” Sabrina said.

“Actually, I’m saying you both stink,” Pinocchio said.

Sabrina examined his room in astonishment. In addition to the luxurious bed, he had a dresser, armoire, table lamp, Oriental rugs, an overstuffed chair, and a box of chocolate bon-bons. “Where did you get this stuff?”

“I discovered them in some of the other rooms.” Pinocchio huffed. “Hey, you’re getting that slop all over my things. Some of these pieces are antiques!”

Sabrina grabbed the boy by the collar and dragged him off the bed. He flailed and kicked and eventually freed himself from her grip.

“Did you ever think for a moment in that tiny little brain of yours that there might be other people who needed this furniture? Mr. Canis? My mother and father? My baby brother?”

“Not to mention me. Hello!” Daphne said as she stretched a cramp out of her back.

“We’re all sleeping on the floor! You owe your lousy life to this family and this is how you repay us?”

“It’s every man for himself now, Grimms,” Pinocchio said, shooing them away like pesky flies.

Sabrina fought the urge to strangle him and nearly lost. Instead, she grabbed him, spun him around, and kicked him in the behind so hard he went flying through the doorway and into the hall. “Get out!”

“You’re evicting me? You wouldn’t!” Pinocchio said, straightening his clothes.

“I can and I will. We have a million major emergencies going on right now: a maniac is possessing my grandmother’s body, my uncle’s girlfriend was just killed, we’re homeless, there are wild things running loose, and I have a worthless sack of nonsense hogging beds and being lazy. Which of those problems is the easiest to solve, puppet boy?”

“I WAS NOT A PUPPET!” Pinocchio shouted, and shoved his sharp little nose into her face. “Fine! What do you require?”

“Go back to wherever you found all this furniture and bring back whatever you find—if you spot a crib, take it to my parents’ room pronto! Then get your stuff out of here. This is going to be my grandmother’s room when we rescue her.”

“I will not be ordered to do manual labor!” the boy said. “That kind of work is done by the uneducated classes.”

“Get moving or when I’m done with you my foot is going to be filled with splinters!”

“I haven’t been made out of wood in centuries,” he grumbled.

“You better change that attitude, pal,” Daphne called after him. “Next time we say jump, you better be in the air when you say ‘how high?’”

Sabrina watched the boy disappear down the hall.

“Did that sound tough?” Daphne asked. “I felt tough.”

“Get your jacket,” Sabrina said.

“Oh, boy! I know that look. You haven’t had that look since we were in the orphanage,” Daphne said, grinning. “You’re thinking about shenanigans!”

“Shenanigans?”

“It’s my new word. It means ‘fun troublemaking,’” Daphne explained.

Sabrina nodded. “We don’t belong at the kids’ table. We’re going to help Dad rescue Granny Relda.”

“Right after you take a shower,” Daphne said.

Sabrina sniffed her glop-covered shirt. “Yes, right after I take a shower.”

inocchio was just the distraction the girls needed. His grumbling and endless whining kept Veronica so occupied the girls were able to stash the Book of Everafter in a safe place and slip out of the portal unseen. As they passed through the surface of the mirror, there was a rush of air, a dramatic drop in temperature, and Sabrina, Daphne, and Elvis found themselves inside a heavy thicket, deep in the Hudson Valley forest. The bushes were the perfect place to hide the door to their magical home, but they were less than convenient when exiting.

The girls pushed free of the thorns and prickly vines and stepped into a chilly splattering of autumn rain. Drops dripped onto Sabrina’s head and trickled down her face and neck, sending tingles straight to her feet. She leaned down and quickly zipped up her sister’s sweatshirt, then did her own.

“It rained like this the day we came to Ferryport Landing,” Daphne said, catching some of the drops on her tongue. Sabrina remembered the gray sky, icy drizzle, and brisk chill that had greeted them when their caseworker Ms. Smirt shoved them down the train platform to meet their grandmother for the first time. She could even recall declaring that she and Daphne weren’t going to stay with a crazy old woman who believed fairy tales were real. Funny how life got in the way of plans. Now she couldn’t imagine her life without Granny Relda. She had to rescue her from Mirror, even if her father tried to stand in the way.

“We have to be patient with them,” Daphne said, seemingly reading her sister’s mind.

“Now you’re on their side?” Sabrina said. “Five seconds ago you were shouting about how unfair they were.”

“When Mom and Dad went to sleep, I was six and you were ten. I was obsessed with princesses—”

“You still are.”

“Don’t interrupt. What I’m saying is, to them, one day we were little girls, and then all of a sudden we weren’t. They need time to catch up.”

“But they need to understand that Granny never treated us like little girls. She would have had us leading the rescue,” Sabrina said.

“Actually, she would have made us stay home too. It was just easier to sneak out when she was in charge.”

Sabrina sighed. She knew Daphne was right, but it was still frustrating. “So are you saying we should go back?”

Daphne laughed. “No way!” She leaned down and gave Elvis a wet kiss on the snout. “Find Granny, buddy.”

The dog gave himself a shake and water went everywhere. He sniffed the air and trotted into the wet brush. They watched him leap up a steep incline and they followed, trudging through spongy mounds of brown leaves and across slick black rocks. It wouldn’t be long before they were both soaked to the bone, but Sabrina didn’t mind. It felt good to be in the outside air without feeling the careful eyes of disapproving grown-ups on her. It infuriated her that her father couldn’t see potential in his daughters. He kept them locked away like porcelain dolls. What did she and her sister have to do to prove they could take care of themselves?

After an hour of walking and losing the dog half a dozen times they realized that Elvis’s nose wasn’t really necessary. All they had to do was walk in the direction of the tremendous storm rumbling across the sky. Lightning slashed the horizon, followed by explosions so loud they rattled Sabrina’s teeth. A normal person might have rushed to the cellar, fearing an approaching tornado, but if the mirrors and Mr. Canis were right, this was no ordinary storm. It would lead them to Granny Relda.

The girls stumbled out onto a deserted road and walked along its edge, despite the fact that neither of them had seen a car in weeks—not since the Scarlet Hand took over the town. It felt to Sabrina as if she and her sister were the only two people left in the world. She took Daphne’s hand, not only to assure her that they would be OK, but to calm her own anxiety as they walked on toward the storm. Eventually, they found Elvis waiting by a bend in the road. He looked frightened, pacing in circles and panting. Daphne rubbed his neck to calm him down, but it did little to soothe the giant dog.

“Granny’s nearby,” Sabrina said.

Daphne nodded and turned back to the dog. “You stay here, OK?” Elvis clamped his teeth down on Daphne’s sweatshirt, but she pulled away. “We’ll be careful, Elvis. You stay.”

The girls left him and continued to follow the road around a tight turn. Whatever lay ahead was blocked by trees, but the very tops of their branches glowed as if the sun were hovering right behind them. Once they were on the other side they saw their first glimpse of their grandmother in three days.

It was not a happy sight. The old woman was engulfed in an intense light so bright that it hurt to look directly at her. Her hands were held high above her head and glowed like two giant torches. Rockets of energy exploded from her fingertips and streaked into the sky, leaving in their wake plumes of smoke and magic. The rockets’ target was Wilhelm Grimm’s invisible wall, built long ago to keep Everafters from leaving Ferryport Landing.

Sabrina had never seen so much raw power. It was almost too horrible to watch, and yet, despite the earth-shattering intensity of the demonstration, it was nothing compared to the ancient and unyielding strength of the barrier. Each magical attack slammed into its surface, exploding into a million vivid colors that spread out over the dome’s surface. Aftershocks sent tremors into the earth and air. One attack was followed by another, and then another and another. Granny Relda’s heaving body exploded with magic, and as Sabrina watched, a terrifying truth filled her mind—her grandmother was not in control of herself. Mirror was inside her, forcing her to move as he wished. Sabrina wanted to run at him and demand that he set the old woman free, or at least try to communicate with Granny and encourage her to resist Mirror’s control, but the power and heat from the explosions were too strong. If she stepped forward, she might catch fire.

And then Sabrina heard a voice behind them and nearly jumped out of her skin. “I’m soooooo telling.” Puck stood behind her. “You two disobeyed your parents! I’m both shocked and really impressed.”

Sabrina tried to compose herself without giving away that he had scared her enough to almost make her lose control of her bladder. “We’re tired of being under house arrest in the Hall of Wonders.”

“Yeah! We’ve fought lots of monsters,” Daphne said.

“Actually, you’ve done a lot more ‘running away from monsters’ than actual ‘fighting’ of said monsters,” Puck said. “I’ve seen it myself and it is always hee-larious. I love this big turnaround. It seems like only a month ago you were complaining about your family responsibility, and now you can’t wait to get out there and beat up the bad guys. Well, I’m all for it. The whole ‘I don’t want to be a Grimm’ thing was getting a little tired.”

Daphne nodded. “He’s right. You were getting kinda lame.”

Suddenly, their father, Henry, raced out of the woods, snatched the children by the arms, and dragged them back within the trees. Sabrina had never seen someone’s head explode, but she thought she might see her father’s. He looked like an erupting volcano, and she felt like a panicked villager frozen in fear at the sight of the angry lava god.

“Get back to the mirror right now!” he demanded.

“Granny had us do these things all the time, Dad,” Sabrina explained. “She trained us to be brave and take action.”

“And look where that got her!” he roared, then spent the next ten minutes in a breathless rant about respect, trust, and sneakiness. When he finally came up for air, he said, “You’re grounded.”

“You can’t ground us. We’re homeless,” Daphne said.

Henry was momentarily befuddled. “Fine! But once we get a home you are going to be locked inside it until you are very old and very gray! Come on, I’m taking you back myself.”

“What about the old lady?” Puck asked.

Henry shook his head. “We didn’t come out here to save her. I wanted to make sure she was OK and see if there are any obvious weaknesses in Mirror’s power over her.”

“And what did you learn?” Sabrina asked.

“That an all-powerful monster has control over my mother and if we confront him, especially now, when he’s angry, he’ll incinerate us with his magic.”

“So we’re just going to give up?” Puck said.

“You don’t just go running headfirst into a fight. No, we’re going to get some help. We need to find the Wicked Queen,” Henry said. “She made Mirror. She has to know how to stop him.”

Suddenly, Elvis raced to join the group. He was even more frantic than before, whining and growling as he raced about in circles.

“Something’s wrong,” Daphne said, doing her best to ease the dog’s panic.

“It must be the storm,” Henry said.

But a crunching noise drowned him out. It came from within the woods and was followed by the sound of a tree falling over—a very big tree. When Sabrina turned to face the sound, she saw something so grotesque and terrifying she nearly fainted. Its body was mammoth and covered in thick, matted hair. Its arms were long and spindly, but its legs were thick with muscles and tendons. A ridge of raised spikes poked through the stretched skin covering its spine and trailed upward to its head, which was both shocking in size and shape. The head was nearly as big as half of the rest of its body, but it was also lumpy like a pumpkin that had fallen off a truck. Its eyes and nose were not where they should have been—almost as if it were a toddler’s Play-Doh creation. But its most eye-gouging feature was its fang-filled mouth that came unhinged at the jaw when it roared. It opened so wide Sabrina could have stepped inside with no trouble.

“Grendel!” Henry cried, snatching the girls once more and racing in the opposite direction.

“What is a Grendel?” Sabrina begged, doing her best to keep up.

“He killed hundreds of Vikings—and ate most of them. There’s a poem about him.”

“That thing’s in a poem? Ewwww!” Daphne cried.

Puck flew leisurely overhead. “Yawn! I’ve never been afraid of anything that appeared in a poem. Next time you guys will be trembling over the Cat in the Hat.”

“He’s no joke, Puck,” Henry said as he continued to run. “A warrior named Beowulf chopped off his head once. It still didn’t stop him.”

“Big deal! Who here hasn’t had their head chopped off?”

“This is exactly why I wanted you girls to wait in the mirror. We don’t just have your grandmother to deal with—the town is overrun with members of the Scarlet Hand, and unless you have forgotten, they let all the monsters out of the Hall of Wonders, too.”

“What are we going to do?” Daphne said. “He’s gaining on us.”

“Just keep running until I can come up with a plan of attack,” Henry said.

“Plan of attack?” Sabrina said. “The plan should be to keep running.”

“We can’t outrun that thing,” Henry said. “All right, Puck, you still have those stink balloons?”

“I never leave home without something disgusting!” Puck reached into the folds of his hoodie. What came out were four more of the disgusting sludge-balloon bombs he had tested on Sabrina.

“Good! You hit him high and I’ll take him low.”

Sabrina could feel panic squeezing her neck. “Wait! You’re going to attack him with some water balloons and your bare hands?”

“And my feet, too,” Henry said.

“Are you feeling all right, Dad?” Daphne asked.

“Don’t underestimate the weapon that is your own body. If you know what you’re doing, you can be very dangerous,” Henry said.

“What should we do?” Sabrina said.

“Nothing! You haven’t been trained in a fight,” Henry said.

“Then train us!” Sabrina said.

“Fine! Lesson one! Watch from the safety of these trees,” he demanded as he shoved the girls behind the thick trunk of an ancient maple.

“Dad!” they groaned.

“I’m serious. Don’t get involved no matter what. If something bad happens, run for the mirror. All right, fairy, let’s do this,” their father said, taking off at a sprint toward Grendel. Henry roared like a barbarian berserker.

“Your dad rules,” Puck said, circling in the air and mimicking Henry’s wail.

“I thought it was stupid to run headfirst into a fight,” Sabrina grumbled.

Puck tossed his disgusting bombs at the creature, nailing Grendel in the face. Enraged, the brute snatched at the boy’s leg, but Puck was too fast and darted away from his deadly claws again and again. While Puck kept him busy, Henry snuck up until he was standing within arm’s length of the monster.

“Lesson number two!” Henry shouted to the girls. “The first thing you do when you are about to fight someone—or something, for that matter—is take them off guard. Screaming like a maniac startles your opponent. The confusion will allow you to observe his weaknesses. While Puck was freaking him out, I was looking for a place to attack. Look at his left knee. See? It’s bigger than the right one. It’s bulging and red and the skin is pulled tight around it. It means he has an infection, which also means that if I kick it . . .”

Henry delivered a vicious kick with his boot heel. Grendel shrieked and bent over to protect his injury.

“Your grandpa Basil taught us to have careful eyes,” Henry continued, circling around the creature until they were nearly face-to-face. “Now, while Grendel is bent over we can get a closer look. Notice his left eye. The pupil is milkier than the right eye, which means he’s going blind in it, which also means he can’t see me as well when I’m standing on this side of his body. Which also means he can’t see this!”

Henry punched Grendel in his left temple. The monster fell to the ground and lay there silently.

“Whoa,” Daphne said.

Sabrina was just as surprised. What happened to her super-careful father? Henry was a man who refused to step off the curb to hail a cab. He wouldn’t eat hot dogs from the carts in Times Square because he was afraid of food poisoning. He never left the house without antibacterial spray. Who was this . . . man of danger?

“You knocked him out? Awww, man! Who am I supposed to throw the rest of these balloons at?” Puck complained when he landed next to the fallen monster. “It’s no fun to pelt someone when they are unconscious.”

He threw one of his balloons at Grendel and it exploded on his cheek.

“OK, it’s still fun, but not as much fun! If I don’t hit someone with the rest of these, they’ll go to waste.” He turned to Sabrina and grinned.

“Don’t even think about it, dog-breath,” Sabrina warned.

“Geez, he’s big,” Henry said as he knelt down to get a closer look at Grendel. “He’s gotta be nine feet tall and mostly muscle. Your uncle and I used to peek through the window in his door but this is the closest I’ve ever gotten to him. Some say his father was a dragon, and his mother . . .”

“What about his mother?” Sabrina asked, unsure if she really wanted an answer.

“Forget it. That will give you nightmares,” Henry said, standing upright again. “All right, we need to get him back to the Hall of Wonders. He’s too dangerous to be running loose—” But Henry didn’t get to finish his sentence. Grendel was up in a flash.

“DAD!” Sabrina screamed. Henry somersaulted out of the way just as the brute’s hulking fist shattered the ground where he’d been standing. A wicked backhand followed, but Henry’s fast action avoided the blow. The tree behind him was not so lucky. It cracked in half and exploded all over the forest floor in a shower of sawdust.

“Puck!” Henry shouted. “A little help, please.”

The fairy blasted the creature with more of his gag bombs while buzzing around his head. Grendel swatted and roared, nearly blind from the sickly syrup, but still dangerous.

“Girls, get back!” Henry demanded just before Grendel connected a brutal punch to his chest. Sabrina watched as her father fell to the ground and rolled violently into a nearby tree. She raced to his side and cradled his head in her lap. He was unconscious and bleeding from his left ear.

“Is he OK?” Puck cried as he continued his assault.

“He’s breathing, but we have to get him into the mirror,” Sabrina shouted.

“I’ve got this covered,” Daphne said. She fumbled through the front pocket of her sweatshirt. A second later she was spilling objects onto the ground: bejeweled rings, a pair of red shoes, a few wands, and some odds and ends. “He’s messing with the wrong family.”

“You brought magic weapons!” Sabrina exclaimed, overjoyed.

“It’s not much. The bad guys took all the good stuff.”

Sabrina pointed out a ring with a rose decoration cut into its clear crystal. “What’s that? Does that kill monsters?”

“That’s the Kingmoor Ring,” Daphne said. “It stops a nose bleed.”

“So all we’ve got is the magical equivalent of tilting your head back with a wet rag on your face?”

“You won’t need any of those trinkets,” Puck said as he continued to taunt the monster. “I think he’s getting tired!”

With a burst of speed, Grendel landed an uppercut so powerful it sent Puck sailing straight up into the sky and into the clouds.

With Puck in the air and Henry knocked out, it was just the girls and Elvis versus Grendel. The big dog stood between the girls and their opponent, barking and baring his fangs, which only made the hideous creature do the same. It was a momentary distraction, but Sabrina hoped Daphne would take advantage of it.

She turned back to her sister, praying Daphne had found a magic sword or a Sherman tank inside her pockets, but she was sorely disappointed. Daphne waved a long silver wand with a glittering star on its tip. It looked like part of a cheap Halloween costume, but Sabrina knew what it really was—a fairy godmother’s wand. She’d seen one do some amazing things, but could it stop this creature? Daphne must have gone crazy.

When Grendel charged them, the little girl flicked her wrist. The monster vanished into a puff of purple smoke and light—then there was a loud thump, followed by a groan.

“Daphne!” Sabrina cried through the smoke. She could barely make out her own hand in front of her face and couldn’t see Daphne at all.

“I took care of it,” Daphne said as the haze began to dissipate. Daphne stood over the fallen Grendel, her wand in hand and Elvis by her side. Grendel squirmed and struggled to escape a formfitting silver taffeta dress.

“I don’t think he likes the dress,” Sabrina said as Grendel ripped the gown off his back.

“It doesn’t go with his shoes. I’ll try another,” Daphne said, flicking the wand once more. The silver gown vanished in another puff of smoke and was replaced by a clown outfit, complete with floppy yellow shoes, rainbow fright wig, and bright red nose. Grendel looked down at himself, completely perplexed.

“Can’t you put him in a straitjacket or something?” Sabrina cried.

“I’m trying. This isn’t as easy as it looks,” Daphne said, twirling the wand erratically, then zapping the creature over and over again: tuxedo with tie and tails, conquistador suit, ballerina tutu complete with tights and slippers, Raggedy Andy overalls, and a life-size banana costume complete with necktie. Each abrupt change only caused Grendel’s rage to grow, and eventually he snatched the little girl, jerking her off the ground and forcing her to drop her magic wand.

Sabrina jumped to her feet and grabbed the magical weapon but immediately threw it to the ground. She was hit with the rolling nausea that overtook her every time she touched anything enchanted. If she held the wand much longer, she wasn’t sure what would happen. She might lose control of herself.

She was going to have to fight Grendel without magic. But how? What had her father said about the monster’s knee? Yes, it was swollen and infected—if only she could give it one of her patented kicks to the shin. Being an orphan had taught her a lot about kicking and punching.

“Just run to the mirror,” Daphne begged.

Sabrina was incensed. “Now you’re doing it.”

“Doing what?” Daphne said as she dangled high above the ground.

“Treating me like a baby! Since when am I the helpless one in this family?”

She wanted to rail at her sister but she realized Grendel was now standing over her, Daphne in his claw, his good eye staring at her with hungry curiosity. Slick saliva as murky as swamp water dripped from his broken, jagged teeth. His breath was like a coal oven and each blast smelled of charcoal and charred meat. When his jaw opened up to swallow her, Sabrina figured she was about to become Grendel’s breakfast.

“I hope you choke on me!” she shouted defiantly, then swung a fist that popped the monster in the nose.

And much to Sabrina’s surprise, Grendel cried out in agony. She looked down at her hand, unsure of her own strength. Then there was a flash of fur and claws. Something was attacking the monster, but the action was too fast to follow. Sabrina was not responsible for Grendel’s pain.

In an effort to protect himself, Grendel dropped Daphne, and the little girl fell into a wet mound of leaves. She staggered over to Sabrina, who had rejoined their unconscious father, and the two watched the fight. They soon realized that they owed their lives to three massive brown bears. But these were no ordinary bears. The biggest wore overalls, another had on a dress, and the littlest one had a beanie cap with a propeller on the top. Sabrina recognized these bears—all three of them.

“Goldilocks,” Sabrina gasped as the stunningly pretty woman stepped out from behind the trees and extended a helping hand.

“Let’s get your father to safety,” Goldi said. Her eyes were sky-blue, her hair seemingly made from gold. She had sun-kissed freckles sprinkled across her nose and cheeks. She and another woman helped Henry to his feet. This second woman had long auburn hair, creamy skin, and eyes the color of a meadow. No wonder they called her Beauty.

“I don’t think your bears can take him, Goldi,” Beauty said. “Mind if I cut in?”

“Be my guest,” Goldilocks said.

Beauty turned to Grendel and started to sing a sweet lullaby, each note soothing the brute like he was a baby on his way to dreamland. As her perfect voice and lyrics filled the air, the fight drained out of Grendel, and he stood before her in a happy daze.

“That’s right,” Beauty said as she caressed his horrible face. “You know I like a man with a big smile. Can you smile for me?”

Grendel did as he was asked, and then he cooed like a newborn babe. It was nauseating.

“Oh, we’ve got a real charmer on our hands here.” Beauty giggled.

“Can you get him into the Hall of Wonders?” Henry, now conscious, said weakly.

“Right now I could get him to do the cha-cha!”

Henry turned to Goldi. “Thank you. You saved my daughters’ lives.”

Goldi rolled her eyes. “Don’t be silly, Hank.”

“It seems I owe you my life, too.”

“For like the fifty millionth time,” the woman said with a knowing smile. Henry smiled back and Sabrina watched as a lifetime of memories seemed to pass between them. Sadly, Goldi’s eyes hinted at a world of heartache, too. This peculiar woman still loved her father dearly.

Suddenly, three of Puck’s disgusting balloon bombs fell from the sky and hit Grendel in the face. He was so enraptured by Beauty he didn’t even notice.

“Yes, my weapons have paralyzed him with fear,” Puck said as he drifted down from above. “Like I said. The Trickster King has got this under control.”

“What are you two doing out here?” Henry asked Beauty and Goldi.

“Looking for you,” Beauty explained.

“Us?” Sabrina cried.

“Yes, and we have to hurry,” Goldi begged. “We need your help with Jake.”

“You know where he is?” Henry asked. “The magic mirrors couldn’t find him.”

“He’s with us,” Goldi said, “back at our camp. It has a diversion spell around it. That’s probably why they couldn’t locate him. But Hank—he’s not himself.”

“He did just lose Briar,” Henry said. “He went through something like this when our father was killed.”

“It’s more than grief,” Goldi said.

“He’s losing his mind, Henry,” Beauty said bluntly.

Everyone turned to look at her.

“Sorry, but you need to know what to expect,” Beauty said. “He’s talking to himself. The things he says—it’s very troubling stuff.”

“Like what?” Henry asked. “What’s he talking about?”

Goldi looked pained, as if what she was going to say would injure herself and everyone around her.

“What is it?” Sabrina asked.

“He’s talking about murder.”

ctober 14 (part 2)

Thought I better update the journal while I’m back in the Hall of Wonders. Dad and Beauty are locking Grendel up in his old room. It’s scary to think the Hall used to house hundreds of monsters like him and that they are all running around town now doing who knows what. Dad tried to put a happy face on it by reminding us that now that we have Grendel we have one less freak to worry about. I reminded him that now we were sleeping next door to said freak. He told me to zip it.

I should be grateful that’s all he said because he’s pretty angry at me and my sister. Note to self: don’t get Mom and Dad angry . . . ever. I forgot how they are when they are steamed, and I think I’d rather face Grendel again. The last time I saw them this steamed was when Daphne invited a homeless man to come live with us. She hid him in our closet for six hours before the housecleaner found him.

Both of them say we aren’t allowed out of their sight, and they swore if we ever pulled a stunt like that again . . . well, I probably shouldn’t write it down in this journal. I’m so embarrassed. I’ve read a lot of the family journals and I haven’t found one entry where someone got grounded for trying to rescue a family member. It seems like everyone treats me like a child. Even Daphne does it now. Am I that worthless?

Not that we’re completely to blame for all the stress around here. Goldi’s sudden appearance doesn’t help. Anytime Blondie shows up Dad looks like he wants to crawl under a rock, and Mom looks like she’d like to toss that rock at Goldilock’s head. I can’t blame her. Who would want her husband’s ex around, mooning over him?

Goldi doesn’t make it any easier. She’s so nervous the chatter never stops. Daphne thinks she’s doing it to fill the awkward moments (of which there are plenty). She also has this annoying habit of adjusting everyone’s clothes all the time.

I don’t feel right shifting our attention from Granny Relda to Uncle Jake, especially now that we have found her, but Uncle Jake needs us too. I pray he isn’t as bad as they say he is, but I have to wonder: If someone I loved was killed, wouldn’t I want revenge—especially when it seemed like there would never be any justice? If someone murdered Daphne, wouldn’t I want to hunt them down and end them?

Well, on that bright and cheery note, I have to go. They’re calling for me. I’ll write more when I can. I have a feeling that I’m going to be spending a lot of time with this journal now that I’m grounded.

With the magic mirror strapped securely onto Poppa Bear’s back, the rest of the bears, the Grimms, Puck, Canis, and Pinocchio marched through the forest, led by Goldilocks and Beauty.

“Grendel was as ugly as I remember,” Beauty said as she kicked a clump of leaves off her high-heeled shoe. Her sweater dress was awfully thin for a chilly hike through the woods, but she never complained. “You have no idea what it was like coming over here on Wilhelm’s boat with him. All that grunting and groaning. I was sure at any moment the chains they used to keep him below deck would snap and he’d eat us all whole. Plus, with all those monsters and Jabberwockies running around—ugh. The only way you’ll get me on a ship now is if it’s a cruise to the Bahamas.”

“Why did Wilhelm bring so many of these creepy weirdos to America?” Sabrina asked.

“Wilhelm believed everybody had some goodness in them—even creepy weirdos,” Mr. Canis said, as he struggled along with his cane. Henry had begged him to stay inside the mirror with Red and baby Basil, but the old man had flatly refused. “He took a chance on me and I will always be grateful. Look at some of the people that we now call friends—Morgan le Fay, Baba Yaga—”

“Baba Yaga is hardly a friend,” Sabrina interrupted.

“The fact that she’s not trying to eat us makes her as close to a friend as we may ever get.” Henry laughed.

Goldi giggled. “In my book that’s personal growth. Henry, do you remember the time we snuck out in the middle of the night and ran into her? We were up on the cliffs and she came along in that creepy house and we . . .” Goldi’s voice tapered off when Veronica flashed her an irritated glance.

Sabrina’s father deftly changed the subject. “You kids might someday think of Grendel as an ally. You might even decide he’s ready to be free from the Hall of Wonders.”

“Or the barrier?” Daphne said. “I mean, if they all have the potential for goodness, why not let

Date: 2015-02-16; view: 940