The Fairy-Tale Detectives

by Michael Buckley

  Bunny sighed. She explained to Sabrina. “If you could use it all up, just give in to its power and let it take you over, you might be able to expel enough so that you run out. You do only have a tiny piece inside.”

  “So all you have to do is just get crazy with the magic,” Daphne said.

  “OK, we’ve got a plan,” Uncle Jake said. “Just use it all up. Let it all out on him.”

  “I can’t. That’s Granny Relda’s body. I might kill her,” Sabrina said. Her words seemed to suck the hope out of the room. “I don’t want to die, but if that’s what’s going to happen anyway, I should do what I can to help Granny, not hurt her. But I need your help getting to him. He’s waiting on Route 9 near the barrier. He’s calling to me. He knows I can see him. He’s demanding I bring him the spell.”

  “Then give it to him,” the Scarecrow said.

  “Just let him out,” the Lion agreed.

  “You don’t understand what he’ll do,” Daphne said as she took the real spell from her pocket.

  Sabrina could see the webs and all of their possibilities—she could see the future that Mirror owned. She watched him step outside of town once the barrier fell. She watched him sweep across America, then Europe, Africa, and Asia, sitting on a throne held up by the broken bodies of men and women. She watched the stampede of panicked people running from giants and fiery dragons in the sky. She saw all manner of monster running amok. “Dad, I think you and Mom and Basil and Uncle Jake should leave the town. Take the spell with you. If it’s here, he’ll never stop and he may try to hurt you to get what he wants.”

  Canis stepped forward and set a book in front of her. It was the Book of Everafter. “You can’t leave the town.”

  “You had the book?” Daphne said. “Why did you take it?”

  “I’m sorry to have made you worry about its whereabouts, but I had to have it. I had made some changes and—”

  “What kind of changes, Canis?” Bunny said sternly.

  “When your grandmother was taken by Mirror, I knew he would be able escape the barrier in her body. I also knew we were powerless to stop him, but the book offered an opportunity. It was an emergency. Something had to be done.”

  “What opportunity?” Henry asked.

  “I had hoped it would be a temporary solution while I made changes to Mirror in his original story. But every time I wrote a word into Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the story would erase it, like it was protecting itself.”

  “The stories don’t like being tampered with,” the Wicked Queen said. “You shouldn’t have been playing with it, old man.”

  Canis’s face flashed rage. It was nearly has angry as when the Wolf had control of him. “Who do you think you are, woman? I’m not some retirement-home-bound burden. Wolf or no Wolf, I have been an important part of everything that has happened to this family for twenty years and you will not talk to me like I’m feeble and senile. This kind of nonsense is exactly why I took the book without asking. While you people are trying to wrap your head around what to do with old Mr. Canis, he was working to stop the end of the world!”

  Sabrina flipped through the book. At the very end was a short story. She scanned it quickly—there was hardly anything to it—but she spotted her name, and her heart sank.

  “He wrote us into the book,” she said, then read aloud.

  “‘Once upon a time there was a family called Grimm. They were detectives and lived in a town called Ferryport Landing. Relda, Henry, Veronica, Jacob, Sabrina, Daphne, and Basil were their names. The end.’”

  “You turned them into Everafters,” Bunny seethed.

  “He did what?” Veronica cried.

  “I did what needed to be done. I couldn’t risk the chance that Mirror would just jump out of Relda and into one of you, so right after he took over Relda, I found the book and made you all Everafters. That’s why he can’t get out of town. He’s not inside a human being anymore.”

  “So we’re fairy-tale characters now?” Daphne said. “Cool!”

  “I thought it would take the fight out of Mirror when he realized he now had no chance to escape, but then Jake appeared with his infernal magic spell, and Mirror had a new goal.”

  “I had no idea,” Uncle Jake said.

  “Why didn’t you tell us?” Veronica asked. “We could’ve helped.”

  Canis’s eyes flashed with anger. “This was something I could do myself. I didn’t need anyone’s help.”

  “So now we’re stuck here with him,” Henry said. “We can’t leave the town, either.”

  “What are we going to do?” Uncle Jake asked.

  “We fight,” Sabrina said.

  She was too ill to walk, so she would have to be carried. Puck spun around on his heels to transform. She expected him to become something disgusting—a camel, a giant chicken, a farting bear—but instead he became a majestic white stallion. After Uncle Jake helped her up onto his back, she quietly thanked him. Daphne joined her on Puck’s back. Charming was too hurt to walk as well, so Poppa Bear offered him his back, and once everyone was settled, they began the march down the hill to the road that would lead them to Mirror.

  Sabrina did her best to present a strong face like Puck had told her to do. Fake it until you make it, she reminded herself, but the power inside her was eating her alive. Twinges of pain soon became gut-searing agony, but she bit her lip and gritted her teeth. There were a few times when she was sure she would black out and fall off the horse, but Daphne wrapped her up in her little arms as if trying to bear her sister’s pain. Her father walked alongside them with his hand on hers. Uncle Jake was on the other side. Veronica and Basil followed closely, as did Mr. Canis and Red. No one spoke, not even Puck. It was as if Sabrina were already dead and her friends and family were taking her casket to its final resting place.

  She was too tired and hurt to be afraid. In fact, during the long journey she didn’t think once of what might be at the end. Spotting her grandmother in the road, madly contorted by the creature controlling her limbs, was almost a relief. The magic was building. She needed to let it out.

  Mirror stood in a wide stance with his arms outstretched in a mocking welcome. It made Sabrina angry. He wasn’t taking her seriously. She could see in the expression he forced on her grandmother’s face that this confrontation was nothing more than the last annoying thing on his “to do” list.

  Sabrina asked her father to help her and Daphne down. Puck transformed back into a boy and seized his wooden sword from his belt.

  “You stay here,” Sabrina said.

  Daphne shook her head. “We stick together. We are Grimms. This is what we do.”

  “But—”

  “We’re all going,” Goldi said.

  “Now let’s go kick his butt,” Puck said.

  The rest of the crowd shared his stubbornness. Only Veronica stood back to shield baby Basil from whatever might be coming. She offered to look after Red and the other children, but they refused. Mirror had damaged all of their lives, and they would stand with the girls to confront him. Everyone surrounded Sabrina and Daphne and took each painful step with them, until they were standing before the Master.

  “There’s something different about you, Starfish,” Mirror said through Granny’s mouth. “Did you change your hair?”

  “Don’t call me Starfish,” Sabrina said. “That’s a name a friend gives another. You have never been my friend.”

  “Fair enough,” he said. “I see you brought your family and friends. I suppose that means Atticus is dead. Can’t say that bothers me much. He was a bit of a lunatic, that brother of yours, Billy—always shouting and carrying on with his threats. ‘I’m going to kill my brother! I’m going to have my revenge!’”

  “He’s gone,” Snow said.

  Mirror cocked a curious eye. “So our little schoolteacher stood up for herself. Is that why you’re all here? Did she inspire you? Do you plan to kill me?”

  “I don’t want to kill you,” Sabrina said. “I don’t
want to kill anyone. I’m not like you. But I have to stop you somehow. I gave your thugs the same offer I’m going to give you. Stop this. Let my grandmother go. Bunny is here. She might be able to give you a body of your own.”

  “Oh, Mother is finally going to help out her baby, is that it?” Mirror sneered. “She abandoned me, Sabrina. She gave birth to me and then turned her back. No thank you. I think it’s a little late for a mother and child reunion—but enough whining, right? Do you have the spell?”

  “I’m not giving you the spell.”

  Mirror’s fingers exploded with light, and suddenly from behind the group Veronica and Basil were dragged by an unseen force. It held them hovering over the crowd.

  “Now, Sabrina, you know I can kill them. Just give me the spell.”

  “Don’t do it, Sabrina,” Veronica cried as she struggled to console Basil’s fright.

  Another blast of light and Henry joined his wife and child floating in the air.

  “This doesn’t have to get ugly,” Mirror said. “Just hand me the paper.”

  “Let them go, Mirror,” Sabrina said, her voice quaking from the tremors that rocked her from inside. She felt like she might explode—that her body might break in half and release a torrent of violence on Mirror and everyone around her. She turned to Daphne, who gave her a brave smile.

  “Sabrina, do not give him the spell!” Henry shouted.

  A moment later, Uncle Jake was jerked off the ground and floating helplessly with the others.

  “Our lives are not worth the whole world!” Jake shouted.

  “A simple snap of my fingers will end them,” Mirror said. “It’s that easy, Sabrina. But you can have them back for one little piece of paper.”

  “Daphne, give it to him,” Sabrina said.

  Daphne shook her head. “Sabrina—”

  With a wave of her hand, Sabrina commanded the paper to leave her sister’s pocket. Before the little girl could stop it the spell floated into Mirror’s hand.

  “NO!” Henry cried.

  “I can’t let you die!” Sabrina said. “I lost you once. I can’t let it happen again!”

  Mirror’s face twisted into a smile as he gazed down upon the paper. With a laugh, he recited the ancient words, each growing with sound and fury.

  There was an odd tinkling sound, and its great, ancient magic evaporated into the sky. The barrier was gone. Such a simple act for such powerful magic.

  Mirror turned to the Everafters and smiled. “You’re free. You are all finally free!”

  The crowd shuffled uncomfortably, as if unsure of what to do.

  The Frog Prince was the first to try. He gingerly searched the air for the wall, but it did not stop him. He stepped through, suddenly free.

  “It works,” he cried, urging his daughter to join him. She went with her father out into the free world. The Scarecrow and Cowardly Lion were next, followed by Cinderella and her husband, as well as the Three Blind Mice.

  Mirror reached his hand through where the barrier used to be, and he grinned and laughed. “Finally!” He giggled.

  “Don’t get too excited, pal,” Daphne said. “As long as we’re alive, we’re going to be on you like bedbugs. We won’t stop until your back in your mirror and our granny is safe and sound!”

  Mirror turned to the girls, his eyes aglow and his hands exploding with flames.

  “Leave them alone!” Henry shouted.

  “Sorry, Hank, but the little one is right. As long as there is a Grimm, you will always manage to find a way to ruin the party.” He pointed his flaming finger at the girls, and a powerful force sent them flying through the crowd.

  Just before they slammed into the ground, Sabrina felt a bubbling explosion inside her, as if the top of a soda bottle shaken by a mischievous child was opened inside her belly. When they landed, instead of feeling the agony of tearing skin and broken bones, a metallic shell appeared, covering the girls and sending orange sparks zipping in all directions as they skidded down the road. When they came to a stop, they helped each other up as the hardened skin faded away.

  “Neat trick,” Daphne said.

  “Thank you,” Sabrina said.

  “Any idea how you did that?” Daphne asked.

  “Not a clue.”

  The girls walked back through the crowd to where they started.

  Mirror saw them coming and surprise spread across his face. He snarled and blasted the girls again. This time Sabrina’s hands reacted, and a shield of pink light pushed back against his attack. With another wave of her hand the earth broke open like an egg beneath Mirror’s feet and swallowed him whole. At once, her family also fell to the ground. It was a miracle that no one was hurt, though baby Basil started to cry.

  Sabrina reeled from her power. On the one hand, it felt good to let some of it out. It made her feel strong and a hundred feet tall. But on the other hand, she felt the desire to hurt Mirror again. She wanted to stand over his broken body and laugh. That was when she knew how truly sick she was. She had to end this fast. She took Daphne’s hand and together they ran to the crevice and peered into the darkness.

  “Mirror!” she cried.

  “You can’t attack him,” Daphne said. “You’re attacking Granny.”

  “I know,” Sabrina said. “I . . . this power isn’t good for me. There’s too much.”

  Daphne nodded and gestured for Baba Yaga and the Wicked Queen. The crone’s horrible house lumbered behind them.

  “Sabrina can’t attack,” Daphne said. “She can only defend, so it’s up to the coven.”

  “But the coven is broken!” the Wicked Queen cried. “We’ll try, but without a third—”

  “I have solved one of our problems,” Baba Yaga interrupted. “We will rebuild our coven stronger than before. We need to choose a third, and a more appropriate third this time. I am the crone. Morgan was the temptress. Bunny was the innocent, which was laughable at best. What we had was one crone and two temptresses. It diluted the magic, so we never could reach our full potential. What we need is a true innocent.”

  Sabrina looked around the crowd, but there was no one else with any real magical abilities who might be right for the coven. Baba Yaga may have had a point, but there wasn’t much they could do about it. “Who do you have in mind?”

  The old witch turned to Daphne. “You will do.”

  “Me?” Daphne said.

  “She’s just a little girl. She doesn’t know any magic!” Henry argued despite being suspended in midair.

  “She tolerates the arcana well,” Baba Yaga said. “Can you not see how it moves through her, Henry? Look how their dog stands by her. He is her familiar.”

  “He’s just a dog!” Sabrina cried. “He probably thinks she has a sausage in her pocket.”

  Elvis rushed to join them and sniffed at Daphne’s pockets.

  “House! Jacket!” Baba Yaga cried.

  The door of her hut opened and there was a terrible coughing sound. Then a long trench coat flew out of the doorway and landed at the old crone’s feet. Sabrina recognized it immediately. Many months ago, Uncle Jake had traded it to the witch for her help; its pockets were filled with magical items beyond imagination. Baba Yaga scooped it up in her gnarled hand and helped the little girl into it. It was hardly a perfect fit. It dragged on the ground, and Sabrina had to help her roll up the sleeves so she could use her hands.

  “I absolutely forbid this!” Henry shouted, but Bunny had already reached out her hand and Daphne took it. Baba Yaga reached out her weathered claw and Daphne took that as well.

  “NO!” Henry cried, but it was too late.

  “We are bound by coven,” the two older witches said.

  “We are bound by coven,” Daphne said.

  Daphne’s hair stood on end and her hands turned to stone. A moment later she returned to normal except for the unusually large smile on her face.

  Then from deep in the abyss Sabrina saw her grandmother’s hand pulling her body back to the surface. Mirror’s ey
es glowed and the ground bubbled. Geysers exploded around the crowd, sending steam into the air. A silver ooze gurgled out of the holes and collected in pools, from which an army of creatures then rose. Each was about the size of a large man, but made of what appeared to be mirrors. The second they were solid, the creatures attacked the crowd, forcing everyone to join the fight.

  “Now, where were we?” Mirror said as flashing strands of electricity blasted from his hands. Daphne reached into her pocket and removed an amulet and the girls vanished, only to appear directly behind Mirror. There the little girl kicked him in his backside.

  Mirror roared and his hands flew upward as if he were conducting an evil orchestra. The ground beneath the army’s feet shot into the air, twisting into a knotted pretzel of earth, trees, roads, and people. The earth grew higher and higher, almost to the height of Mount Taurus, and took everything with it. Sabrina and Daphne both lost their footing and tumbled down, slipping right over the edge. Sabrina managed to snatch on to the roots of a broken tree and Daphne clung to her leg. Together, they hung there, struggling to catch their breaths and pull themselves up to safety.

  Sabrina could fix this, she knew, she just had to let a little magic out. She tried and they soared to the top of the new mountain like rockets, landing on the lonely peak. Once they were on solid ground they scurried to the side and looked over. The wind was whipping in Sabrina’s ears, and the temperature at this height was markedly lower. It did nothing for the fever inside Sabrina, and sweat dripped off her face like rain.

  “Do you see Mom and Dad?” Daphne said.

  The visions came like a thunderstorm, booming in her head. Her mother and Basil were safely on the ground, having taken shelter in the woods. Her father was on a ridge below them, still fighting one of the mirror men. Uncle Jake was pulling himself up to the top, branch by branch. Puck was flying to meet them. The rest of their friends were alive and fighting.

  “Everyone is fine,” Sabrina assured her. “For now.”

  “Can you see Mirror?”

  Sabrina felt tremors shaking through her. “I can feel him. I can’t explain it, but he’s down there and he’s coming up.”

  “Are you OK?”