The Everafter War

by Michael Buckley

  She soon spotted Mr. Canis and Red Riding Hood. The little girl wore a smile on her face and was enjoying the festivities. Sabrina ran to her and snatched her by the cloak.

  “Where is the baby?” she demanded.

  “What baby?” Red asked, feebly.

  “Don’t play dumb with me. I know you have him,” Sabrina said. She had never been so angry and so afraid in her whole life.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Red shouted.

  “Sabrina, leave her alone,” Mr. Canis demanded, but she ignored him.

  “Think, Red. You took the baby, and he’s somewhere in that stupid head of yours,” Sabrina said. “You better remember, or I will shake the truth out of you.”

  Red pulled away. “I’m trying!”

  “Sabrina, that’s enough,” Canis shouted, again.

  Sabrina reeled on him. “You make her remember! She and the Master stole my baby brother. She knows where he is.”

  Veronica and Daphne raced to join them.

  “Sabrina, stop this,” Veronica said.

  “She knows where he is, Mom,” Sabrina repeated. “She took him!”

  “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I wasn’t myself,” Red said through streaming tears. She cowered, as if worried Sabrina might hit her.

  “So, you remember it now?” Sabrina snapped.

  There was a moment of clarity in Red’s eyes, as if something were rising out of the muck of her memories to the surface.

  “There was a crib . . . in a room with holes in the walls,” Red said. “Little holes that let him see us, little holes that let him see what I was doing. The baby is there, now. He keeps it close as he watches us all.”

  “Who is he? Who is the Master?”

  Red Riding Hood looked into Sabrina’s eyes. Sabrina could see the little girl’s struggle. Red knew this was important, but she could not get at it. It was locked down too deep.

  Veronica took Sabrina and Daphne into her arms. They held each other and cried. There was nothing else to do.

  10

  Everyone took the trolley back to the house, ready to storm the Hand, only to find that the mob was gone. All that remained were hundreds of broken spears and arrows and one abandoned cannon. The house had not been harmed, though the front yard was a disaster.

  “The Master must have sent everyone to attack the camp,” Snow said.

  “He threw everything he had at us,” Morgan le Fay added.

  This automatic victory was good news for the refugees, raising their spirits even more than Mr. Seven’s heroic speech. Charming had promoted him to general, and the little man marched the soldiers through the Grimms’ house and out the front door. The family watched strangers and friends file past, wishing them well.

  “Where are you headed?” Sabrina asked Buzzflower.

  “Well, we’ve been told the plan is to take Town Hall, but I’m not sure that’s where we’re actually headed,” Buzzflower said. “This fight has been full of surprises.”

  “Sergeant White says all we need to know is how to fight, not where it’s going to happen,” Mallobarb added.

  Uncle Jake joined them. “May I march with you, ladies?”

  “You can’t go, Jacob. It’s too dangerous,” Granny cried.

  “We’ll look after him,” Mallobarb said. “He’s family now.”

  Uncle Jake walked ahead, leaving his real family behind.

  “We might never see him again,” Veronica said, fighting back tears.

  “We’ll see him again,” Daphne said. “He’s Uncle Jake. He’s gravy.”

  Goldilocks and the three bears were the next to file out the door.

  “Goldie, are you sure you have to go?” Granny asked. “There’s plenty of room here, and the fighting is only going to get worse.”

  Goldilocks shook her head. “I’ve been avoiding my responsibilities for too long, Relda.”

  Veronica stepped forward. “Goldie, if you’re doing this to avoid me . . . you can’t risk life and limb because you think it will be uncomfortable here. It won’t be—you are more than welcome to stay.”

  “You’re amazing, Veronica. I’m not sure you meant what you just said, but you said it nonetheless. I doubt I would have done the same,” Goldie replied. She stole a look at Henry and shrugged. “Take care of this one, Henry. She’s a keeper.”

  Soon, all the soldiers were gone and the family was alone. They stood in the front yard watching the last of the army disappear down the road and silently thanking their good luck. Somehow, they had survived an army of bloodthirsty villains, complete with a fleet of fire-breathing dragons.

  They were enjoying the well-earned peace and quiet when, suddenly, something massive fell out of the sky and landed in the front yard. The impact was so powerful that everyone lost their footing and fell to the ground. When Sabrina scrambled back to her feet, she saw a white dragon lying dead in the front yard. Puck floated down from the sky and landed on its belly. He waved his wooden sword at her.

  “Don’t disrespect the sword, Grimm,” Puck said with a smirk.

  The first order of business was getting the water and electricity working. Puck reattached the severed electrical lines to the pole, and for the rest of the day his hair stood on end. Veronica worked her own brand of magic on the water pipes. Everyone else opened windows and took out rotting garbage that had been sitting in the hot house for five days.

  There wasn’t much still edible in the refrigerator, but Granny made a feast consisting of what appeared to be fried oysters in peanut butter and jelly sauce. Sabrina could barely handle the smell.

  “I ate her cooking for eighteen years,” Henry whispered. “You get used to it.”

  “Oh, yeah, when?”

  “I think it happened when I was seventeen,” he admitted.

  The entire table burst into laughter. Granny Relda was offended at first, but she soon joined in and eventually laughed the hardest of all.

  The rest of meal, they all told jokes and stories. For what seemed like the first time since they woke up, Sabrina’s parents weren’t fighting. Sabrina looked around the table at her family: Mom, Dad, Granny Relda, Daphne, Puck, Mr. Canis, and Red Riding Hood. She realized this was what she had been hoping for all along. If only the whole family was there—namely, Uncle Jake and her baby brother. Where was the baby? Was he safe? She looked over to her mother and from her worried expression could see she was wondering the same thing. Somehow, they had to find him.

  “So, Henry,” Puck said as he kicked off his shoes and propped his smelly feet up on the kitchen table. “I was wondering what you can tell me about puberty.”

  Sabrina wanted to crawl under the table and die.

  Sabrina was getting ready for bed when Daphne came into the room carrying her pillow.

  “Are you back?” Sabrina asked, hopefully.

  “Not by choice,” the little girl grumbled. “Granny kicked me out of her room. She says I snore. That’s the pot calling the kettle black!”

  “I missed you,” Sabrina admitted.

  “I know. Think about that feeling the next time you want to lie to me,” her sister said as she opened the desk drawer. From it, she removed a hairbrush and then crawled up behind Sabrina and began brushing her hair.

  “You know, I’m very proud to be your sister,” Sabrina said.

  “Gravy.”

  Sabrina smiled. “Gravy.”

  “But if we’re going to be sisters again, there has to be a new rule. No more talk about going back to Manhattan. Our baby brother is here somewhere, and we have to find him. All of our friends are in danger, including Uncle Jake. We can’t leave.”

  “I know,” Sabrina said.

  “No grumbling about it, either,” the little girl added.

  “No promises.”

  “Hey, where are those marionettes?” Daphne asked, glancing at the dresser. “Didn’t you say Dad brought them in here?”

  “He threw them out,” Sabrina said. “I saw him toss them into the
trash bin in the kitchen. After what Pinocchio did, I don’t think Dad wanted them around.”

  “Good,” Daphne said. “They were creepy anyway.”

  “Super creepy. Puppets give me the willies,” Sabrina said. She crawled under the covers, and Daphne did the same. She felt the little girl’s hand slide into her own. It felt good to have her sister back. Soon, both girls were asleep.

  Sometime during the night, Sabrina woke up. The clock on the nightstand read 3:00 A.M. She padded to the bathroom for a drink of water. When she turned to go back to her room, something was blocking her path. One of Pinocchio’s marionettes was sitting in the middle of the hallway. She nearly screamed but then guessed it was another of Puck’s pranks. He would definitely dig through the trash to have some fun at her expense.

  “That’s hilarious, Puck,” she said. “I thought our war was over.”

  She scooped the marionette off the floor and stuffed it into the bathroom trash can. Then, she went back to bed.

  She wasn’t under the covers longer than ten minutes when she heard someone shuffling across her bedroom floor. She sat up and flipped on the light. There, on her dressing room table, was the marionette.

  “Aargh!” she cried, which woke Daphne.

  “What’s going on?” Daphne grumbled.

  “Puck’s being a jerk,” she said. “C’mon.”

  Sabrina snatched up the puppet, and the two sisters pounded on Puck’s door until he answered. He was wearing a pair of footie pajamas decorated with happy cowboys. He was half-asleep and annoyed. “Whatever you’re selling, I’m not interested.”

  “What’s the big idea?” Daphne said.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Puck said.

  Sabrina shook the marionette at Puck. “You keep trying to spook me with this!”

  “You’ve got the wrong prankster. Boys don’t play with dolls.”

  “Don’t you sleep with a stuffed unicorn?” Daphne said.

  Puck stuck his tongue out and slammed the door in their faces.

  “Stop goofing off, freak boy,” Sabrina shouted.

  Puck’s bedroom door opened again. “It wasn’t me. You can send your apology in writing.” He slammed the door in their faces again.

  Sabrina tossed the puppet into the hall trash, and together she and Daphne headed back to their room. They complained about having to live with the king of stupid pranks for a while before drifting off to sleep.

  Once again, it didn’t last. Sabrina woke to find Daphne’s hand clamped over her mouth. Daphne was pointing at the dresser on the other side of the room.

  Sabrina peered into the dark and nearly screamed. The marionette was back, along with all the others Pinocchio had made, but they weren’t sitting on the dressing table. They were walking around the room under their own power. They opened the dresser drawers and rooted through the girls’ still-packed suitcases. One searched the closet, while others scurried around under their bed.

  “Did you know they could do that?” Daphne mouthed the words.

  Sabrina shook her head.

  “What are they looking for?”

  Sabrina shrugged. She turned back and saw her own marionette rummaging through the desk.

  “I found them,” it squeaked, holding up Sabrina’s enormous set of keys. The weight of the keys made the creature stumble onto the floor, but it quickly righted itself.

  “Let’s go. The boss is waiting,” the Granny Relda marionette commanded, and all the others followed her out into the hallway.

  “What are they doing?” Daphne whispered.

  “We’re going to find out,” Sabrina said, pulling her sister out of bed. Together, they crept into the hallway just in time to watch the marionettes unlock Mirror’s room.

  Just then, Henry and Veronica joined them.

  “Did you see them, too?” Veronica asked.

  “You mean the walking, talking marionettes?” Sabrina asked. “Yeah, we saw them. They stole my Hall of Wonders keys.”

  “We’ll get Mr. Canis and your grandmother,” Henry said. “You wake up Puck.”

  The girls pounded on Puck’s door for what seemed like forever. When he finally opened up, his stuffed unicorn was tucked under his arm. “You two are really pushing your luck,” Puck said. “What is so important?”

  “The creepy puppets are alive,” Sabrina said.

  “OK, that counts,” he said, tossing his unicorn aside and pushing past them. He hurried into Mirror’s room with the girls on his heels.

  “Let’s go get them,” Puck said.

  “We should wait for the others,” Daphne said.

  “For a bunch of puppets?” Puck scoffed. “We can take care of this. C’mon!”

  Sabrina agreed and led the others through the reflection. On the other side, they found the Grimm marionettes, as well as a hundred more, passing out Sabrina’s keys to one another.

  “If we’re quiet, we can sneak up on them,” Puck whispered. But his voice still echoed off the walls and bounced around like a basketball. In unison, all of the marionettes turned their heads toward them. They sprang into action, racing down the hallway and unlocking doors as they went.

  “What is this all about?” Daphne asked her sister.

  Sabrina didn’t have a clue, but she was starting to panic. Most of the doors hid rooms filled with useful weapons and gizmos the family used frequently, but, farther down, in the direction the marionettes were heading, there were terrible things—things that should not be let loose.

  “We have to stop this,” Sabrina cried, but it was too late. Just as she said the words, a door opened, and out stomped a huge blue ox. It was as big as a Winnebago and had enormous horns on either side of its head. It stomped a front leg angrily and lowered its head toward the girls.

  “That’s Paul Bunyan’s ox, Babe,” Sabrina said.

  “That’s the coolest thing I’ve ever seen,” Puck said.

  “How cool is it going to be when it stomps us to death?” Sabrina said.

  “Considerably less cool,” Puck replied. “Run!”

  The three children turned to flee and heard the beast bellow as it started after them. The trio leaped through the portal, but that didn’t stop the ox. The creature crashed into the real world as the mirror increased in size to accommodate its massive body. Unfortunately, Granny’s house didn’t have the same magical ability, and the animal caused an incredible amount of damage. It knocked through the wall that faced the lawn and tore through the roof with one of its huge horns. The confined space seemed to make it panic, and it whipped its head around, wreaking even more destruction. When it stomped its feet, the floor collapsed. The ox fell into the living room below. The children stood on a thin ledge of what was once the bedroom floor, looking down at the chaos below. Sabrina saw her family standing downstairs, looking up at them.

  “It appears we have a problem, Relda,” Mr. Canis said.

  “Open the front door,” Granny said, and the old man did as he was told. Like the mirror, the front door morphed to allow the ox out, and it stomped onto the front lawn. But that was not the end of the chaos. A giant three-headed dog tumbled out of the mirror next, and it immediately fell through the hole in the floor.

  “There’s something you don’t see every day,” Puck said.

  The dog was followed by a wave of bizarre beasties and monsters. Snakes with heads on both ends of their bodies slithered out. People who looked like zombies, vampires, and werewolves from horror movies did the same. There was a seven-foot albino man with stringy muscles and pink eyes. There were pirates, wizards, witches, and unearthly creatures that looked like they were from other planets. They came through the portal, wave after wave after wave, as if being pushed forward by an even bigger crowd behind them. Creatures made from ice and fire, a man surrounded by his own tornado, and a headless rider sitting atop a black horse. All the family could do was watch the macabre parade as it went by. Each creature fell into the pit then stumbled outside to freedom.

/>   When the last of the creatures came through and a few peaceful seconds had passed, Sabrina, Daphne, and Puck carefully edged toward the magic mirror.

  “Kids, just stay where you are,” Henry called. “I’ll get a ladder and help you down.”

  “We have to check on Mirror,” Daphne said.

  “It’s not safe,” Veronica said.

  “He’s part of our family, Mom,” Sabrina said. “We’ll be careful.”

  The children headed into the reflection. Inside the Hall of Wonders, Sabrina saw that every door was flung open wide. The marionettes were nowhere to be seen, and neither was Mirror.

  “Mirror!” Sabrina shouted, but the little man did not respond.

  “We can’t go from room to room looking for him. It would take forever,” Daphne said.

  “The trolley isn’t here. If he’s alive, he’s probably at the other end of the hall,” Sabrina said.

  Puck’s wings expanded. He hoisted the girls into the air. He flew them down the hallway so fast that the open doors along the way slammed shut. In no time at all, he came to rest outside the closed door to the Room of Reflections.

  Sabrina pushed the heavy door open and looked inside, but Mirror wasn’t there. The room was empty except for the magic mirrors hanging on the wall.

  “Maybe one of the monsters ate him,” Daphne whimpered.

  “That would be awesome,” Puck said.

  Sabrina flashed him an angry look.

  “Awesome in a terrible, heartbreakingly tragic kind of way,” Puck continued.

  In a panic, Sabrina spun back around, determined to search every room until they found their friend. As she dashed out of the Room of Reflections, she heard someone talking.

  “Do you hear that?” she asked the others.

  Both Puck and Daphne nodded.

  She turned back toward the Room of Reflections, trying to follow the sound. It was clearly coming from inside the room, which was empty except for the mirrors.

  Daphne walked around the perimeter of the room, listening closely at each of the unbroken mirrors. “It’s not coming from these.”

  Sabrina agreed. “It seems to be coming from the door.” She pushed it shut, closing them inside the room. That’s when she spotted the passageway the open door had hidden all along.