The Unusual Suspects

by Michael Buckley

  “You’re starting to get it. That’s the reason I have always loved children. Their emotions are so raw and uncontrolled. When people get older, they’ve already found ways to control their feelings, but not children. Children are like emotional all-you-can-eat buffets. So, where’s a guy with tastes like mine going to find work? Why, Ferryport Landing Elementary, of course! And trust me Sabrina, it has been a truly rewarding experience. For years, I sat back and feasted on the fights and humiliations you kids pile onto one another. The senseless bullying, the humiliation of being picked last for baseball, the endless teasing about someone’s hair or clothes—when it comes to being mean, kids have cornered the market.

  “Well, when the piper came to me with his plan to blow up the barrier from below, I was hesitant. After all, I had a pretty good thing going here at the school, and at night, well, I have these little rug rats to keep me fed.”

  The three Everafter children laughed at their “father’s” teasing.

  “But then I realized there’s a great big world of anger, war, and pain for me to feast on out there. So, I signed on. It wasn’t easy, though. Piper used his magic music, and every night the children of this school came to dig out the tunnels. At first, we tried to use all the kids, but the little ones are so weak, we had to make do with the fifth- and sixth-graders. Unfortunately, there was another unforeseen problem. The next morning, those same kids—the ones who supplied me with the most energy—were too sleepy to argue with one another. They went from a raging river of emotions to a dripping faucet overnight. The piper and I were just about to give up when you walked through the door.”

  “What do I have to do with it?” Sabrina asked, doing her best to buy time until she could come up with a plan.

  “Sabrina, you’re like the Niagara Falls of anger—it just keeps pouring over the edges. Every time you lost your temper, it was like a four-course meal with all the trimmings,” Rumpelstiltskin said, as blue electricity crackled out of his fingertips.

  “Once I tapped into it, I turned up the volume on you and could barely keep up with the energy,” Rumpelstiltskin continued. “Truth be told, we probably didn’t have to kill Grumpner or the janitor, but I could sense how outraged you would get. And it worked! Every little paranoia and prejudice was amplified by a million. Thanks to you, I finally have what it takes to blast a hole into the barrier. Once it’s open, I’ll be free and the Scarlet Hand will march across the world, destroying anyone who gets in their way.”

  “So, you’re the Scarlet Hand,” Sabrina said, even now feeling the anger rise within her. “You took my parents!”

  “The Scarlet Hand isn’t a person, child. It’s a movement, an idea. It’s bigger than all of us and I am just one spoke in a very big wheel.”

  “Where’s my son?” a man shouted. Rumpelstiltskin shrieked and moved to safety behind Natalie’s hulking body, just as Principal Hamelin raced into the cave. He looked exhausted, beaten, and on the edge of madness. His shirt was covered in his own blood and he limped painfully. In his hands were his bagpipes.

  “Tell me where my boy is or I will play a song that will tear you apart,” Hamelin raged as he charged at the little man. Rumpelstiltskin cowered in a corner.

  “The boy got in the way,” he cried, gnashing his teeth at his much taller partner. “I warned you about keeping him under control.”

  “Where is he?” Hamelin demanded.

  Toby pointed one of his long, spindly legs at the ceiling. High on the cave wall, away from the others, was a mound of webbing from which no head poked and no movement came at all. Hamelin fell to his knees and buried his head in his hands.

  “Bring him down, Toby,” Rumpelstiltskin said.

  “Awww, Dad, he was almost ready to eat,” the spider kid whined.

  “Do it,” Rumpelstiltskin demanded.

  Reluctantly, Toby scaled the wall, cut the web loose with his razor-sharp legs, and carried the boy gingerly to the ground. He set him down at Hamelin’s feet and scurried back to his father.

  “He was causing too many distractions,” Rumpelstiltskin explained. “He was jeopardizing our plans.”

  Hamelin ignored the explanation as he tore the rest of the threads off his son. When the boy was finally free, Hamelin leaned down to listen for breathing.

  “He’s gone,” Hamelin cried, as he set his boy down gently and climbed to his feet. He took his pipes and filled them with air. “And you are going to pay for it.”

  Before he could blow a single note, Bella leaped across the room, shot out her sticky tongue, and wrapped it around the bagpipes. She yanked the instrument out of the piper’s hands and into her mouth, swallowing it whole.

  “That’s Daddy’s little girl!” Rumpelstiltskin cheered.

  Natalie rushed to a corner of the room and returned with a can. She dipped her hand inside it and when she pulled it out, it was covered in red paint. “Should I lay the mark on the kid’s body?”

  Hamelin shook with fury. “You and your Scarlet Hand, killing innocents. This wasn’t part of our plan, troll! I just wanted out of this town.”

  “You’ve never had the backbone to do what has to be done, Piper,” the little creature cried. “Someone had to make the hard decisions.”

  “Like killing my boy?” Hamelin said.

  “I know your pain,” Rumpelstiltskin said. “If I were to lose one of my children, I would be heartbroken, too. But I would still put them in harm’s way for the greater good.”

  “These aren’t your children!” Sabrina shouted. “You took advantage of their real parents. You played on their fears and made them feel hopeless. Their real parents want them back.”

  Toby looked confused. “Is that true, father?” the spider boy clicked. “You said they abandoned me in a park.”

  “They did, son,” Rumpelstiltskin said.

  “He’s lying,” Sabrina cried. “I’ve talked to your parents, Toby. They’ve been searching for you since the day they gave you to this sicko. He played with their emotions, made them believe you’d be better off with him. You weren’t found in any park. Rumpelstiltskin manipulated your mom and dad and then paid them millions of dollars for you. He bought you, Toby, for the same reason he bought Natalie and Bella—so he could feed on you!”

  “She’s lying, children,” Rumpelstiltskin said. “People are always lying about me! They want to take you away from me! It’s not fair, children. Something has to be done to stop the people who hate me.”

  “We believe you, Father,” Bella said, her face boiling with rage.

  “Can we kill them now?” said Natalie as she looked at Sabrina with murderous eyes. Sabrina knew that Rumpelstiltskin could control the anger in others. Looking at the two girls, it was obvious to her that the little man had turned his power all the way up.

  Rumpelstiltskin grinned. “How could Daddy resist his little Natalie? Go have your fun.”

  The monsters stalked Hamelin, backing him into a corner. Sabrina wanted to rush to his side, but Toby blocked her path. The Pied Piper was about to die and there was nothing anyone could do about it.

  “Without your pipes you are nothing, Hamelin,” Rumpelstiltskin said. “And now that the barrier has been reached, your usefulness has expired.”

  The piper reached into his pocket and pulled out something shiny. He looked down at it lovingly, then he raised it to his lips and blew into it. A low, sorrowful note came out of Wendell’s harmonica and the ground began to shake violently.

  “I don’t need my pipes,” Hamelin shouted at his former partner.

  Suddenly, the floor cracked and a huge fissure opened. At first, nothing but steam belched out of it, but soon a flood of ants, worms, roaches, centipedes, and a million other creepy-crawling things flew out of the hole and attacked Rumpelstiltskin and his “children.” The frog-girl leaped onto the ceiling, but was immediately overcome by a swarm of flying cockroaches. Losing her balance, she fell painfully to the ground.

  Natalie was quickly overrun with centipedes that
wiggled and raced along her body, biting her fiercely. The monster girl growled and whined, but soon fell to her knees, unable to fight.

  Toby scurried around the cave, spraying webs at the sea of maggots that poured over him. He shrieked and cried as he rushed around the room, but the tide of insects was too much for him and he was engulfed.

  Rumpelstiltskin didn’t fare much better. Leaches covered the little man and he fell over in agony.

  “Mr. Hamelin, please help me get to the roof,” Sabrina said, grabbing her shovel. Hamelin blew into the harmonica again, and a rolling wave of spiders, worms, and roaches lifted Sabrina high off the ground to the ceiling above. Granny Relda was hanging closest, so Sabrina used her good arm to pull the cobwebs from the old woman’s mouth and hands.

  “Oh, liebling,” Granny said. “This is one time I’m glad you didn’t listen to my rules.”

  Sabrina smiled as she used her shovel to cut the sack of threads from the wall. The wave of bugs expanded to hold the old woman up and when she was free she reached into her handbag and took out a pair of scissors. She put these into Sabrina’s hand and then descended a flight of stairs the bugs created for her so she could easily step to the ground.

  Sabrina rode the tide of creepy-crawlers to the next person, who happened to be Daphne. She yanked and pulled until the little girl was free, using the scissors to cut her off of the wall. Daphne was in tears, but she threw her arms around her older sister and hugged her tightly. The hug hurt Sabrina’s arm, but she bit her lip and let her sister continue.

  It was then that Sabrina noticed that Rumpelstiltskin was emitting a blue energy that swirled around him. A fireball blasted out of his chest, sending a huge explosion ripping through the caves, incinerating the entire insect army. The wave of bugs that supported Sabrina and Daphne turned to ash and the two girls tumbled to the ground, jarring Sabrina’s broken arm and causing an agony that nearly knocked her unconscious. Through the haze of pain, she saw that the blast had destroyed some of the cave tunnel and sent tons of rock tumbling to the ground, blocking the only exit. Worse still, the blast had damaged the foundation of the cave and large chunks had begun to fall from the ceiling.

  “Look what you have done!” Rumpelstiltskin shrieked. He lunged at the principal and knocked him down. In the struggle, Hamelin’s harmonica slipped from his hand and slid across the cave floor, and was crushed by a falling boulder.

  While the two Everafters fought, Granny Relda said, “Girls, we have to find a way to get the others down.”

  “I have an idea,” Daphne replied. She took Granny Relda’s scissors and shoved them into her pocket, then rushed over to the unconscious frog-girl. She kneeled down and rubbed her hands all over the beast’s super-sticky skin. Then she rubbed her sneakers until they were covered in the goo, as well. Then she rushed to the wall, pressed her hands against the stone, and slowly but effortlessly climbed the wall. Each step made a squishy sound.

  “Liebling, do be careful,” Granny Relda cried.

  “That is so punk rock!” Sabrina shouted.

  When the little girl got to where Puck was trapped, she used the scissors to cut through the spider’s web. Soon Puck was free and as indignant as ever. He sprouted his wings and fluttered around the room.

  “Someone is going to pay for this,” he shouted.

  Meanwhile, Daphne went to work on Snow White. As soon as the teacher was free, Puck carried her back down to the ground safely. Soon, he was doing the same for Mayor Charming and then Sheriff Hamstead. Daphne crawled along the ceiling to the last of their group, Mr. Canis, but before she could even cut away a strand, she slipped and fell. Puck caught her just before she hit the ground.

  “I ran out of sticky stuff,” Daphne said.

  In the meantime, Hamelin had picked up the gnashing Rumpelstiltskin and thrown him violently against a wall. The little man slumped to the ground and lay very still. The piper rushed back to cradle his son. Snow White followed and crouched beside him.

  “It’s too late,” Hamelin whimpered.

  “No, it’s not,” the pretty teacher replied as she felt Wendell’s wrist. “He’s got a pulse.” Snow White took the boy, laid him flat on his back, and tilted his head up. Then she took a deep breath and blew it down the boy’s throat. Instantly, Wendell shuddered and coughed. He was alive!

  “He had some of the cobwebs in his throat,” the teacher said. “He couldn’t get any air.”

  Hamelin stroked and kissed Wendell on the forehead.

  “Dad,” the boy said, “I think I solved the mystery.”

  Hamelin laughed and sobbed at the same time. “I know you did, son! You’re a great detective!

  “Thank you! Thank you for saving my son!” the principal cried. He reached over and gave Snow White a huge kiss on the mouth. Charming was standing nearby and raised his eyebrows as Snow White blushed. Then he scowled.

  Rumpelstiltskin crawled to his feet. He looked at his fallen children and a tear rolled down his face.

  “It’s over,” Sabrina said.

  “Oh, it’s far from over,” Rumpelstiltskin said. “All I need to do is collect some more power, and there’s someone in this room that could give me enough to blow this little town off the map.”

  Sabrina had never been afraid of anything the way she was of this little man. He knew her anger, he feasted on it, and she had provided him with enough raw energy to destroy them all. But she wasn’t going to let him play with her head any longer.

  “You can’t do it,” she said. “I’m not angry anymore.”

  “True,” the little man replied. “I’ll miss your rage. It was delicious. But I’m not talking about you, child. I’m talking about the Wolf.”

  Sabrina gazed up at the skinny old man still trapped in his web prison. Even from such a distance, she could see the fear in Mr. Canis’s eyes. It was the first time she had ever seen the old man afraid of anything. It seemed to unsettle Charming, as well, because the prince stepped in front of Rumpelstiltskin with his fists clenched.

  “We’re trapped down here, troll,” Charming said. “If you pull that stupid trick of yours on the Wolf, you’ll let him out, and he’ll kill us all.”

  “No, my friend, he will save us all,” Rumpelstiltskin said. “The Wolf will bring the barrier down, freeing us from this prison! Freeing himself from his own prison, as well. Look at him—trapped inside Canis, parading around like he’s human! He’s just like us, except his barrier is his own body. It’s disgusting! We’re Everafters. We shouldn’t be acting like humans, we should be ruling over them. The Wolf will be thrilled to help. His rage will open the barrier and the world will be ours for the taking!”

  Sabrina watched Mr. Canis struggle, but the change was already coming on him. The webs ripped as the old man’s body tripled in size. A hideous roar echoed over the crumbling walls and the Wolf was free. He fell to the ground, sending a shockwave through the floor as he landed on his feet. He looked around at the desperate group and licked his lips.

  “Guess who’s back!” he snarled as he struck Charming, throwing him against a wall. The Wolf sniffed the air. “What’s for dinner? Something smells good!”

  Puck’s wings sprang from his back and he stepped in front of the Wolf.

  “What’s this? An appetizer?” the beast asked. “Relda, you sure do put on a fancy party.”

  “You know me, Wolf,” Puck said bravely. “You take another step or try to harm anyone here and you will have to answer to me.”

  The beast studied the boy for a long moment and then a chuckle came up through his throat. “Trickster,” he said, sniffing the boy. “Love will be the end of you.”

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

  The Wolf turned and eyed Sabrina. He chuckled and then turned his eyes back on the boy.

  “All right, hero. I’m going to make you famous,” the Wolf growled.

  The boy spun around on his feet and immediately transformed into an elephant. He snatched the Wolf u
p in his long trunk and smashed him against the wall. The Wolf fell to the floor, stunned.

  “Fantastic!” Rumpelstiltskin cried out. A glimmer of the blue energy began to swirl around him.

  “Puck, stop!” Sabrina cried out, but Puck was still in the moment. He transformed back into his true form and drew his wooden sword. He jammed it into the beast’s belly and the Wolf winced. Puck couldn’t know he was actually helping Rumpelstiltskin build the Wolf’s rage.

  “Stay down, dog,” the boy shouted, smacking the Wolf on the top of the head with his sword. “Or there’ll be no table scraps for you.”

  The beast opened his big blue eyes and laughed. “You’re a funny boy!” He sprang to his feet so quickly that Puck nearly fell backward. The boy’s wings erupted from his back and he flew into the air, hovering at the top of the cave. The Wolf leaped high, grabbing at the boy with his claws, missing him by only inches.

  Puck laughed and stung the beast’s paws with his sword. If it hurt, the Wolf didn’t seem to mind. His face was a combination of anger and amusement. It was horrifying to watch. Luckily, Puck seemed to be out of his reach, until the boy’s wing clipped the ceiling and he fell to the ground. The beast lunged at the boy, grabbed him in his huge claws, and opened his jaws wide. His fangs glistened in the tunnel light.

  Suddenly, Daphne was standing in front of him.

  “Stop it right now!” she demanded.

  The Wolf turned to look at the little girl with sadistic amusement. “Don’t worry, child,” the Wolf said. “You’ll get your turn to fight for your life.”

  “Daphne!” Granny cried.

  “Leave Puck alone,” Daphne said. “And let me talk to Mr. Canis.”

  The Wolf snarled. “Child, Mr. Canis is not real. There is only me.”

  “I know that’s a lie!” the little girl cried. If she was afraid, Sabrina couldn’t see it. “Mr. Canis is real because I said he is. He’s part of my family and I love him!”