“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.