Daphne's eyes welled with tears.
Sabrina hugged her sister to comfort her and to prevent the little girl from seeing the tears rolling down her own cheeks. Mr. Canis, a.k.a. the Big Bad Wolf--and her grandmother's best friend--had been trapped in an explosion that had blown up the girls' elementary school. It was part of a plot by Rumpelstiltskin, in disguise as the school counselor, to break through the barrier that kept the Everafters in Ferryport Landing. He had used the students' anger to turn himself into a human bomb, and Sabrina had been the greatest source of his power.
His plan had failed, thanks to Mr. Canis. And it was when Sabrina realized that her anger might have killed their friend that she used some borrowed magic to wish herself away from the destroyed school and to wherever her parents were. That was how she'd found herself face to face with the Jabberwocky and its mad mistress. And now she knew that Mr. Canis really was dead.
She hugged her sister harder. "It's going to be OK," she said.
Daphne quickly took a step back, crossed her arms, and forced a disapproving scowl onto her face. "You're grounded!" she said.
"What?" Despite her tears, Sabrina had to bite her lip to stop from laughing. "You heard me. You're grounded."
"What for?"
"Being a jerk," Daphne said. "Mayor Charming gave us the Little Match Girl's matches.
We were supposed to make a wish and step through the portal to save Mom and Dad together.
But you ran off all willy-nilly by yourself without even knowing what you were getting into. You're lucky you weren't killed."
It was obvious that Daphne had rehearsed this lecture many times, but the little girl's sweet face and goofy overalls made it hard for Sabrina to take her seriously.
"This is super-serious stuff," Daphne said, noticing the grin on Sabrina's face. "This isn't funny. I'm really mad. Every time something important is happening you run off on your own and leave me behind. I'm part of this family, too, you know."
"Daphne, I was worried you'd get hurt. You're only seven years old."
Daphne's face grew red with anger. "I'm glad Puck did what he did to you!"
Sabrina's grin faded. "What did Puck do?"
Daphne closed her eyes and bit her lip.
"I just want you to know it wasn't my fault," the little girl continued. "When Granny told him there was no way in the world you could pay him seven million dollars for saving your life… well, he got real angry."
"What did he do?"
"Granny says it will come off eventually," Daphne whispered. Sabrina eyed the black marker in Daphne's hand and a bubble of fear rose in her throat.
"He didn't!"
Sabrina cried. "He did," Daphne mumbled.
Sabrina stumbled out of bed and rushed to a bathroom in the far corner of the room. She stepped inside, flicked on the light, looked into the mirror, and screamed. Puck had drawn a thick mustache above her top lip that reached to the middle of her cheeks and ended in fancy curlicues. On her chin he had drawn a devilish goatee. On her forehead were the awkwardly printed words CAPTAIN DOODIEFACE. She looked like a deranged eleven-year-old pirate.
"He is so dead!"
Sabrina turned on the faucet and snatched a washcloth off the rack. Once it was good and lathered with soap, she scrubbed her face until her skin was red and raw. She
rinsed the suds off to see her progress and screamed! Puck's graffiti was still there.
"It's permanent marker," said Daphne as she stepped sheepishly into the bathroom.
Sabrina continued to scrub in vain. Eventually she gave up and angrily threw the useless washcloth into the sink. Puck had pulled some pretty terrible pranks in the past--Sabrina had woken up with a tarantula in her bed, found a boa constrictor in the shower, and even accidentally brushed her teeth with Crazy Glue--but this was the worst. "Where is that little troll?" she cried as she stomped back into the room.
"If he's smart he's hiding from the terrible wrath of Sabrina Grimm," an elderly voice said from across the room. The girls turned and saw Granny Relda standing in the doorway. She was an old woman in a sky-blue dress and a matching hat with a sunflower applique on it. Her face was a web of wrinkles but her green eyes and rosy cheeks made her look much younger. She rushed to Sabrina and wrapped her up in her arms. Daphne joined the hug.
"I saw Mom and Dad," Sabrina said, as Granny held her at arm's length to look her up and down. "They were in some kind of hospital on top of a mountain. There was a little girl in a red cloak and a monster as big as a truck. Puck says it's called a Jabberwocky."