The Fairy-Tale Detectives (The Sisters Grimm, Book 1) (13 page)

"Books on giants . . . where would they be?" she said to herself. Puck and Daphne got up to join her, and together they scanned the bookcases.

"Look!" Daphne said.

Sabrina looked closely at the shelves Daphne was pointing to. They seemed to hold a collection of diaries. She took one down and read the title: Fairy-Tale Accounts 1942—1965, by Edwin Alvin Grimm.

"There's a book here for everyone in our family, I guess, including this one," said Daphne as she pulled one from the shelf and handed it to her sister. Sabrina almost dropped it when she eyed the title: Fairy-Tale Accounts by Henry Grimm. It was a book written by their father! She flipped through it, recognizing her dad's neat handwriting. She ran a finger along the short circles his words made, tracing his hand's movement from when he had put the words on paper. She turned more pages, feeling more of him in his words—not bothering to read, just taking comfort in knowing that he had once held the book.

"Let me see," Daphne said as she snatched the book from her sister's hands.

"You're wasting your time with these stupid books. I'm the smartest person I know and I've never read a book in my life. We should all be out looking," Puck said.

"If you want to go, there's nothing keeping you here," Sabrina said as she snatched her father's book back from Daphne. The two girls rushed to the dining room table and hovered over the slightly dusty journal. They flipped to the first page. A color photograph of Mayor Charming, dressed in royal gowns of purple-and-white silk, stared back at them. He wore a sapphire-and-diamond crown and a dazzling ruby ring on each finger. He smiled smugly, as if he thought very highly of himself.

Elvis sauntered into the room and licked Sabrina's hand. He spied Charming's picture and growled.

"Don't worry, Elvis! He can't get us now," Daphne said. Sabrina read aloud what her father had written.

"He's rebuilding his kingdom," Sabrina said as she flipped to the next page. There she found more interesting facts. "It's all in here. Listen to this."

"But what's that got to do with giants? And if he wanted to buy the farm, why did he send that Mr. Englishman to do the work?" Daphne asked.

"I believe that Mr. Englishman and Mayor Charming are the same person. Charming does have an English accent. He could have worn a disguise so Mr. Applebee wouldn't recognize him as the mayor," Sabrina said.

"I bet you're right!" her sister said.

"But where does the giant come in?" Sabrina wondered aloud.

"In the old days, giants and people used to work together all the time," Puck said, stealing the purple apple from Sabrina's plate and chomping on it.

"They did?"

"Oh yeah, giants are pretty dumb," the boy said. "From what I hear you can pretty much talk them into anything."

"He's right." Daphne was poring over a large book entitled Anatomy of a Giant. "I don't know what this word is," she said.

"How is it spelled?"

"A-L-L-I-A-N-C-E-S."

"It's alliances; it means to team up or join a group," Sabrina explained.

"It says that in olden days people used to form all-all . . ."

"Alliances."

"... alliances with giants to destroy their enemies. People found that giants were very dumb and could be easily tricked."

"Charming's using the giant to scare people off their land. Anyone that won't sell gets squashed!" Sabrina cried.

"But you said he used Glinda to erase the farmer's mind, right?" Puck interrupted.

"Yes."

"Well, why would he do that? Why would he want the farmer to forget to be afraid?"

"And don't forget the lens cap," Daphne added. "If he were trying to scare them off, why would he want to videotape it? I don't think I'd want any proof of what I'd done if it were me."

Sabrina didn't have any more answers.

"Let me finish," her sister said, looking down at the book. "It also says that rarely do these all-all ..."

"Alliances."

"Yeah, it says they usually backfire. In most cases, the human was eaten by the giant or dragged off to the giant kingdom to be a slave. There's a story here about a giant kidnapping a princess for an evil baron, and before the baron could collect a ransom from her family, the giant ate her," Daphne said quietly. "It says the townspeople used hound dogs to track down the giant because giants have a strong smell. When they caught him, he nearly killed the entire town before they could bring him down."

The girls spent a moment looking into each other's worried eyes. What if the giant had eaten Granny and Mr. Canis? What if he was eating them as they wasted time doing research?

"It says when giants got out of hand, the townspeople sent a hero to kill the giant for them," Daphne read. "His name was Jack and in his prime, he killed more than ten giants, stole treasure from the giant kingdom, and was world-famous."

Sabrina turned her attention back to her father's journal. She flipped through more of its pages until she found an envelope stuffed inside.

"What's this?" she wondered aloud.

Daphne got up from her chair and walked around the table to look.

"It says To Sabrina, Daphne, and Puck. From Granny Relda," Sabrina said.

"See! I told you I knew her!" Puck cried.

"Read it," Daphne begged.

Sabrina tore open the letter and began to read.

"She wants us to go into the room?" Puck said in amazement. "I've been trying to get in there since the day she told me it was off-limits!"

"Cool! That's where she got that giant-detector she used at the farm," Daphne cried. "I bet the place is filled to the ceiling with stuff we can use to rescue them!"

"Staring us in the face? What does that mean?" Sabrina said, but before she knew it, her little sister was halfway up the stairs with the key ring in her hand.

"Wait up!" Sabrina shouted, taking the stairs two at a time. By the time she got to the top, Daphne was already trying keys.

"I bet she's got a shrink-ray in here. We'll shrink him down to the size of an ant and stomp on him," the younger girl said.

"Hurry," Sabrina said.

Puck flew up the stairs and grabbed the keys out of Daphne's hands.

"Royalty first, peasant."

"She gave these keys to us," Sabrina snapped, snatching the keys from him.

"A set of keys you have no idea how to use!" Puck shouted, taking them back.

"Puck, give me those keys!"

"No!"

"Listen Puck, don't make me do something you're going to regret."

"I've fought tougher guys than you, Grimm. Though most of them had better-smelling breath!"

"WHAT IS GOING ON OUT THERE?"
a voice suddenly boomed from behind the door. It startled them all so much that they fell backward onto the floor.

"Did you hear that?" Daphne whispered.

"Everyone heard that," Sabrina and Puck replied.

"KNOCK OFF THAT RACKET RIGHT NOW!"
the voice shouted angrily.

"Maybe it's the sheriff? Maybe he got into the house somehow?" Daphne whispered.

"Hamstead would have just come down and grabbed us," her sister said. "Besides, Elvis isn't freaking out."

"Then who is it?" Puck said.

"Granny locks that door for a reason. If there's someone in that room, Granny doesn't want them going anywhere. They might be dangerous," Sabrina warned.

"I'm not afraid!" the boy cried.

"I have an idea," Daphne said. She took Puck and Sabrina's hands and led them back down the stairs and into the kitchen.

•   •   •

Within minutes, the girls and Puck were standing at the bottom of the stairs again. Each was wearing a metal spaghetti strainer as a mighty battle helmet. Daphne wore an ancient washing board on her chest and had duct-taped huge metal spoons to each kneecap as protection from unfair kicks. She held a frying pan as her weapon. Sabrina had a pressure cooker lid taped to her behind. She held a wok pan for a shield and a rolling pin for a club. She swung it, preparing to whack whomever might be on the other side of the door. Puck had his trusty sword in one hand and a carrot peeler in the other. He'd found a couple of cookie pans to tape to his chest and back, and his feet were encased in oven mitts.

The big dog stood behind them with an odd, confused expression.