The Fairy-Tale Detectives (The Sisters Grimm, Book 1) (19 page)

"You lost a cloak that turns you invisible in a poker game? What about the Shoes of Swiftness?"

"I hocked them."

"The Cap of Knowledge? The Goose that Laid the Golden

"Lost the cap in a game of dice. And I accidentally left the window open one day and the goose flew off."

"I suppose you sold the Sword of Sharpness?" Mirror grumbled.

"No, I still have the Sword of Sharpness," said Jack indignantly. "I just misplaced it. It's in my flat somewhere. The point is, we need the slippers. If you won't let me have them, then let one of the girls wear the shoes. It doesn't make any difference to me."

"What slippers?" Sabrina shouted. She was tired of their bickering.

"Dorothy's slippers," Jack and Mirror shouted.

"Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz?" Daphne exclaimed.

"Yes," Jack said impatiently. "They can transport you anywhere you want to go, all you have to do is . . ."

"Click three times!" Daphne cried. "Gimme the slippers!"

"Girls, I have to warn you. The slippers are very powerful magic. People have died trying to get them. There are still those . . . some in this town . . . who would slit your throats to possess them," Mirror said.

"Enough of this," Jack said, and then he did something that shocked Sabrina. He stepped into the reflection and pushed the man in the mirror aside.

"How dare you!" Mirror shouted.

"C'mon kids, keep up!" Jack said as his face appeared in the reflection.

The girls were unsure of what to do. Daphne reached up and curled her hand into her sister's. Sabrina squeezed softly and the two of them took a tentative step through the mirror. It was a cool sensation, almost as if they had been caught in a summer rainstorm, and when they finally opened their eyes, a brilliant glimmering light flooded their pupils. What they saw made Sabrina queasy. It wasn't natural. It just wasn't possible.

Sabrina had expected to walk into a reflection of the room they had been in. After all, the mirror was a mirror. But she couldn't have been more wrong. Instead she found herself in a long, wide hallway that reminded her of Grand Central Station. It was vast, with a vaulted ceiling and endless archways of glass and steel. Glowing marble columns held up the ceiling, which rose hundreds of feet above them. Breathtaking sculptures of men and monsters lined the hall. And along each wall were hundreds of doors of all shapes and sizes, some no bigger than a rabbit, others a hundred feet high. Some were wooden, others steel, and still others seemed to be made from pure light. Sabrina looked down at Granny Relda's key ring and realized what all the keys were for. Yet another of Granny's eccentricities had a legitimate explanation.

Even more startling than the gigantic room they were standing in was the man who lived in it. The face in the mirror was no longer a disembodied head, but a short, chubby little man in a black suit and tie.

"Keep your hands in your pockets, Jack," the man insisted.

"Mirror, I am shocked. Don't you trust me?" Jack said.

"I trust you about as much as the person who gave you that fat lip," said Mirror.

"What is this place?" Daphne asked.

"It's an arcane-powered, multi-phasic, trans-dimensional pocket universe," Mirror replied.

"A what-who?"

"Your grandmother calls it the world's biggest walk-in closet." The little man sighed. "It's a sort of holding area for dangerous and valuable items. I call it the Hall of Wonders, and you're not supposed to be in here."

"Oh, Mirror," Jack said. "We've learned one of your secrets. Don't worry, I'm sure you have a million more."

The little man's face flushed with anger. His fists clenched and he looked as if he might hit Jack, but the giant killer just ignored him.

"All right, Mirror, where are the slippers?" Jack asked impatiently.

"This way," Mirror said, gesturing for them to follow. He walked down the long hall past many doors. The plaque on one read FAIRY GODMOTHER WANDS while the next read TALKING PLANTS. As they continued down the hallway, they found more doors labeled: POISONOUS FRUITS, DRAGON EGGS, IMPOSSIBLE ANIMALS, WISHING WELLS, CRYSTAL BALLS, CURSED TREASURE, SCROLLS AND PROPHESIES, and on and on and on. Passing one massive door, the group jumped as violent pounding from within threatened to knock it off its hinges. Something on the other side wanted out, something named GRENDEL.

The group pressed on down the hallway where they finally stopped at a door that read MAGIC SHOES.

"Here we are," Mirror said reluctantly. "But I must once again remind you that magic is dangerous. There's a reason why the Everafters asked this family to look after all of these things. Magic in the wrong hands only leads to chaos."

"We'll be careful," said Sabrina as she knelt down to the lock. It was a simple one that would take a skeleton key, but Granny's key ring had dozens of skeleton keys. Sabrina tried the first one and it failed. She tried another; still nothing.

"Let me try," Jack said impatiently.

"I've got it," Sabrina snapped. She turned another key, and this time the lock opened. The door swung wide and everyone entered.

The room was simple, but its contents were amazing. Along the walls were hundreds of pairs of shoes: cowboy boots, woven sandals, wooden clogs, leather moccasins, and many more, all displayed on wooden shelves. Some of the shoes seemed as if they had been made for animals, while others were big enough for the entire group to stand in. One golden pair had downy, white wings that flapped as if the shoes were alive, and another glittering pair were made of pure glass.

Jack picked up the pair of shoes with wings, but the little man promptly smacked his hand and snatched them from his grip. After replacing the shoes, Mirror crossed the room, picked up a pair of sparkling silver slippers, and handed them to Sabrina.

"Try to take better care of these than you did the magic carpet," he said gruffly.

If these were the famous ruby slippers, they were more silver than red, though in the light Sabrina saw hints of a warm, rosy color. She couldn't figure out what they were made of, but if forced to guess, she would say they were tinfoil.

"Put them on, child," the little man said.

"They're way too small," Sabrina said as she eyed the shoes.

"One size fits all, duck," Jack said.

Sabrina yanked off her sneakers and slid her foot inside one of the slippers, which magically grew in size and fit her foot perfectly. Once she had the other one on, an odd energy crept up her legs and filled her whole body.

Just then, Jack darted out of the room and across the hall.

"Jack!" the little man shouted after him, but Jack didn't listen. When they finally found him, the giant killer was eyeing a door with a plaque that read MAGIC BEANS.

"I can't believe you have a whole room of them!" he shouted with glee.

"We might be bending the rules on the slippers, but those are off-limits to the likes of you!" Mirror said.

"How about a peek?" Jack pleaded. He suddenly looked like a lost little boy. "These things are part of my past. Can't a man take a walk down memory lane?"

Sabrina could see his expression, and all at once she felt sorry for him. Jack was a man whom the whole world had loved. He had seen amazing things and lived life to the fullest, but being trapped in Ferryport Landing had put an end to all of it. It dawned on Sabrina that Ferryport Landing might have been the home of many of the world's fairy-tale creatures, but it was also a prison they were never allowed to leave. It didn't seem right.

Sabrina pulled out the keys, knelt down, eyed the keyhole, and within seconds opened the door. Jack pushed past her into the tiny room, where a single mason jar sat on a table. Inside it was a collection of little white beans.

Jack gasped and picked up the jar. "There must be a hundred of them."

Mirror snatched the jar out of his hand and placed it back on the table.

"These things are dangerous. If you dropped them on the floor we'd be ear-deep in giants."

Jack scowled for a moment and looked as if he were ready to fight for his treasure, but he took a deep breath and his anger vanished, only to be replaced with a boyish grin.

"Thanks, Grimms, you don't know what you've done for me," he said.

Mirror hurried everyone back through the door.

"Well, ladies, now that we've got the shoes, we need the proper disguises," Jack said. "I think a little fairy godmother magic will do the trick."

"Wands are over here," Mirror said, leading them down the hallway. They stopped at the door labeled FAIRY GODMOTHER WANDS and Sabrina unlocked it. Inside, a small black cauldron sat on a tiny table, with several skinny sticks popping out of the top. Mirror reached into the pot and removed one that had a glittery glass star on the end, and handed it to Sabrina.

"The first magical item your family ever had to confiscate," Mirror said.

"I remember old Wilhelm Grimm trying to get that away from her." Jack laughed. "Girls, I'll say one thing about your family. They are brave. Fairy godmothers are sweet as pie on the outside, but try to take away their wands and they can get downright mean."

"Indeed," Mirror said.

"How does this work?" Sabrina asked.

Mirror frowned. "I can't believe your father!" he cried. "I'd hoped that your mother, Veronica, might at least give you the basics behind his back. Very well, this is the changing wand used by Cinderella's fairy godmother. It will alter your clothes, shoes, even your bodies, in any way you want."

"Charming's ball is going to be filled to the rafters with Everafters," Jack said. "You're going to go in as one of them."

Daphne smiled. "I know what I want to be! I want to be the Tin Woodsman!"

"Are you sure, honey?" the little man in the mirror asked. "Tin is so last season."

Daphne nodded enthusiastically.

"Very well, it's your fashion funeral," he said. "Sabrina, just say 'Tin Woodsman,' make three small circles with the wand, and then tap her on the head."

"OK," Sabrina said. "Tin Woodsman!" She made three awkward circles in the air and then smacked her sister on the head with the wand. Daphne squealed in pain and rubbed the spot, but as she was rubbing, a miraculous change began to occur. Her skin took on a silvery tone. She grew several feet taller and her clothes faded, only to be replaced by gears and joints. Her hair retreated into her scalp and a shiny funnel took its place. Sabrina blinked her eyes to be sure they weren't playing tricks on her, but she knew they weren't. Her sister had become the Tin Woodsman.

"That hurt," Daphne cried as her hand scraped against her new metallic head. Hearing the screech of metal in her ears, she looked at her hand and squealed in delight. She walked around the hall, squeaking with every step. "Look at me!"

"Spitting image," Jack said.

Daphne took the wand from her sister. "OK, who do you want to be?"

Sabrina was stumped. She realized she had to choose wisely. She needed to be inconspicuous at the ball, someone small and unnoticeable, and someone who could be very, very sneaky.

"OK, I was thinking ..."

"I know, Momma Bear!" the little girl interrupted and before Sabrina could stop her, she had performed the circles and was cracking her big sister on the head.

Sabrina felt the transformation immediately, as if her body was being inflated. Her clothes disappeared and were replaced with a bright, pink-and-white polka-dotted dress that ended well above her knee. She looked down at her humongous arms and groaned as hair exploded from every pore. Fangs burst from the top of her mouth and razor-sharp claws sprang from her fingernails and toenails. She could feel them scratching at the insides of the ruby slippers, which had expanded to fit her new size-twenty-six feet. When the transformation was complete, Daphne giggled.

"You did that on purpose!" Sabrina growled.

"You are so cute!" Daphne cried as she threw her metal arms around her sister and gave her a big hug. "I could just eat you!"

"Well, no one's going to see the two of you coming," Jack moaned, though it was obvious he found the whole thing funny.

"Girls, you realize there's a timer with this magic. When the clock strikes nine o'clock, you're going to change back. Do you understand?" Mirror lectured.

"Nine o'clock? I thought it was midnight. Cinderella had until midnight," Sabrina argued.

"Cinderella was seventeen years old. You are eleven. There's no way your grandmother would approve of you staying out until the wee hours of the morning."

"We're trying to save her life," Sabrina pointed out.

"Still, children should not be allowed out that late, thus, your magic wears off at nine," Mirror said.

"That doesn't give us much time, it's seven o'clock right now," Jack said, eyeing his wristwatch.

Mirror took the wand from Daphne and put it back into the pot. He led the group out of the room, closed the door, and, when Sabrina couldn't manage, locked it with Granny's keys.

"One last thing," Jack said. "You don't happen to have any walkie-talkies in this place, do you?"