The Fairy-Tale Detectives (The Sisters Grimm, Book 1) (25 page)

"Not nearly as bad as it must feel to know they don't care if you are alive," the Wolf snarled as it rolled over on top of Jack. "Maybe they'll notice when I leave your rotting corpse hanging in the town square. That is, after I've eaten all the juicy parts."

Jack thrust his knee into the Wolf's belly, knocking the wind out of it, and giving the young man the chance to throw the beast off. He crawled to his feet and picked up Excalibur.

"Even the tiniest scratch will send you on your way, mongrel," Jack warned. He rushed forward, pushed the beast against a tree, and held the lethal blade to its neck. "Perhaps they will now call me Jack the Legend Killer, as well."

Sabrina looked to her grandmother and saw the worry in her face. She knew Jack was going to win, and then he would turn on them. How would the three of them fight him off? But suddenly, above the snarling and fighting, she heard an odd sound, as if someone had just played some notes on a flute. At first, Sabrina thought she might have imagined it, but then a swarm of pixies darted out of the woods and surrounded Jack. He cried in pain with every little sting and soon blood began to leak from all over his body.

"No one likes a bragger," Puck said as he floated down from the trees and rested on a branch above the fighting.

"Puck!" Daphne cried. "You really are a hero!"

"Hush, you'll ruin my reputation," Puck replied.

In vain, Jack tried to brush the pixies off, swatting at them wildly with little result and dropping the sword in his struggle.

"Old lady, are you well?" Puck asked as he floated to the ground. "I tried to tell Sabrina that Jack couldn't be trusted but she wouldn't listen. She's very stubborn and stupid."

"I'm sure Sabrina had her reasons, Puck," Granny replied as she winked at her granddaughter. "But before we can celebrate, Jack has a jar in his coat we need."

Puck smiled, took out his flute, and played a quick, sharp note. One lone pixie left the others and buzzed around the boy's head.

"We need to get that jar away from him," Puck said. The little light blinked as if to say yes, and zipped into the storm of pixies tormenting Jack. Suddenly, a small group of them flew into his jacket and collectively carried the jar of magic beans away.

"No!" Jack cried in panic, swatting and swinging wildly at the pixies. Seeing his prize carried off, he desperately grasped for the jar, only managing to knock it to the ground, sending shards of glass and beans in all directions.

"Oh, dear," Granny gasped.

The Wolf fell over as if it was having a fight with itself.

"I'm not going back inside, old man!" the beast bellowed. It groaned and complained as it transformed back into Mr. Canis. The old man was exhausted and broken. He had a worried look on his face.

"We have to get the children out of here," Mr. Canis gasped.

Suddenly, the Action Four News van came careening through the woods and stopped. The doors slid open and Wilma Faye got out, followed by her cameraman. The reporter fixed her business suit, checked her hair in a small compact mirror, and then turned to face the girls.

"Girls, I'm Wilma Faye from Action Four News. We heard there was a story out here tonight," the woman said, but her words were drowned out by a horrible rumbling. The little white beans were taking root. They dug deep into the forest's soil and instantly a hundred little green sprouts popped out of the ground. The sprouts grew at an alarming rate, becoming vines and then stalks that jockeyed among one other for space.  They soared higher and higher into the air until it seemed they would touch the moon itself.

The cameraman tapped Wilma Faye on the shoulder and the reporter turned around.

"What is it?" she said impatiently.

The cameraman pointed up and Wilma's eyes followed. Above her were dozens of angry giants quickly climbing down the beanstalks. The cameraman pointed his camera into the air, flipped a switch, and a bright light mounted on the camera lit up their faces.

"Are you getting this?" Wilma asked, panicking.

"I'm getting it!" the cameraman shouted.

"What have you done?" Jack bellowed.

"You wanted giants, Jack. You're going to get your wish," Granny Relda said, as the first giant planted a foot on the forest floor. Dozens and dozens of them followed, all in all nearly a hundred, knocking over trees that had been growing for centuries. Each one of the giants was uglier than the last and all of them had murder in their eyes.

One of the most gnarled of the bunch stepped forward. It let out an ear-shattering roar and pounded on its chest.

"Fe, fi, fo, fum, I smell the blood of that murderous Englishman!" the giant bellowed at Jack, sending his hair flapping behind him.

"I didn't kill your brother, it was the girl," the young man cried, pointing a shaky finger at Sabrina. "Sabrina Grimm killed him!"

The giants looked down at Sabrina with suspicious eyes. One ducked his head down, shoving it into the girls' faces. His nostrils blasted hot air into their clothes.

"Lies!" the giant bellowed, spraying Sabrina and Daphne with its hot, snotty breath. "These are children. They could not kill one of us!"

As the giant swooped down and grabbed Jack in his huge, grimy hand, Granny Relda stepped forward. "What do you plan on doing with him?" she asked the giant, as if she were talking to an ordinary person.

"Crush his bones to paste and eat him with some bread, Grimm." The giant grunted. "Or maybe we will pull his little limbs off one by one and see if he screams."

"You'll do nothing of the sort," Granny Relda replied. "Take him to your queen. She'll decide what to do with him."

"Help me, Relda!" Jack cried. "Don't let them take me!"

Granny Relda lowered her eyes. "I cannot deny them their justice. I only hope they are more merciful with you than you have been with them."

Jack saw the futility of his words, and calmed himself, then he laughed, almost insanely. "Do you think I did this all on my own?" he ranted. "Where do you think I got the first magic bean? They've got Henry and Veronica. The Scarlet Hand is coming and your days are numbered!"

The giants ignored Jack's threats and turned back toward their beanstalks. A few leaned down and gingerly picked up their dead brother. They carried him on their shoulders as they climbed up the beanstalks and disappeared into the cold night air, just as three squad cars roared into the clearing with lights and sirens going. Flying high above the police were Glinda in her bubble and Hansel and Gretel's Frau Pfefferkuchenhaus on her broom. They sent a stream of fire that lit the bases of the beanstalks, setting them all ablaze.

Hamstead got out of his car and, along with Boarman and Swineheart, rushed to the family's side.

"I hope that you are OK, Relda," Hamstead said.

"Of course, thank you very much, Sheriff," Granny replied.

"You've got some pretty smart grandchildren," Hamstead said, smiling at Puck, Sabrina, and Daphne. "Not ones to let a man explain anything, and not so easy on my wardrobe, but I suppose they're pretty smart."

He reached his hand out and Sabrina shook it. Daphne did the same.

"In the future, kids, remember, we're the good guys," Hamstead said. "If you'll excuse me, I have to confiscate a little evidence."

The sheriff looked at Mr. Canis and nodded his head.

"Wolf," he said with an odd respect.

"Pig," Canis replied, returning the gesture.

Hamstead excused himself again and approached the cameraman and the reporter. He said something to them and they immediately began to argue. The portly sheriff grabbed the camera and tried to remove the videotape inside. He managed to take it out and break it in half, but got several whacks on the head from Wilma Faye's microphone for his efforts.

"What about the reporters?" Daphne asked.

"Glinda will make sure they don't remember a thing," Charming said as he entered the clearing. He was rubbing his head and placing his phone back in his pocket.

Mr. Canis stepped closer to the family as Charming stopped in front of the girls.

"Relda, your grandchildren are as meddlesome as you are," the prince continued. "But they were helpful in putting an end to Jack's plan."

"Your Majesty," Relda chirped happily, "are you suggesting that the Grimms might be useful in this town?"

"Hardly," Charming growled. He turned to the girls and looked at them darkly. "Remember what I said about tomorrow, children." He spun around and made a beeline for the sheriff.

Daphne and Sabrina hugged their grandmother around the waist and burst into a torrent of happy tears. Granny Relda leaned down and covered the girls in kisses.

"Lieblings, are you OK?" she asked.

This time, Sabrina didn't feel like pulling away from the old woman. This time, Granny's hug felt like home.

"I'm OK," Sabrina said, fighting back more tears.

"We're sorry we almost got you killed," Daphne said. "We're not very good detectives."

"Nonsense!" Granny Relda laughed as she led them to the car. "You rescued Mr. Canis and me and managed to prevent a serious catastrophe. I say the two of you are first-rate detectives. We should celebrate. Does anyone have any ideas?"

Sabrina eased back into her seat. "I'd really just like to get out of these clothes," she said, looking down at the monkey hanging from the tree on her sweatshirt.

HANG IN THERE, it read.

•   •   •

Elvis woke the girls the next morning with loving licks on their faces. Luckily, Jack had not hurt the dog too badly. His ribs were bruised and he would have to wear a bandage on bis side until the veterinarian could remove his stitches. But the only thing that seemed to truly hurt was Elvis's pride. Daphne apologized to him for not paying attention to his clue and promised that his opinion would always be considered in the future.

Granny greeted them at the dining room table with more of her unusual culinary treats. That morning, they enjoyed blue scrambled eggs, some little orange nuts, home fried potatoes soaked in sparkly green gravy, and wedges of tomato. Mr. Canis was still in his room and Puck was nowhere in sight.

"Is Mr. Canis OK?" Daphne asked.

"He will be," Granny Relda replied. "I'm sure he'll be happy to hear you are concerned."

"Where's Puck?"

Granny Relda smiled. "He'll be here soon."

After breakfast, the three Grimms went to the mall and bought the girls a dozen outfits apiece. Even Granny found a new hat with a sunflower on it that matched a yellow dress she said she hadn't worn in years. Sabrina suggested they burn their orange monkey sweaters and blue heart-covered pants but Daphne refused. Granny took Sabrina aside and apologized for the outfit, saying that Mr. Canis might not have been the right choice to shop for girls. After all, he was color-blind.

When they got home, Granny had presents for them. The girls unwrapped them quickly and found they each had a brand-new, cloth-bound book, just like the one in which their father had kept his journal. The covers had their names stenciled in gold with the words FAIRY-TALE ACCOUNTS above them. When Sabrina opened hers, she found there was nothing inside, only hundreds of blank pages.

"As your father and generations of Grimms before him did, it is your responsibility to put on paper what you see, so that future generations can know what you went through," Granny said. "We are Grimms. This is what we do."

The rest of the day, the girls scribbled what had happened into the books. They picked each other's brains for anything they might have forgotten and when they were finished, Sabrina tucked the picture of her family inside her journal's pages. Together, the girls rushed downstairs and placed their books alongside their father's on the shelf reserved for their family.

"Girls, I'd like to show you something else," Granny said. The girls followed her up the stairs, where she unlocked Mirror's room. The little man's face was in the glass again and he smiled when the old woman and the girls entered.

"Good afternoon, Relda," Mirror said.

"Good afternoon. I do hope you are feeling better," Granny replied.

"Much better. The bruises look worse than they felt," Mirror said.

"That's nice to know," the old woman said. She turned to the girls and took their hands. "Would you like to see your parents?"

Sabrina's heart nearly jumped from her chest.

"Is it possible?" she asked.

Granny turned back to the mirror. "Mirror, mirror, near and far," she said aloud. "Show us where their parents are."

The mirror misted over and two figures slowly appeared in the reflection. When the mist cleared, Sabrina saw her parents, Henry and Veronica, lying on a bed in a dark room. They were very still, with their eyes closed.

"They're dead," Sabrina said, before she could stop herself.

"No, not dead," Granny Relda corrected her. "Just sleeping."

"We lost one of Dorothy's slippers," Daphne cried. "We could have used them to rescue Mom and Dad."

Sabrina's face flushed with regret.

"Liebling, don't you think I have tried the slippers and everything else inside the mirror?" Granny Relda sighed. "This Scarlet Hand, whoever they are, used strong magic to take your