The Everafter War (18 page)

“Well, I have to admit it’s the most unusual case I’ve ever heard. I mean, I don’t think anyone who’s ever been placed under a sleeping spell happened to be pregnant at the time.”

“Pregnant!” the girls cried, then clapped their hands over their mouths. But it was too late. Nurse Sprat and Veronica were already standing over them, hands on hips, with looks of disapproval on their faces.

eronica snatched the girls by the pajamas and pulled them into the tent.

“You’re going to have a baby?” Sabrina cried.

“I’m going to be a big sister, finally!” Daphne crowed.

“Girls, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. This is very early. All kinds of things could happen,” Veronica said.

“She’s right, girls,” Nurse Sprat said. “The miracle of life is the most unpredictable magic there is, so we don’t want you to get your hopes up just yet.”

“You knew you were having a baby before you and Dad were kidnapped?” Sabrina asked.

Veronica nodded. “I invited your father to meet me after work so I could tell him the good news. We met at the carousel in Central Park. Last thing I remember, my friend Oz was rushing down the hill toward us, and then we woke up in Ferryport Landing.”

“Oz! If I could get my hands on him,” Daphne said, stepping into her warrior stance. “He’s not your friend at all.”

“But you’ve been asleep for almost two years. Do you think something’s wrong with the baby?” Sabrina asked her mother.

“We don’t know,” Nurse Sprat said. “I don’t have a lot of experience with sleeping spells, but I know that being put under one is not the ideal way to grow a baby. All we can hope is that the baby slept as well. Most of the victims of these spells report that they didn’t age a day while they slept. Briar Rose, God rest her soul, was asleep for a hundred years and she didn’t age a day. But she was an Everafter, of course.”

Veronica nodded. “Girls, this has to be our secret, OK? If something is wrong I don’t want your father to know. He’s already blaming all the world’s problems on Everafters. If he found out we lost our child because of one he might do something rash.”

“Like fight a dozen hobgoblins at once,” Sabrina said.

“Exactly,” Veronica said with a sigh. “He’s dead set on escaping this town. I don’t need him dragging us through the woods again.”

“I won’t say a word,” Sabrina said.

“You can trust us,” Daphne added, pretending to lock her lips with an imaginary key she then tossed behind her shoulder.

“So, Mrs. Sprat,” Veronica said, turning back to the nurse. “How can we find out if my baby is OK?”

“Well, unfortunately I don’t have all the fancy machines like the hospital, but I did manage to grab some essential supplies before the Hand burned it down. I have a simple test that will tell us for sure. All I need is a blood sample.”

Sabrina’s mother rolled up her sleeve as Nurse Sprat prepared a needle. She wiped Veronica’s arm with an alcohol-soaked cotton ball and pierced the vein at the crease of her arm. The crimson blood slowly filled the vial. When the nurse had what she needed, she removed the needle and applied a bandage to the wound.

“I’ll have some news in three days,” the nurse said, removing the vial of blood from the plunger and carefully labeling it with Veronica’s name. “In the meantime, take it easy. Get some rest and stay off your feet. And let me know if you get a craving for pickles and ice cream.”

Sabrina followed her mother and sister out of the medical tent. She felt like she had a million happy questions to ask but also knew that her mother was nervous and didn’t want to discuss the baby. Daphne was so happy she was skipping across the courtyard, but her silence told Sabrina she must have come to the same conclusion.

“Girls, come here,” Veronica said, pulling Sabrina and Daphne close to her. The three Grimm women hugged tightly.

“Mom, look,” Daphne said. Sabrina turned to see where her sister was pointing. There, lying next to the fresh grave of Briar Rose, was Uncle Jake. He was sleeping with one of the roses resting on his chest.

Veronica frowned. “He really loved her.”

Sabrina nodded. “The way you and Dad love each other.”

Just then, Red Riding Hood came rushing out of Mr. Canis’s cabin with the old man hobbling behind her. The little girl looked terrified and was sobbing uncontrollably.

“What’s wrong?” Veronica said, swooping the girl into her arms.

“We’ve had a breakthrough,” Mr. Canis said.

“He’s everywhere,” Red cried. “He can see us wherever we are.”

“Who are you talking about?” Daphne asked.

“The Master. I remembered him!”

“You know who he is?” Sabrina asked hopefully.

“No! Just his eyes! I saw his eyes. They were everywhere I went, watching me.”

Red buried her face into Veronica’s shirt and sobbed.

At that moment there was a terrible explosion. Sabrina turned to find the newly built water tower on fire and in the process of toppling over. It slammed into the ground and cracked open like a cantaloupe, spilling hundreds of gallons of water into the courtyard. Everyone was swept away by the flood and dragged nearly to the other end of the fort before they regained control of themselves. Sabrina scampered to her feet and was about to help her family and friends do the same when she saw a figure dart away from the water tower. It was too dark to identify him, but she saw where he went.

“I’ll be right back,” Daphne said, racing after the saboteur.

“Daphne, no!” Veronica cried, but the little girl ignored her.

“I’ll get her,” Sabrina said, rushing into the shadows after her sister. The fort was not well lit, especially after the explosion, and for much of the chase Sabrina was running in total darkness. She listened for Daphne’s footsteps, racing around a corner at the far end of the wall, and then backtracked beside the medical tent and along the obstacle course. Sabrina lost her in the maze of equipment, but when she heard Daphne shouting she turned toward the noise and ran. She found her sister standing before the high fort wall with her hands on her hips.

“Where is he?” Sabrina asked.

Daphne shrugged. “He either went over the wall,” which Sabrina could see was over fifteen feet high, “or through that hole.”

Sabrina spotted a small opening at the base of the wall. A portion of the timber had broken. No one could have crawled through it—at least, no one human. It was too small for even a child. Sabrina scowled. Whether the villain had flown out or shrunk himself, it didn’t matter. He was gone.

Charming appeared to supervise the cleanup of the water tower and the mess it had left behind. A small handful of Everafters came out of the tents to investigate, and Charming told them there had been a small accident and there was nothing to worry about. They seemed to believe his story and drifted back to their sleeping bags.

“What did you see, child?” Charming asked.

“He was small and fast,” Daphne said. “I couldn’t see him clearly in the darkness.”

Charming frowned and walked away.

Veronica led the girls back into the Hall of Wonders where the rest of their family was still asleep. No one inside the mirror had heard the explosion. Veronica helped her daughters back into their sleeping bags and after a quick lecture about the dangers of running after bad guys in the dark, she kissed them both on the forehead and wished the girls a good night.

Wrapped in her sleeping bag, Sabrina dreamed of naked babies flying in and out of clouds. Their rosy cheeks beamed like tiny suns and the sky was filled with giggles that transformed into tiny hearts and flowers. Sabrina had never cared much for babies before—they were smelly and always covered in food. But the idea of having another little brother or sister was exciting. It was a wonder she could sleep at all. Unfortunately, her lovely dreams were interrupted by a loud huffing sound and the sudden sensation of something moist and slippery rubbing against her cheek. Without opening her eyes she made an educated guess about who was bothering her.

“Elvis, I’m sleeping. Go get Daphne to feed you,” Sabrina grumbled and pulled her sleeping bag up over her head. For a moment she was sure the big dog was going to let her drift back to sleep but with a sudden jerk her pillow was yanked out from under her head and her skull rattled against the cold marble floor. Pain rocketed from her temples around her head. Angry and aching, Sabrina sat up spewing threats of trips to the dog pound when she realized that the culprit behind her pillow’s theft was not the Great Dane but an enormous white stallion hovering ten feet off the ground. Two powerful wings kept it aloft. Sabrina recognized it as one of the Pegasi the family had lent Charming’s army. Behind it hovered a dozen more that looked like identical copies, aside from the fact that the one chewing on her pillow also had a rider. Sabrina snarled. Puck was sitting on its back looking as if he was about to open his biggest Christmas present.

“What’s the big idea?” Sabrina demanded.

“I declared war on you, remember?” Puck said.

Sabrina rolled her eyes. “Is this another one of your stupid pranks?”

Puck sniffed. “You have contaminated me with your puberty virus and you called my villainy into question.”

“First of all, puberty isn’t a virus,” Sabrina said as she fought a tug of war with the Pegasus for her now rather damp pillow. “Secondly, I’m sorry if I gave the itty-bitty baby the boo-boo face. Do you want me to give you a hug?”

Puck curled his lip in anger.

“Oh, now the baby is cranky. Perhaps we should put him down for a nap?”

“We’ll see who’s laughing soon enough,” Puck said. “You see these flying horses?”

“Duh!”

“These horses have a very special diet,” Puck said. “For the last two days they have eaten nothing but chili dogs and prune juice.”

Sabrina heard a rumble coming from Puck’s horse. It was so loud it drowned out the sound of its beating wings. Sabrina couldn’t tell if the churn or the sound of the churn was worse for the Pegasus but it whined a bit and its eyes bulged nervously.

Puck continued. “Now, chili dogs and prune juice are a hard combination on a person’s belly. It can keep a human being on the toilet for a week. Imagine what would happen if I fed chili dogs and prune juice to an eight-hundred-and-fifty-pound flying horse. Oh, wait a minute! You don’t have to imagine it. I
did
feed chili dogs and prune juice to an eight-hundred-and-fifty-pound flying horse. In fact, I fed all of them the same thing!”