The Everafter War (22 page)

“I think some of them did,” Sabrina said, recalling the talking goat who had nearly killed her while steering the flying carpet earlier.

Mirror chuckled. “Don’t miss that spot over there,” he said. “I like to keep this place sparkling. One of these days
Architectural Digest
is going to want to take pictures. I plan on being ready.”

“I guess you’re not used to so many people in here,” Sabrina said.

Mirror shook his head. “Not that I mind visitors. The hall can actually get quite lonesome at times, but this has been unprecedented—all these wannabe soldiers running around leaving their filthy fingerprints on everything. And I thought Puck was a mess.”

“So you just clean when we aren’t around?” Sabrina asked. She had never once wondered about her friend’s personal life.

“Oh no, I keep myself busy with my little projects,” he said. “So, why aren’t you with your family?”

“I’m looking for my dad,” Sabrina said. “He’s pretty uspet.”

“I took him back to the house. Give me a second and I’ll take you.”

They swept and mopped until the room was sparkling, then stepped into the hall and boarded the trolley. Mirror took the driver’s seat while Sabrina stood nearby, holding a strap hanging from the roof. In no time they were zipping down the hall.

“In all the fuss I haven’t had a chance to say how sorry I am about Briar. I know she was important to you and your family. It was a terrible tragedy,” Mirror said.

Sabrina nodded and tried not to cry.

“Not to mention the return of your parents. It must be particularly hard on you to hear them bickering.”

“You’re reading my mind,” Sabrina said.

“If I said your sister’s attitude was bothering you, too, would I qualify as a full-fledged psychic?”

Sabrina smiled. “You’ve been paying attention.”

“I see everything that goes on around here,” Mirror said.

“I’m sorry that Uncle Jake snapped at you,” she said. “He’s very …”

“He’s upset, Sabrina, and he has a right to be. Just like you do.”

And then it dawned on Sabrina. She was angry. It wasn’t fair to have suffered for so long only to have her parents wake up to chaos. She had done what she was supposed to do: She grew up. Took the responsibility of looking after her sister. Even learned to appreciate her family’s legacy and responsibility. She had done all this in the hope that there would be something at the end that made all her struggling worth it. But that’s not what happened. She felt cheated.

“Starfish, do you believe in happy endings?” Mirror asked.

“You mean like in fairy tales?”

Mirror nodded. “Quite a number of them have happy endings. Even the story they wrote about me is a happy ending for Snow and the prince. Do you believe in them?”

“In real life?”

“Snow and William might argue their story
is
real life. What I’m asking you is, do you believe one might happen to you?”

“I used to,” Sabrina said. “I thought when my parents woke up, we’d all move back to the city. Granny and Uncle Jake would come for visits. Things would go back to normal. That’s my happy ending.”

“And you’ve given up on it?” Mirror asked.

Sabrina shrugged.

Mirror sighed. “I believe everyone deserves a happily ever after. But I think that happy endings don’t just happen by accident—you can’t wait for one. You have to make them happen.”

“I’m not sure what you mean,” she said.

“I’m saying you are responsible for your own happiness,” Mirror said as he brought the trolley to a stop at the end of the hall. “If you want to be happy you have to work to make it happen. You can’t just wish for it and you can’t put it in the hands of other people. I know you thought when Henry and Veronica woke up they’d give it to you, but that’s not how it works, Starfish.”

“So what should I do?”

Mirror shrugged. “I can’t possibly know, Sabrina. Only you know how to end your story. It took me a long time to realize it myself. I’d hate to see you grow bitter waiting. If you want a happy ending you have to go out and take it.”

Sabrina nodded. Mirror always made her feel better. She felt like she could tell him anything and he’d understand. In many ways he was her best friend.

“So I suppose you’d like me to wait while you talk to your dad?” Mirror asked.

Sabrina smiled. “You’re the best.”

She hugged the little man and climbed down from the trolley.

“Hurry up, the meter is running,” he said. Then he took the shard of mirror from his pocket and used it to check his thinning hair.

A moment later she was standing in the spare bedroom of Granny Relda’s house. The power was still out so the house was dark. The windows had been shut tight for several days and the air was stuffy. From the shouting and explosions outside, it was clear that the Scarlet Hand was still surrounding the house and doing its best to find a way inside. But the protective spells were still working.

Sabrina called out for her father and heard him reply. She followed his voice to her bedroom—rather, his bedroom. He was lying on the bed staring up at the model airplanes he had constructed when he was Sabrina’s age. A photo album rested on his chest. He turned his head when she entered and smiled.

“Need a friend?” Sabrina asked.

“I didn’t think I had any friends left.”

“I know that feeling,” Sabrina said. She noticed the collection of marionettes Pinocchio had made of her family resting on the nightstand.

“I didn’t want anything to happen to them,” her father said. “He worked so hard.”

Sabrina sat on the bed next to her father. He turned to her.

“I don’t want you or your sister to train the soldiers anymore,” he said. “No wands, rugs, rings, or unicorns. I don’t want to see you helping anyone. I don’t want you running off to fight. I don’t want you to get more involved in this than you already are, understand?”

“Yes.”

“Good.”

“But, Dad, it’s a lousy idea,” Sabrina added.

Henry looked shocked. Sabrina realized that waking up to see that his daughters were older must have been troubling, but dealing with their independent personalities also couldn’t be easy. He rubbed his face in his hands, something he did when he was trying to wrap his head around a problem. Instead of answering Sabrina, he sat up and flipped through the photo album. Inside were yellowing photographs of the Grimm family from long before Sabrina was born. Her father stopped at a picture of himself and Jacob, dressed in long wizard robes and pointy hats decorated with tinfoil stars and moons. Each boy had a magic wand in his hand and was pointing it playfully at the camera. They couldn’t have been more than seven and nine.

“I was around Daphne’s age when my father opened the Hall of Wonders and its contents to your uncle and me. Back then, there weren’t any locks on the doors except for the ones with very dangerous weapons or creatures. Jake and I ran wild in there. It was like a giant playground, and we didn’t have to share the slide with other kids. I was learning to conjure fireballs and handling dragon eggs before I hit the third grade. Dad thought it was good for us to know how to use magic.”

There was a picture of the two boys sitting atop a griffin. Despite its dangerous claws and vicious beak Jake and Henry looked like they were riding a pony on a carousel. Their father, Basil, stood by proudly.

Henry continued. “We didn’t take magic seriously. Jake and I saw it as a little game. There didn’t seem to be any consequences. Well, there are consequences, Sabrina, and they can be deadly.”

Sabrina knew the story of Basil Grimm’s death well. When her father and uncle had almost been men, Uncle Jake had found a way to temporarily shut off the magical barrier that surrounded the town. Once it was down, Henry’s girlfriend, Goldilocks, would be free. Unfortunately, the spell also shut down a special prison intended for several very dangerous Everafters, including Red Riding Hood and a creature known as the Jabberwocky. The monster was a hulking, lizardlike creature with hundreds of teeth. Once it was free it killed her grandfather and changed his sons forever. Both boys left town and went their separate ways. The tragedy also ended her father’s relationship with Goldilocks.

“Dad, that was an accident,” Sabrina said.

“We’re supposed to learn from accidents, Sabrina. We’re not supposed to go around repeating them over and over again. That’s why I don’t want you and your sister fooling around with that stuff. It’s why I need to get us out of this town as fast as I can.”

“So what you want us learn from your mistakes is to avoid trouble? Even if you can help you should run the other way?”

“Yes!” he said, then paused. “No. I don’t know. I’m confused. You know, someone doesn’t come and give you all the answers the day you have a kid.”

“Would Grandpa Basil run?”

Henry was quiet. He flipped through the photo album and stopped on a picture of his father. He was standing in the front yard of the house with an ax in his hand.

“Dad, Daphne and I take magic very seriously. I learned the hard way. I can’t go near most of the stuff, but Daphne—sure, she gets excited when she gets to use it, but it’s not a game to her. She respects it, Dad. And she’s really good with it. She’s better than Uncle Jake. Every once in awhile something’s going to happen that we couldn’t have predicted, but that’s not magic. That’s life. If we don’t teach the Everafters how to fight they will not win this war. And we need them to win it, Dad. If we want a happy ending we have to show them how to win it.”

Henry stared at his daughter for a long moment. “When did you get so smart?”

Sabrina shrugged. “I think I inherited it from you. Plus, I’ve got a good friend who gives amazing advice.”

Henry pulled Sabrina up off the bed and hugged her.

“OK, new rules,” he said. “I’ll get used to the fact that my daughters are tougher and smarter than I am—”

“And older than you think they are,” Sabrina interrupted. “You’re driving Daphne nuts when you call her a baby. She’s very sensitive about it.”

“OK, I’ll do all those things if you promise to still love me, no matter how obnoxious I am. Agreed?”

“Agreed. Oh, and stop arguing with Mom. It’s getting boring.”

Henry laughed. “Don’t sugarcoat it, Sabrina. Tell me how you really feel.”

“I’m sure I inherited that from Mom,” she said.

“Do you have your keys with you?”

Sabrina pulled the huge key ring from her pocket. “Yeah, why?”

“I think there are a few other items this army could use.”

She followed her father back into the Hall of Wonders and then from room to room, collecting a variety of magical objects. Sabrina had seen some of them, including the wicked witch’s golden helmet that could summon an army of flying monkeys, but there were more she had never seen. One of them was a small metal object he explained was a magnifying projector. Henry said it had been brought from Oz and could make small Everafters bigger. He said that someone named H.M. Wogglebug was an example, but Sabrina didn’t know who he was talking about. They also snatched a small vial labeled “The Powder of Life.” Henry said it was responsible for bringing the Sawhorse and Jack Pumpkinhead to life and that it might be used to construct more members for the army. It was exciting to hear her father explain things. She had once thought of him as lovable but dull—a normal dad—but now he was thrilling.

Even though her mind had been calmed by her conversations with Mirror and her father, Sabrina slept uneasily. For one, there was a tingling sensation at the base of her spine that she was certain indicated a long monkey tail was coming soon. Also, she was sure that Puck would launch another attack and she feared how the boy would top flying-horse cacabombs. Sometime during the night she sensed someone standing over her and she leaped to her feet, kicking and punching, positive Puck was about to unleash something disgusting. Unfortunately, it wasn’t Puck. It was Uncle Jake.

“You really like your sleep,” her uncle said, nursing a red mark on his right cheek.

“I’m sorry!” she cried.

“Wake your sister. We have a mystery to solve.”

After much vigorous shaking, the little girl was on her feet and the sisters followed their uncle into the fort. It was a flurry of activity. Everyone was rushing about with buckets of water, doing their best to put out the raging fire that was turning the camp’s garden into ash.