She slowly opened her eyes. Mr. Hamelin was standing over her with a wild, desperate look on his face.
"What are you doing in my bedroom?" she grumbled.
"Sabrina, we're under the school!" Hamelin said, sounding frantic. "I know it's hard, but try to concentrate."
Sabrina looked around and saw she was standing in a huge tunnel, where children were rushing back and forth with wheel-barrows full of dirt and rubble. She looked down at herself and saw she was covered in soot and holding a shovel.
"Do you understand what has happened to you?" Hamelin asked.
"No," the girl replied. Her head felt so heavy she could hardly keep it up.
"I entranced you and your friends," the principal explained. "I had to. They have Wendell, and they'll kill him if I don't do what they want."
"Where's my sister?" Sabrina demanded.
"They've got everyone-your sister, your grandmother, Canis, Charming, the sheriff, Snow, Puck, and my son-at the end of the tunnel. I managed to send you off into the mine to dig, and so far they haven't noticed."
"How long have I been down here?"
"Six hours."
"Six hours! They could all be dead!"
"This was the soonest I could get to you," Hamelin said. "They were watching me, but now that they've tunneled to the barrier, they don't seem to care that I ran off."
"Oh, I wouldn't say we don't care," a voice from behind them said.
Sabrina heard the sound of ripping flesh, and Hamelin fell to the ground. The frog-girl was behind him, holding a bloody knife.
"You're coming with me," she hissed, grabbing Sabrina roughly by the arm.
Sabrina swung her shovel and hit the frog-girl in the head so hard the monster fell to the ground and moaned. Sabrina rushed to help Hamelin.
"Wendell…," Hamelin said as blood pooled beneath him. "You have to find him and get him out of here."
"I'll come back for you," Sabrina said, and then she ran into the nearest tunnel with her only weapon-the shovel-slung over her shoulder.
She scrambled forward, stumbled on jagged rocks, and accidentally kicked over some abandoned tools. Dust filled her lungs, choking her and making it that much harder to concentrate on where she was going. Each step was a challenge to her balance, and, unfortunately, her path was a complicated, twisting, turning maze. Every few yards, she would spot a child she recognized from school. Each was glassy-eyed, staggering through the tunnels, hauling buckets of broken stones. None of them seemed to notice her, even when she stopped and begged for directions. They were still under the Piper's spell.
At last she spotted a faint light in the distance. As she came closer to it, the tunnel widened dramatically, revealing an enormous room carved out of the Ferryport Landing bedrock. She paused at the mouth of the room, doing her best to calm her breathing and listen for any movement. Hearing nothing, she lifted the heavy shovel off her shoulder and entered, swinging the weapon in the air in case anyone was about to ambush her. But she was alone. Only a few old buckets and a couple of pickaxes littered the floor. There were no exits other than the way she'd come in. The tunnel was a dead end.
She raced back the other way, passing more of the zombie-faced, filth-covered kids. I should head in the direction they're coming from, she realized.
She darted down the tunnel, fighting the crowds. At one point, Natalie and the frog-girl came lumbering down the tunnel after her, but Sabrina stepped into the line of children and, being as filthy as they were, went unseen by the monsters. The tunnels went on and on. Some led to massive rooms, while others narrowed so that there was hardly room for two children to stand side by side, but eventually she found what appeared to be the end of the dig.
The room was high and wide and filled with boxes of dynamite and mining tools. Flickering torches illuminated the room, but there were still deep shadows along the walls that Sabrina could not see into. Anyone could be hiding in them.
"I've come for my family!" she shouted into the cave. Her voice echoed off the stone and bounced around her ears.
An odd clicking and hissing sound followed, then a disturbing laugh.
Suddenly, something hit Sabrina squarely in the back. Unable to keep her footing, she tumbled over a sharp rock and fell hard onto her shoulder. Searing pain swam through her veins, followed by a dull, throbbing numbness. She tried to scramble to her feet, but her arm hung loosely at her side-it was broken. She cried out in frustration and pain.
Using her good arm, she picked up her shovel and swung it around, doing her best to make it seem as if she had not been seriously injured. She walked in small circles, scanning the room for the huge spider, but everything was so dark.
"I'm not going to be easy to kill," she threatened, hoping her voice sounded more confident to the monster than it did in her own ears.
"Kill you? Don't you understand? This is a party!" the voice replied. "And you're the guest of honor."
A long, spindly leg struck out from the shadows, narrowly missing her head. It slammed against the wall behind her, pulverizing stone into dust. Sabrina swung wildly at the hairy leg, sinking the shovel's sharp edge into the monster's flesh. The spider shrieked in agony. Its pain echoed through the cavern. In the dim light she could see its grotesque body flailing, then watched it fall to the ground. It knocked a torch off the wall, which bounced at her feet, illuminating the ceiling above her. There, suspended in mounds of thick, horrible webbing, were her family and friends. Daphne, Granny Relda, Puck, Mr. Canis, Snow White, Sheriff Hamstead, and Mayor Charming hung above, with only their heads free of the sticky threads. Their mouths were covered as well, but Sabrina could hear Daphne's choked cries and Hamstead's angry groans. They were still alive.
The monster limped to its feet, then slowly ascended the wall of the cavern until it was hanging upside down from the ceiling. Finally, Sabrina could see how gigantic it was, and more importantly, that it wasn't simply a giant spider. Its lower body was spiderlike, but its upper body had the chest, head, and arms of a boy. Even with the two huge pincers that jutted from his mouth and clicked excitedly, she recognized him as the annoying boy from her homeroom. It was Toby.
"Surprised?" Toby laughed.
"Not really," Sabrina taunted. "The bad guy is usually the ugly, giggling idiot."
"I've got a surprise for you," a voice said from behind her. Sabrina spun around and found Natalie standing there. Sabrina noticed her front tooth was now missing. Then someone else stepped out of the shadows, someone who made Sabrina's heart ache. It was her only potential friend in the entire school-Bella. The blond girl put her arm around Natalie's shoulders and smirked.
"You're one of them?" Sabrina asked sadly.
Suddenly, the girl jumped into the air, higher than any human being could possibly leap. Even more startling, Bella's hands and feet stuck to the roof of the cave, and her body started to change. Her skin looked as if it were filling with water. Dark spots rose to the surface on her hands and legs. Her eyes bugged out to disgusting proportions and moved to the top of her head. Her shoes exploded off her feet, revealing long, green webbed toes. Within seconds, she had transformed into the frog-girl that had attacked the Grimms. Like a streak of lighting, a long, slippery tongue shot out of her mouth, latched onto Sabrina's shovel, and yanked it out of her hand.
"Why did you pretend to be my friend?"
"Duh! I'm evil," Bella said.
The three mutated children burst into laughter.
"No, you're not!" Sabrina replied. "You're being manipulated by Rumpelstiltskin. He's toying with your emotions and making you do this terrible stuff."
"Like killing Mr. Grumpner?" Toby asked.
"And Charlie," Bella said, patting Natalie on the back.
"They just kept getting in the way of our father's plans," Natalie said, as she transformed into the hairy animal she truly was.
"Your father? Is that what you call him?" Sabrina said. "He's insane, and when he cracks a hole in the barrier, these tunnels will flood and kill everyone in them. All the kids will die, including you!"
"Actually, the children are already outside, trying to figure out what happened to them," a new voice said. Mr. Sheepshank emerged from the shadows.
"Mr. Sheepshank!" Sabrina cried. "You have to get out of here. They're going to blow this place sky high!"
"Wow, Sabrina!" Toby the spider clicked. "You're even dumber than you seem in class."
"Hush, Toby," the counselor said, and then he turned to Sabrina just as he began to morph and bubble. Unlike the others, Sheepshank didn't get bigger. In fact, he got a lot smaller. When his transformation was complete, he was hardly three feet high. His head, back, and arms were covered in kinky brown hair, but his face and pointed ears were pink like a pig's. He had a short, stubby tail, hoofed feet, and a couple of rows of sharp razor teeth. "They're not going to do anything of the sort. I'm going to do it."
"You're Rumpelstiltskin!" she gasped.
"No fair. You guessed my name. Someone must have told you!" the little monster said sarcastically. "Really, child, I must agree with my son. You aren't as bright as your school records suggest. No matter. I have many names, and you were bound to guess one of them eventually. Just for the record, the one I like the best is Daddy."
Sheepshank extended his arms, and Natalie, Bella, and Toby rushed to stand by his side.
"Daddy? Daddies aren't sick perverts who steal children!" Sabrina shouted.
"I don't steal children, Sabrina," the little creature said, as if he was genuinely insulted. "I care for them. These children have been treated with nothing but love and affection. I give them everything they ever wanted."
"Then what do you get out of it?" Sabrina asked.
"Why, I get their love, and their joy, and their sadness, and their frustration, and their hope, and most of all I get their anger," Rumpelstiltskin cackled. "I get their feelings, child, every last delicious morsel of them. Their emotions are so raw and uncontrolled. You don't understand, do you? Let me spell it out for you: I feed on their feelings."
"That's where you get your power," Sabrina gasped, as Mr. Sheepshank's advice about feelings came flooding back to her. Of course he would encourage her to express her anger. He was eating it.
"You're starting to get it, Ms. Grimm. Children keep me alive. As people get older, they find ways to control their feelings, but not children. Children are like emotional all-you-can-eat buffets. So, where's a guy with tastes like mine going to find work? Why, Ferryport Landing Elementary, of course! And, trust me, Sabrina, it has been decadent. For years, I have sat back and feasted on the fights and humiliations you kids pile onto one another. The senseless bullying, the embarrassment of being picked last for baseball, the endless teasing about someone's hair or clothes-when it comes to being mean, kids are like master chefs, and I have enjoyed every bite.
"But there is a great big world of anger, war, and pain for me to feast on out there. So, when the Piper came to me with a plan to blow a hole in the barrier from below, I signed on. It wasn't easy, though. The Piper used his magic music, and every night the children of this school came to dig out the tunnels. At first, we tried to use all the kids, but the little ones are so weak, we had to make do with the fifth-and sixth-graders. Unfortunately, there was another unforeseen problem. The next morning, those same kids-the ones who supplied me with the most energy-were too sleepy to argue with one another. They went from a raging river of emotions to a dripping faucet overnight. I feared I wouldn't have the energy to do my part when we reached the barrier. But then you walked through the door."
"What do I have to do with it?" Sabrina asked, doing her best to buy time until she could come up with a plan.
"Sabrina, you're like the Niagara Falls of anger-it just keeps pouring over the edges. Every time you lost your temper, it was like a four-course meal with all the fixings. All of the paranoia and prejudice that run through you, all of the self-doubt, and, of course, the indignant rage about what has happened to you in your short life-well, it was delicious," Rumpelstiltskin said, as blue electricity crackled out of his fingertips.
"Once I tapped into it, I turned up the volume on you and could barely keep up with the emotional energy," he continued. "Truth be told, we probably didn't have to kill Grumpner or the janitor, but I could sense how outraged you would get. And it worked! Thanks to you, I finally have what it takes to blast a hole in the barrier. Once it's open, I'll be free, and the Scarlet Hand will march across the world, destroying anyone who gets in their way."
"So you're the Scarlet Hand," Sabrina said, even now feeling the anger rise within her. "You took my parents!"
"The Scarlet Hand isn't a person, child. It's a movement, an idea. It's bigger than all of us. I am just one spoke in a very big wheel. Oh, I can feel your rage growing, Sabrina!"
"Where's my son?" Principal Hamelin shouted as he charged into the cave.
Surprised, Rumpelstiltskin shrieked and moved to safety behind Natalie's hulking body. The principal looked exhausted, beaten, and on the edge of madness. His shirt was covered with blood, and he limped painfully. In his hands were his bagpipes. "Tell me where my boy is, or I will play a song that will tear you apart."
"Wendell got in the way!" the tiny monster cried, gnashing his teeth at his much taller partner. "I warned you about keeping him under control."
He pointed to the ceiling. High on the cave wall, away from the others, was a mound of webbing from which no head poked and no movement came at all.
Hamelin fell to his knees and buried his head in his hands. "I've been a fool!"
"Bring him down, Toby," Rumpelstiltskin said.
"Awww, Dad. He was almost ready to eat," the spider boy whined.
"Go on, son," Rumpelstiltskin said.
Reluctantly, Toby scaled the wall, cut the web loose with his razor-sharp legs, and carried the boy gingerly to the ground. He set Wendell down at Hamelin's feet and scurried back to his father.
Hamelin tore the rest of the threads off his son. When the boy was finally free, he leaned down to listen for breathing.
Natalie rushed to a corner of the room and returned with a paint can. She dipped her hand inside it, and when she pulled it out, it was covered in red. "Should I place the mark on the kid's body?"
Hamelin shook with fury. "Stay away from him! All of you, just stay away! You and your Scarlet Hand, killing innocents. This wasn't part of our plan, troll! I just wanted out of this town so I could give my son a normal life."
"If we'd done it your way, we'd never have gotten this far. You've never had the backbone to do what needs to be done, Piper," the little creature said. "Someone had to make the hard decisions."
"Like killing my boy?" Hamelin said.
"I know your pain," Rumpelstiltskin said. "If I were to lose one of my children, I would be heartbroken, too. But sacrifices have to be made to please the Master."
"The who?" Sabrina cried, but no one answered her.
Hamelin set his boy down gently and climbed to his feet. He took his bagpipes and filled them with air.
"I'm putting a stop to this right now," he said, but before he could blow a single note, Bella leaped across the room, shot out her sticky tongue, and wrapped it around the bagpipes. She yanked the instrument out of the Piper's hands and into her mouth, swallowing it whole.
"That's Daddy's little girl!" Rumpelstiltskin cheered.
The monsters stalked Hamelin, backing him into a corner. Sabrina wanted to rush to his side, but Toby blocked her path.
"Without your pipes you are nothing, Hamelin," Rumpelstiltskin said. "And now that the barrier has been reached, your usefulness has expired."
"Leave him alone!" Sabrina demanded, but the monsters ignored her. The Pied Piper was about to die, and there was nothing she could do to fight the monsters off, but there was still something they didn't know.
"You're not his kids!" Sabrina shouted. "He played on the fears of your real parents. He made them feel hopeless, like they couldn't take care of you, because that's what he does. He plays with a person's feelings to make them do things they wouldn't normally do. He did it to me. I've said terrible things since I met him, things I don't truly feel or believe. He's done it to you your whole lives, but you can stop him right now. Your real parents have been looking for you ever since he took you from them. They want you back."
Toby looked confused. "Is that true?" the spider boy clicked. "You said my parents abandoned me in a park because I was a monster."
"They did, son," Rumpelstiltskin said.
"He's lying!" Sabrina cried. "I've talked to your parents myself. They didn't leave you in any park. Rumpelstiltskin manipulated your moms and dads and then paid them millions of dollars for you. He bought you, Toby, for the same reason that he bought Natalie and Bella-so he could feed on you! You're not his kids. You're his snacks."
"She's lying, children," Rumpelstiltskin said. "People are always lying about me! They want to take you away from me! It's not fair, children. Something has to be done to stop the people who hate me."
"We believe you, Dad," Bella said, her green face boiling with rage.
"Can we kill her now?" asked Natalie as she looked at Sabrina with murderous eyes.
Rumpelstiltskin grinned. "How could Daddy resist his little angels? Go have your fun."
"No!" Hamelin shouted. "This is going to stop now! I don't need my pipes to stop you." He reached into his pocket and pulled out something shiny, then looked down at it lovingly. It was Wendell's harmonica. He raised it to his lips and blew a low, sorrowful note.
Suddenly, a huge fissure opened in the ground. At first, nothing but steam belched out of it, but it was followed by a flood of ants, worms, roaches, centipedes, and a million other creepy-crawly things. They attacked Rumpelstiltskin and his "children." The frog-girl leaped onto the ceiling, trying to get away, but was immediately overcome by a swarm of flying cockroaches. Losing her balance, she fell painfully to the ground.
Natalie was quickly overrun with centipedes that wiggled and raced along her body, biting her fiercely. The monster girl growled and whined, but she soon fell to her knees, unable to fight.
Toby scurried around the cave, spraying webs at the sea of worms that poured over him, but the tide of insects was too much for him, and he was engulfed.
Rumpelstiltskin didn't fare much better. Leeches covered the little man, and he fell over in agony.
"Mr. Hamelin, please help me get to the ceiling," Sabrina said, grabbing her shovel. Hamelin blew into the harmonica again, and a rolling wave of spiders, maggots, and beetles lifted Sabrina high off the ground. Granny Relda was hanging closest, so Sabrina used her good arm to pull the cobwebs from the old woman's mouth and hands.
"Oh, liebling," Granny said. "This is one time I'm glad you didn't listen to my rules."
Sabrina smiled as she clumsily used her shovel to cut the sac of webs from the wall. The wave of bugs expanded to hold the old woman up, and she wrestled her way out of the sticky cocoon. When she was free, she reached into her handbag, took out a pair of scissors, and put them into Sabrina's good hand.
"These will make things a lot easier."
Sabrina rode the tide of creepy-crawlies to the next person, who happened to be Daphne. She yanked and pulled until the little girl was free, using the scissors to cut her off of the wall. Daphne was in tears, but she threw her arms around her older sister. The hug hurt Sabrina's injured arm, but she bit her lip and hugged back as fiercely as she could.
It was then that Sabrina noticed Rumpelstiltskin was emitting a blue energy that swirled around him. A fireball blasted out of his chest, sending a huge explosion ripping through the cave, incinerating the entire insect army. The wave of bugs that supported Sabrina, Daphne, and Granny Relda turned to ash, and the trio tumbled to the ground, jarring Sabrina's broken arm so painfully that the agony nearly knocked her unconscious. Through the haze of pain, she saw that the blast had damaged the foundation of the cave and that large chunks had begun to fall from the ceiling.
"Look what you have done!" Rumpelstiltskin shrieked. He lunged at the principal and knocked him down. In the struggle, Hamelin's harmonica slipped from his hand and slid across the cave floor, where it was crushed by a falling boulder.
"Girls, we have to find a way to get the others down," Granny said.
"I have an idea," Daphne replied, snatching the scissors from her sister and shoving them in her pocket. She rushed over to the unconscious frog-girl, kneeled down, and rubbed her hands all over the beast's super-sticky skin. Then she rubbed her sneakers until they were covered in the goo. She ran to the wall, pressed her hands against the stone, and slowly but effortlessly climbed the wall. Each step made a squishy slurp!
"Liebling, do be careful!" Granny Relda cried.
"That is so punk rock!" Sabrina shouted.
When the little girl got to where Puck was trapped, she used the scissors to cut him free. Indignant as ever, he sprouted his wings and fluttered around the room.
"Someone is going to pay for this," he promised.
Meanwhile, Daphne went to work on Snow White, then Mayor Charming, and then Sheriff Hamstead, and finally crawled along the ceiling to the last of their group, Mr. Canis. But before she could cut away a single strand, she slipped and fell. Puck caught her just before she hit the ground.
"I ran out of sticky stuff," Daphne said.
In the meantime, Hamelin and Rumpelstiltskin were fighting ferociously, trading punches and kicks backed by hatred and rage. Hamelin picked up the tiny creature and threw him violently against a wall, where he slumped to the ground and lay still. Hamelin stalked over to him, snatched an ax off the ground, and, holding it high over his head, prepared to kill the creature that had taken his son's life.
"Piper, no!" Granny shouted.
"I can't let him live. He killed Wendell!" Hamelin cried.
"No, he didn't," Ms. White said. She was crouched over Wendell, holding his wrist in her hand. "He's got a pulse."
Hamelin dropped the ax and ran to his son's side.
"What do we do?"
Snow White laid Wendell flat on his back and tilted his head up. She peered into his mouth and then reached in and pulled something out with her fingers.
"He had some of the cobwebs in his throat," the teacher said. "He couldn't get any air."
She took a deep breath and blew it down the boy's throat. She tried three more times, shouting for Wendell to wake up, until finally he shuddered and coughed. He was alive!
Hamelin stroked and kissed Wendell on the forehead.
"Dad," the boy said, "I think I solved the mystery."
Hamelin laughed and sobbed at the same time. "I know you did, son! You're a great detective!
"Thank you! Thank you for saving my son!" the principal cried. He reached over and gave Snow White a huge kiss on the mouth. Charming was standing nearby and raised his eyebrows as Snow White blushed. Then he scowled.
Rumpelstiltskin staggered to his feet. He looked at his fallen children and sneered with disgust.
"It's over," Sabrina said.
"Oh, it's far from over," Rumpelstiltskin said. "All I need is a little more power, and there's someone in this room who can give me enough to blow this little town off the map."
Sabrina had never been as afraid of anything as she was of this little man. He knew her anger, he feasted on it, and she provided him with enough raw energy to destroy them all. But she wasn't going to let him play with her head any longer.
"You can't do it," she said. "I'm not angry anymore."
"I'm not talking about you, child. I'm talking about the Wolf."
Sabrina gazed up at the skinny old man still trapped in his web prison. Even from such a distance, she could see the fear in Mr. Canis's eyes. It was the first time she had ever seen the old man afraid of anything. It seemed to unsettle Charming as well, because the prince stepped in front of Rumpelstiltskin with his fists clenched.
"We're trapped down here, troll," Charming said. "If you pull that stupid trick of yours on the Wolf, you'll let him out, and he'll kill us all."
"No, my friend, he will save us all," Rumpelstiltskin said. "The Wolf will bring the barrier down, freeing us from this prison! Freeing himself from his own prison, as well. Look at him-trapped inside Canis, parading around like he's human! It's a pathetic. It's disgusting! We're Everafters. We shouldn't be acting like humans; we should be ruling over them. The Wolf will be thrilled to help. His rage will open the barrier, and the Scarlet Hand will take this world for its own."
Mr. Canis struggled, but the change had already taken hold. The webs ripped as the old man's body tripled in size. A hideous roar echoed over the crumbling walls, and the Wolf was free. He fell to the ground, sending a shockwave through the floor as he landed on his feet. He looked around at the desperate group and licked his lips.
"Guess who's back?" he snarled as he struck Charming, throwing him against a wall. He sniffed the air. "Something smells good!"
Puck's wings sprang from his back, and he stepped in front of the Wolf. He drew his wooden sword and jammed it into the beast's belly.
"You take another step or try to harm anyone here, and you will have to answer to me," he said.
The Wolf studied the boy for a long moment, and then a chuckle came up through his throat. "Trickster," he said, sniffing the boy. "You have the disgusting smell of love on you. It will be your end."
"I didn't know dogs spoke in riddles."
The Wolf turned and eyed Sabrina. He chuckled again and then turned his eyes back to the boy.
"All right, lover boy. I'm going to make you famous," the Wolf growled.
The boy spun around on his feet and immediately transformed into an elephant. He snatched the Wolf up in his long trunk and smashed him against the wall. The Wolf fell to the floor, stunned.
"Fantastic!" Rumpelstiltskin cried out. A glimmer of blue energy began to swirl around him.
"Puck, stop!" Sabrina cried out, but Puck was too caught up in the fight. He couldn't know he was actually helping Rumpelstiltskin stoke the Wolf's rage.
"Stay down, dog!" the boy shouted as he transformed back into his normal self. He smacked the Wolf on the head with his sword and laughed. "Or there'll be no table scraps for you."
"You're a funny boy!" The Wolf sprang to his feet so quickly that Puck nearly fell backward. The boy's wings erupted from his back, and he flew into the air, hovering at the top of the cave. The Wolf leaped high, grabbing at the boy with his claws, missing him by inches.
Puck laughed and struck the beast's paws with his sword. If it hurt, the Wolf didn't seem to mind. His face was a combination of anger and amusement. Puck darted out of his grasp over and over, until his wings clipped the ceiling and he fell to the ground. The beast lunged at the boy, grabbed him in his huge claws, and opened his jaws wide. His fangs glistened in the tunnel light.
Suddenly, Daphne was standing in front of him.
"Stop it right now!" she demanded.
The Wolf turned to look at the little girl. A blast of hot air blew out of his nostrils and into her face. "Don't worry, child. You'll get your turn to fight for your life."
"Daphne!" Granny called, but the little girl ignored her.
"Leave Puck alone," Daphne said. "And let me talk to Mr. Canis."
The Wolf snarled. "Child, Mr. Canis is not real. There is only me."
"That's a lie!" the little girl cried. If she was afraid, Sabrina couldn't see it. "Mr. Canis is real. He's part of my family, and I love him!"
Briefly, the Wolf's face changed. For a flickering moment, Sabrina saw his steel blue eyes change to Mr. Canis's dull gray ones. The old man was inside, trying to control himself.
"Child, you must run," the Wolf said quietly, dropping Puck.
"You have to fight him," Daphne insisted.
"He's too strong." A shudder ran through him, and any trace of their family friend was buried again. His disorientation gave Puck another opportunity to attack. The boy climbed to his feet and picked up a large rock from the ground. He tossed it as hard as he could, striking the beast in the head.
"Hey, Wolf, you ever hear of a game called dodgeball?" he asked.
"Death is moments away, and you want to play games?" The Wolf laughed.
Puck threw the rock and it hit the Wolf in the chest, knocking the air out of the big brute.
"The rules are hilarious!" he shouted, bending over for another rock. With impossible speed, he tossed one after another at the beast.
"Puck! Stop!" Sabrina shouted.
The boy looked over at her. His face was red with excitement, but his eyes were full of confusion.
"Uh, I'm trying to save your life, Grimm," the boy said.
"You're going to kill us all," Sabrina said. "You're making Rumpelstiltskin stronger."
The Wolf staggered to his feet. "You should be a bit more worried about me, child."
"Take a look around you, Rover," Charming said, stepping between the Wolf and Sabrina. "Your little tantrum is helping to fuel your destruction."
The Wolf stood up tall to face the mayor, who continued, "The angrier you get, the stronger the real enemy becomes."
Ms. White joined Charming's side. She pointed at Rumpelstiltskin, who was encircled by his blue energy, enjoying each second of the fight.
"He's powering himself with your anger, and when he has enough he's going to blow up this cave and bury everyone in it, including you," Granny Relda said.
"You're signing your own death certificate!" Hamstead added.
The Wolf turned to face the little creature, and immediately the blue glow around Rumpelstiltskin expanded.
"What are you up to, little man?" the beast growled.
"Your rage is exquisite," Rumpelstiltskin cried. "It's the best meal I've ever tasted."
"You're hungry for my anger?" the Wolf said.
"It's fantastic," the creature said.
The Wolf eyed Sabrina closely. He had an odd expression on his face, filled with disgust and disbelief, one that seemed to say, Can you believe this guy? If Sabrina hadn't been so terrified, she might have laughed. The Wolf turned on Rumpelstiltskin and lunged forward, grabbing the little creature. As soon as they collided, both were enveloped in the blue energy.
"Child, you have to get us out of here!" Charming shouted at Sabrina. "You have to use one of the matches!"
Sabrina reached into her pocket and found the matchbox. Inside were the two matches.
"Sabrina, where did you get those?" Granny Relda asked.
"Charming. We need to get everyone out of here!" Sabrina shouted over the fighting. She removed one, wished she were somewhere safe, and struck the match. In the flame, she could see the outside of the school. Everywhere, dirty students milled around in confusion, having just broken free from the Piper's magic. She tossed the match on the floor, and a giant flame appeared.
"Everyone, through the portal!" Charming shouted.
Hamelin picked up his son and stepped through the portal. Daphne and Puck rushed to Toby, and together they dragged the big spider by his legs until they were all stepping through the magical flames. Puck raced back through, transformed into a gorilla, and hoisted Bella and Natalie onto his back. A moment later, they were disappearing as well.
"That was terribly reckless," Charming said to Snow White as they took their turn.
"I believe the word is brave," Sheriff Hamstead said.
Snow White grinned and poked Charming in the side. "You could learn a thing or two from the sheriff."
Granny took Sabrina by the hand. "We have to go."
"We can't leave him down here!" Sabrina cried, as she watched the Wolf and Rumpelstiltskin fighting.
"I believe Mr. Canis knows what he is doing," Granny Relda said.
"This is my fault. I won't go," Sabrina insisted.
"No, child, you are not responsible for this," Granny tried to reassure her. When it didn't help, the old woman grabbed Sabrina's coat and dragged her through the portal. In a flash, they were standing outside in the cold, with a hundred elementary school students who were staring at the gorilla carrying a big, hairy girl and a frog monster.
"This is going to take a lot of forgetful dust!" Daphne said under her breath.
"Get away from the school!" Principal Hamelin shouted to the children, and they obeyed. They ran for the parking lot just as Sabrina heard a slow, horrible rumble from below. Everyone raced to the other side of the road, where some children were already congregated. When she reached them, Sabrina turned and watched the school. The horror unfolded like a car crash she couldn't stop watching. First, smoke billowed out of the school's windows, then a terrible explosion blew out the glass and knocked the doors off their hinges. The roof collapsed, a flame a hundred feet high shot out of the center, and then the ground sank as the school fell into it. Finally, a cloud of dust rose up, covering the site, and when it settled again, the school was gone. Only a huge hole remained as evidence that there had been anything there at all.
"It was my anger and my prejudice that did this," Sabrina said as she broke down in tears.
"Child, Rumpelstiltskin manipulated you," her grandmother insisted.
"He only manipulated what was already inside of me."
"There is a little ugliness in all of us, liebling. If it hadn't been you, it would have been someone else. You can't blame yourself."
Suddenly, Beauty and the Beast, the Frog Prince and his princess, and Miss Muffet and the spider raced through the crowd of children.
"We heard there was trouble at the school," the Beast grunted. "Have you found our kids?"
Puck pointed at the three unconscious monsters lying on the ground. The parents cried out in unison and rushed to their children. The Beast picked up his grotesque, unconscious daughter, Natalie, and lifted her into the air. "She's beautiful, darling!" he cried to his wife.
Sabrina watched the happiness in the parents' eyes. The Frog Prince and his wife kneeled down by their daughter, Bella, and slowly caressed her face. Even the spider cooed over his son, Toby. They loved their monstrous, murderous children.
Sabrina reached into her pocket and pulled out her box of matches. She opened it and took out the last of them. It would take her to her parents, no matter where they were. She couldn't be without them for another moment. She needed them right now. She made a wish, struck the match against the box's flinty surface, and watched the flame come to life. It shined in the cold night.
"Sabrina, no!" Granny Relda cried.
"Look at what I've become," the girl said sadly. "I need my mom and dad."
"Sabrina, you listen to me! I forbid it. It's too dangerous," Granny said, but Sabrina could already see her parents, safe and asleep on a bed, inside the flame. She tossed the match to the ground, and the portal grew. Without even a glance at her grandmother or sister, she stepped into it and found herself in a dark room. Her parents were lying on a filthy mattress, sound asleep, as a roaring fire kept them warm. She rushed to their sides, embracing each the best she could while avoiding her wounded arm.
"I'm going to take you home now," she said, doing her best to drag her unconscious mother from the bed and toward the portal. As she got closer she could see Granny, Daphne, and Puck on to the other side, waiting with worried faces.
Suddenly, Daphne grimaced in terror and started shouting, but Sabrina couldn't hear a word. Sound didn't cross the portal.
What is she trying to tell me?
"Did you bring my puppy?" a child's voice asked. Sabrina turned and saw a figure step out of the shadows. She had known she might someday have to confront her parents' kidnapper, but her imagination had never prepared her for the person she now saw in front of her. It was a little girl, probably Daphne's age, wearing a red cloak and a twisted grin. Sabrina had never seen such an expression on a child's face. It was madness.
"Who are you?" Sabrina asked.
"No, you didn't bring him," the little girl said angrily. "But I smell him on you. Where is my puppy?"
The little girl reached out and put her hand on Sabrina's shirt. When she removed it, a bloodred stain remained-a handprint.
"I can't play house without my grandma and my puppy," the girl said.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Sabrina said, pulling away from the girl's grip.
"Yes, gibberish, that's what I speak," the little girl agreed. "Not a word makes sense. That's what they said. They said I had an overactive imagination."
"What do you want?"
"I want to play house!" The little girl's face grew very angry, and she pointed a finger at Sabrina.
"I have a mommy and a daddy and a baby brother and a kitty. Do you want to pet my kitty?"
Just then, Sabrina heard an inhuman voice slurping and slavering behind her. It said, "Jabberwocky, Jabberwocky, Jabberwocky" over and over again. She turned to see what was making the noise, and a shriek flew out of her throat. Hunching over her was something too impossible to exist-a combination of skin and scales and jagged teeth. Even in a town like Ferryport Landing, Sabrina had never seen something so horrific.
"My, you are an ugly one," a voice said from across the room. The monster turned. Puck was standing next to the portal, hands on hips, like some kind of comic-book hero. "Come on, Grimm. I'm here to rescue you."
With a hiss, the portal burned out and closed behind him. Puck looked back and grimaced. "Uh-oh."
The little girl in red screamed with rage. "I don't need a sister or another brother! I need a grandma and a puppy!"
Suddenly, the monster swung its enormous arm at Sabrina, and everything went black.
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