For once, Sabrina fumbled for words.
"She's sorry," Daphne offered. "It's not every day you get to talk to a cookie, you know."
The gingerbread man's brown body suddenly turned red and his icing face crinkled in anger. "Hey! Cookies are round, buster. Do I look like I'm round?"
"Sorry," Daphne said. "I didn't mean--"
"That kind of ignorance is why gingerbread people are treated so badly all over the world," he said bitterly. "Just 'cause we all came out of the oven doesn't mean we're made from the same dough!"
Daphne ducked behind Sabrina.
"Relax! She didn't mean to offend you," Sabrina said, finally pulling herself together. As she turned to calm her sister, she felt something hard bounce off her head. She whipped around and found the gingerbread man pulling a gumdrop off his chest. There was one already missing--one she was sure was now lodged in her hair.
"Take that, you bakist!" the little man said.
"Did you just throw something at me?" Sabrina cried, quickly regaining her wits.
"Yeah! What are you going to do about it, meat person?" the little baked man taunted.
"Throw another gumdrop at me and you'll see what I'll do, dough boy," Sabrina hissed. Granny was trying to pull her away when the second gumdrop bounced off of Sabrina's nose.
"That's it!" she cried as she turned to the bartender. "Give me the biggest glass of milk you've got!"
The gingerbread man kicked Sabrina in the ankle. Despite his size, it hurt, and Sabrina reached down to grab him. The little man darted away and ran through the bar.
"Catch me if you can, stupid meat person!" he cried.
"Girls, leave him alone," Granny said.
"He started it," Sabrina said, picking the gummy candy out of her hair.
"Sorry, kid," Momma said from behind the bar. "He looks sweet but he's really hard to swallow."
The patrons at the bar let out a groan but Momma giggled at her joke like a little girl. "I got a million of them," she said.
"We have a sick fairy with us," Mr. Canis said impatiently. "He needs medical attention, now. Can you help?"
Momma pointed to the back of the bar. "Take him that way. The guards will let you in to see the boss."
"Who's the boss?" Hamstead said.
Sabrina glanced to the back of the room where the two guards Momma had referred to were standing. They were enormous.
"You folks really are from out of town," Momma said.
Granny Relda led the family over to the guards, who stood before two double doors. The men were so big they were nearly popping out of their suits. They wore dark sunglasses even though the bar was dimly lit.
"Yeah?" one of them growled.
"We need to see the boss," Granny Relda said.
"Sorry, lady," the other man said. "No one sees the boss."
"But--" Granny started to explain.
"Lady, dems da rules. Now push off."
"Listen," Mr. Hamstead said. "We were told to come here."
The guards looked at each other and then clenched their fists. "And I'm tellin' ya to leave," the first one said as he cracked his knuckles.
"We have a fairy here that needs medical attention," Canis growled.
The guard pulled the blanket away from Puck's head and then frowned.
"Absolutely not," he grunted.
"What?" Sabrina cried. "Why?"
"Puck is liosta dubh"
the second snarled.
"What does that mean?" Daphne asked.
Sabrina shrugged. She usually knew the words Daphne asked about. She'd never heard liosta dubh before.
"It means he is unwelcome," the first guard snapped.
"If he doesn't get help he'll die," Mr. Canis barked.
"None of my concern. Now move along, geezer," the second guard said, giving Canis a rough shove.
"Pig, take the boy," the old man said calmly. Hamstead hurried to his side and took Puck in his arms just as the change came over Canis for the second time that day.
Granny Relda stepped over and rested her calming hand on his shoulder. "Old friend, I'm sure there is another way to--"
Before the old woman could finish, Mr. Canis's body had filled out his suit with rock-hard muscle. He towered over the guards now, yet they didn't seem at all anxious.
"Listen, grandpa," the second guard said with a yawn. "Your little changing act don't impress me none. Move along before things get ugly."
Canis backhanded the man, sending him soaring across the tavern and smashing against a mirror that hung behind the bar. Bottles and glasses crashed down on the guard's head. Suddenly, the music stopped and all eyes turned to Sabrina and her family and friends.
"Oh, it's already gotten ugly," Canis snarled.
Much to Sabrina's surprise, the remaining guard went through a disturbing transformation of his own. His body doubled in size and his skin turned a muddy green. He grew pointy ears like a bat and his lower jaw jutted out past his nose. Two gnarled tusks like those on a saber-toothed tiger rose out of his mouth, and his eyes became as red as blood.