Sisters Grimm 05 Magic and Other Misdemeanors

. Dr. Cindy was sitting at a desk with a big microphone hanging from the ceiling above her. She was wearing a pair of headphones and sipping on coffee while she talked to her caller. She looked up in shock when the group barged in, then leaned in to her mike. "Folks, I think we need to break for a commercial. We'll be right back with more of

 

The Dr. Cindy Show in just a moment."

 

The On Air light went dim and Dr. Cindy took off her headphones. "What's going on? I'm doing a show."

 

"We know what you've been up to," Sabrina said, unconvinced by the woman's dumbfounded expression. "We know all about it."

 

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Cindy said.

 

"The magic items!" Daphne said. "Merlin's Wand, the Wonder Clock, the water from the Fountain of Youth. We know you stole them."

 

"Stole them? I've never stolen anything in my life," Cindy exclaimed. "Relda, I don't know what's going on, but this is incredibly rude, letting your grandchildren come in here and accuse me of being a criminal."

 

"Cindy, I would agree if we didn't have proof. We know you sent your assistants to break into people's homes. They snuck in as mice and then transformed back into men once they found what they were looking for."

 

"But you don't know what you're doing," Uncle Jake added. "We know you're trying to combine the items to make some new kind of magic, but it's not working, and you're causing chaos all over town. You have to stop before, well, I don't know before what, but it could be really bad."

 

Cindy was horrified. "I never sent my assistants anywhere to do any such thing."

 

"Then let's ask them ourselves. Where are they?" Mr. Canis said. "I know ways of making them admit their guilt."

 

"They're on the roof," Dr. Cindy said. "During the broadcast, something went wrong with the transmitter and they're trying to fix it. My husband, Tom, is up there supervising the repairs."

 

"Let's go have a conversation with them, then," Granny said.

 

Cindy stormed past the group in a huff. She led them up a flight of steps and onto the roof. As she threw open the door the group was blinded by a penetrating blue light.

 

Sabrina had to shield her eyes just to see two feet in front of her, but soon her sight adjusted and what she saw was shocking. Cindy's husband, Tom Baxter, was standing at the base of the radio tower. He was holding an ornate wooden clock in his hands. Malcolm, the producer, stood nearby with what appeared to be a tiny vial of water. Alexander was blasting the vial with a magic wand, causing the rays of energy from the wand to pass through the fluid and onto Tom. Bradford monitored the storm above, shouting information to the others about its size and shape. From the looks of the power coming out of the wand, the energy should have obliterated Tom Baxter, but the magic bounced off the magnificent clock, circling Tom in snakelike blue lights. Behind him was an even more shocking sight. There was an open black hole like the ones Sabrina had seen in the skies during the other storms. She knew it was a tear in the fabric of time itself.

 

"Tom!" Cindy shouted. "What is going on here?"

 

Tom's face changed from happiness to concern. "Go back downstairs, Cindy. This is very dangerous. It's not safe for you to be up here."

 

"What are you doing, Tom?" the radio host cried.

 

Tom smiled. His yellow eyes lit up when he looked at his young wife. "I'm giving us a future," he said.

 

"It's happening," Malcolm shouted.

 

Suddenly, there was an immense blast from the wand and Tom's body was pushed back to the surface of the black hole. He hovered there as the powerful vacuum behind him began to pull things in. At first it was just a few stray leaves, but Sabrina could feel the energy building. She studied Tom closely, wondering why he wasn't afraid, and then she began to see subtle changes in his appearance. His gray head started to sprout new, brown hair.

 

"You have to stop this," Granny yelled.

 

"Don't worry, we've got this under control," Bradford replied. "It'll all be over soon."

 

Sabrina glanced at the storm swirling above. "Mr. Baxter, whatever you're doing has some nasty side-effects. It's causing tears in time!" she shouted over the noise.

 

"Yes, I know," Tom yelled, as the pronounced stoop in his posture corrected itself. "I hope they weren't too much of an inconvenience.

 

It took us a while to get the proper devices to build my machine."

 

"What is this?" Cindy asked.

 

"It's a time machine, and it's too dangerous," Granny said.

 

Tom smiled. "Relda, I didn't build a time machine. I built a clock. A clock that allows me to roll back the years on myself."

 

"Uh-oh," Daphne said as the magic detector started to shake violently. She pointed to the black hole as it grew nearly ten times in size. Worse, Sabrina saw something begin to descend from it. Slipping through the surface was a dragon. It huffed and then darted clear out of the blackness, flying into the air with a head-splitting roar.

 

"That was the coolest thing I've ever seen," Puck said as he pulled his little wooden sword from his waist and released his wings. "I'm going to kill it."

 

"You're going to get plenty of practice when you get older," Sabrina said as she pulled on his sleeve.

 

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