Sabrina said nothing, only pointed at the door, and a second later the creature was gone.
She expected her grandmother to come to her, apologize for losing her temper, and tell her that everything was going to be OK. But after several hours, the old woman had still not appeared. Daphne and Uncle Jake were no-shows as well, and so was Puck, whom she would have bet money would come by just to gloat. Elvis poked his head in once. She called to him, but the big dog shook her off and disappeared down the hallway. Even the family pet was against her.
She was hardly surprised. She usually found herself butting heads with the others. Sabrina never seemed to do or say anything right, and she often felt as if she were a constant source of disappointment. It wasn’t fair. She had been trying very hard to embrace her responsibilities and had taken up detective training with all her energy. She had discovered she was even good at some of it. She excelled in tracking, clue finding, and self-defense. Just last week Granny had praised Sabrina for her problem-solving skills. Well, how could Sabrina be so smart last week and now be completely wrong about Canis? He himself had told Granny that Sabrina was the only one in the family who saw him for what he was. He had warned them all, and now she was being punished for listening.
Around suppertime, she heard a knock on the door. Someone had left a tray with baked chicken in a gravy that smelled like pureed crayons and blueberries. She took it into her room and picked at it listlessly. After a few bites she pushed it away.
Later that evening there was another knock on the door. It opened slowly and Daphne poked her head inside. “Is it safe to come in yet? The bed troll said you threatened to kick him out a window.”
“It’s safe. In fact, I’m glad you’re here. We need to talk.”
“If it’s about Mr. Canis, I don’t want to hear it. He’s our friend.”
Daphne entered the room. She sat at the desk, opened a drawer, and took out a little bag. Inside was a string of pearls. She tried them on while Sabrina talked.
“Our friend has a history of eating grandmothers and little girls,” Sabrina said. “You don’t want that to happen again, do you?”
Daphne shook her head. “He’s not like that anymore. You know it, too. We’ve been here almost eight months and he’s never hurt any of us.”
“He’s changing, Daphne.”
“What should we do, then? Leave him in jail? Let Nottingham and Heart kill him? He needs us to rescue him. We are Grimms. This is what we do.”
“Well, Grimms are prepared, right? That’s what Granny says all the time. We should get the weapon.”
Daphne reached into her shirt and pulled out a chain. Hanging on it was a small silver key with safe-deposit box numbers carved into its side. “Mr. Hamstead gave us this for emergencies only.”
“This is an emergency,” Sabrina urged. “I want Mr. Canis to be safe and sound just like you, but let’s face it, the guy is getting hairier and angrier by the day. You saw him freak out at the jail today. What are we going to do if we find a way to free him and he loses control to the Wolf? It’s best if we have the weapon, just in case. If Mr. Canis finds a way to fix himself then great—we’ll just put it back in the safe-deposit box. Or even better, we could use it to scare off the Scarlet Hand. If whatever is in the box can put the hurt on the Wolf then it can certainly take care of them. We might even be able to get rid of Puck’s stupid security team.”
“That would be nice. I found an elf in one of my dresser drawers, munching on my socks,” Daphne said with a small smile.
“It’s best if we’re ready for whatever happens. Give me the key. I’ll sneak out tonight and go get it.”
Daphne was about to take off the necklace when she hesitated. “No. Whatever is in that box is magic, and you shouldn’t be around magic at all. You know you’re addicted to it. Besides, Mr. Hamstead gave the key to me, so I’m going to decide when we use it.”
Sabrina was furious. “Daphne, if this is part of your ‘I’m a big girl now’ routine you need to cut it out. This is important!”
“I said ‘no’ and I mean ‘no,’” Daphne snapped.
Sabrina was tempted to snatch the necklace right off Daphne’s neck, but a knock at the door disracted her. The door creaked open and Uncle Jake entered.
“How’s it going?” he asked.
“Great!” Sabrina said. “The whole family hates me. I’m having a fantastic day.”
Uncle Jake laughed. “Trust me, you aren’t the first person to make my mom angry, especially when it comes to Mr. Canis.”
Daphne sat down on the bed. “You’ve argued with Granny about him, too?”
“Sure. So did your grandfather and your father,” Uncle Jake replied. He sat down at their father’s desk and ran his hand over the wooden top. “When Canis first came to live with us, it was all of us against Mom. We all felt like you do now, Sabrina.”