Daphne took a long, thin wand from her purse. It had a shiny silver star at the end. “Don’t worry, this won’t hurt at all.”
“Will it make me strong like the Wolf?”
“Sorry,” Daphne said. “Fairy Godmother wands don’t work like that. You’ll just look like him; you won’t have any of his powers.”
“Or his twisted desires, so don’t try and eat anyone,” Sabrina added.
“You’re no fun,” Puck replied. “If only I could do this without a wand—boy, the trouble I could get into. I can shape shift into a wolf on my own, but old Big and Bad is his own breed; I’d never be able to do it justice. How long will this last?”
“I’m giving you ten minutes,” Daphne said. “After that you’ll be back to your old self, so don’t goof off. We need to get him talking and fast.”
“Lay it on me, sister,” Puck said.
Daphne flicked the wand and smacked Puck on the head. The boy winced. “I thought you said this wouldn’t hurt!” But before he could complain any further, a change came over him. Hair sprouted from every pore. Fangs grew in his mouth. Talons popped out of his fingers and toes. He grew several feet and put on hundreds of pounds of muscle. Seconds later, his transformation was complete. He looked exactly like the Big Bad Wolf.
“Did it work?” Puck asked as he peered down at himself.
“You look just like him,” Sabrina said with a shudder. She was still handcuffed to Puck, and his new shape made her recoil in fear. She had to take several deep breaths to calm down.
“All right, let’s go introduce you to Hatchett,” Daphne said as she put away the wand.
Puck nodded. “Wait, let me roar. He’ll lose his mind if I roar.” Puck let out a long, goofy howl that sounded nothing like a wolf.
“You might want to skip the howl,” Sabrina said.
“Everyone’s a critic,” Puck complained.
The children entered the little house. Instantly, Hatchett fell to the floor, scampered into a corner, and screamed like a baby.
“Remember me?” Puck growled, pushing Hatchett down with his paws.
“How did you get out of jail?” Granny cried, though her acting left a lot to be desired.
“No jail can hold me. I’m the Big Bad Wolf. The only person meaner than me is Puck, the Trickster King,” Puck said. “That kid is mean. But I’m running a close second.”
Sabrina kicked him in the leg. “Cool it, fairy boy.”
“What do you want from me?” Hatchett cried.
“Oh, I don’t know, a leg bone would be nice,” Puck said, attempting his goofy roar again.
“Tobias!” Hatchett said. “Get ahold of yourself. Fight the monster, Tobias. It’s me, Howard!”
“Who’s Tobias?” Little John asked.
“You’re Tobias, Tobias Clay,” Hatchett jabbered to the Wolf. “You’re a woodcutter. You hired me to be your apprentice. You’re a good man. Please don’t eat me!”
Puck looked to the family and even in his Wolf form he looked confused. Sabrina knew how he felt.
“Maybe if you tell us the truth the Wolf will have some mercy,” Uncle Jake stammered, obviously trying to sustain the illusion.
“The truth! Yes, I’ll tell the truth. Tobias and I were working in the forest collecting wood for the local mill. I had only been working for him for a few weeks, but I was already surpassing his skill.”
Puck growled.
“OK! You were about to fire me. I was goofing off, taking breaks, and making you do all the work. You had given me one last chance, but I didn’t care,” Hatchett said. “I hated cutting down trees.
“We were working in one of the darker parts of the forest when we heard a scream. You wanted to go check it out but I told you to forget about it. The woods were dangerous. It could have been anything—bandits, witches, goblins. I told you we would be fools to investigate, but you wouldn’t listen. So we tramped through the forest until we came upon the house. There was a horrible storm directly above it. I was sure the house was going to blow away.”
“So what did you do?” Daphne said. “And don’t lie. Our friend hasn’t had his lunch yet, you know.”
Hatchett squealed and trembled, but he continued. “Tobias dragged me to the hut and we looked inside. There was the old woman, and one look at her was all I needed to know she was a witch.”
“A witch?” Robin cried.
“That can’t be!” Granny shouted.
“It’s true! She was shouting and screaming and blowing into this little flute. Every time she did a wind broke out in the room, blowing everything this way and that. It was almost like she was standing in the middle of a tornado, but she was untouched. In fact, there was only one other thing in the room that wasn’t in danger—a rabid wolf inside a steel cage.
“The wolf was snarling and howling. You could tell it was sick because it was foaming at the mouth. You saw a lot of these animals out in the forest back then. I’d learned to steer clear of them. Rabies causes a madness to come over them, and if they bite you it can infect you as well.”