Snow smiled. “He will. Or I will, if I get tired of waiting. I hope it’s half as nice as this one.”
Wildflowers lined the path to two beautiful wooden arches interwoven with roses and white lilies. Several rows of chairs, each wrapped in more of the flowers, awaited guests. Mallobarb and Buzzflower hovered overhead on their wide insect wings. They showered the space with magical glitter, making the scene appear otherworldly. It was enough to take Sabrina’s breath away. She hoped Morgan would feel the same.
“Well, I better get ready. I didn’t exactly pack for a formal engagement,” Mr. Seven said, nervously. “I hope my bride doesn’t hate my sneakers and blue jeans.”
Sabrina looked down at herself and gasped. She was a mess. She couldn’t wear her ratty hooded sweatshirt and grungy shoes to a wedding. She rushed into the cabin that housed the magic mirror and darted into the Hall of Wonders. On the floor of her room was a stack of dirty clothes. She sorted through it, desperate to find anything that could be described as an “outfit.” All that she had managed to save from Granny’s demolished house were three pairs of pants, an oven mitt, a moth-eaten sweater, and eight shoes—none of which matched another. Desperate, she reached for her father’s Red Hot Chili Peppers concert shirt from 1990. She slipped it on, then ran into the mirror room to see how she looked. There was a huge green stain on it from one of Puck’s pranks. It was ruined.
Sabrina was a card-carrying member of the tomboys club, but this particular injustice stung. It wasn’t like she needed a pretty dress or fancy shoes. She just wanted a declaration to the world that things weren’t that bad. If she could have her hair done and wash her face and put on a necklace and show up to a wedding during a war, then the battle hadn’t beaten them. A simple ribbon in her hair would have done it—evidence that there were still very normal things in this abnormal world, and someday, those normal things would return. But she couldn’t win this fight. She couldn’t even find a clean T-shirt.
Sabrina wandered over to the Council of Mirrors for some company. “No one has anything nice to wear, honey,” Fanny said as she and the other guardians appeared in their mirrors.
“I know. I still want to try,” she said.
“For Puck?” Donovan asked, then mimed some exaggerated kissing.
Sabrina frowned. “No! Not for Puck. Who cares what he thinks?”
“Don’t tease the girl, Donovan,” Arden chided.
Sabrina buried her face in her hands while the mirrors tried to console her. “Everything is a mess.”
As she sobbed, she felt a hand in hers and sniffed. “I’m OK, Daphne.”
“No you’re not,” a voice replied, but it wasn’t Daphne. It was Red. “None of us are OK.”
Red’s attempt to comfort her took Sabrina off guard. Of all the people in the Grimm family, Sabrina had been the most indifferent to the little girl. It was hard to forget that Red had tried to hurt her family, even if she had been under the control of an evil force. Sabrina knew it wasn’t fair to hold a grudge, but there was a wall around her heart nonetheless.
“Where’s Daphne?” she asked.
“She’s busy with Morgan’s flowers. You know how she bites her palm when she’s excited? I thought she was going to chew her hand off when Mr. Seven asked her to be the flower girl.” Red took out a brush and went to work untangling Sabrina’s blond bird’s nest of hair. “She put me on hair duty.”
Sabrina forced herself to let the little girl work while she brushed some crusty residue off of her pants.
“You’re going to be fine,” Red continued. “Of all of us, you’ll be fine.”
“What makes you think so?” Sabrina said.
“Because you’re brave. That’s your gift.”
“My gift?” Sabrina laughed.
“Yes. Your dad is the one who watches over everyone, your mom is the leader, your sister is the smile-maker, and you—you’re the brave one. You just jump in and fight. Mr. Canis says he’s never seen you run.”
“Mr. Canis hasn’t been paying attention. Listen, if anything my gift is being the stupid one. I get into a lot of trouble because of my bravery. Every time I turn around someone has to save my butt.”
“You do your fair share of butt-saving too.” Red giggled. “We all need saving sometimes.”
“Did Mr. Canis say that, too?” Sabrina asked.
“No. I say that,” Red said. “Look at Mr. Canis. These days he’s feeling old and useless. He doesn’t feel like he has a purpose, so I’m saving him.”
“How?”
“By making him my father.”
“So maybe that’s your gift,” Sabrina said.
“How do you suppose?”
“You can make even the grouchiest person care about another,” Sabrina said. She looked into one of the mirrors and spotted Red’s smile.
The little girl set down the brush. “I did the best I could. Not as good as Daphne, but . . .”
“Looking good!” Reggie said when Sabrina studied herself in his reflection.