“Girls, this isn’t working.” Henry sighed. “We don’t have time to train you properly. We have to do something else.”
“Your father and I have an idea,” Veronica said.
? ? ?
Sabrina asked Red to spread the word that she and her sister wanted to speak to the army, and soon everyone returned to the yard. She stood before them all, painfully nervous. She had no idea how her parents’ idea would be received and she wasn’t sure she would do a good job convincing everyone to give it a try, but she was relieved that someone—anyone—was taking charge.
“I hope everyone had a good time last night,” she said to the crowd, “but now we have to get back to our plans of stopping Mirror. We’re a small group—too small to be much of a problem for him. I think I know how to change that. But before I explain, I asked the Widow to fly down to the town and report back on what she saw.”
The Widow flapped up onto Mr. Canis’s shoulder. “It’s a horror show. I can’t put it any prettier than that. If you owned a business down there, you might want to go ahead and fill out that insurance claim. The streets are a disaster, almost unrecognizable. And it’s overrun with the Hand, who are using it as their own personal playground. I saw two trolls tossing cars around like they were in a snowball fight. There are tons of Everafters looting and destroying things just for the fun of it. All of them have that creepy red hand painted on their chests. And then there’s Relda—I mean, Mirror. He . . . she . . . wow, this is confusing. Let’s just say the bad guy is camped out in the old police station, and she looks worse than I’ve ever seen her. He’s got members of the Hand running in and out of the place. He’s ordering everyone to cause as much chaos as possible. Plus, there’s this red-haired lunatic who seems to be Mirror’s right-hand man.”
“Red-haired lunatic?” Charming asked. “Is this someone new?”
“I’ve never seen him before, but he’s got a sword as big as a boat oar.”
Sabrina cringed. The red-haired man had to be Atticus. She looked to the Wicked Queen, who was cringing as well. Apparently, the witch had not yet told her daughter or her daughter’s boyfriend anything about their past, or the wicked man who haunted it. Bunny exchanged a knowing look with Sabrina, then cast her eyes to the ground. Sabrina turned to Morgan and then Baba Yaga, who hovered at the back of the crowd. Neither one of them were going to say anything, either. The bonds of the coven were deep.
“How many members of the Hand do you think you saw, Widow?” Sabrina asked.
“Probably close to two thousand.”
“Two thousand!” the Pied Piper cried.
“We’ll be slaughtered!” Beauty said.
The crowd broke into panicked chatter. Sabrina was sure she had lost them, but she continued, urged on by her parents’ confident smiles. “It does sound like a lot. That’s why they’re going to be super-surprised when we beat them. And that’s where my parents’ . . . where my idea comes into play. It couldn’t hurt to have a few more people on our side.”
“And how do you propose we do that?” Buzzflower demanded.
“We’re going to ask them to join us,” Sabrina said.
“That’s insane! The Hand is full of murderous lunatics,” Nurse Sprat said.
Henry waved the argument away like a pesky fly and then stepped over to his daughter. “Yes, that’s true, but it’s also full of people who are afraid, desperate, and manipulated. I believe that many of the Hand are just people who turned to the Master for the sake of survival. They don’t see an alternative. We can provide them a way out. We can take them in, protect them, and in turn, they’ll join our fight. I believe most will jump at the chance.”
“That’s a very big risk,” Goldi said.
Henry nudged his daughter and she continued her speech. “We’re going to give them a big dose of the truth. The Master lied to them. He told them they would take over the world together, but once he got his chance he turned his back on them and tried to escape the town alone. I’m betting they don’t know that, and I think the news will make them pretty angry.”
“I don’t think you can get them to listen to reason,” Swineheart said.
“That’s where my mother comes in. My mom can make anyone listen,” Sabrina said. “She managed to win the peace with King Oberon and Queen Titania back in the city, and those two were impossible. If there is anyone who can convince members of the Hand that they should join us, it’s her.”
“Except one thing!” Beauty said. “There are Everafters in the Hand that despise your family; more than a few would like to see you dead. Most won’t even consider what your mother says just because she’s a Grimm.”
“We won’t win them all,” Veronica said. “But we could win enough to make a difference. And maybe, once they see the rest of their crowd turning away from evil, the real diehards will realize their cause is hopeless.”
“It’s worth a try,” Gepetto said. “It might save a few lives.”