“And what if he doesn’t?” the Cowardly Lion growled. “I took a big risk turning my back on the Hand. When they find us, they will be especially hard on those who betrayed the Master.”
Puck kicked Sabrina’s leg under the table. “Say something,” he muttered under his breath.
Sabrina shrugged. “What am I going to say?”
“They need a pep talk,” he shot back. “You’re their leader.”
“I think they’re right.”
Puck slammed his hand down on the tabletop and it rattled as if it had been struck with a sledgehammer. Everyone turned their attention to him as he leaped from his chair. “It doesn’t matter if he comes back. We don’t need him. Most of you were there when the mirrors spoke. Sabrina and Daphne are going to fix this, so stop your bellyaching.”
The crowd rolled their eyes and muttered amongst themselves. Puck looked ready to continue his speech, until they heard a commotion from outside the wall. Everyone raced outside as the drawbridge descended and a crowd of Everafters marched into the courtyard, led by Uncle Jake.
“More Scarlet Hand members have joined the cause,” Uncle Jake crowed. “It seems as if the plan is working.”
But Sabrina and the others were hardly excited by the new recruits. Jake had brought Cinderella and her husband Tom, both quite elderly, as well as their three mice servants. Behind them was Chicken Little, a potbellied robot from Oz named Tik-Tok, a gigantic caterpillar, and the Cheshire Cat from Wonderland, followed by the incredibly thin Ichabod Crane, Rapunzel, fewer than a dozen Munchkins—all well on in years—the Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe, and a hundred dirty-faced, shoeless children. As the drawbridge began to close, Rip Van Winkle hobbled in on his cane, nearly tripping over his beard. Sabrina’s heart sank. Looking at them, she felt the pressure of the prophecy even more.
“We need to prepare for war. Who’s with me?” Puck continued, but no one responded. They were just as disheartened as Sabrina.
“This army gets more and more pathetic by the second,” Pinocchio grumbled.
While the new recruits were welcomed, Puck pulled Sabrina and Daphne aside.
“It’s time to tell everyone your plan,” Puck said.
“We don’t have a plan,” Sabrina said.
“Duh! But they don’t need to know that. Just fake it until you make it! That’s what I do. Most of the time I have no idea what I’m doing, but if I told everyone, they wouldn’t put their faith in me.”
“Actually, we are all pretty sure you never know what you’re doing,” Daphne said.
“Listen, these people need heroes, and whether it makes any sense or not, you’re it,” Puck preached. “As a ruthless villain I have had my fair share of run-ins with do-gooders and I’ve noticed a thing or two about them. They aren’t confused or unsure of themselves. You have to be confident. If someone asks you a question, answer them—even if you don’t know what you are talking about! The secret is to sound sure! If they say, ‘Hey, losers, is the moon made out of cheese?’ The two of you say, ‘It is! I’ve been there! I ate part of the Sea of Tranquillity and it was delicious.’”
“So being a hero is being a good liar?” Daphne said.
Puck nodded. “Now you’re getting it!”
“I’m not going to lie. Let one of the grown-ups speak,” Sabrina said. “They don’t want to hear from us.”
Puck looked angry enough to pull out his own hair. “I can’t believe you. You know what? I’m seriously reconsidering marrying you.” His wings popped out of his back and he was in the air and gone before Sabrina could once again inform him that they were never getting married.
Gepetto joined Pinocchio near Sabrina. “We should prepare some rooms for them, son.”
Pinocchio rolled his eyes. “Papa, now that the army is growing, maybe we can assign them my chores. Many of them can split wood and heat water for washing.”
“Everyone works,” the old man said, looking at his son with disappointment. “That’s what being a grown-up is about. You want to become a man, correct?”
“But are there not many different types of work?” Pinocchio argued, his words getting shriller with each passing second. “Should those with a genius-level intellect dig ditches alongside the ancient and feeble-minded? I should be working on things that take advantage of my learning and world experience. Mr. Canis is really quite useless in the fight. He could make beds and—”
Gepetto snatched his son by one of his ears and dragged him toward the castle.
Unfortunately, Mr. Canis and Red had heard every insulting word.
“Come along, little one,” Mr. Canis said to the little girl with a sigh of surrender. “There are beds to make.”
Red slipped her hand into his. He looked down at it but did not pull away. Together they wandered toward the castle.
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