“How did you build this so fast?” Granny Relda asked. “You and Mr. Canis fled into the forest only yesterday!”
“We work fast around here,” a voice said from behind them. They spun around and found Mr. Canis. Their old friend was as skinny as ever, with a tangle of gray hair and a black patch on his left eye. He pointed toward a wizard who was levitating a load of rubble left over from the construction of a stone sewer.
Daphne raced to the elderly man and gave him a hug. He would have toppled over if not for the cane he carried at his side. Its presence bothered Sabrina. Canis had never needed one before, and it was a reminder that their friend was a very old man. Still, even weakened he looked more at ease than she had ever seen him. His trademark scowl and pensive expression were gone, replaced with an easy smile. “It’s good to see you, child,” he said to Daphne, then turned his attention to Sabrina’s parents. “Henry and Veronica, among the world of the wakeful. I am pleased to see the spell has broken and you have been revived.”
“Goldilocks woke them up,” Daphne said. “With a kiss.”
Puck stuck his tongue out as he if was about to be very sick.
Granny took her friend by the hand. “How are you feeling?”
Canis shook his cane. “Tired—my age is catching up with me. Rather quickly, too. It appears that I have lost some of my youthful strength now that I am free from the Wolf.”
“Wow!” Veronica said. “We’ve missed a lot, haven’t we?”
Sabrina quietly agreed. Only the day before the girls had used a magic weapon to remove the demonic spirit that had inhabited their friend for so many centuries. Now that it was gone, it could no longer torture Mr. Canis, but it appeared he no longer possessed the strength, energy, and keen senses of the monster.
“My yoga and meditation have been invaluable to me. Though it’s coming slowly, I’m starting to access memories of my life before I became the Wolf,” he said as he stepped close to Red Riding Hood and held out his hand in friendship. “Perhaps you would like me to show you how it works?”
Red trembled and hid behind Granny Relda.
Granny knelt down to Red and put her hand on the little girl’s cheek. Red looked panicked and her eyes darted about like a cornered animal’s. Granny tried to calm her. “Red, there’s nothing to worry about. The Wolf is gone, liebling.”
Red nodded but did not look convinced. It was clear she was still terrified of the old man who had killed her grandmother so many centuries ago, even though she herself had been controlled by a similar devil until the girls cured her, too. Still, all of these changes had happened so recently, Sabrina was sure it was natural to not want to be best buds with a guy who ate your granny.
“Perhaps another time,” the old man said, breaking into a coughing fit. When he regained control he turned back to Granny Relda. “I’m told that Jacob has been attacked.”
Granny nodded. “The Hand surrounded the house. Nottingham shot him with an arrow when he went out to confront them.”
“The tension has escalated,” Canis said. “Charming predicted something like this would happen.”
“I’m rarely wrong,” Charming said, as if it was a matter of fact and not an opinion. “Now maybe everyone will realize we need to start training an army.”
“An army?” Goldilocks cried.
“So this little camp is really a military base?” Sabrina’s father asked suspiciously.
Charming stood defiant. “Not yet, but it’s clear that the tide is certainly turning in that direction. The Hand has taken over the town and run all the humans out. They’re turning on their own now, pushing Everafters out of their homes and businesses. It won’t be long before they are hunting down anyone that doesn’t agree with them. We need to be prepared.”
“And once you have beaten the Hand you can point your little army toward taking over the town for yourself,” Henry said.
Charming sneered. “I liked you better when you were asleep.”
“What does Snow White think of this?” Granny Relda said, referring to the prince’s on-again, off-again girlfriend. Sabrina was curious as well. There was no way the pretty former teacher would support a war effort. Sure, she taught a self-defense class called the Bad Apples, but Sabrina had taken her class and Ms. White spent most of the time teaching her students how to avoid a fight.
“You can ask her yourself,” the prince said, gesturing to an open field near the far wall of the camp. There, they could see two dozen Everafters doing pushups in the mud while a woman stood over them barking insults and spraying them with a hose.
“Snow is training to fight?” Goldilocks asked.
“No,” Charming explained. “She’s doing the training. She’s in charge of the camp’s security. Unfortunately, the only Everafters who have volunteered are the biggest collection of feeble nincompoops ever to grace a storybook. Ms. White is doing her best to turn them into fighting machines.”
“Ms. White?” Daphne said.