“No,” Mr. Canis said. “As much as we need recruits, you’re human, and far too fragile.”
“Then how can we help?” Daphne asked.
“By opening up some of the rooms in the Hall of Wonders to Charming’s army,” Granny explained.
Henry nearly exploded. “You want to open up the Hall of Wonders to Prince Charming—our family’s bitterest enemy?”
“The prince is not the man you remember,” Mr. Canis said.
“Am I really hearing you say this? You and Charming—best buddies!” Henry scoffed.
“I would not count him as a friend, but he has earned my respect and my trust. He is not being deceitful when he says the Scarlet Hand is on the march. They won’t be stopped until this town is ash and I won’t sit idly by. I may not have the senses of the Wolf any longer, but I still smell war in the air. We come to your family because we are outnumbered. The Hand counts amongst its number the most ferocious of us, the most powerful, and the most bloodthirsty. If you won’t help us we have little chance of defending Ferryport Landing, let alone saving our lives.”
“They only require a few items from select rooms,” Granny said.
“Give it to them,” Uncle Jake said.
“Now, Jacob, don’t you want to know what they want?” Granny asked.
“No. Give it to them,” he said. “Whatever they want.”
“We’ve taken the liberty of making a list,” Mr. Canis said in the awkward silence. The old man pulled out a sheet of paper. Sabrina’s father snatched it.
“Thirty trained unicorns!”
“We have unicorns?” Daphne asked, amazed. “No one told me we had unicorns. You do know that I’m seven years old, right? Unicorns are everything to me.”
Henry ignored her. “Two dozen Pegasus horses, the shoes of swiftness, Excalibur, the Wicked Witch’s flying broom, and Aladdin’s flying carpet.”
“Plus as many fairy godmother wands as you can spare,” Mr. Canis said. “As well as the horn of the North Wind.”
“Absolutely not!” Henry said. “The only reason this town doesn’t destroy itself is because this stuff is not in the hands of Everafters. Who’s to say that once we turn this over to Charming he won’t use it to kill us all?”
“I’m to say,” Mr. Canis said, tapping his cane on the floor angrily. “Do you believe I would allow harm to come to your family?”
Henry shook his head feebly.
“This request is an enormous departure from our family’s traditional role,” Granny Relda said. “So I present it to you for a vote. I believe Jacob has cast his vote, so I turn to Daphne.”
Daphne held her hand out to her grandmother. Granny seemed to understand what she wanted and reached into her handbag. She removed a small velvet bag with the words “The North Wind” embroidered on it and handed it to the little girl. Daphne opened it and took out a small silver kazoo. Though it looked like a toy, Sabrina knew its destructive nature. The Big Bad Wolf had used it to huff and puff his way into mayhem. Sabrina herself had accidentally destroyed a bank with one simple note. She wished that the army hadn’t asked for it—it was the most powerful magical item she had ever come across and if it fell into the wrong hands it could be a catastrophe. Daphne, however, readily handed it to Canis, who tucked it into his suit jacket and thanked the little girl. “You have my vote,” she said.
Granny turned to Red. “And you?”
Red seemed overwhelmed. A happy tear appeared in the corner of her eye and then streaked down her face. She nodded, another vote for the cause.
“Puck?”
The fairy boy flashed Sabrina a nasty look, then shrugged. “Whatever. Why should I care? Do what you want.”
Granny frowned at his bad attitude but moved along. “Which brings us to Veronica.”
Veronica looked at Henry then back at the rest of the group. “I say empty the whole hall out. The Master kidnapped Henry and me. He’s responsible for my daughters living in an orphanage. He stole two years of my life. Open every door, Relda.”
Henry scowled. When the old woman turned to him he was furious. “You know my vote. Dad would say we were crazy for even talking about this. Releasing magic into this town is why he’s dead.”
Uncle Jake stared out the window.
“But it doesn’t matter what my vote is,” Henry said. “The majority has already spoken.”
“Hank, your concerns are noted,” Canis said. “But your involvement in our training would help to ensure your fears never come true. You have considerable talents. You were, after all, trained by Basil Grimm. You could—”
“This is not my war, Canis,” Henry snapped.