enry shook his head in disbelief. “I think everyone has lost their minds.”
He turned and found Granny Relda crying into her hands and shaking uncontrollably. Sabrina and Daphne raced to her side and hugged her tightly.
“Those poor people,” she said. “I can’t give them any hope. Billy won’t change his mind and he shouldn’t. We all have to fight, tooth and nail, or we are all doomed.”
“It’s going to be OK, Mom,” Henry said, resting his hand on her shoulder.
“No, it’s not!” she cried angrily. “Look about you. Of all the craziness this town has been through, have you ever seen Ferryport Landing like this? It has never been this bad. But you want to run off, back to your New York City. You would leave if you could—just when they need us the most.”
Henry said nothing. He looked around at his family and walked away by himself.
“Veronica, I’m sorry,” the old woman said. “I’m very tired.”
“He’ll be OK,” Veronica said.
Sabrina wasn’t so sure. When he didn’t come back for an hour, she went looking for him. She searched through the Hall of Wonders and didn’t find him anywhere. He wasn’t at the camp or the Hotel, either. Sabrina suspected he might have gone back to Granny’s house for a little privacy. There was no way she could walk all the way back to the house’s portal, so she looked for Mirror, who could take her in the trolley. She found him inside the Room of Reflections, pulling a shard of a mirror from one that was shattered. When he saw Sabrina he slipped it into his pocket and snatched a broom.
“Good, I could use a hand,” he said as he pointed to a mop and a bucket on the far side of the room. The bucket was filled with steaming, soapy water. Sabrina took the mop and ran it over the floor that Mirror had swept. “People have been tracking mud and leaves in here all day. You’d think some of them grew up in a barn.”
“I think some of them did,” Sabrina said, recalling the talking goat who had nearly killed her while steering the flying carpet earlier.
Mirror chuckled. “Don’t miss that spot over there,” he said. “I like to keep this place sparkling. One of these days Architectural Digest is going to want to take pictures. I plan on being ready.”
“I guess you’re not used to so many people in here,” Sabrina said.
Mirror shook his head. “Not that I mind visitors. The hall can actually get quite lonesome at times, but this has been unprecedented—all these wannabe soldiers running around leaving their filthy fingerprints on everything. And I thought Puck was a mess.”
“So you just clean when we aren’t around?” Sabrina asked. She had never once wondered about her friend’s personal life.
“Oh no, I keep myself busy with my little projects,” he said. “So, why aren’t you with your family?”
“I’m looking for my dad,” Sabrina said. “He’s pretty uspet.”
“I took him back to the house. Give me a second and I’ll take you.”
They swept and mopped until the room was sparkling, then stepped into the hall and boarded the trolley. Mirror took the driver’s seat while Sabrina stood nearby, holding a strap hanging from the roof. In no time they were zipping down the hall.
“In all the fuss I haven’t had a chance to say how sorry I am about Briar. I know she was important to you and your family. It was a terrible tragedy,” Mirror said.
Sabrina nodded and tried not to cry.
“Not to mention the return of your parents. It must be particularly hard on you to hear them bickering.”
“You’re reading my mind,” Sabrina said.
“If I said your sister’s attitude was bothering you, too, would I qualify as a full-fledged psychic?”
Sabrina smiled. “You’ve been paying attention.”
“I see everything that goes on around here,” Mirror said.
“I’m sorry that Uncle Jake snapped at you,” she said. “He’s very …”
“He’s upset, Sabrina, and he has a right to be. Just like you do.”
And then it dawned on Sabrina. She was angry. It wasn’t fair to have suffered for so long only to have her parents wake up to chaos. She had done what she was supposed to do: She grew up. Took the responsibility of looking after her sister. Even learned to appreciate her family’s legacy and responsibility. She had done all this in the hope that there would be something at the end that made all her struggling worth it. But that’s not what happened. She felt cheated.
“Starfish, do you believe in happy endings?” Mirror asked.
“You mean like in fairy tales?”
Mirror nodded. “Quite a number of them have happy endings. Even the story they wrote about me is a happy ending for Snow and the prince. Do you believe in them?”
“In real life?”