“What’s an Everafter?” the caseworker snapped.
“It’s what fairy-tale characters like to be called,” the little girl explained. “‘Fairy-tale character’ is kind of a rude term. Like I was saying, the Brothers Grimm wrote about Everafters because they are real. Take Snow White. She’s a real person and the story really happened—poisoned apple and all. Cinderella, Prince Charming, Beauty and the Beast, Robin Hood—they’re all real people. They actually live here in Ferryport Landing. The Queen of Hearts is our mayor. Sleeping Beauty is dating our uncle.”
“Debbie, you are going to look so adorable in your straitjacket,” Ms. Smirt said.
“It’s Daphne,” the little girl said.
“Please be quiet,” Sabrina whispered into her sister’s ear.
“OK, kid, I’ll bite. So, if fairy-tale characters are real, how come I haven’t met any?” the caseworker said with a cackle.
“Because there’s a magical barrier that surrounds this town that keeps the Everafters inside. Our great-great-great-great-great-grandfather Wilhelm Grimm and a witch named Baba Yaga built it to stop some evil Everafters from invading nearby towns.”
“Oh, of course,” Smirt said sarcastically. She slapped her knee and let out a ghastly laugh that sounded like a wounded moose. Sabrina had never seen the nasty woman laugh before and hoped she never would again. Daphne ignored Smirt. “The barrier has made people in the town angry, and a lot of the Everafters don’t like us much,” Daphne said. “But—”
“Daphne, stop. You’ve told her too much,” Sabrina begged.
“Let me finish, Sabrina,” Daphne said calmly. “Like I was saying, we have a lot of enemies in Ferryport Landing but we’ve managed to make a few friends.”
Suddenly there was a tap on the window. Sabrina gazed out, expecting to see the Hudson River rushing past. Instead, what she saw nearly caused her to fall out of her seat. In the window was a familiar ragged-haired boy in robots-fighting-monkeys pajamas. Held aloft by two giant pink insect wings, he soared alongside the speeding train, grinning and sticking his tongue out at her. Sabrina had never been so happy to get a raspberry in her life.
Ms. Smirt, however, was horrified. She screamed like she had just found her name on Santa’s naughty list. She tumbled onto the floor and scampered underneath her seat like a cockroach. When she mustered the bravery to take another peek, Puck had already zipped ahead and out of sight.
“Did you see that?” Ms. Smirt stammered, slowly creeping back into the aisle and then dashing to the window for a closer look. “I must be tired. I thought I saw a boy out there. Flying! Outside the window!”
Just then, there was a horrible, eardrum-blasting clunk, followed by the screaming of metal on metal. Something sailed past the window and Sabrina watched as it disappeared. It was part of a door, much like the one the girls had stepped through to board the train. Sabrina looked back at her sister, who was grinning from ear to ear. “Did the two of you plan this?”
“Someone’s got to do the thinking in this family,” Daphne replied matter-of-factly.
A moment later Puck came strolling down the aisle with his beautiful wings extended proudly. “Well, well, well. Look at me. Here I am saving you two again. You know, you’re really quite helpless and pathetic. It amazes me that you can even dress yourselves in the morning.”
Ms. Smirt cried out and once again fell to the floor and scooted back under the seat.
Puck turned to Sabrina. “What is she doing down there?”
“Hiding, I guess.”
Puck leaned down and poked his head under the seat. “I found you.”
Ms. Smirt shrieked.
Puck lifted himself to his full height and laughed. “She’s fun.” He leaned back down and she screamed again. “I could do this all day. Can I keep her?”
Daphne shook her head. “You know the plan.”
Puck frowned. “Fine!” he snapped, then dragged the caseworker out from under the seat and to her feet.
Daphne stepped up to the trembling woman. “Ms. Smirt, I have something to say to you.”
Smirt said nothing and seemed unable to take her eyes off Puck and his wings.
“We are not going back to the orphanage. Not now, not ever. We are not going back to any foster parent, either. Our family is in Ferryport Landing and we’re staying. You are never going to come back to this town. You are never going to bother us again. This is good-bye, Ms. Smirt.”
“Right after the merciless kicking, right?” Puck said. “We talked about the kicking.”
“I vetoed the kicking, remember?” Daphne said.
Puck scowled.
Just then, the train’s conductor came over the speaker system. “Next stop is Poughkeepsie, folks. Next stop, Poughkeepsie.”
Suddenly, Puck’s face fell and his ever-present mischievous grin melted. “Uh-oh.”