Goldilocks smiled. “You’re an amazing woman, Veronica. I’m not sure you mean what you just said but you said it nonetheless. I doubt I would have done the same.”
Soon all of the soldiers were gone and the family was alone. They stood in the front yard surveying their little house and silently thanking their good luck. Somehow they had survived a fleet of fire-breathing dragons, an angry mob, and an army of bloodthirsty villains. They were enjoying the peace and quiet when something massive fell out of the sky and landed in the front yard. The impact was so powerful everyone lost their footing and fell to the ground. When Sabrina got back to her feet, she realized that there was a white dragon with orange stripes on its belly lying dead in the front yard. Puck was standing atop it with his little wooden sword in hand.
“Don’t disrespect the sword, Grimm,” Puck said.
The first order of business was getting the water and electricity turned back on. Puck reattached the severed electricity line on the pole by flying up and carefully reconnecting the cables. Unfortunately, he held the wires a bit too long and for the rest of the day his hair stood straight up on end. Veronica worked her own brand of magic on the water pipes.
With utilities back in working order, they went about opening windows and taking out the rotting garbage that had been sitting in the hot house for five days.
Granny made a huge meal consisting of what appeared to be fried oysters in peanut butter and jelly sauce. Sabrina could barely handle the smell and sat at the table picking at the horrible culinary nightmare. Her father noticed and nudged her under the table.
“I ate her cooking for eighteen years,” he whispered. “You get used to it.”
“Oh yeah, when?”
“I think it happened around the seventeenth year,” Henry said.
The entire table was listening to the conversation and burst into laughter. Only Granny Relda was offended at first, but she quickly joined in and eventually laughed the hardest of all. The rest of meal was filled with jokes and stories. For what seemed like the first time since Sabrina’s parents had woken, they weren’t fighting. Sabrina looked about the table at her family: Mom, Dad, Granny Relda, Daphne, Puck, Mr. Canis, and Red Riding Hood, and realized this was what she had been hoping for all this time. This moment had been the one she imagined over and over when she would peek into the spare room and see her slumbering parents. If only the whole family had been there—namely Jake and her baby brother. Where was the baby? Was he safe? She looked over to her mother and from her worried expression could see she was wondering the same thing. Somehow they had to find him.
“So, Henry,” Puck said as he kicked off his shoes and propped his smelly feet on the kitchen table. “I was wondering what you can tell me about puberty.”
Henry turned pale and stammered.
Sabrina wanted to crawl under the table and die.
That night, as Sabrina was dressing for bed, Daphne entered the bedroom. She was carrying a pillow that she tossed on the bed.
“Are you back?” Sabrina asked.
“Not by choice,” the little girl said. “Granny kicked me out of her room. Just as well—she snores.”
“Well, that’s the pot calling the kettle black,” she muttered. “I missed you.”
“I know. Think about that the next time you want to lie and steal from me,” her sister said as she crossed the room and opened a drawer in the desk that sat in the corner. From inside she removed a hairbrush.
“I will,” Sabrina replied sincerely as her sister crawled up behind her and brushed her hair. “You know, I’m very proud to be your sister.”
“Gravy.”
Sabrina smiled. “Gravy.”
“We have to find him,” Daphne said. “We have to stay in Ferryport Landing until he’s back with us.”
“I know,” Sabrina said.
“No grumbling about it, either,” the little girl added.
“No promises.”
“Hey, where are our marionettes?” Daphne said, glancing at the dresser. “Mine was next to yours and they’re both gone.”
“Dad threw them out,” Sabrina said. “I saw him toss them into the trash bin in the kitchen. After what Pinocchio did I don’t think he wanted them around.”
“Good,” Daphne said. “They were creepy anyway.”
“Super creepy. Nothing like a puppet to give you the willies,” Sabrina said as she crawled into bed. As she lay there she felt her sister slip her hand into her own, and soon they were both asleep.