The Fairy-Tale Detectives (The Sisters Grimm, Book 1)

"Whoever she is . . . just got carried off by a giant and we are trapped in the middle of nowhere. I'm sorry, but I've run out of ideas!"

 

Daphne's shoulders loosened and her expression sank. She walked over to a fallen tree trunk next to the road, sat down, and began to cry. Elvis trotted over and nuzzled her, licking the little girl's tears from her chubby cheeks, and adding his whines to her sobbing. Sabrina sat down beside her sister and put her arm around the little girl.

 

"You don't care if we ever find them," Daphne sniffled, pulling away. "Now you can run off like you planned with no one to stop you."

 

Sabrina thought for a moment before she responded. She had to admit to herself that running away was her first instinct.

 

"Daphne, that monster was real. We can't fight that by ourselves. Even if we knew where he carried them off to, I don't think we could get them back. What are a seven-year-old and an eleven-year-old going to do about a giant?"

 

"You're almost twelve," Daphne said, wiping her eyes on the sleeve of her fuzzy orange shirt. "Besides, you heard Granny Relda. We're Grimms and this is what Grimms do. We take care of fairy-tale problems. We'll find a way to save Granny and Mr. Canis."

 

"How?"

 

"With this," Daphne said, holding the old woman's handbag above her head.

 

Sabrina took it from her sister and fumbled through it. Inside were Mrs. Grimm's key ring, the swatch of fabric the old woman had said came from a giant, books, her notebook, and a small photograph. Sabrina pulled it out.

 

"Mom and Dad," she said, as surprise raced through her. It was a picture of their parents, young and in love. Their dad had his hand on their mother's very pregnant stomach and they were both grinning. Granny Relda stood next to them, beaming, while Mr. Canis was off to the side, stone-faced as ever.

 

It had been more than a year and a half since Sabrina had seen a picture of her parents. The police had seized everything during the investigation and promised that when it was over they'd get everything back. But when the cops gave up looking for her mom and dad, their promises faded away. Now Sabrina's bitterness toward her parents faded, too. She held the snapshot as if it was a delicate treasure. It was evidence that her parents had existed, that at one time she and her sister had been part of a family. And it was obvious, seeing Granny Relda and her father standing side by side, where her father had gotten his warm round face. She glanced at Daphne and saw that face in her sister, as well. She looked at her father's blond hair and recognized her own. Daphne had her mother's jet-black hair; Sabrina had her high cheekbones and bright eyes. How could her mom and dad have walked away from their family? Proof that they should be together was right there in their faces.

 

Daphne hovered over her sister to get a better view, tears still running down her cheeks. Sabrina turned the picture over. Someone had written, "The Family Grimm—Relda, Henry, Veronica, Mr. Canis, and the soon-to-be-born baby, Sabrina."

 

"Why did he lie to us about her?" Sabrina whispered as she tucked the family portrait safely into her pants pocket.

 

"I don't know," Daphne answered quietly.

 

"And what happens if we start to love her and she abandons us, too?" the older girl asked, trying to hide the hurt in her voice.

 

"Maybe she won't," Daphne said. "Maybe she'll just love us back."

 

The little girl wiped her eyes and dug into Granny Relda's handbag. She pulled out their grandmother's giant key ring. "She wanted us to have these keys. She wants us to go home."

 

If we can even get home, Sabrina said to herself as a light caught the corner of her eye. She looked down the road. There were headlights approaching.

 

The two girls got up from the log and brushed themselves off.

 

"What should we do, stick out our thumbs?" Daphne asked.

 

Sabrina didn't know. They'd never hitchhiked before. In the past, whenever the girls had found themselves alone or on the run, they slipped under the turnstiles in the subway stations and traveled New York City's subterranean highway.

 

Sabrina stuck out her thumb and Daphne did the same. The car came to a screeching stop. It sat still for a moment, with its engine humming, blinding the girls with its high-beam lights so that they had to shield their eyes with their hands.

 

"Well, that was easy," Daphne said. "What's he doing?"

 

"I don't know," Sabrina said, stepping to the side. "Maybe he doesn't want to give us a ride."

 

Michael Buckley's books