"Did you two kiss and make up?" Daphne asked.
Though she couldn't see it, Sabrina was sure her face was as red as a tomato. "C'mon, Uncle Jake is waiting," she said and hurried outside with Daphne at her heels.
Uncle Jake was leaning against the family's rusty old jalopy. It hadn't moved an inch since Mr. Canis had died.
Puck came out of the house to join them, and when the boy fairy got close enough, Uncle Jake extended his hand. "Glad to have you along, Puck," he said sincerely.
The boy sneered at the man and crawled into the backseat of the car. The girls followed and the ancient car's shock absorbers groaned with complaint. Seeing Uncle Jake behind the wheel where Mr. Canis usually sat was strange to Sabrina. But when Uncle Jake inserted the key something even stranger happened--the car didn't backfire. Every other time the girls had been in the car, it had started with an ear-shattering explosion that could be heard across town. Now it rumbled softly like a brand-new automobile. Sabrina saw her own surprise reflected in her sister's face.
"How did you do that?" Daphne said.
"I have a way with women," Uncle Jake said, caressing the dusty dashboard. "Besides, this is my car. I left it here when I skipped town. Your father and I got into a lot of trouble in this car."
He put the car in reverse and backed it out into the street, and soon they were tooling through the back roads of Ferryport Landing. What Sabrina had always thought of as the world's dullest town took on a whole new light when her uncle talked about it. Every mailbox, abandoned house, graffiti-covered bridge, and broken window had a story. The more the girls heard, the more it became clear that Uncle Jake and their straight-laced father had been first-class juvenile delinquents. As interesting as all the stories were, Sabrina found herself especially interested in the ones that had a magical element; the boys had cast a gigantic spell on the Three Blind Mice and watched them stagger around the town, they had poured a rusting potion onto the Tin Woodsman, and even found a way to give the Old Woman Who Lived in a Shoe and her thousand kids athlete's foot. Jake and her father had done it all.
Which made Puck's dislike of her uncle all the more puzzling. After all, the two had so much in common. Uncle Jake's stories were filled with mischief, but Puck was clearly unimpressed. He sat in the backseat, with his arms crossed, acting as if he weren't paying attention.
Sabrina and Daphne, on the other hand, had a wonderful time. Even the "A VOTE FOR HEART IS A VOTE FOR CHANGE" signs that had sprung up all over town couldn't cast a shadow on the trip.
After a couple hours of sightseeing, Uncle Jake made a turn that led up to the mountains. They drove for some time, then made a left on an abandoned gravel path and parked the car near a clearing.
"What are we doing here?" Daphne asked as everyone got out of the car.
"I have to admit that this walk down memory lane was all just a trick to get you girls out of the house," Uncle Jake replied, leading the children to the center of the open field. "Mom doesn't want you two messing with the stuff in the Hall of Wonders, but I have a few goodies of my own. I'm going to teach you to use some of them. Puck, would you like to learn something, too?"
Puck sneered. "I know all I'm gonna."
Uncle Jake dug in his pockets and produced his Wand of Merlin. He handed it to Daphne but she refused to take it.
Her uncle was surprised. "Wouldn't you like to have something that you can use to save your mom and dad and keep you and your sister safe? Your grandmother never has to know."
Daphne shook her head. "No, thank you."
Uncle Jake frowned and handed the wand to Sabrina. As soon as she touched it she felt the familiar charge run through her body. It was exhilarating.
"Looks like you're going to be the hero of this family. OK, the name of the game with a magic wand is control. You want to be able to aim and concentrate all at once 'cause the thing about monsters is they don't wait until you're ready. So every time you point this thing, know what you want or someone could get hurt."
Sabrina nodded, doing her best to avoid Daphne's disapproving glare.
"So you've seen how it works for garland and tinsel," Uncle Jake said. "Let's try something with a little more punch. Let's pretend those trees over there are the Jabberwocky. We need something really big to knock a Jabberwocky down. It could be anything, but let's try lightning. To get some lightning, think about the worst thunderstorm you've ever seen, a really scary one with fierce wind and rain."
Sabrina closed her eyes to imagine the scenario and immediately remembered the night after her parents had disappeared. There had been a terrible thunderstorm right outside of their apartment windows. The girls had slept in their mom and dad's bed, hoping they'd come home soon. They never did.