“There’s the door!” Daphne shouted.
Sabrina peered into the brush. Something white was standing in the bushes up ahead—something that didn’t belong there. Daphne was right! There was a door, but could they reach it before the revisers devoured them? She dug deep into herself and found the energy to run harder and faster. Her determination to save her family and herself made the pain in her hips and legs vanish.
Before she knew it, she was turning the knob and opening the door. Daphne and Puck tumbled through and Sabrina started to follow. Before she could, a reviser clamped down on her loincloth. It growled and tore at the cloth. Sabrina could feel its incredible strength as it pulled her back with its teeth, and she fell to the ground. It dragged her away along the ground toward the hungry jaws of the rest of its pack. She kicked at the creature, pounding it with her feet, but nothing could stop it.
She was sure she was about to die when the creature let go of her loincloth and was lifted off the ground. It squirmed and cried as if in the hold of a viselike grip, but there was no one there holding it up. Sabrina didn’t stop to figure it out. She scurried backward into the open doorway.
Just before the jungle vanished from view, she saw the reviser slam into the ground. It looked as if it were dead. She remembered the Munchkin’s warnings about staying inside the margins. Was this invisible power what he was trying to tell her about?
3
hen the world materialized again, Sabrina found herself at the edge of another unfamiliar, dark forest. Unlike the setting of the fierce and fiery Jungle Book, this one smelled of cedar pines, and a layer of crisp dew covered everything. The change of scenery wasn’t the only thing that was different. She and Daphne were dressed in new outfits—puffy shirts and royal blue leggings. Sabrina sighed in relief. Anything was better than the loincloth she had been wearing. Puck was still in his usual filthy and shredded hoodie. She guessed that as an Everafter, he was allowed to stroll through the Book unaltered. Perhaps the Book, like the Editor, recognized Puck. Because the girls were human, they were unfamiliar. Maybe that’s why it kept forcing them into different roles.
Her little sister seemed thrilled with her new attire. She had discovered a sharp sword sheathed at her side. She took it out and awkwardly swung it around. “Maybe we’re in The Three Musketeers! I hope I’m D’Artagnan. Hey, that’s a good name for the baby. D’Artagnan Grimm.”
Daphne swung her sword into a nearby tree, where it stuck tight. As she struggled to pry it loose, Sabrina glanced around and saw they were traveling with a crowd of similarly dressed men. Each had long, shoulder-length hair and a full beard. Leading the group along a well-worn path through the trees was a woman in rich, embroidered robes. A golden crown adorned with delicate jewels rested on her head. Her face, however, was not as delicate. It was a collection of sharp features and rough lines—both gorgeous and unnerving. Sabrina feared her smile more than any weapon.
“Which story is this?” Puck asked.
Daphne shrugged. “Beats me.”
Sabrina was disappointed. Daphne had read so many more fairy tales than she had, and even though Sabrina had accepted her role as a fairy-tale detective, there weren’t enough hours in the day to read and memorize every fable, tall tale, and folk story in the family’s private library. It was at moments like this that she wished she hadn’t been so stubbornly resistant when Granny Relda had explained her family history and responsibilities. If she had been more cooperative and listened more closely, she might know more about the stories and the actual historical events they described.
“What is it with all the forests?” Daphne grumbled as she peered into the woods.
“I know! Couldn’t they set one of these stories in an icecream parlor for once? I’m starving!” Puck exclaimed. His outburst stopped the rest of the group in their tracks. Every eye shot angry daggers at the children.
“No one spoke during this part,” one of the guards whispered.
They followed the group quietly until they came to an overgrown part of the path, so faint it would have been easy to overlook it. The queen held her hand up, and her men came to an abrupt stop. As everyone looked on, the queen reached into the folds of her robes and took out a ball of white yarn. Sabrina wondered if the woman was planning on knitting a scarf when she saw the queen do something unexpected. She raised the ball of yarn to her mouth and whispered something into it. Then she set it on the ground at her feet and stood back. The ball of yarn started to twitch and hop. It bounced around like a Mexican jumping bean and then rolled into the woods with a shot, leaving in its wake a strand of yarn for them to follow.