“Well, you have my help, and if I can speak for the others, all of our help,” the dodo said.
The puppy dog growled. “It is the very least we can do for the amazing opportunity you are giving us.”
The characters continued their questions about the world of the living. They were fascinated with little things like cars and phones and indoor plumbing. The White Rabbit had a difficult time accepting the idea that the real world had very few talking animals.
“It’s got very few clinically insane hat-makers too,” Sabrina grumbled.
Eventually, the berries and nuts were gone and all the chatter started to give Sabrina a sharp headache. She told Puck to shout for her if a door appeared and then excused herself to walk into the woods for some solitude. She knew she’d hardly be missed. The refugees from Wonderland continued their party with songs and stories of the lives they intended to build in the real world. They were prisoners broken from their cages, and it was a day to rejoice, but Sabrina didn’t feel much like celebrating.
“Mind if I sit?” Daphne asked, appearing from nowhere.
“Where’s Puck?”
“He’s got the puppy chasing his own tail and he’s laughing like an idiot,” the little girl said as she sat down against a tree. “I’ve come to ask you what you’ve done with my sister.”
Sabrina shook her head. “I don’t understand.”
“I know you aren’t really Sabrina Grimm,” Daphne said. “I know you are a fake. The real Sabrina doesn’t act like you at all. For instance, my sister never asks other people for their opinions on what she should do.”
Sabrina sighed.
“Normally, I find it annoying,” Daphne continued. “I mean, she almost never asks me what I think, and that makes me fighting mad sometimes. But never, in all the time we’ve spent in Ferryport Landing, has she ever, ever, ever, ever, ever asked Puck what to do. Who are you, and what have you done with the real Sabrina Grimm?”
“I’m afraid I’ll make the wrong choices.”
Daphne was quiet. “’Cause you trusted Mirror and he turned out to be the bad guy?”
Sabrina was surprised by her sister’s insight. It was another sign that Daphne wasn’t such a little girl anymore. “How did you guess?”
“Uh, I trusted him too,” Daphne said. “He was like an uncle to me. When he turned out to be the Master, I couldn’t believe I hadn’t figured it out myself. I looked back on all our time with him and I started to see the clues: the two faces he showed—one for the reflection and one for the Hall of Wonders, and the fact that whenever we were discussing a plan around him the bad guys always seemed to know, and all those mirrors we found around town—Nottingham and Heart have a couple, and Oz had one in his workroom. There was one in Rumpelstiltskin’s office. I’m sure Jack had one in his apartment. He was sending messages to his evil army through them. Why didn’t I see it? I’m a Grimm. I’m a detective. I have mad fighting skills and can zap someone with a magic wand like nobody’s business . . . but I didn’t see it.”
“If you made the same bad decision to have trusted him, why aren’t you panicking now?” Sabrina asked.
Daphne shrugged. “Mirror wants us to be off balance. That way we’ll have a tougher time stopping him. I’m not going to let him keep messing with me.”
“But when the people in your life betray you, how do you know which decisions are right?”
“Who knows what the right thing is anymore?” Daphne said as she munched on the last of her walnuts.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, I’ve been thinking about what Mirror is doing. He’s clearly lost his mind, and it’s horrible what he’s trying to do, but you know, he kind of has a point. He’s been trapped in that mirror for hundreds of years. He’s had owners who were cruel to him. He wants out, so he can be like the rest of us. He’s still a monster, but I can see where he’s coming from.
“And this Editor, well, his job is to keep the stories the same. If he doesn’t, then it affects the real world. The Editor has to fix this stuff, which isn’t fair to the characters, but it’s his job.
“And then there’s the people in this book. Why should they have to sit in some boring story all the time? That’s not fair.”
“You’re quite the sympathizer,” Sabrina said.
“Pretend I’m not a dictionary and I don’t know what that word means.”
“It means that you understand the problems of others,” Sabrina said.
“I guess I do, but not when you mess with my family. Whether Mirror has a point or not, he hurt me and you and everyone I love. That’s when I know when my decisions are right or wrong. Protecting my family will always be right.”
Sabrina blinked. “And you’re accusing me of being an impostor. When did you get so wise?”
“Back at home, Puck and I have been staying up and watching old westerns on TV,” Daphne said. “All the cowboys talk like that.”