King Arthur took his men into the woods, promising to find some game for dinner. The White Rabbit insisted they not hunt any of his brothers or sisters, and the dodo demanded that whatever they brought back not be an endangered species. Meanwhile, the rest of the Wonderland refugees trotted off in search of water and fruit. Daphne and Puck collected some firewood and stones to build a campfire.
Sabrina wanted to help, but she felt beaten and ill. Her hip was throbbing and her head felt like a demolition site. She closed her eyes, trying to block out the pain, and she must have fallen asleep, because when she opened them again she found a wild boar roasting above a crackling fire. The sun had vanished and the stars were like little pinpricks on a black canvas. Plus her hunger had turned ravenous. When the boar was ready, she ate like a starving coyote and drank more than her share of the sweet water the Cheshire Cat had brought back to the camp via the knights’ helmets. With her belly full and her thirst quenched, she was surprised to find that she didn’t feel that much better. In fact, she was still terribly exhausted. She hobbled over to a patch of softer ground and called her sister to her side.
“I need to rest,” she said apologetically. “You’re in charge. Don’t let them talk you into moving on. Don’t let them bully you either. If you have to get Puck to turn into a dragon or something to threaten them—do it.”
Sabrina wouldn’t remember if Daphne agreed or not. A moment later, she fell into a sleep that was deep, dark, and dreamless.
Sometime in the night she awoke with a pain in her side; a terrible blow rocked her body. She scampered backward, only to find that she was the only one in her group who was awake. The others had settled in for the night and the campfire was now a fading orange glow of embers. She would have thought the blow had been a dream except for the sharp pain in her ribs. She pulled up her shirt and found a growing purple bruise. Something had struck her. She was not imagining it.
She wondered if something had fallen from the tree above and hit her, but there was nothing. Perhaps some wild animal had come along and tried to take a bite, then darted off when she woke. Whatever the case, she knew that sleeping was now out of the question.
She saw something move in the woods to her left, and then it appeared on the right. It was just a flash and could have easily been a trick of the light, but then there was something standing over her. It wasn’t so much a person as it was the faint notion of the form of a person—mostly invisible but swirling with dust and dirt like a tiny hurricane trapped in a human-shaped shell.
“What are you?” Sabrina asked.
“Free me,” it croaked. Then whatever it was vanished.
The morning came and the ragtag group filled their bellies with some wild grapes and a few unidentifiable fish the cat caught in the stream. They cooked them over a fresh fire, and then they picked up their search for Pinocchio.
“You’ve been quiet all morning,” Daphne told Sabrina.
Sabrina didn’t want to frighten her sister with thoughts of ghosts. They had plenty of things to worry about as it was. “I just want to find Pinocchio as soon as we can.”
After nearly another whole day of walking, they came across a little town. It would have been nothing more than a place to pass through if not for the huge sign tacked to a tree.
Puck stopped an old man who was hobbling down the road, powered only by his cane and stubbornness. The old man told him the theater was at the other end of the town but not before he gave him a good swat with his cane. He apparently objected to Puck calling him “gramps.”
They dashed to the theater box office, but with no money they were forced to barter. Eventually, after much begging, Sabrina convinced King Arthur to part with his crown, insisting that when they got to the real world he would no longer be royalty anyway. The crown got them all front-row seats as well as a few nickels to spend at the local grocer. Unfortunately, there wasn’t enough money in the world to shut the king up about the indignity suffered. He claimed he felt naked without it and kept worrying about having “crown head.”
Eventually the doors to the theater opened and the crowd entered the venue. Everyone found their seats and waited for the show to begin. Meanwhile, Sabrina, Puck, and Daphne searched the crowd for signs of Pinocchio or the Blue Fairy.
“You’re sure the Blue Fairy shows up in this part of the story?” Sabrina asked her sister.
Daphne nodded. “If he’s going to make his move, it will be tonight.”
“I have a few ideas I’d like to run past you about how we plan to stop him,” Puck said. “First, I was thinking I could clobber him with a chair. It happens all the time on television and seems fairly effective.”