Sabrina eyed the beautiful woman closely. Since stepping into the Book of Everafter, they had met many fairy-tale versions of people they knew in the real world, but most had been nothing more than acquaintances (or, in the case of the Queen of Hearts, bitter enemies). Snow White was a very good friend of her family. Sabrina had spoken to her hundreds of times, and now, with this copy right before her eyes, her brain was having a difficult time separating the two.
“Snow, you can’t let anyone into this house,” one of the little men said, completely butting into the conversation. Sabrina turned and realized the speaker was another good friend, Mr. Seven. He was carrying a mug of something that turned his face red every time he took a sip.
“Your mother is trying to kill you,” another dwarf said.
“I know, I know,” Snow said as if it were nothing to worry about.
“She’s already disguised herself as a peddler and choked you with a strand of lace,” a bearded dwarf complained.
“Then you stuck that poisoned comb in your hair. Luckily we came home from the mine before it killed you,” a bald dwarf added.
“You need to be on guard and not let anyone in when we are not with you,” Mr. Seven said.
Snow White smiled as if she was thinking of something else and went back to sweeping the floor. “I’ll do my best. I guess I’m just so gullible.”
“Well, we better get back to work,” Mr. Seven said as he took a long, deep drink. His breath smelled like fruit and alcohol. “Keep the doors locked.”
“Will do!” Snow said, but it was clear she wasn’t listening.
The dwarfs shuffled out of the house, leaving the family alone with the beauty. She turned to face them, confused.
“Still here?”
“You haven’t noticed a magic mirror running around here with a little boy, have you?” Henry asked.
Snow White set her broom down. Her expression shifted from ditzy to deadly serious. “Have you come to change history again? These events have been revised already.” She rushed to the window and peered out as if concerned that she might be overheard. “The Editor worked on it himself. Is he unhappy with how it’s going?”
Suddenly, there was a rap at the door.
“That’s the Wicked Queen,” Snow said. “You should hide. We shouldn’t alter anything more. It was hard getting it to make sense after all the changes.”
Everyone argued, but eventually Snow convinced them all to hide under beds and listen as the story unfolded. Once everyone was out of sight, Snow went to an open window.
“I am not allowed to let anyone in. The dwarfs have forbidden me to do so.”
An old woman’s voice croaked from the other side of the window. “That is all right with me. I’ll easily get rid of my apples. Here, I’ll give you one of them.”
“Don’t do it,” Daphne whispered.
“Hey, marshmallow, your knee is in my back,” Puck groaned.
“Hush!” Sabrina ordered, and then turned back to Snow and the witch.
“No, I can’t accept anything,” Snow replied to her visitor.
“Are you afraid of poison? Look, I’ll cut the apple in two. You can eat the red half, and I shall eat the white half.”
Sabrina heard someone take a bite from the apple. A moment later, Snow White collapsed onto the floor. Sabrina watched the old woman stand over her.
“White as snow, red as blood, black as ebony wood. This time the dwarfs cannot awaken you.”
When the old woman was gone, the family climbed out from under the bed and hovered over Snow White.
“The people in these stories are nuts,” Sabrina said. “She knew the witch was coming, but she went through with the whole thing anyway.”
Puck shook Snow. “Wakey-wakey, sleepyhead.”
“She’s enchanted,” Sabrina explained. “She won’t wake up until someone who truly loves her kisses her on the lips.”
“So this fairy tale is a horror story,” Puck said.
“The prince will be along to wake her up soon,” Granny said as Veronica helped her out from beneath the bed. “We should get back to looking for Mirror and the baby. Whatever he plans on doing to your son is going to happen soon.”
In the silence after Granny finished speaking, Sabrina heard the unmistakable sound of someone taking another crunchy bite of the apple. She turned to find Puck with a mouthful of fruit. “Can’t we stop and get something to eat? This puberty thing is making me all kinds of hungry. Oh!” He looked down at the apple sheepishly and then fell to the floor in a heap.
“No way,” Henry said.
“I can’t believe you!!!” Sabrina shouted at the unconscious boy. If he had been awake she might have kicked him. “Where is your brain?”
“In his defense, I don’t think he knows this story,” Daphne said. “His parents probably didn’t read him too many fairy tales when he was little . . . four thousand years ago.”
“Aaargh!” Sabrina growled. “We have to find Mirror and stop him—not carry Sleepy Steven around. What do you think we should do?”
“We’ll put Puck into one of these beds,” Henry suggested. “He’ll be safe here. When it’s all said and done, we’ll come back and get him.”
“What about the revisers?” Sabrina said as her father hauled Puck’s limp body to the nearest cot. “What if they come before we get back?”