Sabrina looked at Puck. He was smelly, rude, mean, selfish, stupid, and immature. He wasn’t the kind of boy that girls fell in love with. He was the kind of boy you stayed fifty yards from at all times. Kissing him wouldn’t wake him up, but if everyone was going to pressure her, what else could she do? She’d kiss him and mentally remind herself to brush, floss, and gargle the first chance she got. She looked to her father, who seemed physically ill, while her mother smiled reassuringly. Daphne rolled her eyes. “Geez, enough with the buildup. Just do it.”
Sabrina leaned in and pressed her lips to Puck’s. There was a little static shock that startled her and she stepped back with her hands on her mouth.
“Oh!” It hadn’t hurt. It was just . . . surprising.
Puck’s eyes flickered open and he looked around. “So, what did I miss?”
The family spent the rest of the day retrieving what little was left intact in the house. Even Pinocchio helped, albeit reluctantly. Most of the time he groused about “child labor laws” and “indentured servitude.” It gave Sabrina and Puck time to be alone. They sat in the yard and looked over the house for a while in silence.
Finally, Puck spoke. “Let’s not change.”
“Huh?”
“The insults. The pranks. Let’s not change.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Someday you and I are getting married.” Puck sighed, as if terribly depressed. “The cruel hand of fate will not allow us to escape it. Worse, my own body is betraying me. I’m getting older every day. So, in essence, we are up the river without a paddle. If we have to get married and have a million babies, I hope our relationship will be built on mutual disgust and an endless barrage of ridicule and insults. It feels like the only thing I can count on right now. I don’t want something dumb like respect and affection getting in the way.”
Sabrina laughed. “OK, on the outside chance that you and I do get married, I promise to insult you all day long. But you do realize there’s a very good chance that you and I won’t get married.”
“That’s not what you told me. You said you went to the future and we were married,” Puck said. “We can’t escape fate.”
“We didn’t see the future. We saw a future,” Sabrina said. “The world we saw was terrible. The Master was in control of everything. Dragons hunted people. Human beings were refugees. When we got back to our time, Daphne and I started doing everything we could to prevent that from happening. And we have managed to change some stuff. For instance, Snow White was dead in the future but we saved her life. Daphne had a horrible scar on her face but we fixed that, too. There have been countless other things we stopped from happening. We may have altered the future so much that you and I don’t get married.”
Puck sat back, deep in thought. “So, you and I might not get married and have to do all that mushy stuff and have kids and buy a house and get a mortgage? I might not have to get a job or take baths or take up reading?”
Sabrina shook her head. “If we rescue Granny Relda and stop Mirror for good, we could probably change it all.”
“Great! Let’s kick Mirror’s butt,” he said.
Sabrina smiled at the joke but down deep it hurt her a little. Not that she wanted her whole life planned out for her when she was only twelve years old. She wanted there to be mysteries about the life she might lead and the loves she might find along the way, and she didn’t want fate telling her whom she was supposed to be with. Still, Puck was special to her. He was her first kiss; her first crush. There was no use denying it anymore. Poisoned apples had spilled the beans.
“Thank you, Sabrina Grimm.”
“For what?”
“Don’t torture me! I won’t say it out loud. Just . . . you know, in four thousand years no one has felt . . . Oh, just forget it!” he said. He took a strong whiff of the air. “Geez, Grimm. You’re rank.”
Then he walked away. A moment later, Daphne approached.
“Bobby is so cute,” Daphne said.
“Bobby? You want to name the baby Bobby Grimm?” Sabrina said.
Before she could argue, their parents approached with the little boy in their arms.
“We’ve come up with a name,” Veronica said.
“Please tell me it isn’t Oohg,” Sabrina replied.
“No, it’s Basil, after my father.” Henry beamed.
“I think it works,” Daphne said.
“So, what’s next?” Puck said, flying back to the group. “The old lady sacrificed herself, which means no more free meals for me. We have to get her back.”
Henry sighed. “I’m not sure what to do first.”
Sabrina looked around at her family. All of them were at a loss. They needed someone to step forward and lead them. For the first time in many days the thought did not make her ill.
“We need to start preparing,” Sabrina said. “Mirror has some horrible plans. Worse still, that man he unleashed, Atticus—I saw his face, and he’s not right. There isn’t an ounce of humanity inside him. Puck, you find Uncle Jake, Mr. Canis, Charming, and Snow White. Take Pinocchio with you. Mom, Dad, Daphne—we need to go see the real Wicked Queen, and unfortunately, we’re going to have to get some help from someone I’d rather not see again.”
“Baba Yaga,” Daphne groaned.
Sabrina nodded. “If we’re going to stop Mirror, we’re going to need this town’s most powerful people. Because if we can’t stop him, it may very well be the end of the world.”
To be concluded . . .
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