The Unusual Suspects (The Sisters Grimm, Book 2)

Daphne was already climbing inside and had found a spot in the corner to sit down. "We survived Granny's driving," she said. "We'll survive this, too."

"You'll be fine," Puck assured Sabrina. "You'll probably need someone to feed you for the rest of your life, but you'll make it. Stop being a baby and get in."

Sabrina looked at Wendell. He shrugged and the two of them climbed into the dustpan.

"You all need to stay in the back of this thing," Puck explained. "Oh, and one more thing . . ."

"What?" Sabrina cried. She didn't like the tone of his voice.

"Buckle up, kiddies," Puck shouted as he walked to the front of the pan and leaped into the air. His body came down hard on the end of the pan and the back tilted high in the air, sending the whole thing rocketing down the steps before Sabrina could even scream. Each step it cleared just made the dustpan increase its speed, until finally they crashed at the bottom of the stairs.

After Sabrina checked everyone for broken bones, she punched Puck in the arm.

"Hey, I got us here, didn't I?" he complained as he rubbed his sore shoulder.

The children climbed out of the dustpan, calmed themselves, and headed down a long, cavernous hall carved out of stone. Along the rocky path were pickaxes and dusty shovels, old buckets and miles and miles of rope.





What are they up to down here? Sabrina wondered, as everyone marched through the tunnel. The journey wouldn't have taken long if they were their usual size, but the length of a normal step now required a dozen.

"This is as far as I went before," Wendell said when they reached a place where the tunnels branched off into two directions. "Which way should we go?"

Sabrina heard voices arguing in the tunnel to the left.

"There's someone else down here besides your father," she said. "Let's go find out who."

The children followed the tunnel to the left, turned a corner, and crept as close as they could to the two men arguing in the datk. Sabrina couldn't make out the other person's face, but Hamelin was one of them for sure. The principal was wringing his hands.

"I'm telling you again. This has gone too far. No one was supposed to die," Hamelin said.

"Piper, you worry too much," a creaky voice said. To Sabrina, it sounded like the voice of a man who had been alive a thousand years without drinking a single sip of water. "Tonight we're going to reach our goal. We would already be there if it weren't for last night."

"My son was missing!" Hamelin cried. "What was I supposed to do?"

"Of all people, I understand," the voice crackled. "After all, I'm a father, too. The difference is that my children understand how important this is, while your child just gets in the way and puts this all at risk."

"Don't threaten me," the principal growled. "My boy isn't going to ruin our plans."

"Then we understand each other," the voice said. "Tonight we'll push forward, if you can find the time."

Hamelin's voice was so angry it was shaking. "Don't question my dedication. This was my idea after all."

"I'm glad to see you still remember that."

Hamelin spun around and rushed back up the tunnel, narrowly missing stepping on his own son, who just managed to leap out of the way.

"Are you OK?" Daphne asked, taking Wendell's hand in her own.

"I can't believe it," the boy said.

"We should go farther into the tunnel," Sabrina suggested. "We need to know where they are digging to." Everyone agreed, but just then something crawled out from around a corner and stopped the group in their tracks. An enormous brown mouse as big as a semi truck lumbered toward them. The rodent's pink nose and whiskers flicked and twitched as it sniffed at the children. Sabrina knew that at their current size they'd make a great snack for the hungry mouse.

"Eat the cakes," Sabrina advised, eyeing the mouse.

The children unwrapped their cakes and were just about to eat them when the mouse barreled forward and knocked Sabrina down. Daphne screamed and Puck leaped forward and dragged Sabrina to her feet. Unfortunately, she had dropped her cake right in front of the beast. The mouse spotted it, sniffed it, and with a quick flick of its tongue, ate it.

"That was a bad thing, wasn't it?" Sabrina said, sheepishly.

"Oh, man," Puck said, quickly shoving his own little chocolate cake into his mouth. "This is going to be awesome."

Daphne and Wendell were already munching their cakes, too, when Puck offered Sabrina his pinky.

"Hang on Sabrina," Puck said, flashing his devilish grin. "This is about to get interesting."