Bluebeard stood up from his desk and surveyed the crowd. He had a smug look on his face and he beamed at everyone, including Sabrina and her family. “Indeed I do. In fact, she’s our last witness. I call Little Red Riding Hood to the stand.”
The crowd fell silent as if their words were forcefully stuffed back into their mouths. The double doors in the back opened and a card soldier escorted Red to the stand. He helped her into her seat and stood nearby, watching her closely.
“Does the witness need to be watched?” Hatter asked.
The card soldier nodded. “This one is especially dangerous. She’s mentally deranged, sir.”
“Oh,” Hatter said with delight. “How exciting! What does she do? Eat people? Push people out of windows? Throw knives?”
“All of the above, I believe.”
The judge clapped like a happy child. “It’s nice to not feel so alone. Bluebeard, ask your questions.”
The lawyer approached the little girl, but even he kept a safe distance from her. When she looked up into his face he smiled, but she sat there, stone-faced and gazing around as if lost in thought.
“Precious girl,” Bluebeard started. “You have been through so much. I hate to put you through any more but we need to get to the truth. We have a . . . ahem . . . man on trial for his life, so I hope you’ll be brave and answer some questions.”
Red continued gazing about. Sabrina had seen this expression before. The little lunatic was probably having another delusion.
“Red, we’ve already established that your parents sent you to see your grandmother and asked you to take a basket of food and medicine. Do you know why they sent you?”
“Momma told me Granny was sick,” Red said.
“Your grandmother was sick? How sad. So you went through the woods following a path to her house. When you got there, what did you see?”
“A monster,” Red said.
Bluebeard smiled. “Can you point out that monster?”
Without as much as a glance, Red pointed at Mr. Canis.
“Let the record show that the child pointed at the accused,” the lawyer said, then turned his attention back to Red. “Where was your grandmother when you arrived?”
“The Wolf ate her,” Red said softly.
“That’s terrible,” Bluebeard said overdramatically. He looked as if he might burst into tears, but Sabrina knew he was acting. “I’m sure you know this, but the story of what happened has been spread far and wide. In one version you came into the house and found the Wolf hiding in your grandmother’s bed. Is that what happened?”
Red nodded.
“Why would he do that?” Bluebeard asked.
“He wanted to trick me so he could eat me, too,” Red said.
“Luckily, a woodcutter came and saved your life,” Bluebeard said as he turned to the jury. His face was pure confidence.
“No, that’s not what happened.”
Bluebeard’s face fell. He spun around to face Red once more. “I’m sorry, child. Maybe you misunderstood what I said. I was talking about the brave woodcutter who saved your life.”
Red shook her head. “I heard what you said. I said that isn’t what happened. I found the woodcutter hiding in the fields.”
“Then how did you escape the Wolf?” Bluebeard asked.
“Because he saved me from himself,” Red said, pointing at Mr. Canis.
The crowd broke into excited chatter. Hatter pounded a gavel down on the stack of milk crates. They collapsed before him. With nothing to pound on, he slammed the gavel into his own head. “Order!”
“The jury should be careful about what the witness says. She’s mentally ill,” Bluebeard said.
“Objection!” Robin Hood cried. “If her testimony can’t be trusted then why is she here? She’s either telling the whole truth or telling a whole lie.”
“Order!” Hatter demanded, slamming his head against a wall. “Mr. Bluebeard, do you have any more questions?”
Bluebeard looked frantic. “No, sir!”
Judge Hatter, however, had some of his own. “You say the creature who murdered your grandmother saved your life?”
Red nodded. “My grandmother was trying to heal me. I’ve struggled with my sanity since I was a baby. She was a witch, and she had a plan, but it blew up around her. The result was she created the Big Bad Wolf, and that poor man, the one they call Mr. Canis, was the real victim. He was in the wrong place at the wrong time. He didn’t mean to kill my grandmother but he couldn’t stop himself. Lucky for me, he got control over himself for a brief moment and begged me to run.”
“You say you’ve dealt with your sanity for a long time,” Hatter said. “I know crazy and you seem perfectly fine to me.”
Red scanned the crowd and found Sabrina and her family. She smiled. “I’m feeling much better.”
“Objection!” Bluebeard cried. “We are finished with this witness.”
Judge Hatter snarled at Bluebeard. “I say when a witness is ready to go.”
“It’s true that the Wolf killed my grandma, but I don’t think he could control himself. He was out of his mind. I know how that feels. I’ve done terrible things. I know it. The Wolf is dangerous but he does not deserve to die.”
“Objection!” Mayor Heart roared from her seat.
“Your honor. We rest our case,” Bluebeard said, frantically. “We’d like the jury to make its decision.”
Hatter shrugged. “Fine with me. We’ll take a one-hour break to allow the jury to decide.”
“So we don’t get to question this witness, either?” Robin Hood shouted.
“Objection!” Hatter shouted.
“I beg your pardon,” said the bewildered lawyer.
“I object,” the judge replied.
“You’re the judge. You don’t get to object,” Robin cried.
“Well I object to not being allowed to object. I find it . . . objectionable,” Hatter replied. “The court finds the Wolf not guilty!” he slammed his head with the gavel and then prepared to leave.
“Your honor!” Bluebeard cried. “The jury has to vote on whether the Wolf is guilty. You can’t do that yourself.”
“Oh, another of your silly rules,” the judge said. “Very well, I declare a recess. One hour.”
Judge Hatter got off his chair and raced through the aisle toward the double doors. Sabrina watched him pass, marveling at the fact that his neck could support his monstrous head and nose. As soon as he left, the crowd surged out behind him.
The family congregated at Briar Rose’s coffee shop. Briar took a break and sat with them, but not before she brought everyone fresh muffins and steaming cups of coffee. Sabrina, Puck, and Daphne were treated to chocolate milk with whipped cream on top. The princess sat next to Uncle Jake and kissed him on the cheek. Sabrina watched Briar’s fairy godmothers stew with anger.
“They’re going to turn me into a frog,” Uncle Jake said, grinning.
“Well, I won’t be the first princess in this town to date an amphibian,” Briar said.
“What do you think Canis’s chances are?” Uncle Jake asked Granny.
The old woman sipped her coffee. “Who can say? The Judge is pretty unpredictable.”
“The judge is a certifiable nutbag,” Puck said.
Granny nodded. “But he doesn’t seem to be in Mayor Heart’s pocket, either. I think they thought that having an insane person as the judge might sway things in their favor. I don’t think it’s turning out that way. He’s proving to be unpredictable for us all.”
“Maybe too unpredictable,” Sabrina said.
“I think Judge Hatter is the Scarlet Hand’s whammy,” Daphne said as she brushed whipped cream off her nose.
Just then, one of Robin Hood’s merry men came running into the coffee shop. He was out of breath and so excited he could barely speak.
“The . . . jury . . . is . . . back,” he gasped.
Everyone jumped up from their seats and followed the lawyer at a run until they got ba
ck to the courtroom. The double doors were closed and two card soldiers blocked the way.
“Court is in session. No one can enter,” the Eight of Diamonds said.
“You let me in right now, or I swear the two of you will get the shuffling of your life,” Granny said.
Befuddled, the guards stepped aside and Granny threw the doors open. Every person in the packed courtroom turned to gape at the noisy newcomers.
“Uhm, as I was saying,” Judge Hatter said. “Has the jury reached a verdict?”
The man in the black cloak stood up from his seat. He held a folded piece of paper in his hands. “We have,” he said. There was something familiar about his voice, but Sabrina couldn’t place it.
“Very good. Read your verdict,” Hatter replied.
The man cleared his throat and unfolded the paper. “We the jury find the accused guilty of murder.”
Sabrina gasped. Most of the audience cheered, though Sabrina heard some angry boos coming from their loyal friends. The noise banged against Sabrina’s eardrums like a wooden spoon on an old pot. She felt dizzy and sick to her stomach. Granny and Daphne looked no better.
“I see,” Hatter said when the crowd grew quiet. “Then I suppose we need to sentence him, and I tell you folks, I’m going to give him a full sentence. Not a sentence fragment but a whole sentence with a verb and a noun and possibly an adjective. I wouldn’t be surprised if there was a conjunction in there as well. I can’t stand these judges who run around with their half-baked sentences. That’s how you get salmonella poisoning! Thus, I sentence the Wolf to death by hanging!”
The crowd leaped to its feet. Some were dancing and clapping; others laughed and howled with twisted joy. Only Sabrina, her family, Briar Rose, Snow White, and their Everafter friends were brokenhearted.
“Order! Order in the court!” Hatter cried, striking his head with his gavel again. “The Wolf will be hanged tomorrow in the center of town at noon. I believe we should make an example out of the monster. This case is over!”
Hatter leaped to his feet and rushed out of the room. Bluebeard, however, stood beaming proudly at the Grimms. Robin Hood and Little John pushed through the crowd to them. Their long faces spoke a thousand words of remorse. Granny thanked them for trying then moved to the front of the court where Mr. Canis was being dragged away by a dozen soldiers.
“Old friend!” she said.
“Old friend,” Canis said, his features now almost completely those of the Wolf’s.
“We’ll work on another way,” Granny said. “There’s no reason to worry.”
Canis shook his head. “It’s over, Relda Grimm. It is how I want it.”
He turned and allowed the guards to lead him out of the courtroom.
Daphne hugged her grandmother and wept into the old woman’s dress. Tears were rolling down Granny’s face as well. Even Uncle Jake was shaken and pale. Puck, however, was furious.
“I’m going to rescue him!” he shouted angrily. His wings sprang from his back and his eyes turned coal black. He snatched his sword from his waist and flew toward the door that Canis had been led through, but Granny pulled him back by his foot.
“No, Puck!”
“He needs our help, old lady!” Puck shouted.
“No! Not here. Not this way. If you go after him they will arrest you next. Stay with us, Puck. I can’t bear to lose another member of my family.”
“What now?” Sabrina asked her grandmother. For the first time since she had met the old woman, her granny was speechless. She seemed dumbstruck by something at the far end of the room. Sabrina followed her gaze and saw the man in the black cloak staring back at them. Bluebeard joined him and shook his hand, as did Heart and Nottingham. And then something so much more shocking occurred than even Canis’s death sentence. The man reached up and removed his hood, revealing his identity. The man in the cloak was Prince William Charming.
Snow White saw the unveiling as well. Her already pale complexion grew whiter. She bit her lower lip and a tear rolled down her cheek. She turned to Granny Relda. “I’m sorry,” she whispered. “I can’t be here.”
Snow turned and ran out of the room. Charming watched her go, but then turned back to his new friends. Sabrina glared at the man like he was mold on the bottom of a toilet. She had never trusted Charming, but she had secretly hoped that Daphne was right about him. The little girl always believed he was a hero waiting for an opportunity. Even though he had come to the family’s aid occasionally, Sabrina had continued to have her doubts. It had never felt so miserable to be so right.
n the day the Big Bad Wolf was sentenced to die, it rained. Buckets of water spilled from dull, black clouds and flooded the streets. The town’s sewer system backed up and the water that didn’t make it to the nearby river flowed through the tiny hamlet without restraint.
Granny Relda wrapped herself in a rain jacket. Uncle Jake stood beside her holding an umbrella over her head. Sabrina recognized it as the same umbrella Mr. Canis had held over her the day she and Daphne arrived in Ferryport Landing. At first the children were told they had to stay home. Then Granny seemed to realize they’d sneak out anyway, and so she agreed to let them come along to say good-bye, but they were not to watch the execution. Sabrina knew it might be the last chance she had to apologize to the man who had been her family’s protector for almost two decades. She wanted to tell him how wrong she had been about him. He had never deserved her distrust.
The family drove to Main Street in their old jalopy. Sabrina sat remembering the times she had had with Canis. For the first time, the chaos and noise of the car went unnoticed.
They parked on a side street and walked up the block. In the center of Main Street, a large platform had been constructed. It had two levels. One was wide and close to the ground, the second was at the top of a tower, high above the other. A wooden beam held a noose above the second platform. A huge crowd had already gathered. Sabrina and her family moved to the front. Along the way, Everafters shouted angry comments and filthy words at them: The Grimms were a blight and a menace. They were disgusting and filthy humans. They were inferior and stupid and the cause of everyone’s suffering.
Bluebeard, Nottingham, Mayor Heart, and Charming appeared on the first platform. The crowd cheered their arrival and Heart waved like she was in a beauty pageant.
“We’ve waited a long time for this, haven’t we?” she shouted into her megaphone. Many in the crowd roared back at her. Most wore the mark of the Scarlet Hand. Heart raised her hand for their attention, then turned her gaze on the family. “But trust me, people. Today is just the beginning. Bring out the Wolf!”
The crowd cheered and broke into a chant of “Bring out the Wolf!”
Half a dozen card soldiers appeared with Canis in their midst. He towered over them, but they had swords, and Canis did not look as if he was going to put up a fight. The guards pushed him up to the second tower and the Ace of Spades wrapped a noose around his thick, hairy neck.
“I’d like to speak to my friend,” Granny said. She pushed her way to the tower and climbed the stairs.
“You’ll be up there yourself, soon!” someone shouted from the crowd.
Sabrina watched her grandmother talk to Canis. She couldn’t hear what she was saying, but it was obvious to her that Granny was begging him to break free and escape. He shook his head and spoke to her softly.
“What is she doing?” a voice said from behind them. Sabrina turned and found Snow White.
“I think she’s trying to convince him to make a run for it and kill anyone who gets in his way,” Uncle Jake said.
“He doesn’t seem to be listening,” Snow said.
“That’s because he’s smart,” another voice said. This one belonged to Bluebeard, who was standing uncomfortably close to the beautiful teacher. “Personally, I think he’s welcoming the opportunity to end his suffering. He’s committed so many atrocities. It must be hard on his soul.”
“You would know,” Snow said.
Bluebeard’s face turned crimson, but he calmed himself and even laughed. “Indeed.”
Sabrina couldn’t stand to be near him any longer. She snatched her sister’s hand, and together they climbed the tower to Granny and Canis.
“Girls, it’s not safe,” the old woman said.
“I need to say good-bye,” Sabrina said.
“Me, too,” Daphne added.
“I have been very rude to you. I have never treated you with the respect you deserved,” Sabrina said to Canis, then she turned to her sister. “It’s a problem I have. I seem to treat everyone badly.”
“You are young, Sabrina Grimm,” Canis said. “Time will supply you with wisdom. I’m sorry I will not be around to see how you use it.”
Daphne clung to Canis and hugged him tightly. “Good-bye, Tobias Clay.”
Canis looked confused.
“That was your name, before. You were a man once, free of the monster,” Sabrina said.
Canis shook his head. “A man? Is that true? I don’t remember anything before the incident. Did I have a wife? Children? Who was I?”
“We don’t know,” Sabrina said.
Mr. Canis seemed shocked. “If only I had known this—”
“Get your children down, now!” Heart bellowed through her megaphone.
Granny said a final good-bye and ushered the girls down the steps. They were only halfway down when Heart began shouting again.
“Does the prisoner have any final words?”
Canis looked out at the crowd and laughed.
“What’s so funny, mongrel?” Heart shouted.
“Look at all the monsters,” he said.
Heart snarled and pulled a lever. The floor beneath Canis slid open and his body fell like a stone. Sabrina knew that looking would haunt her for the rest of her life, but she couldn’t help herself. But Canis was not swinging from the end of a rope. In fact, he had landed on his feet on the ground. The rope was sliced in two and a red-quilled arrow was buried in the ground behind the platform. The crowd gasped and turned their attention away from the gallows. There, standing across the street, was Robin Hood, no longer in his suit and tie, but in a green shirt and brown tights. He was holding a bow with a second arrow trained on Mayor Heart. Little John stood next to him with a long wooden staff. Will Scarlet, Friar Tuck, and the rest of the Merry Men stood behind them.