“Daphne,” the Wolf said quietly, dropping Puck. Then a shudder ran through him and any trace of their family friend was buried again. His disorientation gave Puck another opportunity to attack. The boy climbed to his feet and picked up a large rock from the ground. He tossed it as hard as he could, beaming the beast in the head.
“Hey, Wolf, you ever hear of a game called dodgeball?” he said.
“Death is moments away for you and you want to discuss a child’s game?” The Wolf laughed.
Puck threw the boulder and it hit the Wolf in the chest, knocking the air out of the big brute.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” he shouted, bending over for another boulder. “I want to play it!” With impossible speed, he tossed one heavy rock after another at the beast.
“Puck! Stop!” Sabrina shouted.
The boy looked over at her. His face was red with excitement, but his eyes were full of confusion.
“Uh, I’m trying to save your life, Grimm,” the boy said.
“You’re going to kill us all,” Sabrina said. “You’re making Rumpelstiltskin stronger.”
The Wolf staggered to his feet. “No child, you’ve got it wrong. I’m going to kill you all.”
“Take a look around you, rover,” Snow White said, stepping between the Wolf and Sabrina. “Your little tantrum is helping to fuel your destruction.”
The Wolf turned to face the beautiful teacher. She continued, “The angrier you get the stronger the real enemy becomes.” She pointed at Rumpelstiltskin, who was encircled in his blue energy. He seemed to be enjoying each second of the fight. The Wolf turned to face the little creature and immediately the blue glow around him expanded.
“What are you up to, little man?” the beast growled.
“Fantastic,” Rumpelstiltskin cried. “Your rage is unbelievable.”
“He’s powering himself with your anger and when he has enough he’s going to blow up this cave and bury everyone in it, including you,” Granny Relda chimed in.
“You’re signing your own death warrant!” Hamelin added. He had managed to get Wendell to his feet, but the boy was dizzy and obviously needed a doctor.
“Keep going, people,” Rumpelstiltskin shouted. “Direct his anger at me!”
“You want my rage?” the Wolf said.
“It’s fantastic,” the creature said.
The Wolf eyed Sabrina closely. He had an odd expression on his face, filled with disgust and disbelief, one that seemed to say, Can you believe this guy? If Sabrina hadn’t been so terrified, she might have laughed, but she did recognize the opportunity. The Wolf’s attention was no longer on eating everyone in the room. He wanted a fight.
Sabrina cocked an eyebrow at the Wolf and said, “Sick ’em, boy!”
The Wolf turned on Rumpelstiltskin and lunged forward, grabbing the little creature. As soon as they collided, both were enveloped in the blue energy.
Sabrina’s arm hurt so much she tried to prop it up with her knee. It brushed against a lump in her pocket. The little matchbox! Her eyes lit up as she pulled it out. Inside were the two matches. She removed one, wished she were outside, and struck the match. In the flame, she could see the outside of the school. Everywhere, dirty students milled around in confusion, having just broken free from the piper’s magic.
“Sabrina, where did you get those?” Granny Relda asked.
“Charming. We need to get everyone out of here!” Sabrina shouted over the fighting. She tossed the match on the floor and a giant flame appeared.
“Mr. Hamelin,” Sabrina shouted, “get Wendell out of here!” Hamelin nodded, picked up his son, and stepped into the flame. Daphne and Granny rushed to Toby, and together they dragged the big spider by his legs through the portal. As they did, Sabrina heard the old woman ask Puck to help with the other Everafter children. He spun around on his heels and transformed into a gorilla, hoisted Bella and Natalie onto his back, then raced through the flames himself. Snow White and Sheriff Hamstead helped the mayor to his feet and together they raced to the portal.
“I’m supposed to rescue you,” Charming said to Snow White.
“Maybe it’s time we both started trying some new things,” Snow White said as the three disappeared into the flames.
Granny came back through the portal and waited for Sabrina.
“We can’t leave him down here,” Sabrina cried, as she watched the Wolf and Rumpelstiltskin fighting.
“I believe Mr. Canis knows what he is doing,” Granny Relda said.
“I won’t go,” Sabrina insisted, but Granny grabbed her sweater and dragged her through the portal. In a flash, they were standing outside in the cold, with a hundred elementary school students, who were staring at the gorilla carrying a big, hairy girl and a frog monster.
“This is going to take a lot of forgetful dust!” Daphne said, under her breath.
“Get away from the school!” Sabrina shouted to the children and they obeyed. They ran for the parking lot just as Sabrina heard a slow, horrible rumble from below. Everyone raced to the other side of the road, where some children were already congregated. When she reached them, Sabrina turned and watched the school. The horror unreeled like a car crash you couldn’t stop watching. First, smoke billowed out of the school’s windows, then a terrible explosion blew out the glass and knocked the doors off their hinges. The roof collapsed, a flame a hundred feet high shot out of the center, and then the ground around it sank and the school fell into it. Finally, a cloud of dust rose up, covering the site, and when it settled again, the school was gone. Only a huge hole remained as evidence that there had been anything there at all.
“Mr. Canis,” Sabrina gasped. “He’s gone. I killed him.”
“Sabrina, don’t,” Granny pleaded.
“This is all my fault!” the girl said as she broke down in tears.
“No, child, you are not responsible for this.” Granny tried to reassure her. Sabrina pulled away.
“It was my anger and my prejudice that did this,” she cried.
“Child, Rumpelstiltskin manipulated you,” her grandmother insisted.
“He only manipulated what was already inside of me.”
“Oh, liebling.”
Suddenly, Beauty and the Beast, the Frog Prince and his Princess, and Little Miss Muffet (aka Mrs. Arachnid) and the spider raced through the crowd of children.
“We heard there was trouble at the school,” the Beast grunted. “Have you found our kids?”
Puck pointed at the three unconscious monsters lying on the ground. The parents cried out in unison and rushed to their children. The Beast picked up his grotesque, unconscious daughter, Natalie, and lifted her into the air. “She’s beautiful, darling,” he cried to his wife.
Sabrina watched the happiness in the parents’ eyes. The Frog Prince and his wife kneeled down to their unconscious daughter, Bella, and slowly caressed her face. Even the spider cooed over his son, Toby. They loved their monstrous, murderous children. Sabrina looked into her box of matches. She reached in and took out the last of the Match Girl’s matches. She could save it until her arm was well, then rescue her mom and dad, but it would take weeks. She couldn’t be without them for another day. She needed them right now. She made a wish, then struck the match against the box’s flinty surface. The flame came to life and shined in the cold night.
“Sabrina, no!” Granny Relda cried.
“Look at what I’ve become,” the girl said sadly. “I need my mom and dad.”
“Sabrina, you listen to me! I forbid it. It’s too dangerous,” Granny said, but Sabrina could already see her parents, safe and asleep on a bed, inside the flame. She tossed the match to the ground and the portal grew. Without even a glance at her grandmother or sister, she stepped through and found herself on the other side.
The room was dark. It was also warm, which made Sabrina a bit dizzy, stepping from such icy cold air into the heat. She shook off the dizziness and rushed to her parents, embracing them both the best she could.
“I’m going to take you home, now,” she said, dragging her unconscious mother from the bed and onto the floor. She pulled as strongly as she could with her one good arm, edging closer and closer to the portal, where she could see Granny, Daphne, and Puck waiting with worried faces.
Suddenly, Daphne’s face grimaced in terror and she started shouting, but Sabrina couldn’t hear a word. Sound didn’t cross the portal.
What is she trying to tell me?
And that’s when the figure stepped out of the shadows. Sabrina knew she might someday have to confront her parents’ kidnapper, but her imagination had not prepared her for the person she now saw in front of her. She was a child, probably Daphne’s age, wearing a red cloak and a sadistic grin. Sabrina had never seen an expression like that on a little girl.
“Did you bring my puppy?” the child asked, sniffing the air.
“Who are you?” Sabrina asked.
“No, you didn’t,” the little girl said angrily. “But you’ve been around my puppy. Where is he?”
The little girl reached out and put her hand on Sabrina’s shirt. When she removed it, a bloodred stain remained—a handprint.
“I can’t play house without my grandma or my puppy,” the girl said.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Sabrina said, trying to find the strength to get her mother through the portal.
“Yes, gibberish, that’s what I speak,” the little girl agreed. “Not a word makes sense. That’s what they said. They said I had imagination.”
“What do you want?”
“I want to play house!” The little girl’s face grew very angry and she pointed a finger at Sabrina.
“I have a mommy and a daddy and a baby brother and a kitty. Do you want to pet the kitty?”
Just then, Sabrina heard an inhuman voice slurping and slavering behind her. It said, “Jabberwocky, Jabberwocky, Jabberwocky” over and over again. She turned to see what was making the noise and a shriek flew out of her throat. Hunching over her was something too impossible to exist—a combination of skin and scales and jagged teeth. Even in a town like Ferryport Landing, Sabrina had never seen something that brought so much horror.
“My, you are an ugly one,” a voice said from across the room. The monster turned. Puck was standing next to the portal, hands on hips, like some kind of comic-book hero. “Come on, Grimm. I’m here to rescue you.”
With a hiss, the portal burned out and closed behind him. Puck looked back and grimaced. “Uh-oh.”
The little girl screamed with rage. “I don’t need a sister or another brother! I need a grandma and a puppy!”
Suddenly, the monster swung its enormous arm at Sabrina, and then the room went black.
To be continued …
Michael Buckley is the New York Times bestselling author of the Sisters Grimm and NERDS series. He has also written and developed television shows for many networks. Michael lives in Brooklyn, New York, with his wife, Alison, and his son, Finn.
This book was designed by Jay Colvin and art directed by Chad W. Beckerman. It is set in Adobe Garamond, a typeface that is based on those created in the sixteenth century by Claude Garamond. Garamond modeled his typefaces on those created by Venetian printers at the end of the fifteenth century. The modern version used in this book was designed by Robert Slimbach, who studied Garamond’s historic typefaces at the Plantin-Moretus Museum in Antwerp, Belgium.
The capital letters at the beginning of each chapter are set in Daylilies, designed by Judith Sutcliffe. She created the typeface by decorating Goudy Old Style capitals with lilies.
Dear Reader,
When I set out to write the adventures of the Sisters Grimm, I wanted to update everyone’s favorite fairy-tale characters using adventure, humor, and surprises. I thought it would be easy. After all, I had heard all the stories and seen all the movies. What else was there to know?
It turns out there was plenty more to know.
When I reread some of the original stories, I found that everything I thought I knew was wrong. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that the Little Mermaid didn’t win her handsome prince’s heart in the end. Or that Pinocchio wasn’t swallowed by a whale but eaten by a shark! Or that Snow White wasn’t awakened with a kiss but when the piece of poisoned apple, stuck in her throat, was dislodged. I went back and reread all the classics, by the Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen, Lewis Carroll, Andrew Lang, Rudyard Kipling, L. Frank Baum, and dozens more. What I found was a wealth of funny, exciting, scary, and adventure-filled stories, and my hope is that the Sisters Grimm series will inspire you to do the same. Your local library should have a wide collection of fairy tales and folklore, filled with as many surprises as there are in Sabrina and Daphne’s adventures. I invite you to crack open these classics and find out what you’ve been missing. Happy reading and beware of the Scarlet Hand!
—Michael Buckley
FAIRY TALES
Many people think fairy tales are just stories about princesses and witches that our parents tell us so we won’t take candy from strangers or wander off by ourselves. But if fairy tales were only here to teach us lessons, they probably would have disappeared long ago.
Fairy tales tell us big truths about life, not just as it was long ago, but as it is today, and show us how to make our way through it with bravery, cunning, and wisdom. They are such useful guides that they’ve been followed for centuries, by people in every country on the globe. Two hundred years ago, a young girl fell asleep in her bed listening to the same fairy tale you liked to read when you were little.
So how did fairy tales from so long ago end up here? For a long time, fairy tales were only passed down orally. That means, basically, that they were created from a giant, centuries-long game of telephone. People told stories to children, friends, or strangers they met during their travels. Then those people told the stories to other people, changing little details along the way. The general plots stayed the same, but the stories grew and changed, depending on where and when they were told. Sometimes two different versions of the same story would pop up in two different countries. The names and settings would be different, but the same things would happen. For example, there are versions of the Cinderella story in countries as far apart as Egypt and Iceland!
Following Fairy Tales. The Cinderella story is one of the most famous fairy tales in the world because it’s been adapted to so many different cultures and times. The first written version appeared more than a thousand years ago in China, and new versions of the tale pop up all the time—think of all the movies you’ve seen about a poor, mistreated girl who ends up with the rich, handsome guy. The details change—maybe “Cinderella” works in a car wash or ropes cows—but the plot stays the same.
You can conduct your own experiment to see how fairy tales might grow or change. All you’ll need is a piece of paper, a pen, and a few friends.
Have one person start writing two or three sentences on the paper to begin the Cinderella story. Then have that person fold the paper down, so only the last line he or she wrote can be seen.
Pass the paper on to the next person, who will add a few sentences to the story, with only the line before as a guide. Then the second writer should fold the paper again, so that only the last line of his or her writing is visible. Continue to pass the paper, write, and fold until you finish a page, or two if you’re feeling ambitious. When you’re done, unfold the paper and read the whole story through. See if you can trace how the storyline and characters changed as the story was passed from one person to another.
GRIMMS TO THE RESCUE
For a long time, people told fairy tales by memory, and often stories were changed or even lost as they were passed down. That’s when the Brothers Grimm stepped in. Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm grew up in Germany listening to fairy tales, and they worried that the wonderful stories they heard might be changed, lost, or forgotten. The brothers decided to write down their favorite tales so people would remember them for
ever. Some people think of the Grimm brothers as writers, and they were, but more than writers they were collectors—even hunters—of good stories. They talked to everyone, from their close friends to strangers they met traveling. Once, they met a poor, ragged soldier who asked for their old clothes in exchange for his stories. The Brothers Grimm were more than happy to make the trade—in fact, they probably thought they were getting the better deal!
You may have heard different versions of the same fairy tale, some scarier than others. When the Grimm brothers first wrote their stories down, they were violent tales, packed with villains who died in horrible ways. The Grimms thought that adults, especially professors and historians, would be the ones reading their stories. They were surprised when they realized that it was kids who liked their fairy tales best! So Wilhelm and Jacob rewrote their stories, making them more poetic and a little less violent. But they didn’t take everything out, because they knew that being scared was part of the fun of reading fairy tales. They didn’t want to cheat their younger readers of a good story.
THE BASIC INGREDIENTS
It seems that an awful lot of fairy tales are full of wicked witches, endangered princesses, and handsome princes who save the day. That’s because putting together a fairy tale is kind of like putting together a potion, and different stories use many of the same ingredients. What does a good fairy tale need? Here’s a list of some of the most common elements of fairy tales:
Heroes/good characters
Villains/very, very bad characters
Interesting sidekicks
A journey or quest
Magic
A happy ending
Can you think of any other important components of a good fairy tale?
Do you think all of these components are necessary to a good story?