He descended from the clouds like an angel enveloped in a ray of light so brilliant that Sabrina and Daphne had to shield their eyes When he landed nimbly on the ground the light dimmed just enough so that they could see his face Aside from his smile the man he had been just moments before was gone his flesh replaced by shimmering crystal his eyes by blazing fires like two small suns shining down He stepped toward them with extended arms and they stumbled back in fear His smile quickly turned to a frown What are you doing Sabrina demanded I’m granting myself a wish he answered I’m giving myself the power to make the people I love happy I’ve been miserable Happy is better You can be happy too Wish for something Sabrina Anything I can make it happen But look at the cost Granny Relda said as she hovered over Mayor Charming’s rapidly aging body His beloved Snow White lay next to him reaching with bony arthritic hands to touch his wrinkled face Everywhere Sabrina looked Everafters lay struggling against the sudden onrush of old age Many were in the final throes of death Don’t cry for them the glittering being said to the old woman The Everafters have had their day in the sun and it was a long long day With their power I can re create this world as a paradise where happily ever after isn’t just for a bunch of bedtime stories come to life It’s time for all our dreams to come true
1 Five Days Earlier Sabrina opened her eyes and saw a monster hunched over her It was nearly fifteen feet tall with scaly skin two black leathery wings and a massive serpentine tail that lashed back and forth Its feet and hands were enormous nearly as big as its body and its head at the end of a long snakelike neck was nothing but teeth thousands of jagged fangs gnashing in her face A drop of saliva dripped from the creature’s mouth and landed on her forehead It was as hot as molten lava JABBERWOCKY the monster roared Too afraid to move Sabrina closed her eyes and did the only thing she could She prayed Please Please Please Let this be a bad dream After a few moments she slowly lifted one eyelid Unfortunately the monster was still there Fudge Sabrina whispered Well good morning a boy’s voice called from somewhere in the room Sabrina knew its owner Puck Did we wake you So sorry Could you get this thing off of me asked Sabrina It’s gonna cost you What I figure if I’m going to have to save your butt every time you get into trouble I might as well be paid for it The going rate for this kind of job is seven million dollars Puck said Where am I going to get seven million dollars I’m eleven years old And I want all your desserts for the next six months Puck added The monster roared in Sabrina’s face A long purple tongue darted out of the beast’s mouth and roughly licked her face Fine Sabrina cried
Puck leaped into the air flipping like an Olympic gymnast and clung to a dusty light fixture hanging from the ceiling above Gathering momentum he swung down feet-first into the monster’s horrible face The creature stumbled back and roared Using its face as a springboard the nimble boy flipped again and landed on his feet with his hands on his hips He turned to Sabrina and winked then pulled her to her feet Did you see that landing Grimm I want to make sure you get your money’s worth Sabrina scowled How long was I unconscious she asked Her head was still pounding from the smack the beast had given her when she stepped through the portal Long enough for me to get old big-and-ugly here pretty angry Puck said as the brute recovered and charged at the children at an impossible speed Two enormous wings popped out of Puck’s back and flapped wildly Before Sabrina knew it he had snatched the back of her coat and was pulling her into the air narrowly avoiding the beast’s attack The Jabberwocky crashed through the wall behind them I’ve got the big one Puck said as he set Sabrina back down on the floor You take the little one Sabrina followed his gaze In the far corner of the room was a small child wearing a long red cloak that hung to her ankles She sat on a dirty hospital cot next to the unconscious bodies of two adults Henry and Veronica Grimm Sabrina’s parents How Sabrina had gotten into this particular situation was a long and almost unbelievable story It had started a year and a half ago when her mother and father mysteriously disappeared The only clue the police found was a bloodred handprint pressed onto the dashboard of their abandoned car With nothing else to go on and no next-of-kin to step in as guardians Sabrina and her little sister Daphne were forced into foster care where things went from bad to worse The girls were bounced from one foster home to the next each filled with certifiable lunatics who used the girls as maids gardeners and once a couple of amateur roofers By the time their long-lost grandmother finally tracked them down Sabrina didn’t think she could ever trust anyone again Granny Relda didn’t make it easy either They hadn’t been in the old woman’s house ten minutes before she started telling incredible stories about the girls being the last living descendants of Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm also known as the Brothers Grimm Jacob and Wilhelm’s book of fairy tales she claimed wasn’t a collection of bedtime stories but the case files of their detective work investigating unusual crimes Granny Relda claimed that their new hometown Ferryport Landing was filled to the brim with characters straight from fairy tales who now called themselves Everafters and lived side by side with the normal inhabitants of the town albeit in magical disguises to hide their true identities To Sabrina Granny’s stories sounded like the silly ravings of a woman who might have forgotten to get her prescriptions filled but there was a dark side to her story as well These Everafters didn’t just live in the town they were trapped there Jacob and Wilhelm had put a spell on the town to prevent the Everafters from leaving and waging
