Once upon a crime

Chapter 1

FOUR DAYS AGO

The explosion shook Sabrina Grimm so hard she swore she felt her brain do a somersault inside her skull. As she struggled to get her bearings, a noxious, black smoke choked her, burning her eyes. Could she escape? No, she was at the mercy of the cold, soulless machine otherwise known as the family car.

"Isn't anyone worried that this hunk of junk might kill us?" she cried, but no one heard her over the chaos.

As usual, Sabrina was the only person in her family who noticed anything was wrong. Murder plots, horrifying monsters, the shaking, jostling, rattling death trap the Grimms called transportation: Sabrina had her eyes wide open to trouble.

She was sure if she didn't stay on her toes her entire family would be dead by nightfall. They were lucky to have her.

Her grandmother, a kind, sweet old lady, was in the front seat, buried in the book she had been reading for the last two hours. Next to her was the old woman's constant companion, a skinny, grouchy old man named Mr. Canis, who drove the family everywhere. Sharing the backseat with Sabrina was a portly, pink-skinned fellow named Mr. Hamstead, and nestled between them was Daphne, Sabrina's seven-year-old sister, who had been slumbering peacefully the entire ride, drooling like a faucet onto Sabrina's coat sleeve. Sabrina gently nudged her sister toward Mr. Hamstead. He grimaced when he noticed the drool and shot Sabrina a look that said,

Thanks for nothing.

Sabrina pretended not to notice and leaned forward to get her grandmother's attention. Granny Relda set her book down in her lap and turned to Sabrina with smiling eyes. The old woman's face was etched in wrinkles, but her pink cheeks and button nose gave her a youthful appearance. She always wore colorful dresses and matching hats with a sunflower applique in the center. Today she was in purple.

"Where are we?" Sabrina shouted.

Her grandmother cupped a hand to her ear to let Sabrina know she hadn't heard the question over the car's terrific racket.

"Are we getting close to Faerie yet?"

"Oh, I love chili, but I'm afraid it doesn't love me," Granny shouted back.

"No, not chili! Faerie!" Sabrina cried. "Are we getting close?"

"Why no, I've never kissed a monkey. What a weird question."

Sabrina was about to throw up her hands in defeat when Mr. Canis turned to her. "We are not far," he barked and turned his gaze back to the road. The old man had better hearing than anyone.

Sabrina sighed with relief. All of the rumbling and sputtering would soon be over, and it would all have been worth it to help Puck. She looked at the shivering boy huddled next to her grandmother. His blond hair was matted to his head and his face was drenched in sweat. Sabrina felt a pang of guilt in her belly. If it weren't for her they wouldn't be on this trip at all.

She sat back in her seat as the car came to a stop at a crossroads. She looked out the window. To the left was farmland as far as she could see. To the right a dusty country road leading to a tiny, distant house. Behind her was Ferryport Landing, her new hometown, and ahead… she wasn't sure. A place called Faerie, her grandmother had said. They were taking Puck home.

As the car rolled forward, Sabrina lost herself in memories. It seemed like a lifetime ago when she had had a home. Once she'd been a normal kid living on the Upper East Side of New York City, with a mom and a dad, a baby sister, and an apartment near the park. Life had been simple and easy and ordinary. Then one day her parents, Henry and Veronica, disappeared. The police looked for them but all they found was their abandoned car and a single clue-a red handprint left on the dashboard.

With no one to take care of the girls, Sabrina and Daphne were dumped into an orphanage and assigned to Minerva Smirt, an ill-tempered caseworker who hated children. She'd taken a special dislike to the Grimm sisters and for almost a year and a half had stuck them with foster families who used and abused them. These so-called loving caregivers forced the girls to be their personal maids, pool cleaners, and ditch diggers. More often than not, the families were in it for the state check. Some were just plain crazy.

When Granny Relda took in the sisters, Sabrina was sure the old woman was one of the crazies. First, their grandmother was supposed to be dead. Second, Relda moved the girls to a little town on the Hudson River called Ferryport Landing, miles from civilization. Third, and most astounding, was that she claimed that her neighbors were all fairy-tale characters. Granny

Relda was convinced that the mayor was Prince Charming, the Three Little Pigs ran the police department, witches served pancakes at the diner, and ogres delivered the mail. She also claimed that Sabrina and Daphne were the last living descendants of Jacob and Wilhelm, the Brothers Grimm, whose book of fairy tales wasn't fiction but an account of actual events and the beginning of a record kept by each new generation of the family. Granny said it was the Grimm legacy to investigate any unusual crimes and to keep an eye on the mischief-making fairy-tale folk, also known as Everafters. In a nutshell, the girls were the next in a long line of "fairy-tale detectives."

After hearing Granny Relda's wild tale, Sabrina was sure her "grandmother" had forgotten to take her medication-that is, until a giant came along and kidnapped the old woman. Suddenly, her stories held a lot more weight.

After the sisters Grimm rescued their grandmother, they agreed to become fairy-tale detectives-Daphne enthusiastically, Sabrina reluctantly-and plunged headfirst into investigating the other freaky felonies of their new hometown.

Daphne loved every minute of their new lives. What seven-year-old wouldn't want to live in a town filled with bedtime stories come to life? But Sabrina couldn't get used to the strange people they encountered. She also distrusted the Everafters, and it was no secret that the community felt the same way about her family. Most thought the Grimms were meddlers. Others just downright despised them. Sabrina really couldn't blame them. After all, the Everafters were trapped in Ferryport Landing and it was her family's fault. Two hundred years prior, Wilhelm Grimm had constructed a magical barrier around the town in an effort to quell an Everafter rebellion against their human neighbors. And since then, the Everafters, whether good or bad, had been prisoners, and the Grimms, many felt, had been their prison guards.

But the real reason Sabrina didn't trust the Everafters was the red handprint the police had discovered on her missing parents' car. It was the mark of a secret Everafter organization called "the Scarlet Hand." No one knew who its members were, or the identity of the mysterious Master who was its leader.

A recent confrontation with Red Riding Hood, an agent of the Scarlet Hand, had led to the recovery of Sabrina and Daphne's missing parents. Unfortunately, Henry and Veronica were under a sleeping spell that the family didn't know how to break.

Puck, a family friend, had been injured helping the Grimm sisters fight the demented Red Riding Hood and her ferocious pet, the Jabberwocky. The monster had ripped off Puck's fairy wings, and now he was dangerously ill. Luckily for Puck, the Vorpal blade, which the Grimms had used to kill the Jabberwocky, could cut through anything, including the magical barrier around Ferryport Landing. Leaving Henry and Veronica in safekeeping, Sabrina, Daphne, Granny Relda, and their trusted friends had set out with the sick boy, using the Vorpal blade to cut a hole big enough for the family car to drive through. Now they were on their way to Faerie, home of Puck's family, whom they hoped could make the young fairy well again.

Sabrina sighed, shifted in her seat, and wondered for the hundredth time when they'd get to Faerie. Then out of the corner of her eye she spotted blue-and-red lights flashing in the window behind them. Mr. Canis pulled the car over to the side of the road and turned off the engine.

"What's going on?" Sabrina asked.

"We're being pulled over by the police," Granny said. She and Mr. Canis shared a concerned look.

There was a tap on Mr. Canis's window. The old man rolled it down and a very angry police officer, wearing a short navy blue coat and sunglasses, peeked inside. He eyed the family suspiciously.

"Do you know why I pulled you over?" he said. "Were we speeding?" Mr. Canis asked.

"Oh, I didn't pull you over for speeding. I pulled you over because this… this tank you're driving is violating at least a hundred different environmental and safety laws. Let me see your driver's license."

Mr. Canis glanced at Granny Relda and then turned back to the policeman. "I'm afraid I don't have one."

The policeman laughed, seemingly in disbelief. "You've got to be kidding me. OK, folks, everyone step out of the car."

"Officer, I'm sure we can-"

The officer bent down. His smile was gone. "Step out of the car.

Granny turned in her seat to look at the girls and Mr. Hamstead. "OK, let's get out of the car."

Daphne was still sound asleep, so Sabrina shook her until the little girl opened her eyes.

"Whazzabigidea?" Daphne grumbled.

"Get up, we're going to jail," Sabrina said, helping her out of the car.

They were parked on a bridge and the wind coming off the water below was brutal. The cold air froze Sabrina to the bone as she watched cars and trucks whiz by. It was a terrible day, and the dark clouds hanging in the sky warned that it was going to get worse.

"Officer, if I could be of any assistance," Mr. Hamstead said as he tugged his pants up over his belly. "I happen to be the former sheriff of Ferryport Landing and-"

"Where?"

"Ferryport Landing. It's about two hours north."

"Well, as a former sheriff you should know it's against the law to ride around with someone who doesn't have a driver's license, let alone someone who is driving around in this menace." The policeman poked his head back into the car and spotted Puck. "Who's the kid?"

"He's my grandson and he's not feeling very well. We're taking him to a doctor," Granny said.

"Not in this thing, lady," the policeman said. "I'm impounding this vehicle for the good of humanity. I'll call an ambulance and have him taken to Columbia-Presbyterian Hospital."

He reached down to the walkie-talkie strapped to his waist and brought the device to his mouth. He barked an order for a tow truck as he watched the family suspiciously.

"If Puck is sent to a hospital, they're going to discover he's not human," Mr. Hamstead mumbled to Granny Relda.

"The boy needs a special kind of doctor," Canis growled to the cop.

"And the devil needs a glass of ice water," the officer snapped back. "You should be worrying about yourself. You're going to be lucky if you don't spend the night in jail. Does anyone have any identification?"

"Of course," Granny Relda said as she reached into her handbag. "I know I have my ID in here somewhere."

But the police officer was now focused on Mr. Canis. A big brown tail had slipped out of the back of the old man's pants and was blowing in the wind. The cop studied it for a moment, unsure of what it was, and then walked around Mr. Canis to get a better look.

"Is this a tail, buddy?" the policeman asked.

Sabrina looked anxiously at the old man, who was sweating in the icy air. His expression was nervous and angry. She'd been seeing this expression more and more lately. It was the look he got when the transformation came over him.

"Stay calm," Sabrina urged Mr. Canis, but he didn't seem to hear her. The change had already begun. Canis's nose morphed into a hairy snout and fur grew on his neck and hands. His body expanded, filling out the oversized suit he always wore. Black talons sprang from the tips of his fingers. Fangs crept down from his upper jaw. He was changing into his true form-that of the Big Bad Wolf, the carefully suppressed beast everyone feared would someday come out and never go back in.

The cop stood bewildered for a moment, then reached for his weapon.

"Oh, here it is," Granny said. She pulled her hand from inside her purse, opened her fist, and blew a puff of pink dust at the police officer. He froze, looking a bit befuddled, and then his eyes went glassy.

"You know, some days, being a policeman can be downright boring," Granny said.

"You're telling me," the officer said in a sleepy voice.

"Why, you didn't hand out a single speeding ticket today."

"Yeah, today was real dull."

"Now, get back into your car and have a great afternoon," Granny said.

"Will do," the officer said, obeying. Moments later he hopped into his squad car and drove away.

"Lucky I brought the forgetful dust," Granny said. She rested her hand on Mr. Canis's shoulder and immediately the transformation stopped, then slowly reversed. The old man shrank back to his human state.

"Relda, I am sorry," he said. "It has been a struggle as of late. Any little thing seems to set it off."

"No harm done," the old woman said. "But for the rest of this trip I suggest you hide your tail."

The old man nodded and did his best to tuck it into the back of his trousers.

"Wait a minute!" Sabrina cried as she watched the squad car drive away. On the back, painted in bright white letters, was NYPD. "That guy was a New York City cop!"

"Well, of course he was," Granny said as she pointed beyond the side of the bridge. Off on the horizon massive buildings reached upward along the skyline, as if competing for heaven's attention. Airplanes and helicopters flew above them. It was a scene Sabrina had witnessed many times before and her throat tightened as she fought back happy tears.

Daphne squinted out at the sparkling metropolis. One building stood taller than all the rest, tapering at the top into a fine silver point. She grabbed her older sister's arm and pointed at it.

"That's the Empire State Building!" she cried, quickly placing the palm of her hand into her mouth and biting down on it. It was one of Daphne's many quirks-the one that signaled that she was happy and excited.

"We're home!" Sabrina shouted back. "We're in New York City!"

The girls jumped up and down, chanting the sentence over and over again, louder and louder.

"Well, I'll be," Mr. Hamstead said as he approached the bridge railing. Pants were always a problem for the big-bellied gentleman, and he tugged on his now until they were hoisted back over his gut. Satisfied, he leaned on the railing and soaked in the view. The girls noticed his eyes well with tears.

Daphne rushed to his side and wrapped him up in a hug. "Don't cry, Mr. Hamstead. You'll make me cry."

"They're happy tears, Daphne," he said. "I never thought I'd see this place. I've been trapped in Ferryport Landing for a long time."

"You're going to love it! The city is the best! There is so much to do and see and eat! Oh, I can almost smell the hot dogs from here."

"Hot dogs!" Hamstead cried as his nose morphed into a runny, pink snout. Hamstead rarely slipped out of his human form, but when he got very excited his true identity as one of the Three Little Pigs was revealed.

"What did I say?" Daphne whispered to Sabrina.

"Hot dogs are made from pigs," Sabrina whispered back.

Daphne cringed. "I mean, uh, I would never, uh, eat a hot dog, you know… they're… uh, gross. What I meant to say was pepperoni pizza!"

The little girl looked at Sabrina for reassurance, but Sabrina could not give it to her. "Pepperoni, too."

It is?

Sabrina nodded.

Daphne cringed, again. "I mean broccoli. I can't wait to get a big piece to chew on. There's nothing like walking around the city with a big ol' head of broccoli."

"Oh yeah, New York is famous for its broccoli," Sabrina said.

Daphne stuck her tongue out at her sister.

"Wolf, you should see this!" Hamstead said, shaking off the girls' culinary suggestions. Mr. Canis joined him at the rail and gazed out at the marvelous city.

"Look at what we've missed," Hamstead whispered.

Canis leaned forward in wonder.

The two men stood in silence. The significance of the moment became clear to Sabrina. The whole world had kept on spinning while the Everafters were stuck in Ferryport Landing. Cities had risen, diseases had been cured, men had walked on the moon, and Canis and Hamstead had missed it all.

"Wait? Why are we here? I thought we were going to Faerie to save Puck," Daphne said.

"We are, liebling.

The fairy kingdom is in New York City," Granny Relda replied.

Sabrina felt her face grow hot. The pavement seemed to shift and she fell forward. For a moment there was nothing but blackness and then she was on the ground looking up at her family.

"Liebling, are you OK?!" her grandmother cried. Mr. Canis lifted Sabrina back onto her feet but the girl still felt dizzy and slightly nauseated. "You must have fainted."

"You didn't tell us there were Everafters in the city!" Sabrina said as she struggled to stand on her own.

Granny frowned. "Sabrina, Wilhelm's barrier didn't go up until twenty years after the Everafters arrived in this country. Some of them moved to other-"

"How many?" Sabrina demanded.

"How many what, child?" Granny Relda said.

"How many Everafters live here?"

"I don't know, Sabrina," the old woman replied, turning to Mr. Hamstead.

"Probably ten fairies and maybe five dozen others," the portly man said, after a long pause. "When Wilhelm was alive we kept in better contact with them but…"

Tears gushed out of Sabrina's eyes and froze on her cheeks. She prided herself on being strong, not a weepy girlie-girl, but she couldn't help herself. This was a shock. Ever since Granny Relda had taken them in, she had imagined that one day Daphne and she would return to the city with their parents and resume their old lives. They would look back on their time with the Everafters as a bad dream. Now she knew there was no escape from them.

"Sabrina, what's the matter?" Daphne asked.

Sabrina said nothing. Instead, she turned away from her family and stared out at the city skyline. The initial joy at seeing her home had disappeared. Now it seemed alien to her.

"It must be all the traveling," Granny said, rubbing Sabrina's back affectionately. "You girls are hungry and exhausted. We need to get you something to eat. Maybe some hot soup would help."

There was an uncomfortable silence among the group until Mr. Canis spoke. "First we must find Puck's people. Where is this Faerie?"

Granny sighed. "Unfortunately, the family journals are a bit thin on the Everafters that settled here. I do know Faerie is hidden somewhere in the city." She fished in her handbag and pulled out an envelope with some writing on it. "And a contact I have sent me this years ago."

Daphne took the envelope and read aloud, stumbling over some of the words.

Mrs. Grimm,

I'm sorry for your loss. Basil was like a father to me. It breaks my heart that I cant be there for Henry or you, worse that I am partially to blame for the tragedy. I hope you know that Jacob and I never believed that my escape from Ferryport Landing would bring anyone harm. I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me.

I've found Faerie, which is hidden in the Big Apple. I've been invited to stay until I am settled. Oberon is very busy with his kingdom, and Titania, well, I'm sure you've heard the stories about her. Once I've found work and made a little money I'll be off to explore this big world. Until then, if you are ever in

New York City, drop by the park and tell Hans Christian Andersen a knock-knock joke.

Love,

G

"Who's G?" Daphne asked.

"An old friend of your father's," Granny said. Sabrina and Daphne shared a knowing look. Their father had been in love with an Everafter before he met their mother, though everyone was tight-lipped about who the Everafter was.

"Can't we call this G person and get another clue?" Hamstead asked.

"Perhaps one that makes sense," Canis said.

"Is there anything else in the envelope?" Daphne asked.

Granny Relda looked inside. It was empty.

"We don't have time for this," Mr. Canis grumbled.

"It's all we have to go on," the old woman replied.

"Well, let's go find Hans Christian Andersen," Daphne said.

Granny shook her head. "Daphne, Andersen wasn't an Everafter. He just wrote about them. He died a long time ago."

"You know that, silly," Sabrina said. "We read it on his statue in Central Park."

"There's a statue of Hans Christian Andersen in Central Park?" Granny cried. "Sabrina, you're a genius. Can you take us there?"

Sabrina nodded reluctantly.

Once they were on their way again, Granny turned in her seat and handed the book she had been reading to Sabrina.

"You and Daphne should probably go through this," she said. "It's going to tell you everything you need to know about Faerie."

Sabrina glanced down at the book. It was a play by William Shakespeare, entitled

A Midsummer Nights Dream.

Daphne snatched it and flipped through the pages. "What language is this?" she asked.

"It's English," Mr. Hamstead said. "Old English."

Minutes later they were over the bridge and cruising through the city's grid of streets and avenues. Book temporarily forgotten, Daphne gawked at the passing sites, pointing out her father's favorite diner and the playground their mother had taken them to on Sunday afternoons. Sabrina wanted to look out the window, too, but her old home was spoiled for her. There were few people who would describe New York City as normal, but now that Sabrina knew Everafters were crawling all over it, it seemed tainted, ugly.

Traffic was especially bad that afternoon. Christmas was only days away and everywhere shoppers were rushing into the streets carrying huge bags, slowing the family's progress dramatically. But they eventually made their way south through the city, and after much searching, Mr. Canis found a parking spot a few blocks from the park. As the family got out of the car, it rocked back and forth, angrily protesting with a series of backfires and exhaust clouds that caused some of the neighborhood residents to peer out their windows, apparently fearful there was a gun battle going on in the street. The family bundled Puck up in as many blankets as possible and trudged down a snowy sidewalk.

They made their way to the edge of the park and followed the stone wall until they found an entrance. Sabrina led them down a path that twisted and turned until they came to a man-made pond lined with benches. In the summertime, the pond was used by miniature-boat enthusiasts, who guided their tiny ships across its mirrorlike surface. Sabrina remembered her mother had loved this part of the park. Veronica had brought the girls there on many weekends and they spent hours watching the people walk by.

"Are you sure this is the place?" Mr. Hamstead asked.

Sabrina nodded and pointed across the pond. There sat a bronze statue of Andersen himself. Dressed in a suit, tie, and top hat, he was looking down at his most famous story-the ugly duckling.

"I think your contact is playing a game with us, Relda," Mr. Canis snarled as they approached the statue. He eyed a suspicious-looking man sitting on a nearby bench, sipping from a bottle in a brown paper sack.

Granny Relda reached into her handbag for her folded directions and reread them aloud. "It says we're supposed to tell a knock-knock joke to Andersen."

Canis grumbled. "What is a knock-knock joke?"

"You don't know what a knock-knock joke is?" Daphne cried.

"He doesn't do jokes," Hamstead said.

"Well, it goes like this. Knock knock."

Mr. Canis said nothing.

"You're supposed to say 'Who's there?'"

"Why?"

"You just do," the little girl said.

Mr. Canis took a deep, impatient breath. "Who's there?" Cows go. Again, Canis was confused.

"You're supposed to say, 'Cows go who?'" Granny explained. "Fine!" Canis snapped. "Cows go who?"

"No they don't," Daphne said. "Cows go moo."

Hamstead snorted with laughter and Granny giggled, but Canis flashed them both an angry look and they stopped.

"Well, let's give it a try," Granny said as she stepped in front of the statue. "Knock knock."

Unfortunately, nothing happened.

"Maybe we shout it?" Hamstead offered, and then started shouting the words as loud as he could. The rest joined him, causing the man on the nearby bench to mumble "freaks," get up, and stagger away.

"Well, this is real fun," Sabrina grumbled. "Anybody else got an idea before they send the crazy wagon to pick us up?"

"Where's Daphne?" Granny asked.

Sabrina glanced around but her sister was gone. "Daphne!" she shouted, feeling a nervous pain in her belly. She hadn't been paying attention when she should have been! Daphne was her responsibility.

"I do not smell the child," Mr. Canis said.

"She was standing right here!" Sabrina cried, struggling with her panic.

Suddenly, Granny smiled and set her hand on the statue. "I've got an idea. Knock knock," she said, and in a blink, she vanished. "I think we've found the front door," Mr. Hamstead said, placing his hand on the statue as well. Canis joined him, shifting Puck in his arms to free a hand. Together the men said the magic words and they disappeared, too, leaving Sabrina alone on the snowy street. She looked into the great writer's face, took a deep breath, and secretly prayed that the family had indeed found a way into Faerie.

Knowing my luck I'll end up in the belly of a monster that enjoys goofy kid's jokes, she thought.

She reluctantly took a deep breath, and whispered, "Knock knock."

And then the statue's head turned to her, gave a big smile, and boomed, "

Who's there?"