Mr. Canis pushed the girls aside and locked the window. The little lights outside flew around, bounced off the glass several times, and buzzed as if in protest. A moment later they were gone, and the whistling sound faded away. Mr. Canis turned and stood over Sabrina.
"You are never to let anyone or anything inside this house," he said in a voice as low and scratchy as an angry dog's.
"It was just some lightning bugs," said Sabrina. Her face was hot and red with shock. Who was this man to think he could tell her what to do?
"The doors and windows stay closed. Do you understand?" Mr. Canis said.
The girls nodded.
He stalked out of the room, closing the door behind him. Sabrina stood dumbfounded, trying to comprehend what had just happened.
"What was that all about?" Daphne whispered, but Sabrina said nothing. She was too shaken by the encounter and didn't want her sister to hear the trembling in her voice.
There was a knock at the door, and Mrs. Grimm entered the room. "Have you settled in, lieblings?"
"Mr. Canis yelled at us," Daphne cried.
"I heard," the old woman said as she sat down on the bed. "Please don't be too upset with him. He can be a little grouchy, but he has your best interests at heart. Believe me, lieblings, we are both very happy to have you here, but there are a few rules you have to follow." She paused as she looked into Sabrina's face. "And I know that what I tell you might not make a lot of sense, but the rules are in place for a reason.
"First, never let anyone or anything into this house without asking Mr. Canis or me if it is OK," she said. Her tone was stern and serious and no longer that of the sweet old lady with a plate of cookies. "Second, there is a room down the hall that is locked. It's locked for a reason, and I ask that you stay away from it for the time being. We have a houseguest inside, and he enjoys his privacy. You might hear some unusual noises coming from his room, but just ignore them. Do you understand?"
The girls nodded.
"And third, I'd prefer that you stay out of the woods. As for the rest of the house, feel free to explore. You'll notice there are plenty of books to keep you occupied."
"Really? Books? I didn't notice," Sabrina said sarcastically.
"If worse comes to worst, we can always dig out that old TV," Mrs. Grimm continued, as if Sabrina hadn't spoken. "Do you have pajamas?"
Daphne opened one of the suitcases and pulled out two extra-large T-shirts that read BERMUDA is FOR LOVERS.
"We have these," she said.
"OK, well, I guess they'll have to do," Mrs. Grimm said as she moved toward the door. "Good night, girls. I'm very happy to have you here. I hope pancakes for breakfast will suit you."
"Absolutely!" Daphne cheered.
The old woman gave her a wink and disappeared into the hall.
"She's nice," said Daphne.
"Everyone who offers you pancakes is nice." Sabrina clenched her fists. "But she's not fooling me. Get some sleep. We're running away-tonight."
Sabrina lay in bed staring at the ceiling, listening to her hungry belly grumble, and planning their getaway. With a little luck she and Daphne could hide in a neighbor's garage for a couple of days and then hitchhike back to New York City. Smirt would be furious to see them again. She might even act on her threat to skin them alive, but the girls needed to be at the orphanage when their mother and father returned.
When the moon was high in the window, Sabrina nudged her sister awake. "We have to go," she whispered.
Daphne sat up and rubbed her eyes, her face full of heartbreak. Why was she acting like such a baby? Sabrina wondered. Running away wasn't exactly a new experience for the two of them. The sisters Grimm had pulled off many daring escapes from foster parents in the past. They'd tied bedsheets together and climbed out of the Mercers' window one night, feeding the pit bull, Diablo, meatballs stuffed with cayenne pepper to keep him busy. And after the Johnsons ordered pizza, the girls had slipped into the backseat of the delivery boy's car and were miles away before anyone noticed. Mrs. Grimm was no different than any of the other crazies. Eventually Daphne would understand.
When they were dressed, Sabrina slowly opened the door and looked out into the hallway. It was empty-and as the two girls crept out with their tiny suitcases, she used her sneaking skills to their fullest. She led them on tiptoe down the stairs, being careful to step close to the wall to avoid making them creak. At the bottom, Sabrina carefully opened the closet door so the latch wouldn't click and the stack of books inside wouldn't fall over and wake the house. She snatched their coats and helped her sister put hers on, then crept to the front door. Sabrina was just thinking that this was the easiest escape ever, when she tried to turn the knob. The door was locked, and when she looked closely she saw something unusual that she hadn't noticed before.
"There's a keyhole on this side of the doorknob," she whispered. They were locked inside without a key. "We have to find another way out. Follow me."
The girls crept through the house. They tried all the downstairs windows only to discover each was nailed shut. They found a back door off the kitchen, but it was locked from the inside, too.
"This is insane," said Sabrina.
"Let's go back to bed," said Daphne.
"No. We have to get her keys."
The little girl cocked an eyebrow. "How are we going to do that?"
"They're in her purse," Sabrina whispered.
A second search of the house turned up nothing. Sabrina concluded the old woman's bag was in her bedroom, which meant they had to go in to get it.
They stood at Mrs. Grimm's bedroom door. Luckily, there were no locks on it. Sabrina slowly turned the knob, and the door swung open.
The old woman's room was weird during the day but downright creepy at night. The tribal masks glowed in the moonlight, and the mounted swords flashed ghostly light around the room. Mrs. Grimm snored comfortably in bed, unaware of their presence.
"Where's the purse?" Daphne said, only to have Sabrina's hand clamp over her mouth.
The old woman turned over, disturbed by the noise, but stayed asleep, and when it was safe, Sabrina let go of her sister's face.
"Keep it down," Sabrina whispered.
She scanned the room and spied the handbag in the moonlight, resting on a table on the far side of the bed. She looked at Daphne, pointed to herself with her free hand, and then pointed to the bag.
Daphne shrugged. She clearly had no intention of helping.
Sabrina took a small step forward to test for creaky floorboards and found them secure. This is going to be easy, she thought, but as her confidence was building, she noticed Daphne taking an interest in one of the masks on the wall. The little girl took it off its nail and held it against her face.
"Don't do that!" Sabrina whispered.
"Why not?"
"Put it back. Now!"
The little girl frowned but did as she was told.
"There! Are you happy?" she whispered. A split second later the mask fell off the wall, landed with a loud clunk, and rolled toward the bed. Both girls dove to the floor as Mrs. Grimm sat up.
"Who's there?" she asked. "Oh, it's you. What are you doing down there?"
Sabrina was sure they were caught, but the old woman leaned over, picked up the mask, and set it on the nightstand. "I'll have Mr. Canis give you a new nail tomorrow."
Then she fell back onto her pillow and within seconds was snoring as loudly as ever.
"You did that on purpose," Sabrina seethed at her sister.
Daphne stuck her tongue out in reply.
Sabrina reached for the bag, fished around inside it for the keys, then tiptoed back into the hallway with her sister behind her. Downstairs, she quietly went to work on the front-door lock. There were so many keys, it took a long time to find the right one, but eventually she heard the telling click of tumblers turning. The girls waited for several moments, sure that everyone else heard it, too, but when no sounds came from upstairs they stepped outside and closed the door behind them.
"Good-bye, dollhouse," Daphne said sadly as she ran her hand lovingly across the door.
"We'll go through the woods," Sabrina said.
"No way! The woods are creepy. Granny Relda told us to stay out of them," Daphne cried.
"We don't have any choice. We don't want anyone to see us on the road and call the police," Sabrina said, grabbing her sister's hand and dragging her around to the back of the house. There they stopped at the edge of the lawn and looked into the dark forest before them. Crooked limbs twisted and turned in painful directions. A chilly breeze whipped through them with a breathy moan. The trees themselves were horrible, mutated guardians that seemed to warn Sabrina not to step onto their land. She told herself it was just her overactive imagination, but she had the feeling that if they did step into the woods, the trees would eat them for dinner.
Behind them, Sabrina heard a surprised yelp and turned to find Elvis trotting in their direction. He planted himself between them and the trees and stared at them with as serious a face as he could muster.
"Go away, Elvis," Sabrina commanded, but the dog refused.
"See? He doesn't think we should go, either," said Daphne as she wrapped her arms around the big dog and kissed him on the mouth. But Sabrina's mind was made up. She pulled her sister away and into the woods. Elvis followed close behind, growling and whining with every step.
Inside the forest, everything was deadly still. There were no scurrying animals, and even the rustling branches and snapping twigs were suddenly silent. It was as if someone had turned the volume down on the world.
Suddenly a high-pitched note filled the air. It was exactly like the one they had heard earlier that night, and it seemed to come from deep inside the darkness.
"There's that music again," Daphne said.
Sabrina shrugged. "It's probably the wind."
Elvis whined loudly. Then he rushed to Sabrina and clamped his jaw onto her coat sleeve, trying to yank her back toward the house.
"Get lost, fleabag," Sabrina cried as she pulled away.
"He's trying to tell us something," said Daphne.
"Just ignore him. He'll go back when he gets bored," Sabrina said as something zipped past her eye. She turned to get a better look and saw it was a firefly, just like the ones outside their window earlier. The little bug fluttered around her head and then circled her body.
"Look, Daphne. Here's the big menacing invader Mr. Skin-and-Bones was afraid would get into the house." Sabrina laughed.
"Pretty," Daphne said, holding her hand out and inviting it to land in her palm.
Elvis let out a low growl and snapped his teeth.
"What's the matter, buddy?" Daphne said as she scratched the dog's ears, but this did nothing to soothe Elvis. The Great Dane howled menacingly and lunged at the lights.
"Hush up!" Sabrina ordered. He was going to wake Mrs. Grimm and Mr. Canis if he didn't calm down, but nothing she said quieted him.
"Sabrina," Daphne said. There was a nervous tremor in the little girl's voice that pulled Sabrina's attention away from the dog.
"What's wrong?" Sabrina asked.
"It just bit me," Daphne said.
Sabrina turned to face her sister and saw Daphne's hand covering her nose, but what startled Sabrina was the fear in the little girl's eyes. It was the same look of terror she'd seen on her sister's face the morning after their parents disappeared, when they woke up in their bed, all alone.
"Let me see," said Sabrina.
Daphne removed her hand from her nose. It was covered in blood. Sabrina was shocked. Lightning bugs didn't bite! And at that exact moment, she felt a sting of her own that brought blood to the top of her hand.
"Ouch!" Daphne cried out. "I got bit again!" Blood trickled down her earlobe.
Sabrina rushed over and used her shirtsleeve to clean up the mess, but as she did the two bugs became ten and then a hundred and then a swarm that circled the girls-thousands of angry little lights, zipping back and forth, diving at their heads and arms. Elvis growled at the bugs, but they were not intimidated. As seconds passed, more of the little lights appeared.
"Cover your face with your hands and run!" Sabrina shouted.
Daphne did as she was told, and the two girls ran as fast as they could. Elvis stayed close to their heels, barking and howling. When Sabrina looked back, she saw the swarm was close behind, and before long they were overtaken. Daphne cried out and tripped over a tree root. She curled into a ball and tried to hide any exposed skin. Elvis leaped on top of the little girl, doing his best to cover her as the bugs dived, biting her uncovered hands and legs.
Sabrina waved her hands and screamed at the bugs, hoping to lure them away from her sister, and it worked. They instantly darted in her direction, so she turned to run, but before she could take a step she slammed into something solid and fell to the ground. It was Mrs. Grimm.
"We have to run, Mrs. Grimm!" Sabrina cried, but the old woman stood calmly, as if she were daring the bugs to come closer.
"It's OK, liebling," she said. "I'll handle this."
When the swarm was nearly on top of them, the old woman raised her hand to her mouth and blew a soft blue dust into the air. The bugs caught in the cloud froze in midflight, falling to the ground like snowflakes. The blue mist took out half of their number. The rest regrouped and hovered around them, as if debating whether to try a second attack. In one mass they darted deep into the woods and disappeared.
"That wasn't very nice!" Mrs. Grimm shouted into the forest.
"What were those things?" asked Sabrina.
The old woman turned to her and extended her other hand. "I'll need your help getting Daphne into the house."
Sabrina was sure the old woman would retaliate against them for running away. There was no telling if her craziness would extend to violence. Who could tell what a woman with swords hanging over her bed might do when she was angry? But Mrs. Grimm didn't seem angry at all. In fact, she looked genuinely concerned.
She asked Sabrina to undress her sister, then rushed into the bathroom and returned with a bottle of calamine lotion and some cotton balls. She applied the lotion to Daphne's bites and tucked the little girl into bed.
Mrs. Grimm wrapped her arms around Sabrina and gave her a big hug. "Liebling, it's OK now. You can stop crying."
Sabrina wiped her face and felt the tears on her hand. She hadn't known she was crying.
"Daphne will be fine in the morning-maybe itchy, but fine," Mrs. Grimm said as she handed the calamine lotion to Sabrina. "Pixies are harmless unless you are overwhelmed by them."
"Did you just say pixies?" Sabrina asked, unsure if the old woman was joking, but Mrs. Grimm didn't correct her. Instead, she wished her a good night and padded back to her room.
In the morning, Sabrina was so hungry she could have eaten her pillow. But she was still not going to eat Mrs. Grimm's food. She'd already cried like a baby in front of the old lady, and her weakness made her hate herself. She wasn't about to give up any more ground. She spent the next twenty minutes trying to explain her philosophy to her sister.
"Daphne, I'm telling you we have to stay strong. She's being nice to us so we'll lower our guard. One of these days there will be poison in those pancakes you like to eat three at a time."
"No one would do that to pancakes. Pancakes are sacred," Daphne argued.
"Do you really think she's playing by your rules? She told us that pixies attacked us last night. She's not right in the head."
"I have an idea," Daphne said. "Why don't we have breakfast, eat her cookies, play with Elvis, and enjoy this big comfy bed? She'll think she's won us over, and then one day, when she least expects it, like when it's time for us to go to college, we'll just go."
"You're not funny," Sabrina said.
"Yes, I am," Daphne said.
Mrs. Grimm called them down for breakfast, and the girls got dressed. As they approached the stairs, Sabrina heard a voice coming from the locked room across from Mrs. Grimm's. The houseguest the old woman mentioned was talking to someone-maybe himself for all she knew. She put her head to the door, and the noise stopped.
"Did you hear someone talking in there?" Sabrina asked her sister.
"It was my belly. Pancakes!" Daphne grabbed Sabrina's hand and dragged her downstairs to the dining room. Much to Sabrina's relief, creepy Mr. Canis was nowhere to be seen. After several moments, Mrs. Grimm came out of the kitchen with a big plate of flapjacks.
"Good morning, ladies," she sang. "I hope you're feeling better. Anyone hungry?"
"I'm always hungry!" Daphne cheered as the old woman stacked three on her plate, along with a couple of sausage links, then turned to serve Sabrina, who couldn't stop her mouth from watering. She hadn't had pancakes since her parents disappeared, and her empty belly was telling her that no one was so evil as to poison pancakes. Still, she wasn't going to risk it.
"No thank you," Sabrina said.
Mrs. Grimm gave her a curious look.
"Hold on, lieblings. I forgot the syrup," the old woman said, rushing back into the kitchen. As soon as she was gone, Daphne looked underneath her pancakes, as if she were expecting a buried surprise.
"They're just pancakes," she said.
"You sound disappointed," Mrs. Grimm said, laughing, as she returned with a large gravy boat.
"Well, after last night's spaghetti I thought maybe you cooked like that all the time," Daphne said wistfully.
"Oh, liebling, I do." The old woman tilted the gravy boat over Daphne's pancakes and a sticky bright pink liquid spilled out. To Sabrina it looked like gelatin that hadn't set. When Daphne saw it, her eyes grew as wide as the pancakes on her plate.
"What's that?" she cried.
"Try it," Mrs. Grimm said with a grin.
Naturally, Daphne dug in, greedily wolfing down bite after bite. "It's delicious!" she exclaimed with a mouth full of food.
"It's a special recipe. It has marigolds in it, and wasp honey," Mrs. Grimm said proudly.
Sabrina looked at the funky, fizzing sauce on her sister's plate. It smelled faintly of peanut butter and mothballs. She was glad she had been strong.
"So perhaps we should discuss last night's excitement," said Mrs. Grimm as she sat down at the table and tucked a napkin into the front of her bright green dress. She gazed across at Sabrina and arched a questioning eyebrow.
"It wasn't my idea," Daphne said.
Sabrina scowled at her betrayal.
"Well, no harm done. No broken bones or anything," the old woman said.
"Granny, you have some mean bugs in your yard," Daphne said as she poured more of the syrup on her breakfast.
"I know, liebling. They sure are mean."
Suddenly a pounding came from upstairs.
"What's that hammering?" asked Sabrina.
"Mr. Canis is nailing your windows shut," Mrs. Grimm said as she took a bite of her breakfast.
"What?!" the girls said in shocked unison.
"I can't take any chances that something could get into the house or someone might try to get out," the old woman replied over the loud banging.
"So we're your prisoners?" Sabrina cried.
"Oh, you're just like your opa." Mrs. Grimm laughed. "What a flare for the dramatic. We're just trying to keep you as safe as possible. Now, let's put it behind us. Today is a new day with a new adventure. This morning I received a call. There's been an incident that requires our attention. How exciting! You two haven't even been here a full day yet and already we're in the thick of it."
"In the thick of what?" Daphne asked as she placed a fat pat of green butter on her second stack of pancakes.
"You'll see. I don't want to ruin the surprise, but I do beg you to hurry with your breakfast. We need to get started right away." The old woman got up from her chair, went into the living room, and came back with several shopping bags. She placed them next to the table.
"What is that?" Sabrina asked.
"Mr. Canis went to the store to buy you some clothing-just a couple of things to tide you over until we can go shopping."
Sabrina looked in the nearest bag. Inside were two pairs of bright blue pants with little hearts and balloons sewn onto them. There were two identical sweatshirts that were as awful as the pants-bright orange with a monkey in a tree on the front. Underneath the monkey were printed the words HANG IN THERE!
Sabrina groaned. "They're like clown clothes."
"Oh, I love them!" Daphne said, pulling the orange monkey sweatshirt out and hugging it like a new doll.
"Hurry, girls. We have to get going," Mrs. Grimm called.
After breakfast, the girls got dressed and looked at themselves in the bedroom mirror. They looked ridiculous. The colors clashed, and nothing fit. Daphne, of course, thought her crazy outfit was very hip, and she strutted around like a giddy fashion model. Sabrina, on the other hand, was sure Mr. Canis was trying to punish them for attempting to run away.
"I feel like a movie star," Daphne said as the girls hurried downstairs.
"You look like a mental patient," Sabrina remarked.
Moments later, they stood by the front door waiting for the old woman to collect her things. Mrs. Grimm rushed around the house, grabbing books off shelves and from underneath the couch, creating a tornado of dust that followed her from room to room. When she had collected as many as she could carry, she handed them to Sabrina. It was a heavy stack.
"Almost ready," she sang as she hurried up the stairs.
Sabrina looked down at the top book. It was titled Fables and Folklore: The Complete Handbook. Before she could question the book's purpose, she heard the old woman pull out her keys and unlock the mysterious door upstairs.
"She's going in to see the houseguest," Sabrina whispered to her sister. Daphne's eyes widened, and she bit the palm of her hand. For some reason Daphne did this whenever she was overly excited, and though it embarrassed Sabrina, she let it pass. The girl had a million little quirks, and she hung on to each ferociously.
"I wonder what he's like," Daphne whispered back.
"He's probably the last kid she adopted. She tied him up in there decades ago. He could have escaped, but his little brother stuck around for the pancakes. It's really tragic."
Daphne stuck out her tongue and gave her sister a raspberry.
"Shhh! She's talking to him," Sabrina said, straining to hear the conversation, but before she could make out anything, she heard Mrs. Grimm leave the room, lock the door, and head back down the stairs.
"Ladies, we're off," she said as she ushered them outside and went to work locking the front door. Then she knocked on the door three times and said, "We'll be back."
"Who are you talking to?" Sabrina asked.
"The house," Mrs. Grimm replied, as if this were a perfectly natural thing to do.
Daphne knocked on the door as well. "Good-bye," she said, causing her sister to sigh and roll her eyes.
As they turned toward the car, they found Mr. Canis standing on the path with Elvis at his side. He stared at the girls with a look of slight contempt.
"I have finished securing the windows," he said.
"Oh, good! Did you happen to speak to our neighbor?" Mrs. Grimm asked.
"We began a conversation," the old man grumbled. "He's not pleased."
"Well, he'll get used to them eventually, I suppose," Mrs. Grimm replied.
"He doesn't have a history of getting used to things," Mr. Canis said as they all climbed into the squeaky car.
"Who are you talking about?" Daphne asked.
"A friend. You'll meet him soon enough," Mrs. Grimm answered, then asked the girls to tie themselves into their seats. Once they were secure, Elvis laid his huge body across the girls' laps.
Mr. Canis started the engine, and the car rocked back and forth violently like a bronco trying to buck a cowboy. They backed out of the driveway and then cruised forward through a maze of desolate back roads and barren farmland. They passed an old dairy cow standing and munching hay by the side of the road. Mrs. Grimm leaned over and honked, then waved wildly at the cow as they passed. When Daphne giggled, the old woman told her how important it was to be friendly. Meanwhile, Sabrina was plotting her and Daphne's big escape, memorizing street names and calculating how long it would take to walk to the train station. She was still determined to run away the first chance they got.
The car came to a mailbox with the name APPLEBEE painted on it, and Mr. Canis turned down a long, leaf-covered driveway lined with ancient cedars, pines, and oaks. They passed a tractor sitting alone on a little hill and pulled over into a clearing where a massive pile of junk was marked off by yellow emergency tape. Wood, pipes, and glass were tumbled together into quite a mess. Mrs. Grimm looked at Mr. Canis and smiled.
"Well, we haven't dealt with something like this in a while, have we, Mr. Canis?" she asked.
The old man shook his head and helped her out of the car. Mrs. Grimm opened the back door, reached in, and scratched Elvis behind his ears.
"Girls, do you mind if I borrow my boyfriend for a moment?" she asked as she winked at Daphne.
The Great Dane crawled clumsily out of the car, stretched a little, and looked up at the old woman for instructions. She fumbled in her purse and took out a small piece of fabric. She held it under the dog's nose and he sniffed it deeply, then took off toward the pile of junk and rooted through the rubble.
"What are we doing here?" Sabrina asked.
"We're investigating a crime, of course," Mrs. Grimm said.
"Are you a police officer or something?" asked Daphne.
"Or something," the old woman said with a grin. "Why don't you two get out and take a look around? The more eyes we have the better."
She walked away and, like the dog, snooped through the pile of trash.
Having a two-hundred-pound dog lie on her lap had given Sabrina a cramp, so she and Daphne decided to get out and stretch their legs.
"She talks to the house, killer lightning bugs, and cows. Her food looks like it came out of a Play-Doh Fun Factory, and all the doors are locked from the inside. Now she thinks she's Sherlock Holmes," Sabrina muttered. "Still think she's a healthy old lady?"
"Maybe it's a game," Daphne said. "I'm going to be a detective, too! I'm going to be Scooby-Doo!"
Sabrina wanted to scold her sister again, but the look on Daphne's face stopped her. Daphne was having fun. The same light used to shine in her eyes when their father read her the Sunday comics or when their mother let her invade her closet to play dress-up. Sabrina liked seeing it there, and though it would make it harder for both of them when it was time to leave, she decided to let her sister enjoy herself today. Who knew how long it would be before she got the chance again?
Just then, a long white limousine pulled into the clearing. It was bright and shiny, with whitewall tires and a silver horse hood ornament. It parked next to Mrs. Grimm's car, and a little man got out of the driver's side. He couldn't have been more than three feet high. In fact, he was shorter than Daphne. He had a big, bulbous nose and a potbelly that the buttons of his black suit struggled to contain. But the most unusual thing about the man wasn't his size or his clothing. It was the pointy paper hat he wore on his head that read: I AM AN IDIOT. He rushed as quickly as he could to the other side of the car, opened the back door, and was met with a barrage of insults from a man inside.
"Mr. Seven, sometime today!" the man bellowed in an English accent. "Do you think I want to sit in this muggy car all afternoon?"
A tall man in a dark purple suit exited the limousine and looked around. He had a strong jaw, deep blue eyes, and shiny black hair. He was probably the best-looking man Sabrina had ever seen.
"What is this? Who are these people? Heads are going to roll, Mr. Seven," the man fumed as he looked around. "Heads are going to roll!"
"Yes, sir," Mr. Seven answered.
"I was told all of this was taken care of last night. It's just lucky that I realize that everyone who works for me is an incompetent boob, or we would never have known there was a mess out here until it was too late. My goodness, look at that rubbish sitting there in broad daylight. What do the Three think I pay them for? I can't have this nonsense going on right now. Doesn't everyone realize that the ball is tomorrow?"
The little man nodded in agreement.
His boss looked down at Sabrina and Daphne and scowled. "Look, the hobos are rummaging through the mess, and they're leaving their filthy children unsupervised. My goodness, man! As soon as we get back to the mansion we need to pass a new law making it illegal for children to wander around crime scenes."
"Very good, sir," said Mr. Seven as he took a spiral-bound pad and a pen from his jacket pocket and furiously jotted down his boss's instructions. His dunce cap slid down over his eyes, but he pushed it back into place and continued to write.
"Taking notes, Mr. Seven? I like your attitude. If you keep this up, we might be able to get rid of that hat," the man said.
"That would please me, sir."
"Let's not rush things, Mr. Seven. After all, you still haven't given these children my card. What did I tell you, man?"
"Give everyone your card. It's good networking."
"Indeed it is," the man replied, tapping his toe impatiently.
"So sorry, sir," Mr. Seven said as he rushed to the girls and shoved a business card into each sister's hand. It was purple with a golden crown on one side and the words MAYOR WILLIAM CHARMING-BORN TO LEAD YOU written on it in gold lettering.
"Now, what was I saying before I had to tell you how to do your job, Mr. Seven?"
Before the little man could answer, Sabrina stepped forward. If there was one thing she couldn't stand, it was a bully. "There should be a law against talking to people like they are morons!"
Mayor Charming eyed Sabrina for a long time.
"Where are your parents, child?" he finally snapped.
"We're here with our grandmother," Daphne answered.
"She's not our-"
Charming interrupted with a wave of his hand.
"And who is your grandmother?"
Daphne pointed to Mrs. Grimm, still busy rummaging through the junk pile.
The mayor growled between gritted teeth. "Relda Grimm is your grandmother? When will your cursed family die out? You're like a swarm of cockroaches!"
Mrs. Grimm looked over, saw Mayor Charming, and quickly came to join them.
"Good morning, Mayor. I see you've met my granddaughters. How goes the fund-raiser planning? It's in a couple of days, correct?"
"It is not a fund-raiser!" Charming bellowed, then took a deep breath to calm himself. "It's a ball! And it's tomorrow! Yes, I should be overseeing the final details, but unfortunately I am required to investigate every little stray cloud. As I suspected, there's nothing out here but a broken house. I don't know what the farmer expected with such shoddy workmanship. He's lucky to have crawled out alive."
Sabrina was stunned. He was right-the pile of debris was the remains of a house. Sabrina saw pieces of furniture and clothing sticking out of the pile and an old afghan quilt swinging from a stick in the breeze. What in the world had happened?
"So there was a survivor?" Mrs. Grimm said, writing in her notebook. "Girls, we've got ourselves a bona fide mystery!"
"Here she goes, Mr. Seven. Relda Grimm, private eye, out to solve the case that never was," the mayor said. "See, that's the problem with you Grimms. You can never quite grasp that in order to solve a mystery there must be a mystery. A farmer built a flimsy house and it fell down. It was an accident. Case closed."
"Then why did you call it a crime scene?" Sabrina piped up.
Charming turned and shot her a look that could have burned a hole through her. "You must have misheard me, child," he said between gritted teeth. "Mr. Seven, take down this note, please. New law-children should not ask questions of their elders."
"I heard you say it, too," Daphne said.
As the little man scribbled furiously in his notebook, Mrs. Grimm said, "We both know why we're here, Mayor."
Charming tugged on his necktie and adjusted his collar. "This is none of your concern, Relda."
"You know it is, William," Mrs. Grimm said.
Just then, Mr. Canis approached. Charming shook his head in disgust at the sight of him. "Well, if it isn't the big bad-"
"William!" said Mrs. Grimm angrily.
"Oh, did I say too much?" Charming said to Canis with a wicked grin, then leaned in close to the girls. "Do yourselves a favor, kids. Check Granny's teeth before you give her a good-night kiss."
"Do you think it wise to provoke me?" Mr. Canis said as he took a step toward the mayor. Despite the old man's skinny frame and watery eyes, his words seemed to unnerve Charming.
"That's enough!" Mrs. Grimm demanded. Her impatient tone shocked the girls, but the effect on the two grown men was even more startling. They backed away from each other like two schoolboys caught fighting on the playground.
"The dog has found something," Mr. Canis said gruffly. He placed an enormous green leaf in Mrs. Grimm's hand. It was nearly as wide as a suitcase, and the old woman's eyes lit up with wonder.
"Well, look at that, Mayor Charming. I think we've found a clue. There might be a mystery to solve here yet," she said.
"Congratulations! You found a leaf in the middle of all these trees," Charming scoffed. "I bet if you keep looking you might find a twig, or even an acorn!"
"You don't see a lot of beanstalk leaves in this part of the country," the old woman replied.
"Listen, Relda, stop meddling in our affairs, or you're going to regret it," said the mayor.
"If you don't want me meddling, then you must really do a better job of covering up your mistakes." Mrs. Grimm placed the leaf in Mayor Charming's hands.
The mayor tore it into a dozen pieces and tossed it into the air, then turned to Mr. Seven. "Get the door, you lumpy bag of foolishness!" he shouted. The little man nearly lost his paper hat as he rushed to the car door.
Within moments, they were gone. The limo spat gravel behind it as it drove away.
"Girls, why don't we take a walk over to that hill and sit by that tractor? I'd like to see this site from above," Mrs. Grimm said.
Daphne took the old woman's hand and helped her up the slope to where the lonely tractor was parked. Sabrina followed. When they reached the top, the old woman plopped on the ground and caught her breath. "Thank you, liebling. Either the hills are getting steeper or I'm getting older."
"Who was that man?" Daphne asked.
"Let's just say he's a royal pain," Mrs. Grimm replied. "Mr. Charming is the mayor of Ferryport Landing."
"What's with the bad attitude?" Sabrina asked. The mayor reminded her of the orphanage's lunch lady, who seemed to delight in telling the children they were getting fat.
"He can be a little grumpy," Mrs. Grimm agreed.
"He and Mr. Canis sure don't like each other," Daphne added.
"They have a long history," the old woman said as she stooped to pick a small black disk off the ground. "How interesting: a lens cap, from what looks like a very expensive video camera."
She dropped it into her handbag, then happily jotted down another note in her notebook.
"It's probably junk," Sabrina said.
"Maybe," Mrs. Grimm said. "Still, it could be a clue. A good detective is always looking for something other people don't see, that one thing that looks out of place. For instance, look at all the rubbish down there. Do you see anything that doesn't fit?"
"All I see is a house that fell down," Daphne replied.
"The mayor's theory is one explanation, but think bigger. What is surrounding the house?"
Sabrina made a deep, impatient sigh. Mayor Charming was rude and horrible, but he had a point. Mrs. Grimm wasn't a detective. She was just a busybody. This was a job for the police.
"Wait! I see something that looks wrong! The ground around the house is smashed down," Daphne said.
"Excellent eyes! And what could cause something like that to happen, Sabrina?"
"I don't know…Are we going to sit here all day?" Sabrina asked with a yawn.
"What do you think did it?" Daphne asked the old woman.
"A giant's foot," Mrs. Grimm answered. "Find a giant beanstalk leaf, and you'll probably find a giant."
Daphne laughed, but Sabrina was horrified. First pixies and now giants. The old woman was getting crazier by the second.
"I'd better go down and have a closer look. If you find anything that seems like a clue, let me know," the old woman said as she climbed to her feet. She gingerly walked back down the hill and joined Mr. Canis at the pile.
"She's funny." Daphne giggled.
"In the head," Sabrina grumbled. She eyed the field, wondering if she and Daphne might be able to make a run for it right then and there. No-she didn't have a clue where they were. They could wander the woods that circled the farm for days and days, and after their last trip into the woods she wasn't eager for a return visit. She needed to get a better sense of the town and its roads before she and her sister could make another escape attempt.
"I want to ride on the tractor!" Daphne cried, leaping up and pulling her sister with her. She dragged Sabrina to the rusty red tractor and begged to be helped into the seat. Sabrina hoisted her up, and Daphne grabbed the wheel and turned it, making vroom-vroom noises as she pretended to drive.
"Look at me-I'm a farmer," she said in a goofy voice.
Sabrina laughed and decided to play along. "What kind of food do you grow on this here land, Farmer Grimm?"
"Why, I grow candy on this here farm." Daphne laughed. "Bushels and bushels of candy. Just sent my crop to market last week. Got me a pretty penny, I did."
Sabrina smiled, even as a shadow drifted over her heart. Why had their mom and dad abandoned them? Didn't they realize the girls would be flung in every direction, never finding a place to call home, and forced to live with people who belonged in hospitals and prisons? Sure, Mrs. Grimm smiled a lot and made cookies and turned the day into an adventure with her make-believe, but that just made her the worst of the bunch. The security and dependability the old lady offered was tainted with crazy. She was like winning the lottery only to find out the money was counterfeit. Mrs. Grimm was the cruelest thing Ms. Smirt had ever done.
"Sabrina, look at the house," Daphne whispered. The little girl had stopped playing and now stared at the pile below.
"What? What do you see?" Sabrina studied the clearing but saw nothing new.
"Come up here, you have to see it from up here."
Sabrina crawled up onto the tractor and stood tall on its hood.
"There! Look all around the pile."
When Sabrina saw what her sister was so excited about, her heart leaped into her throat. The indentation surrounding the rubble had a shape.
"It's a footprint," she gasped.
