The Fairy-Tale Detectives (The Sisters Grimm, Book 1) (9 page)

"What are you laughing at?" the leader snapped as he crawled to his feet.

"Sorry, Tony, we didn't mean to laugh," one of the goons said.

"What are you doing?" Tony bellowed.

"What?" the tall one asked defensively.

"You told her my name. We all agreed we were going to keep our identities secret."

The tall one shrugged. "Sorry, Tony, I didn't think."

"Steve, you just did it again," the other thug pointed out.

"You did it, too!" Tony shouted. "You just told them Steve's name."

"Who cares?" Steve said.

"Because they can identify us to the cops," Tony complained as he turned his attention back to Mrs. Grimm. He raised his heavy crowbar above his head and snarled. "Now we have to kill them!"

"Easier said than done," a voice said from behind them. Sabrina and Daphne turned to see Mr. Canis emerge from the shadows with Elvis close behind.

"Look out, here comes her boyfriend." Steve laughed. "You want to handle him, Bobby?"

"Shut up! Both of you!" Tony shouted. "Why don't you idiots just give them our addresses and phone numbers, too!"

"If you run off now, no one will get hurt," Canis offered. His voice was powerful and hard but the thugs just chuckled. Even Sabrina could tell that frail old Mr. Canis wasn't going to be able to stop them. Sometimes he looked as if his own clothes were too heavy for him to wear.

Sabrina realized now would be a great time to grab her sister and make their escape, but it didn't feel right. The old woman and her feeble friend needed their help. She would have to do something herself—find a weapon—a rock, a stick—anything she could use to fight the men off. But the pathway was as clean of debris as it was of people.

"Girls, get behind Elvis, please," Mr. Canis said, taking their hands and pulling them back so that the Great Dane was between them and trouble.

"Enough of this. Get him!" Tony ordered, and Bobby and Steve lunged at Mr. Canis. Sabrina was sure they had seen the last of the old man, but he caught both of the men by the throat, one in each hand, and lifted them off the ground, holding them aloft as their feet dangled and kicked. Even more shocking was the loud, guttural growl the old man released when he tossed the two thugs, sending them sprawling across the cold concrete ground. For ten yards they thumped and bounced, groaning with each painful smack against the pavement.

"All right, if that's the way you want to play it," Tony threatened as he pushed Mrs. Grimm roughly to the ground. He swung his iron bar wildly at Mr. Canis and rushed forward, but the old man quickly stepped sideways and tripped him, sending the thug to the pavement with his friends. Tony leaped up and rushed at Mr. Canis again, only to feel the same painful results.

"Hurry girls, we should get to safety," Mrs. Grimm said as she got up and led them away from the fight. Elvis trotted along beside them, barking warnings at the goons not to follow. When they got to the car, Daphne climbed in but anxiously peered out the windows. After several minutes, Mr. Canis had still not joined them.

"We shouldn't have left him. There were three of them, Granny! He can't fight them all," the little girl said, with tears running down her cheeks. Before Mrs. Grimm could calm her down, the car door opened and Mr. Canis crawled in behind the wheel. He was completely unharmed, and oddly, he had a little grin on his face.

"See,
lieblings?
He's just fine," the old woman said. She turned to Mr. Canis. "The girls were worried about you."

The old man turned in his seat and looked back at Sabrina and Daphne. He was his same painfully thin, watery-eyed old self. Daphne leaned forward and planted a kiss on his cheek. His face turned red with embarrassment.

"Don't you ever do that again!" she commanded as she hugged him tightly and then sat back into her seat. Mr. Canis nodded in agreement.

"I, for one, am thrilled at what's transpiring," Mrs. Grimm said, taking out her notepad and pen. She began jotting notes frantically.

Sabrina was shocked. "Thrilled? We were almost killed."

"Killed? Oh Mr. Canis, doesn't she remind you of Basil?" Mrs. Grimm tittered.

Mr. Canis nodded.

"No, I think we have cause to celebrate," the old woman continued.

"Why, did you find a clue?" Daphne asked.

"No, not at all."

"Then, what's to celebrate?" Sabrina said.

"We're getting close,
lieblings.
When they send the goons, the bad guys are getting nervous."

"So what now?" Daphne asked.

"We'll follow those goons back to their hideout."

"What? Why would we do that?" Sabrina cried, remembering Tony and his crowbar.

"Because they're going to lead us right back to their boss.

Ladies, we're going on a stakeout."

•   •   •

Mr. Canis managed to find the thugs' car in no time and he trailed them at a distance (which had to be pretty great, considering the noise coming from Mrs. Grimm's old rust bucket), driving high into the hills overlooking Ferryport Landing. They passed no other cars, just a few deer wandering by the road in the fading light. But Sabrina wasn't enjoying the scenery. She was a nervous wreck. She had already worried about Mrs. Grimms sanity, based on the ridiculous fairy-tale story she had told earlier that day. Now the crazy old woman had them chasing three dangerous men. She wanted to kick herself for not escaping when they had had the chance, and decided that she and Daphne would make a run for it as soon as possible.

Eventually, the thugs' car pulled into the empty driveway of a small mountain cabin. Mr. Canis turned the engine and lights off and let the car coast along the road until they found a dense growth of trees to park behind. When they came to a stop, Mrs. Grimm opened up her handbag, fumbled through it, and took out a pair of odd-looking binoculars.

"What are those?" Daphne asked.

"They're binoculars for nighttime. They're called infrared goggles. I thought they might come in handy tonight," the old woman said as she handed them to Daphne. "Want to take a peek?"

Daphne took the goggles and raised them to her eyes.

"Oh, that's horrible!"

Sabrina looked out the window but saw nothing. "What? What do you see?" she asked nervously.

"You." The little girl giggled. "Here, take a look."

The older girl stuck out her tongue and took the goggles from her sister. When she looked through them, the darkness became illuminated in green light, and she saw the three thugs going into the cabin.

"Let's see who else turns up," Mrs. Grimm said. "Sabrina, would you mind letting Elvis out? He probably needs to stretch his legs."

Sabrina handed Mrs. Grimm the goggles and opened the door. Elvis lumbered out, causing the car to make noises that sounded like squeals of delight. With the door open, the girls could have easily made a break for it, using the woods for cover as they made their escape, but Daphne was leaning on the front seat asking questions.

"Granny Relda, are all the fairy tales true?"

"Almost all of them, but some are just bedtime stories to get kids to go to sleep. For instance, a dish never ran away with a spoon, and no cow that I know of has ever jumped over the moon."

"How about the three little pigs?"

Mr. Canis shifted in his seat but said nothing.

"Yes, dear, they are real," Mrs. Grimm replied.

"How about Snow White?"

"Yes, indeed. In fact, she's a teacher at Ferryport Landing Elementary. We're going to have to enroll you two there in a couple of weeks. She's very sweet and, as you know, very good with little people like yourself."

"What about Santa Claus?"

"I've never met him, but I have it on good faith that he is alive and well."

"I've got a question for you," Sabrina said. "These stories were written hundreds of years ago. How could all these people still be alive?"

"Easy child, it's magic," Mrs. Grimm explained.

"Duh!" Daphne said to her sister, as if it were common knowledge.

Sabrina shot her an angry look, but the little girl ignored it.

"Granny Relda, have you ever seen a giant?" Daphne asked.

"Of course,
liebling,
I've even been to the giant kingdom on a couple of occasions. The last time I was nearly squished by the Giant Queen's toe." Mrs. Grimm laughed. "As an apology, she gave me that piece of fabric."

"Well, if there really are giants, how come we haven't seen any yet?" Daphne asked.

"There weren't any around until yesterday," Mrs. Grimm said. "Long ago, the Everafters realized that giants were just too unpredictable. They caused as much destruction when they were happy as they did when they were mad, and once they planted themselves somewhere it was impossible to move them. Imagine trying to plant seeds on your farm with a sleepy giant lying across it! When humans started moving into Ferryport Landing, everyone realized that giants were just too big to disguise. Of course, the giants didn't agree and refused to go back to their kingdom. Your great uncle Edwin and your great aunt Matilda tricked them into climbing their beanstalks, and once they were all up there, the townsfolk chopped the beanstalks down."

"What good would that do?" Daphne asked.

"No beanstalk—no way into our world. Of course, there were a couple of people who didn't much care for the plan. In the old days, people would plant magic beans and climb up the beanstalks just to steal the giants' treasures. Lots of people were foolish enough to try, but only one ever survived the ordeal," Mrs. Grimm said.

"Jack?" Daphne asked.

"You are correct,
liebling.
Jack robbed many giants and killed quite a number of them, too. In his day he was very rich and famous, though I hear he's working at a Big and Tall clothing store downtown, now. I can't imagine he'd be too happy doing that."

"Are you going to sit here and tell us that Jack was a real person?" Sabrina snapped.

"Was and is, my love," Mrs. Grimm replied.

"So, let's just say all this is true. If all the beanstalks were destroyed, how did a giant get down here?" Sabrina asked, confident that she had tripped up the old woman.

"Ah,
liebling,
that is indeed the mystery we are trying to solve. Whoever did it had to have a magic bean, and I thought we had accounted for all of them. It would help if we knew why they wanted to let a giant loose."

"I'll bet he was a big one, Granny Relda. Probably a thousand feet high!" Daphne exclaimed.

"Oh, sweetheart, he's probably no bigger than two hundred feet tall," Mrs. Grimm said.

Sabrina looked at her little sister in the moonlight and frowned. Daphne's eyes were as big as Frisbees. Sabrina was losing her little sister to the old lunatic. For a year and a half it had been just the two of them, and Sabrina had done everything she could to keep them together and safe. She had protected her sister from nasty Ms. Smirt, the horrible kids in the orphanage, and all those foster parents, and now she was unable to protect her from a crazy old woman.

Just then, Elvis let out a low growl.

"Someone's coming," Mrs. Grimm warned as headlights flashed behind them. "Everyone get down."

They all huddled under the windows as a car passed by and headed toward the cabin. When it was far enough away, they lifted their heads.

"I don't think he saw us," Daphne said.

The old woman lifted the goggles to her eyes.

"Well, Sabrina, we've got more evidence for your theory. That's Mayor Charming's car," Mrs. Grimm said. "I didn't expect to see him here."

Mr. Canis rolled his window down and sniffed the cool mountain air. Then, as if he had smelled something foul, his nose curled up. The odd thing was that Elvis, who was sitting outside of Mr. Canis's window, had the same expression. The two of them were smelling something they didn't like.

"Charming is knocking on the door," Mrs. Grimm reported.

Mr. Canis turned in his seat. "Child, open your door. The dog should get back into the car."

Daphne opened her door and called for Elvis, but the Great Dane stood motionless, sniffing the air as if he was dedicating all his attention to it.

"They're talking," the old woman continued, still looking through her goggles.

"Get into the car, dog," Mr. Canis called sternly. Elvis turned to face him but kept sniffing.

"Wait a minute, Charming is running to his car. Something has got him spooked," Mrs. Grimm remarked. "And you won't believe who's with him!"

It was the perfect opportunity. The old woman was watching the house and Mr. Canis was distracted by Elvis. Sabrina grabbed her sister's hand, opened her car door, and pulled Daphne out.

"What are you doing?" Daphne cried.

"We're getting out of here this minute!" Sabrina replied, but before they could even take a step Elvis blocked their escape with his huge body.

"Come on, you big flea hotel. Get out of the way!" Sabrina shouted, but the dog refused to budge.

"Don't call him a flea hotel!" Daphne scolded. "He's sensitive!"

Elvis let out a horrible whine. It was followed by an earth-shaking thump that sent the girls tumbling to the ground.

"What was that?" Sabrina asked, trying to stand up.

"Girls, get into the car," Mr. Canis urged. His face looked serious and dark.

"We're not going anywhere with you," Sabrina cried as she got to her feet.

"Lieblings,
please. Something is coming," Mrs. Grimm begged.

"Something is coming? What does that mean? Enough with the stories, OK?" Sabrina yelled. "You're just trying to scare us and give my sister nightmares so that maybe we'll be too frightened to leave you." It was almost as if the mini-earthquake had knocked something loose inside of Sabrina, an anger and frustration at being abandoned, drifting from foster home to foster home, always hoping for someplace where they could be happy, but finding that whenever they got close, it was tainted with some sort of craziness.

"Sabrina, we can discuss this at another time. Please get into the car," Mrs. Grimm pleaded once more.

"I don't want to hear another word about fairies and goblins and giants or Jack and the Beanstalk or Humpty Dumpty!" Sabrina raged as Elvis let out a shrieking howl. "I know the difference between reality and a fairy tale!"