"Any idea where we should start?" Daphne asked him.
The Wizard shook his head. "We don't exactly have an Everafter phone book."
"Then how did you get them all to meet at the Golden Egg tonight?" Sabrina said.
"I use the Empire State Building as a signal," Oz explained. "You may have seen them light it up for holidays. On Christmas they use red and Saint Patrick's Day it's green. When we need to see everyone we use bright purple."
"Perhaps we should try that," Granny said.
"I doubt anyone would show up after Titania's fit. I can tell you this much: I know the dwarfs live in the subway system and I believe Sinbad lives somewhere down by the docks," Oz said. "We Everafters keep to ourselves here in the city."
"That's it? That's all you know?" Sabrina cried.
"I'll ask around about the others and let you know if I find out anything else," the little man said. He apologized, said his good-byes, and moments later he left the room.
"We're in the middle of a mystery!" Daphne clapped, nearly bouncing in anticipation. "Where do we start?"
"Let's make a list of our clues so far," Granny Relda replied. "Sabrina, could you find us an ink pen? I bet there's one in the desk."
"No," Sabrina whispered. "I don't want anything to do with this. We should all just go home."
The room grew quiet. Daphne and Granny Relda stared at her as if she were some kind of algebra problem with no solution. Sabrina had rarely felt so alone. Couldn't Granny see that ever since she and Daphne had gotten involved in the detective business, they had been like two human wrecking balls, causing death and destruction over and over again? They had survived the Jabberwocky by the skin of their teeth and now they were jumping back into the fire. What if someone got hurt again?
What if their luck finally ran out? The sting of tears filled Sabrina's eyes and she quickly turned and ran into the bathroom, closing the door behind her. She sat on the side of the tub in the dark and tried to catch her breath.
After a few minutes, there was a knock on the door and it slowly opened.
"Liebling?"
Granny Relda said as she flicked on the light and entered the room. She sat down next to Sabrina and put her hand on the girl's shoulder. Sabrina pulled away.
"I don't want to do this," she said to her grandmother.
"Sabrina, these people asked for our help. It won't hurt us to look around and ask some-"
"No… I'm not talking about this mystery. I don't want to be a Grimm."
Granny sat quietly for a long time and Sabrina prepared herself for a lecture about responsibility and doing the right thing. "You don't have to, Sabrina," Granny finally said. Sabrina was stunned.
"You were deposited into this life against your will. I thought that after some time you would get used to being a Grimm and see what a rewarding life it can be. But I realize now that I'm forcing you to do it and that isn't fair. You do have a choice and I should have explained it. Many in our family have walked away from their heritage. If you've ever read any of Douglas Grimm's journals, he often wrote about how miserable he was; even your Opa Basil had his doubts. Obviously, your own father made a choice to pursue a different life. You can do the same if that is what you want."
"Sure, and you'll be disappointed with me. You'll give me that look you give me when you're angry," Sabrina said.
"I'll miss sharing the time with you," Granny said. "And I truly believe you are becoming an excellent detective, but you can retire if you want. Perhaps it is best if you stay at home from now on and keep an eye on your parents."
Sabrina wondered if her grandmother was pulling a trick on her, but the old lady just smiled and kissed her on the forehead.
"I can still help find a way to wake up Mom and Dad?" Sabrina said.
"Of course," the old woman said.
Sabrina felt like the sun had come out and was shining just for her. The gnawing pain in her belly subsided for the first time in months.
"I can't wait to tell Daphne we don't have to do this anymore," Sabrina added.
Granny frowned. "Sabrina, you get to make your choice and you have to let her make one for herself."
"She's only seven years old," Sabrina argued. "And you're only eleven, but I'm trusting your decision," the old woman said. "But-"
"Now, unfortunately, we're in the middle of a case to which I have committed us all. So, let's make a compromise. When we get home you'll be done with being a fairy-tale detective, but right now, we have a mystery to solve. Can your sister and I count on you for one more case?"
Sabrina nodded. Still, she was happy; in fact, she was grinning from ear to ear. She hadn't expected her grandmother to understand her choice, let alone support it. She could walk away from the Grimm family legacy. No more Everafters, monsters, and lunatics. Now all she had to do was convince Daphne to make the same decision.
Granny Relda kissed Sabrina on the top of her head. "Let's go join the others."
The two women got up and left the bathroom. They found Mr. Hamstead had arrived. He explained that Mr. Canis wasn't feeling well and had gone to bed.
"Ernest," Granny Relda said. "I'm afraid we're going to be staying through tomorrow at least. Mustardseed has asked us to find his father's killer."
"Of course we'll help," Mr. Hamstead said.
Daphne clapped her hands. "What's the plan?"
"The plan, Daphne, is to get some rest. Tomorrow we're going to track down a killer."
"Where are we going to start?" Sabrina asked as she looked out the window at the massive city.
"At your old apartment," Granny replied.
The plan for the morning was to split up. Hamstead would search the lower part of the city and the Grimm family would handle the upper part. Mr. Canis was staying at the hotel for the day. When they had knocked on his door, he'd opened it just a crack and told Granny Relda that he needed time to meditate. She agreed that he should rest. Sabrina wondered if she'd noticed the new wolfish whiskers on the old man's chin.
When the group finished breakfast and met in the lobby, they were surprised to find they had a visitor. Bess was sitting in a chair by the fireplace. She had on a long winter coat and a silver backpack. She also had the coats Sabrina and Daphne had abandoned at the Golden Egg.
"Care for a little help?" Bess asked as she smiled at Hamstead.
"Of course," Hamstead stammered. "But won't this cause some waves with your boyfriend?"
Bess winked. "Ernest, I don't have a boyfriend anymore."
"We're happy to have the help," Granny said, shaking Bess's hand. "Why don't you team up with Ernest?"
"An excellent plan," the blonde woman said.
As the group stepped out of the hotel, they found that two feet of snow had fallen in the night, turning the city into a winter wonderland. Hamstead and Bess went in one direction while Granny, the girls, and Moth searched for a cab. After ten minutes without success, they caught a bus that took them uptown to the girls' old neighborhood on the Upper East Side. Unfortunately, where Moth went, Puck's smelly cocoon went, too. No one wanted to sit next to the slimy thing, which had begun to leak a funky gas not unlike rotten eggs, so the family spent the trip avoiding the angry looks of other passengers.
"Well, it seems as if your mother had a secret life," Granny Relda said as the bus headed up Madison Avenue. "Several of us have gotten into the family business through marriage. I'm a very good example, myself. So, if Veronica was working with Everafters like every other Grimm since Jacob and Wilhelm, she probably also wrote down what she was experiencing."
"You mean a journal? Do you think she kept one?" Daphne said. It was the family tradition to write one's adventures down so that future descendants might learn from them. Sabrina had a journal, too, though she rarely kept track of what she had encountered. Writing it down made it real. Daphne on the other hand was working on her second volume.