“You’re all going to join your mongrel friend at the end of a hangman’s noose,” Nottingham seethed, his deadly dagger still several feet from his greedy fingers.
“What are we going to do with him?” Beauty asked. “He’ll tell everyone I was helping you. You don’t want to be on the wrong side of the Scarlet Hand these days, even if your husband is a member.”
“Princess, have you ever done your little hypnotizing trick on a person?” Robin asked Beauty.
“Never tried,” she said. “I think it only works on beasts.”
“Well, he’s about as beastly as a man can get,” Little John said.
Beauty reached down and placed her hand on Nottingham’s forehead. He fought a moment longer but then relaxed. “Go to sleep,” she said, and a moment later the sheriff was out cold. “Sheriff, you’re not going to remember the fight that just happened. You aren’t going to remember that you found us in the jail. You aren’t going to remember me or anyone who was here.”
“I won’t?” the sheriff asked, dreamily.
“No, you won’t.”
“OK.”
Robin Hood cleared his throat. “I saw a hypnotist plant a secret message in a person once. You know, every time he heard a certain word the man would cluck like a chicken. Could we get Nottingham to do something like that, I mean, while we have him hypnotized?”
Little John grinned. “You’re a genius.”
Beauty laughed. “What do you think, Mr. Wuggles?”
The dog barked.
“Mr. Wuggles thinks that’s an excellent idea.”
It had been a long day. When Sabrina finally plopped down on the sofa and kicked off her shoes, she found blisters on the backs of her heels. Daphne was almost asleep on her feet, and Granny Relda, who usually had more energy than both the girls combined, fell into a chair and propped her legs up on an ottoman. Elvis trotted down the stairs and went from one person to the next, delivering kisses.
Uncle Jake came down to tell the girls that his search for Goldilocks was on hold. She had hopped a flight out of Venice following the incident in the canal, and he had been unable to figure out exactly where she was going. They would have to wait until she landed to proceed. Sabrina was a little disappointed. Tracking down their elusive heroine might have been a nice distraction from the image that kept appearing in her mind. The Wolf was inside her head.
Even as she lay in bed that night she couldn’t stop seeing his monstrous face, promising that he was going to kill her and her family as soon as he got the chance. She remembered his smiling eyes. It gave him pleasure to terrify her, and he had succeeded. She wanted to talk about it with someone, anyone, but when she had mentioned Mr. Canis’s lack of control to the rest of the family she had been punished. No one wanted to see him for what he was.
Sabrina turned to her sister. Daphne was sound asleep, as if the Wolf’s threats meant nothing. She was so trusting—so naïve. Like the rest of her family, she was tucked in her bed, never thinking that death might crawl out of the closet and gobble her whole. There would be nothing Sabrina could do to stop it, either, not as long as her sister refused to retrieve the secret weapon the three pigs swore could save them all. Why had Hamstead entrusted such a huge responsibility to such a little girl? Daphne was too young for such a heavy burden. Sure, Daphne had a knack with enchanted items, and Sabrina—well, Sabrina and magic didn’t mix, but whatever was in that safe-deposit box had to be used by someone who saw things clearly. Someone who put sentimentality aside and fought for her family. That key could stop the Wolf, maybe even put Mr. Canis back in control. Either way, the danger would be over. If the family had this weapon things might even get easier for them in the town. They could fight the Scarlet Hand. With such a weapon, the evil group’s threats would be meaningless. There were lots of reasons to have the weapon. It was time to go get it, even if Daphne didn’t think so. Sabrina knew what had to be done.
She leaned over and gently unfastened the chain from her sister’s neck. The little girl was such a sound sleeper, she didn’t seem to notice it was gone. Sabrina held up the key and studied it, imagining the possibilities. Then she crawled out of bed, pulled on a pair of jeans, a black shirt, and sneakers and padded down the hallway to Mirror’s room. Once inside, Mirror’s horrifying face immediately appeared, accompanied by frightening bolts of lightning and a wall of flames that streaked across her path.
“Who dares invade my sanctuary!” Mirror bellowed.
“Turn off the special effects,” Sabrina said. “It’s me!”
The threatening image faded and the fire snuffed out, replaced by the kind face of her friend. “Up a little late, aren’t you, Starfish?”
“I’m on a secret mission,” Sabrina replied.
“Is this mission secret from your grandmother?”
Sabrina nodded, then turned her attention to the traveler’s chest. She recited the address to the bank and bent over to lift the lid but it was locked tight. Uncle Jake must have taken the key. She’d have to use plan B to get to the bank, even if it nauseated her. “I need the flying carpet.”
“What for?”
“I can’t tell you,” she said.
“No surprise, there. Still, where’s your sister? Where’s Puck? You never go alone.”
“This time I have to,” Sabrina said, holding out her set of keys to the Hall of Wonders.
“I don’t know about this, kiddo,” Mirror said.
“I won’t be gone long. Trust me. I’m doing this for everyone’s good,” Sabrina said as she opened the spare room’s one and only window.
Mirror’s hand broke the surface of the reflection and took the keys. “I swear, you’re giving me gray hair,” he said as he faded away. Moments later he returned with Sabrina’s keys and Aladdin’s carpet. “Would you listen if I asked you to be careful?”
Sabrina nodded as she opened the window. “I always listen.”
“Yes, but do you hear me?”
She unrolled the rug on the floor, admiring the beautifully embroidered designs of the stars, moons, and sabers. Then she sat down in the center and clenched its tassels in her hands. “OK, rug, take me to the Ferryport Landing Savings and Loan.”
“What’s at the bank?” Mirror asked.
“The answer to a lot of our problems,” Sabrina replied.
Moments later, the rug was darting toward downtown, the air whipping Sabrina’s hair behind her as she soared over the treetops. She concentrated on the weapon she would soon possess. Whatever it was, Swineheart and Boarman said it was powerful. If it helped three out-of-shape piggies beat a monster, it might just be what her family needed. She clutched Daphne’s little key in her hand and imagined what might be inside the safe-deposit box. Perhaps it was a bazooka, or a laser gun, or some kind of device that fired lava.
Soon the bank came into sight and the little rug floated to the ground. It landed on the deserted sidewalk in front of the building. Sabrina glanced around, careful that no one was watching as she stepped off the carpet. It automatically rolled itself up and Sabrina stashed it behind a nearby bush.
The streetlights that once illuminated the quaint neighborhood were black and burned out. Ferryport Landing’s Main Street had never been Broadway, but now it seemed desperately lonely. With the coast clear, she climbed the steps of the bank. Before she tried the door she noticed a sign that read closed. Sabrina could have kicked herself. Of course the bank was going to be closed. It was nighttime. Her over-eagerness to retrieve the weapon kept her from thinking clearly. Now what was she going to do? She couldn’t go back home and try during the day. Her family was always around and Daphne would notice that the key was missing.