Sabrina untied the string and opened the bag. Wary of touching a magical item, she peered into the sack. She expected to find an ancient amulet that could shoot electricity or perhaps a magic wand, but instead, much to her surprise, she found a kazoo.
“What is it?” Puck said. He pulled the kazoo from the sack and examined it closely. “This is your secret weapon?”
Sabrina was too crushed to speak. She felt as if someone had just punched her in the stomach. All of her hopes, all of her needs, and all of her plans had just vanished before her eyes, replaced by someone’s idea of a twisted joke. “It’s a toy,” Sabrina said. “It’s a child’s toy.”
“How is this going to stop the Big Bad Wolf?”
“It won’t, you idiot. It’s a kazoo. Can’t you see? It’s someone’s idea of a prank.” She stormed out of the room and out the front door of the bank. Somehow that triggered the alarm and an earsplitting bell started ringing.
“Hey! You can’t just walk away on your own,” Puck said, chasing after her. “You need protection.”
“Why?” Sabrina said as she stepped out into the street. “What does it matter? The whole town is trying to kill us. My grandmother’s best friend is a murderer. We’re all dead anyway.”
“You still have me,” Puck said.
Sabrina scowled but said nothing.
“You don’t think I can protect you, do you?” Puck asked.
“I don’t think anyone can, Puck,” Sabrina cried. “At least not now.”
Puck’s face flushed red, but he said nothing.
“C’mon, we better get back to the house,” Sabrina said, changing her tone. She knew she had hurt him, but did he really expect that she would put her family’s safety in the hands of an immature fairy whose biggest enemy was a bar of soap?
“Just a minute,” Puck said as he stared at the little toy flute. “Maybe there’s something more to this kazoo. How does it work?”
“It’s a toy, Puck,” she said, snatching it out of his hands. “You blow into it.”
She put the kazoo into her mouth, took a deep breath, and blew. She had used a kazoo before. She knew there was a trick to making the sound—a sort of hum/blow into one end that makes a fuzzy musical note come out the other. But this kazoo didn’t do that. Instead, she felt the familiar uncomfortable tingle of magic. Then there was a horrible whooshing sound and an intense whipping wind and right before her eyes the windows of the bank imploded. The roof flew off the building and the walls crumbled. Even the paint on the sign peeled off and blew away, along with every nail, screw, and two-by-four. In a matter of seconds there was no evidence that a bank or any other kind of building had ever stood in front of her. When the wind died down, all that was left of the bank was the alarm, ringing loudly as if there was still something to protect.
Sabrina gaped at the kazoo, speechless.
“Well, if you don’t want it, I’ll take it,” Puck said.
“Don’t give me any grief. I did what had to be done,” Sabrina said as she kicked off her shoes. She was too tired to put her pajamas back on and instead crawled under the blankets fully dressed.
“No lecture,” Puck said. “Still, we need to get something clear. From now on you need to check in with your bodyguards before you sneak out.”
“I can’t sneak out if someone knows I’m sneaking out,” Sabrina argued. “That takes the sneakiness out of the sneak. Besides, you’re taking this whole security thing too far. I don’t need bodyguards. I can handle myself just fine, and now that we have the kazoo . . .”
“So you’re not going to cooperate?”
Sabrina shook her head, sleepily. “No, I’m not and there’s nothing you can do about it.”
Puck grinned. “Then I suppose I’m just helpless then, huh? I guess you’ve won?”
“Now you’re getting it,” Sabrina said. “Now go back to bed. I’m tired.”
Sabrina braced herself for another argument, but much to her surprise Puck turned and left the room.
Sabrina smiled and nestled into her bed. I think that boy is finally getting some sense, she thought. As she drifted off to sleep, she reached into her pants pocket and removed the sack that held the kazoo. She could feel the unhealthy ache that magic produced, but the bag seemed to dull the sensation. Regardless, she would have to be careful. Maybe she should find a hiding place for it so that the temptation didn’t overtake her. She had to be strong this time. After all, she couldn’t count on the others. This time, she was on her own.
The next morning, Sabrina awoke to a blinding light. The rising sun was flooding through her bedroom window and right into her eyes. She would have to remember to pull the blinds in the future. She reached for a pillow to pull over her head, but her wrist was caught on something. She sat up in bed and held her left hand up to her face. There was a steel bracelet wrapped tightly around her wrist. It was connected to a strong chain that was linked to a similar bracelet that was attached to the wrist of a shaggy-haired boy who was sleeping in a rocking chair next to her bed.
“PUCK!” Sabrina cried, pulling so hard on her end of the handcuffs that the boy fairy tumbled out of the chair and onto the floor. Unfortunately, the fall dragged her out of bed as well and she fell on top of him.
“What’s the story, morning glory?” Puck said, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.
“What is this about?” Sabrina said, raising her hand and shaking the handcuff, thus shaking Puck’s arm as well.
“Unfortunately, it’s necessary,” Puck explained. “You don’t want to work with my security staff, so from now on I’m going to be your personal bodyguard. I’m going to be with you every second of the day.”
“This is insanity,” Sabrina said as she tried in vain to free herself.
“Trust me, being downwind of you twenty-four hours a day is not what I call a good time, but you’ve left me no choice.”
Sabrina screamed. “Give me the key!”
Puck reached into his pocket and took out a tiny golden key. “Is this what you want?”
“Give it to me, pus face!”
“Are you going to work with your bodyguards?”
“Forget it. You’re not going to blackmail me,” Sabrina said.
And at that, Puck put the key into his mouth and swallowed it. Sabrina screamed again.
“Are you deranged?” she yelled as she climbed to her feet, dragging Puck up as she went. Sabrina marched toward the door but was held back by the boy. She turned and saw that he was enjoying the tug of war, so she pulled hard and dragged him out into the hallway in search of her grandmother.
Granny Relda was not supportive of Sabrina’s crisis. In fact, she, Uncle Jake, and Daphne found the whole situation hilarious. They snickered all through breakfast. “Sabrina, Puck is just trying to be helpful,” Granny said. “Perhaps you do need a little personal attention, and there’s not much I can do about it anyway. If he swallowed the key, all we can do is wait.”