“Who are you?” Goldilocks asked.

“My name is Sabrina Grimm and this is my sister, Daphne,” Sabrina said, motioning to the little girl.

“We’re Henry Grimm’s daughters,” Daphne added.

Goldilocks studied their faces. “I see a lot of him in you,” she told Daphne, then looked at Sabrina. “So he married that girl, huh? You look just like her.”

Sabrina nodded. “Her name is Veronica.”

“I know,” Goldilocks said as she got to her feet. She turned to Uncle Jake and gave him a hug. “It’s good to see you, Jakey.”

Uncle Jake nodded and smiled, then pointed at his throat.

“The knight tried to choke him to death,” Daphne explained.

“Goldie, you have to come back,” Sabrina said. “The town is a disaster and my dad—”

“Tell me he’s safe,” Goldilocks pleaded. Sabrina could see the woman still felt strongly for her father. She wasn’t sure how to react.

“He’s fine, but he needs you,” Daphne said. “He’s under a sleeping spell. We need someone to kiss him. We were told you were the only one who could do that.”

Goldilocks blushed. “A kiss from someone who truly loves him is all he needs. Can’t you get your mother to do this?”

Sabrina shook her head. “No, she’s asleep, too.”

“Never a dull moment in Ferryport Landing,” the blond beauty said. “How did this happen?”

“The Scarlet Hand did it,” Uncle Jake croaked.

“The Scarlet Who?” the blonde asked.

“They’re the bad guys,” Daphne said. “They kidnapped my parents almost two years ago. Now they are running the town. That creepy guy, the Black Knight, he was one of them.”

“He’s been chasing me for a month,” Goldilocks said. “If he is part of the group that kidnapped your parents, they probably don’t want anyone to wake them up. Whoever sent him will send others.”

“Come back and we’ll protect you,” Sabrina said.

Goldilocks looked into Sabrina’s face. “Come back to Ferryport Landing?”

Sabrina nodded hopefully.

Goldilocks shook her head. “I can’t do that. Terrible things occurred just to set me free. Your grandfather died because of it. Your grandmother doesn’t want to see me, and I’m sure Henry wouldn’t want to see me, either. He told me to leave him alone.”

“But we can’t wake him up without you,” Daphne begged. “Without you it’s impossible.”

Goldilocks turned to Uncle Jake. “If I went back, could you set me free again?”

Uncle Jake shook his head. Sabrina wasn’t surprised. After what had happened the first time he shut down the barrier, she doubted that her uncle would ever attempt it again. She wondered if he would even do it for Briar.

“Then no,” Goldilocks said. “I won’t go back. I’m sorry. I wish I could help. Don’t give up hope. You live in Ferryport Landing. Anything is possible there.” She turned and a moment later she was walking down the steps that led to the second level. Sabrina started to chase after her, but Uncle Jake snatched her arm and pulled her back. He shook his head. “Let her go,” he whispered painfully.

“We have to stop her. We can force her to go back with us,” Sabrina said.

“That’s not what we do,” Daphne said, softly. Sabrina noticed Daphne hadn’t looked at her since the Black Knight had been thrown from the building.

“But—”

Again, Uncle Jake shook his head. “We’ll find another way. It’s time to go home.”

abrina watched her uncle pack up the traveler’s chest. An hour later, the same rabbit and tortoise that delivered it came and picked it up. The rabbit hoisted it onto his partner’s shell and walked it over to the little truck. Moments later they were gone, along with the only hope the family had of ever seeing Goldilocks again.

“We could go back and change her mind,” Sabrina pleaded as the family watched the truck disappear down the road.

“She said no, Sabrina,” Jake exclaimed, though speaking still hurt his voice.

“None of you care!” Sabrina raged at her family. “None of you care whether Mom and Dad ever wake up!” She raced upstairs to the room where her parents slept, nestled herself between their bodies, and cried into her hands. Her old thoughts of anger toward Everafters surfaced. Most were betrayers, others couldn’t be counted on. She wept openly, not caring if Mirror or anyone else for that matter heard her railing at the world around her. Mirror’s face appeared briefly in the reflection but then faded away. She silently thanked him for letting her be alone. She lay there for hours, her face and neck drenched in tears, until eventually she was too exhausted to continue.

After a long while she got to her feet and went out into the hallway. There she found Granny, Uncle Jake, Briar, and Elvis sitting on the hardwood floor, obviously waiting for her. They all had expressions of concern mixed with forced smiles.

Granny took Sabrina by the hand, “Sabrina—”

Sabrina pulled away. “I can’t take a lecture right now.”

“I was going to say I was sorry. I know how heartbroken you feel. We feel it as well, dear. We had the same hopes that you did.”

Sabrina nodded, sadly. “Where’s Daphne?”

“She’s in your room,” the old woman said.

“You might want to leave her alone,” Uncle Jake said.

“Why?”

“She’s a little angry right now,” he replied.

“I know how she feels,” Sabrina said, ignoring the warning. She turned and walked down the hall and entered her bedroom. There, she found Daphne sitting at Henry’s desk, braiding her hair into her familiar pigtails. She had taken off Sabrina’s clothes and was now wearing a pair of cotton candy–colored pajamas with little stars on them. Her face was cleanly scrubbed of the lip gloss, and she had folded Sabrina’s clothes neatly and set them on the bed.

“Are you OK?” Sabrina said.

“We don’t have to talk about it, Sabrina,” the little girl said. “In fact, I’d rather not.”

Sabrina was taken back by her sister’s attitude. “You’re angry about the weapon. Well, I can explain—”

“I don’t want to talk about it,” Daphne interrupted.

“Well, I think we should. I want to explain my side of what happened.”

Daphne burst into tears. “How are you going to explain that you stole from me, kept a secret, and lied about it? How are you going to explain that you . . . that you betrayed me?”

“You don’t even know what betrayed means!”

“Yes, I do!” Daphne said, heaving a new paperback dictionary at her sister. “I looked it up.”

Sabrina bent down and picked up her sister’s dictionary. “Yes, I lied to you. I stole the key and snuck out and took the weapon without you knowing. You were too young to have that kind of responsibility and you refused to see the danger we are in, so I did it.”

“You treat me like I’m a baby, Sabrina. I’m not a baby!”

“I have a reason to be angry, too! You’ve been walking around here for days, wearing my clothes, mocking me. I’ve seen you roll your eyes and your snarky comments. You think it’s nice to be made fun of?”

“I wasn’t making fun of you, Sabrina. I was trying to be more like you. You’re my role model,” Daphne said. “I was dressing like you and wearing my hair like yours ’cause I was trying to grow up a little. I wanted to be more like my sister. But not anymore.”

Sabrina looked at the stack of clothing on the bed.

“I think I’ll go back to being myself. I like me,” Daphne said.

Sabrina searched for words, but they were jumbled like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle that didn’t fit together.

“I wasn’t making fun of you. I love you. Though, I don’t like you very much,” the little girl said. “And it’s obvious to me that you don’t like me much, either.”

“That’s not true!” Sabrina said.