Turn on the lights Daphne shouted When the lights finally came on Elvis stopped stood over Sabrina and barked The girl sat up and then looked down at herself She was covered in sticky glue mousetraps each of which had a tiny little man no more than a couple of inches high stuck fast in the glue Hey let me go one of them shouted What’s the big idea another cried Lilliputians I knew it Granny Relda said then spotted Sabrina’s predicament and laughed When Sabrina scowled at her she tried to stop but couldn’t Oh liebling she giggled Who’s the sick psychopath who came up with this idea one of the Lilliputians shouted indignantly we’ll have you free in no time Granny leaned down to him and smiled Don’t worry with a little vegetable oil But I’m afraid you’re under arrest Sheriff Hamstead said as he stepped out from behind a rack of doll clothes His puffy pink face beamed proudly as he tugged his trousers up over his massive belly The Lilliputians groaned and complained as the sheriff went to work yanking the sticky traps off Sabrina’s clothes you in a court of law You have the right to remain silent Anything you say can and will be used against Ouch said Sabrina as the sheriff tugged a glue trap from her forehead I’m not talking copper one of the Lilliputians snapped And I’m suing you for wrongful arrest Wrongful arrest Sheriff Hamstead exclaimed Unfortunately when the portly policeman got angry or excited the magical disguise he used to hide who he really was stopped working Now his nose vanished and was replaced by a runny pink snout Two hairy pig ears popped out of the top of his head and a series of snorts squeals and huffs came out of his mouth Hamstead had nearly completed the change when the security guard from the next store over wandered into the chaos What’s going on in here the guard asked with a tough authoritative voice He was a tall husky man with a military-style haircut but when he saw the pig in a police uniform hovering over a dozen tiny men in glue traps he nearly fainted Oh dear We forgot some of the shops have their own security guards Granny Relda said softly as she reached into her handbag and approached the stunned man Granny no Sabrina begged I don’t have a choice Sabrina It doesn’t hurt him Granny explained then blew some soft pink dust into the guard’s face His eyes glazed over as the old woman told him he’d had another ordinary night at work and nothing unusual had occurred The security guard nodded in agreement
Another night at work he mumbled falling under the forgetful dust’s magic Sabrina scowled She hated when magic was the quick fix to a problem especially when the problem involved humans The glue traps were a brilliant idea Sheriff Hamstead said as he drove the family home in his squad car Granny sat in the front enjoying his praise while Sabrina and Daphne were in the back jockeying with Elvis for seat space The Lilliputians were locked in the glove compartment and whenever their complaining got too loud Hamstead smacked the top of the dashboard with his hand and yelled Pipe down I’m glad we could be of some help Granny Relda replied Gepetto is such a nice old man It broke my heart to hear he was being robbed and with Christmas only two weeks away The holidays are difficult for him he misses his boy Hamstead said It’s hard to believe that in two hundred years no one has heard a peep from Pinocchio Wilhelm’s journals claim he refused to get on the boat Granny replied Oh he got on Hamstead said But as soon as we were out of the marina he jumped overboard and swam for shore By the time his father found out we were too far out to sea to turn back I suppose if I had been swallowed by a shark I wouldn’t be too eager to go back to sea either I thought it was a whale Daphne said No hon that was the movie Granny replied Sabrina had heard her grandmother explain the difference a hundred times So much of what the girls thought they knew from seeing all those cartoons was wrong Well I’m glad to get this case off my plate the sheriff said The mayor’s been cutting budgets left and right these days and I just didn’t have the manpower or money to catch the little thieves myself Or to make sure the security guard was off duty so we didn’t have to mess with his brain Sabrina grumbled Sabrina Sheriff the Grimms are always at your disposal Granny Relda said ignoring I appreciate that Relda and I wish I could give you the credit for the arrest but if Mayor Charming found out we’ve been working together my backside would be one of those footballs in Gepetto’s store Hamstead said It’s our little secret Granny Relda said with a wink How is Canis Granny’s smile faded and she shifted uncomfortably in her seat Both Sabrina and Daphne noticed the change and wondered what their grandmother would say about her old friend He’s doing just fine Sabrina couldn’t believe it In the short time she had known the old woman Granny
Relda had never told a lie Mr Canis was not fine by a long shot In fact he was very very sick Three weeks earlier the girls had learned that Granny’s friend the skinny grouchy Mr Canis was secretly the Big Bad Wolf When the family battled Jack the Giant Killer over a jar of magic beans the Wolf bit Jack and tasted the villain’s blood It changed him When he got home Canis locked himself inside his bedroom and wouldn’t come out Every night Sabrina and Daphne heard his painful moans and labored breathing His horrible cries woke them in the night and the sounds of him slamming himself against a wall kept their teeth on edge Mr Canis was far from fine That’s good to hear Hamstead said doubtfully I want my phone call a little voice cried from the glove compartment We were framed The sheriff banged heavily on the dashboard Tell it to the judge Sheriff Hamstead pulled his squad car into the driveway of the family’s quaint two story yellow house It was very late and the house was dark Sabrina opened her door and Elvis lumbered out still wearing two Lilliputian-free glue traps on his giant behind It was bitterly cold and Sabrina hoped the two adults wouldn’t blabber on as they often did Granny could talk a person’s ear off but the sheriff just thanked them again and excused himself claiming he had a mountain of paperwork waiting for him back at the station When his taillights were fading down the road Granny took a giant key ring out of her handbag and went to work unlocking the door There were more than a dozen locks Once Sabrina had believed Granny Relda was just a paranoid shut-in but in the last three weeks she had seen things that she would never have dreamed possible and now understood why the house was locked so tightly When all the locks were turned the old woman knocked on the door three times and announced to the house that the family was home making the last magical lock slide back and the door swing open for them After cookies and some vegetable-oil swabbing for Elvis Granny Relda urged the girls to get to bed You’ve got school tomorrow I’ve kept you up too late as it is Actually Granny Sabrina replied feeling her head for a fever that wasn’t there I think I’m coming down with something I’d hate to go to school and get everyone sick Granny grinned Sabrina it’s been three weeks If you two don’t go to school tomorrow they are going to put me in the jailhouse Now up to bed Sabrina frowned School was a waste of time There were more important things to do When Daphne was steadily snoring Sabrina slowly crawled out of their four-poster bed The room was once their father’s and his model airplanes still hung from the ceiling An old catcher’s mitt rested on his desk and his collection of books lined a shelf Sabrina pulled several of them into her hands pulled a key ring out from under her mattress and silently crept into the hallway
When she reached the door at the end of the hall she sorted through her keys and found the long brass skeleton key that fit into the lock Once it was open she took a quick look around to make sure no one was watching then slipped inside and closed the door The room was completely empty except for a full-length mirror hanging on the far wall and a sliver of moonlight shining through the room’s only window Sabrina stepped up to the mirror and admired her reflection Her long blond hair and blue eyes glowed a ghostly milky blue She tucked some strands behind her ears and rubbed her eyes then did something most people would think was impossible she walked directly into the glass and disappeared Once she was on the other side she found herself in an immense room that reminded her of Grand Central Terminal in New York City Its incredibly long barrel-vaulted ceiling was supported by towering marble columns and along each wall were hundreds maybe even thousands of doors each with a golden plaque that revealed what was behind them TALKING PLANTS GIANT LIVING CHESS PIECES BABE THE BLUE OX MAGICAL ARMOR and more all impossibly interesting magical items and creatures collected by the Grimm family for safekeeping Granny called it the world’s biggest walk-in closet Sabrina called it the Hall of Wonders She also called it her only hope She scanned the hall and spotted a lonely figure sitting in a high-backed chair several yards away Mirror the girl called to him I think I’ve found something useful Mirror as he was called was a short balding man who lived inside the magic mirror His was the mouth that had proclaimed Snow White the fairest one of all to the Wicked Queen When he spotted Sabrina he set down the celebrity magazine he was reading and got up from his chair What No Hello No How are you How’s the family the little man complained Sorry Mirror I don’t have a lot of time I don’t want anyone to wake up and find me in here Of course you don’t How would you explain that you’ve been swiping your grandmother’s keys one by one and making copies Sabrina ignored his disapproval I found this thing in Burton’s telling of the Arabian Nights Sabrina said opening one of her books and handing it to Mirror He didn’t even bother to look at the page Listen blondie I assure you if we had a jinni’s lamp I’d have a lot more hair on my head and we’d all be living in Hawaii Don’t you think that if your grandmother had access to that kind of power your parents would have already been found Sabrina frowned It was always the same She spent days researching ways to rescue her parents from their kidnappers and every night Mirror shot her ideas down one by one Fine Sabrina replied handing Mirror another book she had opened already What
