Michael Buckley - The Unusual Suspects

"Then, I've got a surprise for you," a voice said from behind her. Sabrina spun around and found Natalie standing there. Sabrina noticed her front tooth was now missing. Then someone else stepped out of the shadows, someone who made Sabrina's heart ache-it was her only potential friend in the entire school-Bella. The blond girl put her arm around Natalie's shoulders and smirked.

"You're one of them, aren't you?" Sabrina said sadly. "Why did you pretend to be my friend?"

"Duh! She's evil," Toby said. He and the girls burst into laughter.

"You killed Mr. Grumpner," Sabrina gasped.

"Yes, I did," Toby said. "He was just too nosy and way too heavy with the homework."

"Don't forget Charlie," Bella said, patting Natalie on the back. "They just kept getting in the way of our father's plans."

Suddenly, the girl leaped into the air, higher than any human being could possibly leap. Even more startling, Bella's hands and feet stuck to the roof of the cave and her body started to change. Her skin looked as if it were filling with water. Dark spots rose to the surface on her hands and legs. Her eyes bugged out to disgusting proportions and migrated to the top of her head. Her shoes exploded off her feet, revealing long, green webbed toes. Within minutes, she had transformed into the frog-girl that had attacked the family and Principal Hamelin. Like a streak of lighting, a long, slippery tongue shot out of her mouth, latched onto Sabrina's shovel, and yanked it out of her hand.

When Sabrina turned, she saw Natalie had already made her transformation into the hairy animal she truly was.

"Rumpelstiltskin is insane," Sabrina said. "When he cracks a hole in the barrier, these tunnels will collapse and kill everyone in them. All the kids will die."

"Actually, the children are already outside, trying to figure out what has happened to them," a new voice said. Mr. Sheepshank emerged from the shadows.

"Mr. Sheepshank!" Sabrina cried. "You have to get out of here. They're going to blow this place sky high!"

"Duh, Sabrina," Toby the spider clicked. "You're even dumber than you seem in class."

"Hush, Toby," the counselor said. He turned to Sabrina. "They're not going to do anything of the sort. I'm going to do it."

"You're Rumpelstiltskin!" she gasped.

"Oh, I have many names," Sheepshank said. "But the one I like best is Daddy."

Sheepshank extended his arms and Natalie, Bella, and Toby rushed to stand by his side as the odd little man began to morph and bubble. But, unlike the others, Sheepshank didn't get bigger. In fact, he got a lot smaller. When his transformation was complete, he was hardly three feet high. His head, back, and arms were covered in kinky brown hair, but his face and pointed ears were pink like a pig's. He had a short, stubby tail, hoofed feet, and a couple of rows of sharp razor teeth.

"No fair," the little monster said sarcastically. "You guessed my name. Someone told you! Really child, I must agree with my son. You aren't as bright as your records suggest."

"Well, at least I'm not some sick pervert who steals children," Sabrina shouted, hoping to distract the little man and his freak show for a while longer.

"I don't steal children, Sabrina," the little creature said, as if he were genuinely insulted. "I care for them. These children have been treated with nothing but love and affection. I give them everything they ever wanted."

"Then what do you get out of it?" Sabrina asked.

"Why, I get their love, and their joy, and their sadness, and their frustration, and their hope, and most of all I get their anger," Rumpelstiltskin cackled. "I get their feelings, child, every last delicious morsel of them. You don't understand, do you? Let me spell it out for you. I feed on their emotions."

"That's where you get your power," Sabrina said, as Mr. Sheepshank's advice about feelings came flooding back to her. Of course he would encourage her to express her anger. He was eating it.

"You're starting to get it. That's the reason I have always loved

children. Their emotions are so raw and uncontrolled. When people get older, they've already found ways to control their feelings, but not children. Children are like emotional all-you-can-eat buffets. So, where's a guy with tastes like mine going to find work? Why, Ferryport Landing Elementary, of course! And trust me Sabrina, it has been a trulyrewarding experience. For years, I sat back and feasted on the fights and humiliations you kids pile onto one another. The senseless bullying, the humiliation of being picked last for baseball, the endless teasing about someone's hair or clothes-when it comes to being mean, kids have cornered the market.

"Well, when the piper came to me with his plan to blow up the barrier from below, I was hesitant. After all, I had a pretty good thing going here at the school, and at night, well, I have these little rug rats to keep me fed."

The three Everafter children laughed at their "father's" teasing.

"But then I realized there's a great big world of anger, war, and pain for me to feast on out there. So, I signed on. It wasn't easy, though. Piper used his magic music, and every night the children of this school came to dig out the tunnels. At first, we tried to use all the kids, but the little ones are so weak, we had to make do with the fifth- and sixth-graders. Unfortunately, there was another unforeseen problem. The next morning, those same kids-the ones who supplied me with the most energy-were too sleepy to argue with one another. They went from a raging river of emotions to a dripping faucet overnight. The piper and I were just about to give up when you walked through the door."

"What do I have to do with it?" Sabrina asked, doing her best to buy time until she could come up with a plan.

"Sabrina, you're like the Niagara Falls of anger-it just keeps pouring over the edges. Every time you lost your temper, it was like a four-course meal with all the trimmings," Rumpelstiltskin said, as blue electricity crackled out of his fingertips.

"Once I tapped into it, I turned up the volume on you and could barely keep up with the energy," Rumpelstiltskin continued. "Truth be told, we probably didn't have to kill Grumpner or the janitor, but I could sense how outraged you would get. And it worked! Every little paranoia and prejudice was amplified by a million. Thanks to you, I finally have what it takes to blast a hole into the barrier. Once it's open, I'll be free and the Scarlet Hand will march across the world, destroying anyone who gets in their way."

"So, you'rethe Scarlet Hand," Sabrina said, even now feeling the anger rise within her. "You took my parents!"

"The Scarlet Hand isn't a person, child. It's a movement, an idea. It's bigger than all of us and I am just one spoke in a very big wheel."

"Where's my son?" a man shouted. Rumpelstiltskin shrieked and moved to safety behind Natalie's hulking body, just as Principal Hamelin raced into the cave. He looked exhausted, beaten, and on the edge of madness. His shirt was covered in his own blood and he limped painfully. In his hands were his bagpipes.

"Tell me where my boy is or I will play a song that will tear you apart," Hamelin raged as he charged at the little man. Rumpelstiltskin cowered in a corner.

"The boy got in the way," he cried, gnashing his teeth at his much taller partner. "I warned you about keeping him under control."

"Where is he?" Hamelin demanded.

Toby pointed one of his long, spindly legs at the ceiling. High on the cave wall, away from the others, was a mound of webbing from which no head poked and no movement came at all. Hamelin fell to his knees and buried his head in his hands.