Michael Buckley - Once upon a crime

"It's over," Sabrina stammered, preparing to defend herself. "Mustardseed has promised you a fair trial. Turn yourself in."

"I did not kill Oberon," Cobweb said.

"Stop lying. Oberon said you did it. If you don't come with us now, we're going to catch you and your Scarlet Hand buddies, too.

"My what?"

"Don't play dumb with me. We know you're involved with them. You left their mark on Oberon's body."

"Child, I have no idea what you are talking about," Cobweb said. "I'm not in any group and I didn't kill Oberon!"

Moth spotted the dark fairy. "Murderer!" she cried. She reached into her pocket and took out a small flute, similar to the one Sabrina had seen Puck use many times. It summoned a tiny flying army of pixies he called his minions. Moth blew a few light notes and then shoved it back into her pocket.

Suddenly, a wave of little lights hit Cobweb in the chest. They surrounded him and collectively slammed him into a nearby wall. Sabrina could hear the wind fly out of his lungs.

Granny grabbed the fairy girl by the arm and shook her. "What are you doing, Moth?" the old woman cried. "Make them stop!"

Moth refused and pulled away.

But Cobweb fought off the little army and ran up the station stairs with the pixies in pursuit. Moth screamed and raced after them.

"We have to stop her," Granny said to the group.

"Wait. Daphne!" Sabrina cried. She'd lost track of her sister in the confusion. She spotted her celebrating with the dwarfs. Together they had successfully beaten the Yahoos back into the tunnels.

Sabrina raced over to her sister, clamped her hand around Daphne's arm, and dragged her up the station steps, with Granny and their friends following behind. Daphne shouted, "Hey, let go of me!" But Sabrina ignored her. So the little girl gave up and waved good-bye to the dwarfs instead, who were still celebrating their victory over the Yahoos. "Bye. Thanks!" Daphne called. "I'll tell Mr. Seven you said hello!"

"Tell him I want my twenty bucks!" Mr. Two cried.

"Good luck, daughters of Veronica!" the little men shouted.

When the girls reached the surface, Cobweb was gone. Moth paced nearby, screaming in rage. "We've lost him, again!"

"I don't know who you're screaming at," Mr. Hamstead said angrily. "That psychotic little display of yours was why he escaped."

"You blame me?" Moth shouted. "How dare you talk to me in such a manner."

" Child!"

Mr. Canis roared. "You have tested my patience long enough today!" He leaped forward, talons already drawn as if prepared to rip the fairy to shreds.

"Wolf!" Hamstead shouted, stepping in between Moth and the old man. "Back away."

Canis eyed Hamstead for several moments.

"I can see you in there, mongrel," Hamstead said. "You come out and you'll get more of what the Three Little Pigs gave you before."

Something inside of Canis seethed but it did what it was told. Most of the old man's wolflike features shrank away.

Hamstead turned and addressed everyone. "We need to regroup here, folks. We're trying to catch Cobweb. Not kill him." He looked at Moth. "And we shouldn't be fighting among ourselves. If anyone can't work as a team, she should go back to the hotel. 'Cause to be honest, you're in the way. But if you want to catch our suspect, and he is only a suspect right now, then let's start working together."

Bess gave Hamstead an admiring look and a squeeze on the arm. Moth, however, gave the portly ex-policeman an angry scowl and muttered something offensive under her breath.

"Look, he left footprints in the snow," Daphne said, finally pulling free of her sister.

"Daphne Grimm! Well done!" Mr. Hamstead said. "If we follow these prints they'll lead us right to him."

Everyone nodded, even Moth, and they set out to follow the tracks.

As they walked, Sabrina tried to engage her sister. "That was stupid of you to get into that fight," she said. "You're stupid," Daphne said.

"You could have been hurt. Why would you take such a risk?"

"I'm going to have to take bigger risks now that I'm on my own," Daphne replied.

Sabrina stopped in her tracks, and watched as her sister hurried to catch up with Mr. Canis, who was leading their group.

Granny joined Sabrina and gave her a sad smile. "This is her choice, liebling,"

"So I should just let her get killed?"

Granny shook her head. "As long as I'm around I won't let that happen."

The prints led into Battery Park. In warmer weather, the park would be filled with tourists waiting for the boats to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Now it was almost empty. The Staten Island Ferry, a commuter boat that took people to the city's remote island borough, docked nearby as well, and it was into the ferry terminal that Cobweb's tracks led. Sabrina helped her grandmother up the snow-covered ramp to the waiting room inside. There the group drew many stares from the terminal staff. Sabrina realized that most were gazing at Mr. Canis-all seven feet of him.

"Look, there's Cobweb!" Moth shouted. Sabrina turned in the direction the fairy girl pointed only to see a boat pulling away from the dock. Cobweb sat on the railing looking back at them. His face was grim and cold.

"I'll get him!" Moth said as her fairy wings popped out of her back.

Granny snatched her arm and held the girl back. "We'll wait for the next boat." Moth reluctantly retracted her wings.

"By the time we get to Staten Island, Cobweb will be long gone," Daphne said.

"You have bigger problems than that," a rough voice said from behind them. Sabrina turned around and saw a half-dozen men with skin the color of copper and jet-black hair coming toward them. Their leader had dark eyes as fierce as any she had ever seen. He spoke again, "You know as well as I do that fairies are not welcome on docks controlled by Sinbad the Sailor."

Sabrina instinctively stepped between her sister and the stranger. She'd read

The Arabian Nights recently, researching jinnis that might help her rescue her parents. The story of Sinbad was fresh in her memory. He'd gone on seven voyages and each trip had nearly killed him, though he had seen some fairly amazing things, including ogres, jinnis, and fish disguised as massive islands. He'd killed hordes of monsters, too. She didn't remember him as a villain, but she'd learned the hard way that sometimes the good guys switched sides.

"Is that so?" Moth said angrily to Sinbad. "Well, what are you going to do about it?'

The sailor's men pulled nasty-looking daggers out of their coats.

"No fairies on the ferry," Sinbad said. "Oberon may have been able to force us to pay his lousy taxes, but he's dead. I'm not about to let some other fairy come in and take our hard-earned money."

"We're not fairies," Daphne said. "We're detectives and we're trying to find the person who killed Oberon."

Sinbad cocked an eyebrow. "Praise be! Can it be you? Can it be that I am in the presence of Veronica Grimm's children?"

Daphne nodded, and the men put their daggers away.

"I am honored to meet you," Sinbad said. "It was a dark day in my heart when your mother vanished. What brings you here?"

"The fairy who killed King Oberon is on the boat that just left," Granny Relda said.

Sinbad looked at his men and then looked back at the group. "I may be of some assistance," he said and led everyone to the next docking station. He took out a key, unlocked a huge door, and slid it open. Behind it was a second ferryboat.

"You've got your own boat?" Hamstead asked.

"I'am the harbormaster for the Staten Island Ferry," Sinbad said proudly. He helped them onboard, then led them up a flight of steps to the bridge. He started the boat's engine as his men untied its mooring lines from the dock. When the boat was free, the men shouted up to their captain, and he pulled down a lever, easing the ferry away from the dock with expert care. In no time they were cruising away from Manhattan in pursuit of Cobweb.