"Oh yeah, New York is famous for its broccoli," Sabrina said.
Daphne stuck her tongue out at her sister.
"Wolf, you should see this!" Hamstead said, shaking off the girls' culinary suggestions. Mr. Canis joined him at the rail and gazed out at the marvelous city.
"Look at what we've missed," Hamstead whispered.
Canis leaned forward in wonder.
The two men stood in silence. The significance of the moment became clear to Sabrina. The whole world had kept on spinning while the Everafters were stuck in Ferryport Landing. Cities had risen, diseases had been cured, men had walked on the moon, and Canis and Hamstead had missed it all.
"Wait? Why are we here? I thought we were going to Faerie to save Puck," Daphne said.
"We are, liebling.
The fairy kingdom is in New York City," Granny Relda replied.
Sabrina felt her face grow hot. The pavement seemed to shift and she fell forward. For a moment there was nothing but blackness and then she was on the ground looking up at her family.
"Liebling, are you OK?!" her grandmother cried. Mr. Canis lifted Sabrina back onto her feet but the girl still felt dizzy and slightly nauseated. "You must have fainted."
"You didn't tell us there were Everafters in the city!" Sabrina said as she struggled to stand on her own.
Granny frowned. "Sabrina, Wilhelm's barrier didn't go up until twenty years after the Everafters arrived in this country. Some of them moved to other-"
"How many?" Sabrina demanded.
"How many what, child?" Granny Relda said.
"How many Everafters live here?"
"I don't know, Sabrina," the old woman replied, turning to Mr. Hamstead.
"Probably ten fairies and maybe five dozen others," the portly man said, after a long pause. "When Wilhelm was alive we kept in better contact with them but…"
Tears gushed out of Sabrina's eyes and froze on her cheeks. She prided herself on being strong, not a weepy girlie-girl, but she couldn't help herself. This was a shock. Ever since Granny Relda had taken them in, she had imagined that one day Daphne and she would return to the city with their parents and resume their old lives. They would look back on their time with the Everafters as a bad dream. Now she knew there was no escape from them.
"Sabrina, what's the matter?" Daphne asked.
Sabrina said nothing. Instead, she turned away from her family and stared out at the city skyline. The initial joy at seeing her home had disappeared. Now it seemed alien to her.
"It must be all the traveling," Granny said, rubbing Sabrina's back affectionately. "You girls are hungry and exhausted. We need to get you something to eat. Maybe some hot soup would help."
There was an uncomfortable silence among the group until Mr. Canis spoke. "First we must find Puck's people. Where is this Faerie?"
Granny sighed. "Unfortunately, the family journals are a bit thin on the Everafters that settled here. I do know Faerie is hidden somewhere in the city." She fished in her handbag and pulled out an envelope with some writing on it. "And a contact I have sent me this years ago."
Daphne took the envelope and read aloud, stumbling over some of the words.
Mrs. Grimm,
I'm sorry for your loss. Basil was like a father to me. It breaks my heart that I cant be there for Henry or you, worse that I am partially to blame for the tragedy. I hope you know that Jacob and I never believed that my escape from Ferryport Landing would bring anyone harm. I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me.
I've found Faerie, which is hidden in the Big Apple. I've been invited to stay until I am settled. Oberon is very busy with his kingdom, and Titania, well, I'm sure you've heard the stories about her. Once I've found work and made a little money I'll be off to explore this big world. Until then, if you are ever in
New York City, drop by the park and tell Hans Christian Andersen a knock-knock joke.
Love,
G
"Who's G?" Daphne asked.
"An old friend of your father's," Granny said. Sabrina and Daphne shared a knowing look. Their father had been in love with an Everafter before he met their mother, though everyone was tight-lipped about who the Everafter was.
"Can't we call this G person and get another clue?" Hamstead asked.
"Perhaps one that makes sense," Canis said.
"Is there anything else in the envelope?" Daphne asked.
Granny Relda looked inside. It was empty.
"We don't have time for this," Mr. Canis grumbled.
"It's all we have to go on," the old woman replied.
"Well, let's go find Hans Christian Andersen," Daphne said.
Granny shook her head. "Daphne, Andersen wasn't an Everafter. He just wrote about them. He died a long time ago."
"You know that, silly," Sabrina said. "We read it on his statue in Central Park."
"There's a statue of Hans Christian Andersen in Central Park?" Granny cried. "Sabrina, you're a genius. Can you take us there?"
Sabrina nodded reluctantly.
Once they were on their way again, Granny turned in her seat and handed the book she had been reading to Sabrina.
"You and Daphne should probably go through this," she said. "It's going to tell you everything you need to know about Faerie."
Sabrina glanced down at the book. It was a play by William Shakespeare, entitled
A Midsummer Nights Dream.
Daphne snatched it and flipped through the pages. "What language is this?" she asked.
"It's English," Mr. Hamstead said. "Old English."
Minutes later they were over the bridge and cruising through the city's grid of streets and avenues. Book temporarily forgotten, Daphne gawked at the passing sites, pointing out her father's favorite diner and the playground their mother had taken them to on Sunday afternoons. Sabrina wanted to look out the window, too, but her old home was spoiled for her. There were few people who would describe New York City as normal, but now that Sabrina knew Everafters were crawling all over it, it seemed tainted, ugly.
Traffic was especially bad that afternoon. Christmas was only days away and everywhere shoppers were rushing into the streets carrying huge bags, slowing the family's progress dramatically. But they eventually made their way south through the city, and after much searching, Mr. Canis found a parking spot a few blocks from the park. As the family got out of the car, it rocked back and forth, angrily protesting with a series of backfires and exhaust clouds that caused some of the neighborhood residents to peer out their windows, apparently fearful there was a gun battle going on in the street. The family bundled Puck up in as many blankets as possible and trudged down a snowy sidewalk.
They made their way to the edge of the park and followed the stone wall until they found an entrance. Sabrina led them down a path that twisted and turned until they came to a man-made pond lined with benches. In the summertime, the pond was used by miniature-boat enthusiasts, who guided their tiny ships across its mirrorlike surface. Sabrina remembered her mother had loved this part of the park. Veronica had brought the girls there on many weekends and they spent hours watching the people walk by.
"Are you sure this is the place?" Mr. Hamstead asked.
Sabrina nodded and pointed across the pond. There sat a bronze statue of Andersen himself. Dressed in a suit, tie, and top hat, he was looking down at his most famous story-the ugly duckling.
"I think your contact is playing a game with us, Relda," Mr. Canis snarled as they approached the statue. He eyed a suspicious-looking man sitting on a nearby bench, sipping from a bottle in a brown paper sack.
Granny Relda reached into her handbag for her folded directions and reread them aloud. "It says we're supposed to tell a knock-knock joke to Andersen."