"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 truly rewarding 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're the 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.
"Bring him down, Toby," Rumpelstiltskin said.
"Awww, Dad, he was almost ready to eat," the spider kid whined.
"Do it," Rumpelstiltskin demanded.
Reluctantly, Toby scaled the wall, cut the web loose with his razor-sharp legs, and carried the boy gingerly to the ground. He set him down at Hamelin's feet and scurried back to his father.
"He was causing too many distractions," Rumpelstiltskin explained. "He was jeopardizing our plans."
Hamelin ignored the explanation as he tore the rest of the threads off his son. When the boy was finally free, Hamelin leaned down to listen for breathing.
"He's gone," Hamelin cried, as he set his boy down gently and climbed to his feet. He took his pipes and filled them with air. "And you are going to pay for it."
Before he could blow a single note, Bella leaped across the room, shot out her sticky tongue, and wrapped it around the bagpipes. She yanked the instrument out of the piper's hands and into her mouth, swallowing it whole.
"That's Daddy's little girl!" Rumpelstiltskin cheered.
Natalie rushed to a corner of the room and returned with a can. She dipped her hand inside it and when she pulled it out, it was covered in red paint. "Should I lay the mark on the kid's body?"
Hamelin shook with fury. "You and your Scarlet Hand, killing innocents. This wasn't part of our plan, troll! I just wanted out of this town."
"You've never had the backbone to do what has to be done, Piper," the little creature cried. "Someone had to make the hard decisions."
"Like killing my boy?" Hamelin said.
"I know your pain," Rumpelstiltskin said. "If I were to lose one of my children, I would be heartbroken, too. But I would still put them in harm's way for the greater good."
"These aren't your children!" Sabrina shouted. "You took advantage of their real parents. You played on their fears and made them feel hopeless. Their real parents want them back."
Toby looked confused. "Is that true, father?" the spider boy clicked. "You said they abandoned me in a park."
"They did, son," Rumpelstiltskin said.
"He's lying," Sabrina cried. "I've talked to your parents, Toby. They've been searching for you since the day they gave you to this sicko. He played with their emotions, made them believe you'd be better off with him. You weren't found in any park. Rumpelstiltskin manipulated your mom and dad and then paid them millions of dollars for you. He bought you, Toby, for the same reason he bought Natalie and Bella-so he could feed on you!