By the time lunch rolled around, Sabrina was ready to strangle the boy. So when she saw Daphne's smiling face in the cafeteria, it was like seeing a rainbow. The little girl was surrounded by her classmates, who, as they had the day before, looked at her as if she were a movie star. When Daphne spotted Sabrina and Puck, she excused herself and joined them at a table in the far corner of the room.
'How has your day been?' she asked.
'It's been horrible,' Sabrina said.
'Tell my sister 1 wasn't talking to her,' Daphne said to Puck. 'I was talking to you.'
Sabrina rolled her eyes. 'How long are you going to be mad at me?
'Remind my sister that I just said I was not talking to her,' the little girl said to Puck.
Puck grinned. 'The squirt says she isn't talking to you.'
'Get over it!' Sabrina cried.
'Tell my sister when she stops being a snot I will get over it.'
'She says when you stop being a disgusting booger-crusted freak she will honor you with a conversation, but until then, shove off,' Puck said.
'This is ridiculous,' the older girl said, staring down at her serving of not-too-green green beans.
'Ask my sister what ridiculous means,' Daphne said.
'She wants to know what…'
'I heard her!' Sabrina growled at the boy. 'It means you are being silly! It means you are being a baby!'
'Tell my sister that I'm rubber and she's glue and whatever she says bounces off me and sticks to her.'
'Your sister says…'
'Puck!' Sabrina shouted. She turned back to her food and took a bite of something she thought might be chicken. It wasn't even close.
'Well, if you're not going to talk to me, then you won't know that I've found a clue,' she said.
Daphne's face lit up as bright as the sun. 'What kind of clue?'
'Are you done with the silent treatment?' her sister asked.
'Depends on how good the clue is.'
'You know those dusty footprints we were following last night? Well there's a kid in my homeroom whose feet were covered in the same dust.'
'What did you do?' Daphne asked, interested despite herself.
'I tried to follow him, but he slipped into the boiler room,' Sabrina said. 'We're going to have to come back after everyone's gone and do some snooping.'
Daphne smiled and hugged Sabrina.
Puck sniffed the creamed corn on his tray. He reached down with his bare hand and scooped some up. Then he licked it with his tongue. 'Any of those disgusting warts show up, yet?'
'Ms. White told me that you don't get warts from touching frogs,' the little girl growled. 'Not even frog-girls.'
'Ahh, I'm sorry to see that little joke die.' The boy sighed as creamed corn dripped down his wrist and onto his clean shirt. 'I had you completely freaked out.'
'Hardy-har-har, Puck, you are so un-punk rock,' Daphne said, turning her attention to her sister. 'So, what's the plan?'
'First, you have to get a detention,' Sabrina said as she eyed her gray hamburger.
'What?' Daphne cried.
'Puck got us in trouble, so we have to stay after school. Since the two of us have to stay, you might as well get in trouble, too. We should try to stick together.'
'How am I supposed to get a detention?' the little girl asked.
'I don't know! Insult your teacher or something.'
'I can't do that to Ms. White!'
'Yes you can. Be annoying!' Sabrina suggested. 'You do it to me every day.'
Daphne looked as if she was going to cry.
When the children met at the end of the last period, Daphne was back to giving Sabrina the silent treatment. Sabrina asked her how she'd managed to get detention, but she wouldn't answer. Sabrina shrugged. If she worried every time her sister got mad at her, she'd never have time to do anything else. Daphne would get over it. The important thing was that they were all together. Nothing bad could happen when they were together.
They walked down the hallway toward the detention room and Puck was nothing but complaints.
'I can't believe I have to be subjected to this torture,' he whined. 'I am royalty. To say anything I do is inappropriate in school is just foolish. Everything I do is majestic and regal.'
'So when you were picking your nose in Mr. Cafferty's class, that was regal?' Sabrina asked.
'Absolutely,' he said. 'Back home people stand out in the freezing rain for days just to hear a rumor that I picked my nose.'
'Ugh,' was all Sabrina could say to Puck's disgusting conversation.
'This detention is going to be horrible. I've heard stories. Some kids go into that class and never come out, and the ones that do aren't the same.'
'Aren't you being a little dramatic?'
'Not at all,' Puck insisted. 'From what I hear, this detention is a house of horrors.'
Sabrina rolled her eyes and opened the detention room door. Immediately she put her hand over Daphne's eyes. Mrs. Heart lay in one corner of the room. Snow White struggled to her feet in another, and in the center was a skeleton in shredded coveralls with a name patch still visible-Charlie. The killer had left one identifying mark on the fabric of the coveralls-a bright red handprint.
'See, I told you!' Puck said proudly.
'It's gross, isn't it?' Daphne asked, turning into her sister's arms and hiding her face in Sabrina's sweater.
'Yes, it's gross,' Sabrina whispered.
'I guess this means we don't have detention,' Puck said.
Daphne pulled herself away from her sister and rushed to Ms. White. The teacher didn't look seriously injured, but was dizzy and disoriented. The children helped her to her feet and sat her at one of the desks in the classroom. Sabrina kneeled down to check on Mrs. Heart. She was breathing normally, but was out cold.
'What happened, Ms. White?' Sabrina asked.
The teacher looked confused and mumbled, but only one word was distinguishable: 'Wendell.'
Suddenly, there was a loud thump outside the window, followed by a painful moan. The children ran to the window and Sabrina stuck her head out. Below her was Wendell. The boy had jumped out the window, tumbled end over end, and was climbing to his feet.
'Hey!' she shouted. The boy looked up and his face went pale. He darted off toward the woods as fast as his chubby little legs could carry him.
Puck's enormous wings burst out of his back. 'I'll get the little piggy.'
Sabrina grabbed his arm before he could fly away. 'Someone might see you,' she cried, dragging the boy back from the window. Instead, she crawled out herself, dropping five feet before landing safely on the ground. Daphne followed and her sister caught her. Puck refused Sabrina's assistance and jumped on his own, his wings no longer visible.
'He's headed for the forest,' Sabrina shouted and the three children sprinted across the field. Wendell was not a fast runner, but he had a big head start. He had already disappeared into the forest by the time the children reached the tree line.
'We lost him,' Sabrina groaned.
'No, he left a trail,' Puck said, pointing at deep, muddy footprints. The group raced on, following the trail.
'He's confused,' the boy said as they followed the footprints up a hill. 'He goes in one direction and then turns back and runs the other way. It's slowing him down. We'll find him soon.'
Puck was right. It wasn't long before they found the chubby boy, cornered against a steep rocky wall. When Wendell saw them, he whimpered like a dog and looked frantically for an escape.
'It's not what you think,' he said, wiping his nose with his handkerchief.
'Then why are you running?' Sabrina asked.
'I was trying to help,' he cried. 'I'm trying to stop them.'
'Who's them?' Daphne asked.
Suddenly, the frightened boy pulled out a small harmonica and raised it to his lips.
'Don't make me use this!' he shouted.
'C'mon, tubby,' Puck said. 'We know you're the killer. We'll take you back and call the cops. It'll all be over in no time. Don't worry, I hear the electric chair only hurts for a second.'
Wendell blew a long, sour note into his harmonica and the whole forest erupted with chatter and scurrying. The noise grew louder and louder and Sabrina thought that at any moment some horrible monster or giant was going to charge out of the brush. But the noise stopped suddenly, and a furry little bunny
