Suddenly, the car came to a screeching halt.
'Seven, why have we stopped?' Charming demanded.
'The road is blocked, sir,' the little man said, pointing out the window to where dozens of children were walking in the middle of the street. They were all wearing pajamas and had glassy looks in their eyes. 'There are too many of them to maneuver around.'
'The piper is controlling them,' Sabrina said as they passed some of the kids.
Mr. Seven honked the horn, but it had no effect on the children.
'We'll have to walk from here,' Sabrina said. They got out of the car, leaving Mr. Seven to guard it. Puck's wings sprang from his back and he lifted off the ground.
'What I wouldn't do for a carton of eggs,' he said. 'I'm going to go get some and play dive-bomber on these zombies.'
Before he could fly away, Snow White grabbed his leg and yanked him back down to the ground. 'We should stay together,' she said. The boy looked extremely disappointed, but his wings disappeared nonetheless.
The group weaved in and out of the crowd until they were standing on the front lawn of the elementary school. As they approached the main entrance, Sabrina noticed that the front doors the giant mouse had plowed through were still lying on the ground. A steady stream of vacant-faced children were shuffling through the doorway, ushered in by a hulking girl with a pink ribbon in her hair. When Sabrina studied her closely, she realized that it was Natalie.
'Natalie, you need to get as far away from here as you can,' she warned. 'And try to get some of these kids to follow you. This place is going to get dangerous.'
'Oh, it's going to get dangerous, all right,' the big girl replied as her skin began to bubble and inflate. Hair shot from every pore and two long fangs sprang upward from her bottom jaw. Her eyes turned a milky yellow and a long hound-dog tongue crept out of her mouth and licked her lips. Claws sprouted from her fingertips as she lashed out at the group, knocking Puck, Charming, Daphne, and Sabrina to the ground with one great swipe. Snow White just managed to step aside, avoiding Natalies attack.
'E-gad, I didn't think you could get any uglier,' Puck said as he crawled back onto his feet.
'Snow, get behind me!' Charming shouted, as he leaped to his feet. 'I'll handle this brute.'
'Billy,' the teacher cried. 'This is the twenty-first century. Women don't need the white knight routine anymore. I can fight my own battles.'
She planted her feet and raised her hands. When Natalie charged at her, the teacher sent a hard jab and a right hook into the beastie's face. The monster screamed angrily and lunged again, but this time, Snow White's foot came up and landed a hard blow to the monster's chest. Natalie tumbled to the ground, but sprang back to her feet, clawing and scratching at the pretty teacher. Ms. White blocked each blow with super-fast hands, until one of Natalie's punches actually connected and sent the teacher painfully to the ground. Instinctively, Charming and Puck stepped forward, ready to take over the fight, but Snow White flashed them an angry look.
'Gentlemen, please!' she said sternly. Charming and Puck threw up their hands in surrender and stepped aside. She sprang to her feet, planted them again, and then eyed the monster with a smile.
'Come and get it, ugly,' she said. 'School is in session.'
Natalie roared and leaped at her. Snow White stopped the attack by jumping into the air, spinning around, and roundhousing the monster in the face. One of Natalie's fangs broke off in the middle and the monster fell to the ground, groaning in pain. The teacher stood over her with angry eyes and eager fists.
'If you were smart, you'd stay down,' she said.
Sabrina and Daphne looked at each other in amazement.
'Snow, where did you learn to do all that?' Charming asked, obviously stunned by what he had just seen.
'I teach a self-defense class at the community center,' Snow White replied. 'We're called the Bad Apples. We meet every Saturday at four p.m.'
'Sign me up,' Daphne said.
'Piper!' Natalie shouted angrily as she crawled to her feet.
The principal stepped from out of the shadows. He was carrying a set of bagpipes and looked distraught.
'Do it!' the hairy girl raged.
'This has gone too far,' Hamelin cried. 'Let them save their grandmother and her friends. The barrier will still be broken and they won't pose a threat to you or your father again.'
'Piper, I'll tell my daddy,' Natalie threatened. 'He's got your precious Wendell.'
The principal raised his bagpipe's reed to his mouth and took a deep breath. 'I'm sorry,' he said to the group, and then he blew a long, sorrowful note into the air.
Everything went black.
10
Chapter 10
Sabrina! Wake up!' a voice shouted from far away. She tried very hard to pay attention to it but she was exhausted and dizzy. 'Sabrina, you have to wake up now!'
She slowly opened her eyes. Mr. Hamelin was standing over her with a wild, desperate look on his face.
'What are you doing in my bedroom?' she grumbled.
'Sabrina, we're under the school!' Hamelin said, sounding frantic. 'I know it's hard, but try to concentrate.'
Sabrina looked around and saw she was standing in a huge tunnel, where children were rushing back and forth with wheelbarrows full of dirt and rubble. She looked down at herself and saw she was covered in soot and holding a shovel.
'Do you understand what has happened to you?' Hamelin asked.
'No,' the girl replied. Her head felt heavy.
'I entranced you and your friends,' the principal explained. 'I had to. They have Wendell and they'll kill him if I don't do what they want.'
'Where's my sister?' Sabrina demanded.
'They've got everyone-your sister, your grandmother, Canis, Charming, the sheriff, Snow, Puck, and my son-at the end of the tunnel. I managed to send you off into the mine to dig, and so far they haven't noticed.'
'How long have I been down here?'
'Six hours.'
'Six hours! They could all be dead.'
'This is the soonest I could get to you,' Hamelin said. 'They've been watching me, but now that they've tunneled so close to the barrier, they don't seem to care that I ran off.'
'Oh, I wouldn't say we don't care,' a voice from behind them said.
Sabrina heard the sound of ripping flesh and Hamelin fell to the ground. The frog-girl was behind him, holding a bloody knife.
'You're coming with me,' she hissed, grabbing Sabrina roughly by the arm.
Sabrina swung her shovel and hit the monster in the head so hard the frog-girl fell to the ground and moaned. Sabrina rushed to help Hamelin.
'Wendell,' Hamelin said, as blood pooled beneath him. 'You have to find him and get him out of here.'
'I'll come back for you,' Sabrina said, and rushed into the nearest tunnel with her only weapon-the shovel-slung over her shoulder.
She scampered forward, stumbled over jagged rocks, and accidentally kicked over some abandoned tools. Dust lifted into the air and filled her lungs, choking her and making it that much harder to concentrate on where she was going. Each step was a challenge to her balance and, unfortunately, her path was a complicated, twisting, turning maze. Every few yards, she would spot a child she recognized from school. Each was glassy-eyed, staggering through the tunnels, hauling buckets of broken stones. None of them seemed to notice Sabrina pass them, even when she stopped and begged for directions. They were still under the piper's spell.
At last she spotted a faint light in the distance. As she came closer to it, the tunnel widened dramatically, revealing an enormous room carved out of the Ferryport Landing bedrock. She paused at the mouth of the room, doing her best to calm her breathing and listen for any movement. Hearing nothing, she lifted the heavy shovel off her shoulder and entered, swinging the weapon in the air in case anyone was about to ambush her. But she was alone. Only a few old buckets and a couple of tools littered the floor. There were no exits other than the way she had come. The tunnel was a dead end.
She raced back the other way, passing more of the zombie-faced, filth-covered kids.
She darted down the tunnel, fighting the crowds of children. At one point, Natalie and the frog-girl came lumbering down the tunnel after her, but Sabrina stepped into the line of children, and being as filthy as they were, went unseen by the monsters. The tunnels went on and on. Some led to massive rooms, while others narrowed so that there was hardly room for two children to stand side by side, but eventually Sabrina found what appeared to be the end of the dig.
The room was high and wide and filled with boxes of dynamite and mining tools. A few flaming torches illuminated the room, but there were still deep shadows along the walls that Sabrina could not see into. Anyone could be hiding in one. She knew she was vulnerable.
