Lately, Everafter resentment of the Grimms was at an all-time high. Most of the bad feeling was fueled by the town’s new mayor, the Queen of Hearts. Mayor Heart and her notorious Sheriff Nottingham had made it all too clear that humans, especially the Grimm family, were not welcome in Ferryport Landing. They raised property taxes so high that they were impossible for most people to pay. Humans were forced to abandon their homes and leave town.
When Granny and the family managed to scrape together the money for the tax bill, Heart and Nottingham tried another approach to rid themselves of the Grimms. They arrested the family’s protector, Mr. Canis. Canis, who happened to be the Big Bad Wolf, was dragged off to jail as the sheriff, mayor, and dozens more Everafters—some the family had considered friends—revealed themselves to be members of a shadowy group known as the Scarlet Hand. The Hand wanted nothing short of world domination, and they were also responsible for much of the family’s grief. Led by the still mysterious “Master,” they committed dozens of bizarre crimes, including the kidnapping and spellbinding of Sabrina and Daphne’s parents. Staying one step ahead of the Hand was a full-time job, one Sabrina’s grandmother had undertaken with the help of Mr. Canis. And now they needed to find a way to get him back.
“There’s Main Street!” Daphne shouted above the wind.
Seconds later, the flying carpet gently touched down outside an office building on the edge of town. Once everyone had stepped onto the sidewalk, the rug neatly rolled itself up, and Daphne hoisted it onto her shoulder.
“Wait here,” the pig-snouted creature said. “I’ll scout the neighborhood. It’s best to stay out of sight. There could be snipers in the trees.”
“I’m sure there are no snipers—” Granny started, but the little monster raced off before she could finish.
Sabrina and her sister followed the old woman down Main Street. It was particularly lonely that day. Many of the little shops that lined the street were shuttered and closed. The sidewalks were empty and the roadway clear of cars. The town’s one and only traffic light had burned out. As far as Sabrina knew, Ferryport Landing had never been a bustling center of commerce, but there had been a time not so long ago when its little stores were filled with customers. Now most were abandoned. Signs hung in windows declaring EMERGENCY LIQUIDATIONS and AFTER 150 YEARS IN BUSINESS WE’RE CLOSING OUR DOORS. Those that weren’t shut had a much more ominous sign in their windows: a bloodred handprint, the mark of the Scarlet Hand. One now hung on the door of Old King Cole’s Restaurant.
“Looks like they got to him, too,” Sabrina said, pointing out the sign.
“We’re running out of places to eat in this town,” Daphne grumbled. Normally, Daphne’s single-minded obsession with eating would have made Sabrina smile, but the little girl was making a troubling point. The town was closing its doors to humans and any Everafters who didn’t join the Scarlet Hand.
Eventually the family stopped outside of a small office building with huge picture windows and a manicured lawn.
“What are we doing here?” Sabrina asked. “I thought we were going to the jail.”
“I don’t think visiting the jail is a good use of our time,” Granny said. “Nottingham has been most uncooperative. We haven’t seen Mr. Canis in a month, and it doesn’t look like things are going to change. I’ve decided to hire someone who can help us.”
“We’re going to meet an Everafter, aren’t we?” Sabrina said, looking at her sister. She knew that Daphne usually couldn’t resist meeting fairy-tale characters. She was known to squeal with delight and bite her hand when in the presence of one. “I guess it won’t be such a big deal now that you’re a grown-up.”
“No big deal at all,” Daphne said, quite seriously.
When their security guard returned and informed them that they were safe from snipers, the group went inside and climbed the stairs to the third floor of the building. There they found a single door with a sign next to it that read THE SHERWOOD GROUP: ATTORNEYS AT LAW. Sabrina scanned her memory for the name Sherwood, but nothing came to mind.
Granny opened the door to the office and ushered the girls inside. There they found themselves in the middle of a chaotic battle. Sabrina saw a number of men wearing business suits, but they were acting far from professional. They were swordfighting, arm-wrestling, drinking beer from tall ceramic cups, and singing a rambling English tune as loudly as possible. The lyrics seemed to be about fighting or stealing or combinations of both, and once one song was finished the men immediately broke into another.
“Hello?” Granny Relda called out, but the men didn’t seem to notice her. They kept up with their violent games, laughing at the top of their lungs. They seemed to be having a lot of fun, despite the fact that two of the men were standing on top of a desk, swords in hand, slashing at one another. Each was an expert swordsman, and not a single blow found its mark. What was strangest about the two men was that each was laughing and complimenting the other on their deadly assaults.
“I should get you out of here,” the family’s bodyguard squeaked. “These men are barbarians.”
“We’ll be fine,” Granny assured the creature. “I’m told that this is how they behave all the time. We’re perfectly safe.”
Just then, a potted fern flew past them and smashed against a wall. There was a loud cheer that suddenly died when the men noticed how close they had come to harming the family.
“Gentlemen! We have clients,” a huge man with a dark, untamed beard shouted. He must have been more than six-anda-half-feet tall with a chest as wide as a car bumper and hands as big as basketballs. His eyes were deep-set and fierce, giving him a wild expression that was offset by his wide, beaming smile. “Welcome to the Sherwood Group!”
“Welcome!” the men shouted in unison as they held up their pints of beer.
“I have an appointment with Robin Hood,” Granny said.
“Robin Hood!” the girls cried. Sabrina glanced at her sister, waiting for the little girl to squeal with happiness, but Daphne caught her looking.
“No big deal, huh?” Sabrina asked.
Daphne shook her head, though it was obvious she was struggling to hold in her excitement.
One of the sword-fighting men leaped from the desk, thrust his sword in a sheath, and rushed to take Granny’s hand. He was a tall, handsome man wearing a dark green pin-striped suit and sporting a red goatee and moustache. His wavy hair hung to his shoulders, framing a broad smile and bushy eyebrows that gave him a mischievous appearance. He looked like the men Sabrina had seen on the covers of romance novels.
He kissed Granny on the hand. “Welcome. I’m Robin Hood, and these miserable louts are my merry men. We’re the Sherwood Group, and we’ve been suing the rich and giving to the poor since 1987.”
Robin Hood’s office was tastefully decorated with framed law degrees and shelves of thick legal books. The only things that seemed out of place were a bow strung with a heavy cord, hanging from a shelf above the door, and a quiver of arrows leaning in the corner.
“Mrs. Grimm, please come in,” the man said, helping the family into the leather chairs in front of a huge oak desk. The pig-snouted creature scouted the room, peeking into a potted plant and beneath a leather sofa, before it crossed its arms and stationed itself by the door.