Read Sisters Grimm 05 Magic and Other Misdemeanors for Free Online

back across the street. It disappeared into the woods, leaving a trail of black chimney smoke in its wake.
    Moments later, Puck streaked back into the yard and landed with his sword clenched tightly in his hand. "Where did she go?
    "She's gone," Sabrina said.
    "Coward! Of course she ran off," Puck crowed. "She attacked me when I wasn't ready and then ran back to her woods! Miserable sissy!"
    "Well, you can settle your dispute with her tomorrow. We're going for a visit," Granny said.
    Sabrina turned to her grandmother. "If you think I'm going to that lunatic's house, you're as crazy as she is."
    * * *
    "This is crazy!" Sabrina shouted as she squished through the mud with her grandmother, Daphne, and Puck. A fresh rain had soaked the woods, turning the forest floor into a swamp. Puck followed Sabrina with his sword in his hand. He muttered to himself about what he planned to do to Baba Yaga when he confronted her, while occasionally remembering to insult Sabrina.
    "I hear she eats people, Grimm," he said. "I bet she turns you all into jerky!"
    "I don't want to be jerky," Daphne cried.
    "No one is going to get turned into jerky," Granny said. "This is going to be nice and pleasant."
    "That's what people always say before they become jerky," Puck said. "Don't worry, folks. I've got a score to settle with the witch. She'll regret the day she laid a hand on the Trickster King."
    Puck's boasting made Sabrina nervous. Baba Yaga had a two-thousand-year-old reputation for black magic and an even blacker mood. The family journals were filled with rumors of her cannibalism and murders. The last time Sabrina visited her creepy house, Sabrina had had to hop for her life when Baba Yaga turned her into a frog and tried to eat her. The last thing they needed was for Puck to start a fight with the old crone.
    They walked until they came upon a part of the forest where the thin, dead trees were close together, their limbs intertwined, as if they were holding one another at the moment of their deaths. Though there was nothing to block the sunshine, the area was dark and gray. Not a blade of grass sprang from the ground. Sabrina realized that the natural sounds of the forest were also gone: the scurrying of animals, the wind in the branches, the crackling of earth beneath their feet--all silenced.
    They continued on and soon found themselves on a path of bleached stones. Sabrina had followed it once before and knew where it led--straight to the man-eating witch. She also knew that the stones of the path were not what they seemed. It wasn't long before Puck noticed they were peculiar as well.
    "These are human skulls!" he cried, digging one out of the ground and holding it up to the group.
    "Don't be frightened, Puck," Granny said.
    "Frightened? This is the coolest thing I've ever seen!" the boy said. He moved the skull's jaw up and down like a spooky puppet and then stuck it next to Daphne's face. "Hey, little girl, how about a smooch?"
    Daphne shrieked and hid behind her sister. Granny Relda scolded Puck and demanded he return the skull to the path.
    "What happened to your claims of revenge, Trickster King?" Sabrina asked the fairy. "All of a sudden Baba Yaga is like a movie star to you."
    "Just because I'm going to unleash hellfire on her doesn't mean I can't appreciate her style," Puck said.
    "Granny, what happened to her bodyguards?" Daphne asked as she peered ahead. The notoriously deadly Bright Sun, Black Night, and Red Star--each a bizarre hybrid of an animal and a man--usually guarded the old witch, but they were nowhere in sight.
    "Don't worry about them," Puck said. "They won't be showing their ugly faces around here. They know better than to cross paths with me." The boy's voice cracked at the end of the sentence. Puck looked around as if someone else had made the noise. He said the word "me" again with the same result.
    "Sounds like you might be coming down with a cold," Granny said.
    "Everafters do not get colds!" Puck