Forest of Fireflies

Chapter 47

(Daniella's POV)

After school, Henry and I walked to the shops as mother had not finished work yet. When we entered Dark Star Pharmacy, I noticed that there were two kids inside the store as well. Whilst Henry was looking at his superhero magazines, I tried to catch a glimpse of the siblings. When I saw their faces, I grinned. They were Hansel and Gretel! However I quickly wiped the smile off my face since they started making their way towards us. Henry looked up from his comic as Hansel asked, "Whatcha reading?"

"The Hulk vs Wolverine. Are you into Marvel too?"

"Afraid not. I'm Ava. I think I've seen you around. You're in Miss Blanchard's class right?"

Henry nodded so Gretel, no wait, Ava, continued, "This is my brother Nicholas."

Hansel gave us a nod and muttered a greeting. Then, he turned to his sister and whispered, "Come on, let's go." 

To my surprise, Ava turned to us and asked, "You wanna come hang out?"

Henry answered before I could even say anything about how we were supposed to meet mother in fifteen minutes. "Yeah sure."

Then, the group started to walk out. Just as we got up to the exit, the man behind the counter shouted out loud, "Where the hell do you think you're going?"

I must have jumped after he said those words. I turned around to see him pointing towards Henry and say, "Open up your bag."

I gave Henry a weird look but he shrugged and breathed, "What?"

The man continued, "Don't think I didn't see you rob me. Open your bag."

Henry grew desperate and bargained, "But I didn't take anything!"

The man walked out from behind the counter and roughly took my brother's backpack. "Hey!" I shouted. The pharmacist took no notice of me and unzipped the bag. To my horror, he pulled out four chocolate bars. I glanced at Henry with a frown until I realised what had happened. I turned to Hansel and Gretel and stated plainly, "That's why you were talking to us...so that one of you could be the distraction whilst the other put that stuff in my brother's bag." Then, I faced the shopkeeper and explained, "Please, it wasn't us. My brother and I had nothing to do with it."

The man gave me a wary look before walking back around the counter. My heart fell as he picked up the phone and dialed a number. Seconds later, he was speaking with someone. It didn't seem to be the police...

We stood still until the shopkeeper ended the call. Then, he looked as us in the eye; Henry and I in particular and said, "The Mayor is coming to pick you; Henry and Daniella up. Meanwhile, the sheriff's going to deal with you two."

I glared at the man as my cheeks flushed hot. Oh, how I wish I had magic. If Hansel and Gretel knew who I was, they wouldn't mess with me.

After a minute of silent staring, Gretel whispered to Henry and I, "I'm sorry..."

Her brother nudged her but I pretended to take no notice of it. I continued to glare at them as I replied, "And your brother?"

Hansel looked up and quickly muttered, "Sorry..."

I smirked. I still needed to repay him for making the trip into the blind witch's house so much more difficult than it already was. The image of him losing control and biting into the piece of cake in the house played repeatedly in my mind. I raised an eyebrow and played him, "Excuse me? What was that?"

I watched Hansel's eyes look down as he muttered another apology. I huffed and replied, "That doesn't sound genuine to me-"

"What do you want?!" Gretel snipped.