Scarlet Handed One: The Vanishing Grandmother

1

TWO YEARS EARLIER...

Sabrina Grimm's fingers twirled around a rose's stem before her pointer was pricked by its thorns. She examined the small injury. She wasn't hurt by it, but she wondered to herself how such a beautiful thing could possess the ability to harm her. The coppery taste of blood filled her mouth as she sucked on her finger to stop the bleeding.

The blazing yellow sun washed over her face, bringing warmth to her cold mood. She smiled softly and laid back on the grass, letting each blade surround her.

"Sabrina?" A voice called in the distance.

"I'm over here." She replied in a monotone voice, not caring to yell. The girl sat up, supporting her body by her elbows and saw her younger sister, Daphne, walking up to the field. Once Sabrina saw her, the blond laid back down and shut her eyes.

Daphne's long, dark brown hair was styled in two braids that cascaded down her lower back with flowers sprinkled in between them.

"Mother wants you to come inside." The girl said, holding out her hand for her older sister to take.

Sabrina opened one eye, looked at Daphne's ,hand then closed it. She did not want her peace to be disrupted by an unnecessary birthday party. She sucked on her bleeding finger for a moment, then she said, "tell Mother and Father I don't want a party."

Daphne grabbed her sister's hand and pulled her up from the ground. Sabrina crossed her arms as the brunette dusted the grass and leaves off of her sister.

"You'll have to take that up with them. Besides, you are eighteen now."

"Exactly," Sabrina cut in. "I am eighteen now, which means that I should be allowed to decide whether or not I have a party." Sabrina ran her fingers through her unkempt blond hair, stopping when she reached a knot.

"Well," Daphne stood up from where she was brushing her sister off, "maybe they would appreciate it if their eldest allowed them to throw her one last party."

Sabrina sighed. "Maybe," she took her sister's hand and they made their way out of the grasslands. It was abnormally sunny that day, especially since it was February. There should be snow, and if not that, rain. They did live in New York, after all.

Daphne skipped down the steep hill, her braids dancing with her. Sabrina did not mind, though. She stayed at her even pace down the hill, until the sisters made it to the house.

It was a yellow two-story with bright blue shutters and a wrap-around porch. Technically, the house belonged to the girls' grandmother, Relda, but the rest of the family decided to move in after the war. Sabrina walked up onto the porch, meeting Daphne who had arrived two minutes earlier.

"You could have picked up your pace." She complained subtly.

"I could have not come at all."

Daphne ignored her older sister and pulled a giant keyring out of her dress pocket. Each of the Grimms owned their own set by the time they turned thirteen. There were too many keys on the ring to count, it felt, and at times the family themselves' did not know how many locks the keys belonged to. Daphne unlocked the dozen locks on the door and knocked three times before announcing to the house, "we're back!" Upon the enchantment Relda had placed on the house, you had to announce when you were entering and leaving in order to fully lock and unlock the door. Daphne never got tired of the act, though Sabrina found it to be a bit much to do something as simple as opening a door.

The chocolatey aroma of cake filled Sabrina and Daphne's noses when they entered the house. The tight living room was filled with some of their closest Everafter friends just for Sabrina. Everyone smiled when they saw the birthday girl. And though she had ratty hair with twigs in it and dirt on her dress, she was wrapped in warm hugs. Afterward, Sabrina was greeted by her parents, Henry and Veronica.