Free The Fairy-Tale Detectives (The Sisters Grimm, Book 1) by Michael Buckley Page B

with little people like yourself."
    "What about Santa Claus?"
    "I've never met him, but I have it on good faith that he is alive and well."
    "I've got a question for you," Sabrina said. "These stories were written hundreds of years ago. How could all these people still be alive?"
    "Easy child, it's magic," Mrs. Grimm explained.
    "Duh!" Daphne said to her sister, as if it were common knowledge.
    Sabrina shot her an angry look, but the little girl ignored it.
    "Granny Relda, have you ever seen a giant?" Daphne asked.
    "Of course, liebling, I've even been to the giant kingdom on a couple of occasions. The last time I was nearly squished by the Giant Queen's toe." Mrs. Grimm laughed. "As an apology, she gave me that piece of fabric."
    "Well, if there really are giants, how come we haven't seen any yet?" Daphne asked.
    "There weren't any around until yesterday," Mrs. Grimm said. "Long ago, the Everafters realized that giants were just too unpredictable. They caused as much destruction when they were happy as they did when they were mad, and once they planted themselves somewhere it was impossible to move them. Imagine trying to plant seeds on your farm with a sleepy giant lying across it! When humans started moving into Ferryport Landing, everyone realized that giants were just too big to disguise. Of course, the giants didn't agree and refused to go back to their kingdom. Your great uncle Edwin and your great aunt Matilda tricked them into climbing their beanstalks, and once they were all up there, the townsfolk chopped the beanstalks down."
    "What good would that do?" Daphne asked.
    "No beanstalk—no way into our world. Of course, there were a couple of people who didn't much care for the plan. In the old days, people would plant magic beans and climb up the beanstalks just to steal the giants' treasures. Lots of people were foolish enough to try, but only one ever survived the ordeal," Mrs. Grimm said.
    "Jack?" Daphne asked.
    "You are correct, liebling. Jack robbed many giants and killed quite a number of them, too. In his day he was very rich and famous, though I hear he's working at a Big and Tall clothing store downtown, now. I can't imagine he'd be too happy doing that."
    "Are you going to sit here and tell us that Jack was a real person?" Sabrina snapped.
    "Was and is, my love," Mrs. Grimm replied.
    "So, let's just say all this is true. If all the beanstalks were destroyed, how did a giant get down here?" Sabrina asked, confident that she had tripped up the old woman.
    "Ah, liebling, that is indeed the mystery we are trying to solve. Whoever did it had to have a magic bean, and I thought we had accounted for all of them. It would help if we knew why they wanted to let a giant loose."
    "I'll bet he was a big one, Granny Relda. Probably a thousand feet high!" Daphne exclaimed.
    "Oh, sweetheart, he's probably no bigger than two hundred feet tall," Mrs. Grimm said.
    Sabrina looked at her little sister in the moonlight and frowned. Daphne's eyes were as big as Frisbees. Sabrina was losing her little sister to the old lunatic. For a year and a half it had been just the two of them, and Sabrina had done everything she could to keep them together and safe. She had protected her sister from nasty Ms. Smirt, the horrible kids in the orphanage, and all those foster parents, and now she was unable to protect her from a crazy old woman.
    Just then, Elvis let out a low growl.
    "Someone's coming," Mrs. Grimm warned as headlights flashed behind them. "Everyone get down."
    They all huddled under the windows as a car passed by and headed toward the cabin. When it was far enough away, they lifted their heads.
    "I don't think he saw us," Daphne said.
    The old woman lifted the goggles to her eyes.
    "Well, Sabrina, we've got more evidence for your theory. That's Mayor Charming's car," Mrs. Grimm said. "I didn't expect to see him here."
    Mr. Canis rolled his window down and sniffed the cool mountain air. Then, as if he had smelled something