Free The Everafter War by Michael Buckley

doing it but I’m going to protect this family. I can’t do that in this town; there’s too much Everafter craziness. I don’t want my family around it. And to be very, very clear, I mean I don’t want anyone in my family around Everafters. Not even the ones that live in New York City!”
    Veronica’s face fell. “You were eavesdropping?”
    “Imagine my surprise when I learned my own wife was working with Everafters in Manhattan behind my back!”
    “I had to! I knew you wouldn’t approve. I was trying to be helpful. Isn’t that what Grimms do?”
    “Don’t throw that silly catchphrase at me,” Henry said.
    “So now that the secret’s out, you must know there are at least two hundred Everafters running around New York City, so if you’re trying to get away from them—”
    “Not a problem. We’re moving,” Henry said.
    “Moving!” Sabrina gasped. Moving away from the Big Apple was not part of the dream reunion she had imagined when her parents woke up. They couldn’t move!
    “Yes, we’ll move to somewhere no Everafter would want to live!”
    “Like where?”
    “I don’t know. Canton, maybe.”
    “Canton, Ohio!” Veronica groaned. “ Human beings don’t want to live in Canton, Ohio!”
    “It doesn’t matter where we move as long as it’s boring,” Henry shouted. “We’ll find someplace where the mayor isn’t a prince and the local police aren’t magical transforming pigs!”
    “Actually, the Sheriff of Nottingham is running the police department now,” Sabrina corrected.
    “I didn’t say good-bye to Elvis,” Daphne whimpered.
    “So, you’re laying down the law, huh? Do I get a say in any of this?” Veronica asked. “Or am I supposed to play the dutiful wife? Perhaps you’d like me to put on an apron and make you a pot roast, too?”
    Henry scowled. “Veronica, that’s a bit dramatic.”
    “I didn’t say good-bye to Elvis,” Daphne repeated.
    Sabrina frowned. She hadn’t said good-bye to the big dog, either.
    Veronica continued the argument. “You’re not going to drag the girls and me through this world hiding from pixies and fairy godmothers. They’re out there, and most of them are not bad people.”
    “Pixies are not people,” Henry snapped. “Don’t try to tell me what I know about Everafters. I’ve lived side by side with them most of my life. My mother’s best friend is one. I used to be in love with one.”
    The girls cringed, then turned to their father. He cringed back. Henry had stepped in it, and Sabrina’s mother was boiling mad.
    “I’m painfully aware of your previous love life, Henry Grimm. After all, I just woke up this morning from a two-year sleep to find your old girlfriend sitting over you with her big moon eyes!”
    “Veronica! I can’t believe you’re jealous.”
    This time Henry put his head in his hands. Sabrina didn’t know much about adult relationships, but everyone knew that accusing someone of being jealous of an old girlfriend couldn’t be a good thing. Her mother looked like the top of her head might blow off like the cork on a champagne bottle.
    “JEALOUS?”
    Henry sputtered. “I didn’t exactly mean jealous—”
    “What do I have to be jealous about? I’m the best thing that ever happened to you, pal!”
    Henry nodded sheepishly.
    “You hit the lottery when you met me! I’m smart. I’m funny. I can throw a sixty-mile-an-hour fastball! And I’m a babe!”
    “I agree.” Henry’s face was bright red. “I am the luckiest man in the world.”
    The family walked on for several yards in silence. Sabrina wondered if her parents would ever speak to one another again, but then Veronica broke the ice.
    “Henry, I know why you want to leave. The loss of your father, the problems the girls have had for two years, our kidnapping. I get it! But we’re still a family—a team—and we’re supposed to make decisions as a team. Besides, there’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you all, and I … wait, where’s