Tales from the Hood (14 page)

“Thank you,” Red Riding Hood said as she gestured to an empty plate at the center of the table. “Would you care for a cookie? My grandmother made them.”

“Thank you,” the old woman replied. She reached over and pretended to take one of the imaginary cookies. Robin and Little John did the same, while Red Riding Hood poured imaginary tea from a pot into everyone’s cups.

“Red, how are you feeling?” Granny asked.

“They took my basket,” the little girl said. “I need my basket. I have to take it to my grandmother’s house. She’s very ill.”

“I’m sure they will give it back to you, Red. We were wondering if we could ask you some questions,” Robin said, then pretended to take a sip of his tea.

“I have questions,” Red said. “So many questions. The people in the white coats won’t answer them, though. They say it’s all my imagination.”

“Well, how about if we play a little game? You can ask me a question and I will try to answer it, and then I’ll ask you a question and you can do the same,” Granny Relda said.

“Games! I love games!” Red cried. “Me first!”

“Very well, what is your question?” Granny replied, as Robin Hood took a tape recorder from his briefcase and turned it on.

“Where is my kitty?” Red asked.

Granny looked at the girls for help. It was clear she didn’t understand Red’s question, but Sabrina knew all too well what Red wanted to know. She was referring to the Jabberwocky she had used to terrorize the town. It was a nearly unstoppable killing machine with a thousand teeth, but to Red it was a cuddly kitten. The family had used an enchanted sword known as the Vorpal blade to kill it.

“She’s talking about the Jabberwocky,” Sabrina whispered.

Granny’s face flushed. “Red, your kitty is sleeping.”

“Sleeping?”

“Yes, he went to sleep and he didn’t wake up,” Granny said.

“Oh,” Red said, then grew quiet. “I love my kitty.”

“Perhaps you could get a new one,” Robin Hood said.

“A smaller one with less teeth,” Sabrina replied.

“And one that doesn’t breath fire,” Daphne added.

“Your turn!” Red said, rebounding from her sadness.

“What can you tell us about the Wolf?” Robin asked.

Red Riding Hood peered at him for a long time. It was obvious that she was confused, but Sabrina remembered what Red had once called Mr. Canis.

“He means the doggie,” Sabrina said. “You remember the doggie, right?”

“Oh, yes! The doggie,” Red said. “I loved the doggie but he could be bad.”

“Bad?”

“Very bad. He bit Grandma,” Red said.

“We know,” Granny Relda said. “We were wondering what you remember about the night he bit your grandma.”

The little girl sat quietly for a moment. Her eyes drifted off as if she were struggling to remember something dancing on the edges of her mind. “Cages,” she said softly, then looked around at the room. “So many cages.”

Uncle Jake turned to Granny Relda. “What cages?”

Granny shook her head. “I’ve read nearly every version of the event and I’ve never seen any mention of cages.”

“Red, can you tell us more about these cages?” Robin Hood asked.

“NO!” the child shrieked. There was so much anger and hate in her voice it startled even Little John. He nearly fell over his chair as he tried to back away.

“It was my turn to ask a question!” Red cried. “You have to play the game right.”

“Of course, my friend,” Granny said in a calming voice. “We didn’t mean to skip your turn. What is your next question?”

“Can I go home?”

Sabrina shuddered. Her fear seemed to be shared. The rest of the group seemed just as unnerved by the suggestion. Ferryport Landing was on the verge of chaos already. The last thing it needed was Red walking around free. Eventually, Granny mustered the courage to answer. “You’re very sick and you need to get better. Once that happens you can go home.”

“I don’t feel sick. I don’t have a runny nose.”

“That’s because you are sick inside your mind. It’s a different kind of illness. You can’t feel it at all.”

Red frowned. “OK.”

“Can we ask a question, now?” Granny asked.

Red Riding Hood nodded.

“Tell us about these cages,” Robin Hood said.

“The doggie was in one and then there was wind and then he wasn’t in the cage anymore. The doggie wasn’t in the doggie anymore. He was in the man. The man with the ax. He was an angry doggie. He made the other man scared. The other man cried. My turn! How is my baby brother?”

Granny searched the faces of the group for an answer but everyone was silent. She turned back to the child. “I didn’t know you had a baby brother, Red.”

“Oh yes,” Red cooed. “He’s got bright red hair, pink skin, and big green eyes. I just love him so much. Is someone taking care of him?”

Sabrina and Daphne looked at each other knowingly. They suspected that this baby brother of Red’s wasn’t really a relative, but a child she and the Jabberwocky had stolen. They had found a crib and baby toys in Red’s hiding place, once, but who the child was or where he might be now was still a mystery.

“Yes,” Granny lied. “He’s perfectly safe.”

“Good,” Red sighed. “Your turn.”

“You said that there was a man at your grandma’s house,” Robin Hood said. “Who was he?”

“Which one?”

Granny looked shocked. “I’m confused. Are you saying there were two men in your grandmother’s house?”

Red nodded. “One was the doggie. One was the man.”

“This is pointless,” Sabrina whispered to her grandmother. “Even if she does remember what happened, she is so confused—how can we trust anything she says?”

Granny nodded reluctantly. “I’m afraid I agree. Perhaps we should go.”

“Will you come and visit me again?” the little girl asked.

Sabrina cringed at the idea of making another visit to the murderous Everafter.

“We’ll try,” Granny said. “In the meantime you work on feeling better.”

“Tell the doggie I said hello,” Red said.

Once outside, Nurse Sprat set down her sandwich and went to work on the various locks and bolts that kept Red inside and safely away from others. Once Sabrina had calmed down, she noticed something in Robin and Little John’s faces.

“What?” she asked.

“Something isn’t adding up here,” Robin said. “She spoke of cages. It might not mean anything, but I wouldn’t be doing my job if I didn’t look into it. I think we need to go see our furry friend again. I’m guessing there’s a secret locked inside the cage in his head and we need to get it out.”

Uncle Jake dropped the lawyers, his mother, the girls, and Barto off at the jailhouse, saying he needed to get back to the mirror and keep track of Goldilocks. Elvis also needed to be fed and let out of the house. Little John assured Jake he would keep the family safe. Barto was offended by this and claimed he didn’t need the big man’s help.

“Nottingham is never going to let us see Mr. Canis again,” Daphne said.

Robin Hood smiled. “I think that’s something my strong friend can remedy.”

Little John grinned. “Finally! It’s about time we started having some fun.”

The big man walked over to a trash can, hefted it off the ground, and tossed it across the street and through the front window of a jewelry store. An alarm rang out that seemed to shake the air around Sabrina’s ears.

“I suggest we hide,” Robin said.

The family and their lawyers hurried around the corner of the jailhouse and ducked down behind some bushes. Seconds later, they watched Sheriff Nottingham rush out of the building and across the street. He glared at the broken window and then dashed inside the store.

“Let’s go,” Robin said.

The family raced inside the jailhouse and closed the door.

“John, I believe we might need the princess,” Robin said.

Little John nodded. “I believe you’re right. I’ll bring her back as soon as I can, but you know how she gets. If there’s a hair out of place she’ll refuse to come.”

“I’m sure you can persuade her,” Robin replied.

The big man grinned. “My pleasure.” Moments later, he was gone.

The group hurried back to the jail cells. Canis was slumped in the corner of his, breathing hard and attending to wounds he had suffered at the hands of the card soldiers. He looked tired, though Sabrina kept her distance. A tired Big Bad Wolf was still more dangerous than anything else known to man.

“Why have you come?” he said when he saw the family.

“We spoke to the child,” Granny Relda said.

“You are wasting your time,” Canis growled. “Can’t you see your efforts are for nothing. Even if I wanted my freedom, Heart and Nottingham would never allow it.”

“If we don’t prove your innocence, they are going to put you to death,” Robin said.

“So be it,” Canis sniffed. “You cannot prove the innocence of a guilty man.”

Everyone was quiet until Robin broke the silence. “Still, I believe we have a legitimate defense that needs to be explored. You and the Wolf are two separate beings sharing the same body. If that’s true then we have to prove that you aren’t in control when you are the Wolf. To do that we need to know exactly what happened that day.”

Canis shook his head.

“C’mon, Mr. Canis,” Daphne said. “You can at least answer some questions.”

“Fine,” Canis said. “What do you want to know?”

“What do you remember?” Robin asked.

Canis sat quietly for a long time, then sighed. “Nothing.”

Granny Relda’s face turned red and she angrily waved her finger at the old man. “Mr. Canis, you better start talking right now or I swear I’ll . . . I’ll . . . well, I don’t know, but you won’t like it!”

“Relda, I have no recollection of that day or any before it,” Canis said. “When I am the Wolf I only see tiny moments, like snapshots of events. I remember the blood. I hear someone screaming but nothing is clear. When I am Canis I only know that something terrible has occurred.”

“Red Riding Hood mentioned that she saw cages in her grandmother’s house when she arrived that day. She says you were in one of them,” Robin said.

Canis shook his head. “The child has an imagination. I wouldn’t take what she says too seriously. The things the Wolf did that day . . . it was too much for a little girl to see. The damage I’ve done to that poor child’s mind is inexcusable.”

Just then, there was a terrific racket in the hallway. Sabrina gasped, fearing that Nottingham had returned, but when the door flew open she saw Little John, who was carrying a woman in a blue dress over his shoulder. The woman was holding a miniature pug in her hands. The little dog barked and snapped frantically.

“Here she is, boss,” Little John said.

“John, you put me down this minute!” she cried. “I am royalty, you know. I have never been so offended in my life.”

Robin approached the duo and looked up into the woman’s face. “Hello, princess.”

“Robin, so help me, if your lummox doesn’t put me down this instant—”

“Of course,” Robin chuckled. “You can set her down, John.”

Little John eased the princess to her feet, and she complained bitterly about how he had wrinkled her expensive gown. When the woman was finished straightening her dress and looked up, Sabrina recognized her immediately. Her name was Beauty, though many people knew her because of her famous husband, the Beast. The duo were like night and day in appearance: She was a devastatingly attractive woman, he was a horrible nightmare with fur, yellow eyes, and tusks creeping out of his mouth. Sabrina had had a few run-ins with the couple already, and she knew the Beast was a member of the Scarlet Hand. Whether Beauty had joined as well, Sabrina didn’t know.

“What are they doing here?” Beauty asked, alarmed.

“These are my clients,” Robin said. “And they are in need of some of your special talents.”

The little pug sniffed the air and yipped. The poor creature was wearing a little black doggie tuxedo, with a pocket square that matched his owner’s dress and a tiny top hat. “Hush, Mr. Wuggles!” Beauty said, then turned her attention to the crowd. “Mr. Wuggles is not happy!” She proceeded to kiss the dog and speak to him in baby talk for several minutes.

“Boss, I don’t think we’ve got a lot of time,” Little John said. “Nottingham will be back when he gets bored.”

“Good point,” Robin said, and turned to Beauty. “Princess, we need you to hypnotize someone so we can ask some questions.”

Beauty craned her neck to see into the cell. Her eyes grew wide and she shook her head. “Robin Hood, you’ve lost your mind if you think—”

“You’re the only hope we have,” Robin said.

“But that’s the—”

“We know, but your husband was just as wild as the Wolf when you met him. You know the kind of effect you have on savages. If I thought we could get the information any other way, I would.”

Beauty stepped up to the cell and looked inside. Mr. Wuggles did the same and whined. “Oh, boy,” the princess sighed.

“What’s she going to do?” Sabrina asked.

Beauty turned to her. “I calm down animals, even put them into hypnotic states. I guess you could say I’m the monster whisperer.” Beauty turned back to the cage. “OK, pal. I’m going to come in there, but you have to promise not to eat me.”