ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
ALSO BY MICHAEL BUCKLEY:
In the Sisters Grimm series:
BOOK ONE: THE FAIRY-TALE DETECTIVES
BOOK TWO: THE UNUSUAL SUSPECTS
BOOK THREE: THE PROBLEM CHILD
BOOK FOUR: ONCE UPON A CRIME
BOOK FIVE: MAGIC AND OTHER MISDEMEANORS
BOOK SIX: TALES FROM THE HOOD
BOOK SEVEN: THE EVERAFTER WAR
BOOK EIGHT: THE INSIDE STORY
In the NERDS series:
BOOK ONE: NATIONAL ESPIONAGE, RESCUE, AND DEFENSE SOCIETY
BOOK TWO: M IS FOR MAMA'S BOY
For my mother, Wilma Cuvelier
It seems as though the more of these books I write the more people I have to thank. I hope you all know how invaluable you have been.
First and foremost, thanks to my editor, Susan Van Metre, for her inexhaustible patience and insight. I also want to thank everyone at Abrams Books, most notably Jason Wells, for their support, hard work, and cheerleading. My wife, Alison, deserves special praise, not only for her efforts as my literary agent, but also for being the greatest thing that has ever happened to me. As always, a special thanks to Joe Deasy for his praise, criticism, and hilariously inappropriate humor. I also send out special thanks to Molly Choi, Maureen Falvey, David Snidero, and Susan Holtz-Minihane for friendship that goes above and beyond the call of duty. And to the members of Team Buckley at Wall Intermediate: Lauren, Jillian, Amanda, Meghan, Tim, Dana, Kim, Katherine, Jack, and Veronica.
Lastly, thanks to Daisy, who passed away during the writing of this book. Daisy was a West Highland White Terrier my wife found in the Czech Republic eleven years ago. Daisy was probably my single biggest inspiration. I'll miss her playfulness and sweet nature. I hope the squirrels are fast in heaven because here she comes.
THE SISTERS GRIMM
"GET OFF THE STREETS!" SABRINA CRIED. "There's a monster coming!."
"Do you people want to get squashed?" Daphne shouted, but the pedestrians were used to ignoring screaming lunatics. Daphne turned to Granny Relda with a panicked face. "They wont listen!"
Granny Relda took the girls by the hand. "They will. Run, children."
The girls shared a nervous glance as they raced down the sidewalk, pushing through the crowd and calling out warnings to anyone who would listen. As far as Sabrina knew, her grandmother had never run from anything. She was the bravest woman Sabrina and her sister had ever met. Soon, the family came to an intersection and stopped in their tracks. They weren't on the quiet streets of Ferryport Landing anymore; this was the big city. If they tried to cross against the light, a truck or a speeding taxi would flatten them. While they waited anxiously, Sabrina took a quick look back, in time to see the entire front of the building they had just been standing in collapse. A huge leg stepped through the rubble. The people around them paused, then let out a collective scream.
"They're paying attention now," Sabrina muttered.
With a dreadful pounding, the gigantic creature freed itself of the store. Its lantern eye scanned the streets far below and fixed on Sabrina.
"I'll get you, my pretty," the monster cried, then lifted one of its enormous, pointed shoes and kicked a taxicab out of the way, sending it slamming into a light pole and then skidding into the intersection, where it crashed into a newspaper delivery truck.
A wave of terror rolled through the crowded street; pedestrians turned as one mass and rushed toward Sabrina and her family. Many people were looking back as they ran; a young woman knocked Daphne to the ground in her panic. If the monster didn't kill the Grimms, Sabrina realized, they would be trampled to death by the mob.