Sabrina

Sabrina is the main protagonist of the Sapphire Princess books and is the ruler of the Blue Lake. She is the sister of Demetra, Roxanne, and Emily and the daughter of King Regal and Queen Jemma. In the 2020 reprint, the other princesses are her cousins and the king and queen are her uncle and aunt.

The Ruby Princess Runs Away
In the days before her coronation, Sabrina is excited to be crowned the Sapphire Princess and meet her subjects, eager to make new friends. She is crowned by the great wizard Gallivant along with Demetra and Emily, but just as he is about to place the Ruby Crown on Roxanne's head the doors burst open to reveal another Roxanne. This other Roxanne with a torn dress and tangled hair declares that she is the rightful princess and that the other girl is Rudgrin, the daughter of the evil Lord Bleak who has been sent to impersonate the ruby princess. She claims that Rudgrin is wearing a magical shape-changing mask that allows her to look like Roxanne, but the girl accused of being Rudgrin orders the guards to arrest the other girl for being the real imposter. Sabrina can only stare along with everyone else in the room, unable to be sure who is telling the truth. After some confusion, Gallivant announces that there is a way to determine the true Roxanne: each princess is born with a mark in the shape of her jewel. Whichever girl bears the mark must be the true princess. The messy Roxanne with thorns in her hair and dirt on her face smiles confidently and raises her right arm so everyone can see the teardrop mark on her wrist. Sabrina and her sisters raise their wrists too, showing their own marks. Twitter, the palace secretary, pulls off Rudgrin's mask and reveals her twisted, ugly face to the whole court. The guards instantly take her out of the throne room as Sabrina blows her sister a kiss. The jewel princesses happily watch as Roxanne is crowned the rightful Ruby Princess at last.

The Sapphire Princess Meets a Monster
One morning, a beautiful golden picnic basket filled with good food is given anonymously to Princess Sabrina as a gift. She decides to share her gift with her sisters and invites all three of them to a picnic at Bluebonnet Falls. Roxanne, as usual, is late, but Emily and Demetra enjoy paddling across the lake as they wait for her. Sabrina offers to race her two sisters, but the palace advisor Zazz warns her that she'll probably lose since her boat is weighed down by her friend and pilot Gurt, the golden basket, and all the picnic things. Zazz offers to get another boat, but Emily tells Sabrina to simply hop onto hers so they can race Demetra together. When Sabrina tries to leave her boat, however, the picnic basket magically jumps into her hands. Demetra is uneasy by this display of magic and advises her sister to leave the basket alone since no one knows who sent it, but Sabrina simply shrugs the concerns off and offers to share a piece of chocolate with Zazz. But before they can take a bite, something knocks hard against the boat. Thinking that some water sprites may be playing a trick on her, Sabrina peers into the water and two huge yellow eyes look right back. Startled, Sabrina screams and faints.

Emily dumps some cold lake water on her sister's face, waking her up. Sabrina shakily describes the face she saw as huge, gray, and lumpy with many sharp teeth. Gurt dives in the water in the hopes of finding out what the creature may be, reporting when he returns that he followed a great shadow until it went into the part of the lake known as the Deep Dark. Zazz speculates that the creature may be the legendary Blue Lake Monster, a being that is thought to be a demon left over from the Dark Times when Lord Bleak ruled the land. Sabrina's sisters are convinced that anything connected with Lord Bleak must be malevolent, but Sabrina is not so sure, even when Zazz points out that something so hideous with so many teeth has to be evil. Sabrina gently replies that she only saw a face, which does not rule out a harmless water sprite trick. She calms everyone down and encourages them all to eat their lunch, but no sooner does her hand touch the picnic basket than the monster's enormous gray head suddenly erupt above the water.

Sabrina reaches into the small pouch at her waist and quickly tosses the magical dust the great wizard Gallivant gave her over herself and her companions, who instantly rise into the air. From their vantage point in the sky, they can see the monster's enormous shadow stretch almost halfway across the lake. Sabrina commands her sisters and Gurt to soar to the safety of the palace as she and Zazz fly to Misty Marsh where the wise Storkz live. They seek out Sage, the leader of the Storkz, to ask him about the Lake Creature. Zazz insists that it's a monster, but Sabrina reminds her that they have no proof of that claim. Sage agrees with the princess and mentions that the creature has lived in the Blue Lake since the beginning, but it has very rarely shown itself to humans. Sabrina tells him that it attacked her boat and leaped out of the water at her, behavior apparently so unusual Sage goes to speak privately with the other Storkz. He tells Sabrina that he and the Storkz will attempt to speak with the Lake Creature and that in the meantime, she should wait inside her palace. The princess wishes to keep the creature a secret until she's sure of its intentions, but as she and Zazz draw close to the palace Sabrina is sickened to see a crowd of people lead by Gurt clamoring to hunt down and kill the monster.

In the palace with her sisters, Sabrina thinks it is very sweet that her people want to protect her, but she doesn't want anyone to get hurt, not even the monster. The girls speculate that perhaps the creature has shown itself to Sabrina after so many years of isolation in order to tell her something. Suddenly, they look out the window and spot the monster swimming swiftly towards the oblivious crowd below. Sabrina can't let it attack her people, so she decides to use her magic dust to fly over the creature and distract it. She tells her sisters that she'll lead it across the lake to the Spinning Pool, thinking it may get caught in the current and disappear forever. She asks her sisters to protect the people of the Blue Lake by keeping them on land before flying out the window into the air. At first, her plan seems to be working as the creature follows her wherever she goes, but suddenly she's blinded by a golden twinkle and is tugged right out of the sky and into the boat she kept the picnic things in, including the golden basket. It jumps into her hands and catches her so off-guard, she forgets all about the creature of the Blue Lake and can think only of the delicious-looking food inside of the basket. Just as she plucks out a perfect pear and is about to take a bite, the monster explodes out of the water and lunges at her. The princess is certain it will eat her, but instead, it eats the pear.

Sarina can only watch in shock as the creature's gray skin turns a sickly shade of yellow. Groaning in discomfort, the monster faints and collapses onto shore. Sabrina cautiously, sympathetically strokes the helpless creature's enormous nose and tries to comfort it when shouts of panic interrupt her. Emily, Demetra, and Gurt lead the people of the Blue Lake to rescue Sabrina from the monster, but are thrown into complete confusion when she throws her arms protectively over its head and commands them to stay back. Although they had all thought the monster was trying to hurt her, Sabrina now suspects that the creature was only trying to help her. The others notice that dead flies and ants surround the golden picnic basket and conclude that the food must be poisoned. Sabrina remembers that every time the monster had scared her, it was always when she was about to eat some of the basket's food and realizes that the monster was protecting her. She is devastated that the monster is dying of the poisoned pear and wishes to help it somehow when Sage appears and informs the princess of a tiny purple flower that grows directly behind the rushing water of Bluebonnet Falls that could cure the monster.

Sabrina fetches the flower herself and gently persuades the creature to eat it, anxiously watching as its skin slowly returns to its normal dark gray color, soothing and encouraging it all the while. When the creature opens its eyes at last, it begins to cry and begs the princess not to look at its ugliness. The monster explains that once, she was a beautiful mermaid called Oona, the spirit of the Blue Lake. But that was before Lord Bleak ruled the land and cursed her into her monstrous form. Her friends all ran from her frightening visage and eventually, Oona stopped trying to talk with them and resigned herself to a life of isolation. Sabrina begins to say that she wouldn't run from Oona, but realizes that she, and everyone, absolutely did run from Oona simply because she looked ugly and evil. The princess and her people kneel to Oona and sincerely apologize for their terrible behavior. Oona accepts their apology, overjoyed to finally be able to talk to someone without them running away in terror. Sabrina would like to hold a feast in honor of their new friend, but with her picnic basket full of poisoned food she has nothing for them all to eat. Fortunately, Roxanne finally flies in on Hapgood with her own baskets of food, enough for everyone. Her sisters try to explain the adventure they just had. When they mention that their picnic basket was poisoned, Roxanne tells them that as she and Hapgood flew over the Mysterious Forest, they saw several very upset Darklings running into the trees, presumably angry that their plan to poison Sabrina failed. Sabrina credits Oona with saving her life, but when they try to introduce Roxanne to her they discover that their new friend has vanished.

While everyone prepares the picnic feast she has been planning since the basket's arrival, Sabrina searches for Oona. She finally finds her near the Willow-that-Weeps clutching the poisoned picnic basket in her mouth. She explains to Sabrina that instead of joining the feast, she is taking the deadly basket to the very bottom of the Deep Dark and will hide it where no creature will ever find it, ensuring the safety of the Blue Lake people. Sabrina gives her a hug and thanks her for protecting the Blue Lake for so long, promising to be Oona's friend always.

The Diamond Princess Saves the Day
During her visit to the White Winterland to attend the Winterfest festival, Sabrina ice skates with her eldest sister Demetra when the diamond princess confesses that she and her royal advisor Finley do nothing but bicker constantly. The planning of Winterfest is only making things worse and Demetra can't take it anymore. Sabrina is dismayed to hear that the two aren't getting along, but delicately mentions that her eldest sister tends to be a little bossy, and that probably isn't helping her become friends with Finley. Demetra grudgingly admits that she may be bossy, but so is know-it-all Finley. Sabrina patiently reminds her sister that he probably does know it all, since he has grown up in the White Winterland and Demetra has only recently become its ruler. Demetra retorts that that's no reason he should call her names like he did when the were planning Winterfest. Suddenly, none other than Finley interrupts their conversation, reporting that Sparkle Mountain has an odd green cloud circling the tallest peak and that in order to investigate it, he has arranged for sleigh to take both him and Demetra there. While they check the mountain out, Sabrina agrees to oversee the Winterfest preparations until her sister returns. Noticing that Demetra isn't too thrilled about going with Finley, Sabrina persuades her to take him by pointing out that she may very well get lost without his guidance and besides, they need to learn how to get along with each other. Reluctantly, Demetra takes off with Finley at her side.

Later that day, Elsinor and his mining team rush to the Diamond Palace and report that Demetra and Finley have been captured by an enormous bear in the heart of Sparkle Mountain. Sabrina gathers everyone together, including her sisters Roxanne and Emily, and marches them towards the mountain with intentions of rescuing them. Luckily, an unharmed Demetra and Finley come out of the mountain cave along with the bear as the crowd draws near. The bear joyfully reunites with his old friend Charger as Demetra happily embraces her sisters. Sabrina surreptitiously asks if Demetra and Finley are still fighting, but they both assure her that although they can get on each other's nerves, they have nevertheless become the best of friends.

Abilities
Flight- The magical dust Sabrina was given by the great wizard Gallivant grants her the power to fly. When she tosses the dust over herself and anyone else, they instantly rise into the air. She keeps the dust in a small blue-and-gold pouch she wears at her waist.

Skilled swimmer- As Sabrina rules over the vast Blue Lake, she can swim quite well. In the original 1997 print of The Sapphire Princess Meets a Monster, she manages to swim underneath a waterfall while wearing a dress, suffering no ill effects aside from getting wet. This was changed in the 2020 reprint, presumably to keep children from endangering themselves copying it, but there is no other indication that this version of Sabrina is any less of a good swimmer.

Quotes

 * "Careful what you say. We're not sure [the monster's] terrible."

Trivia

 * Sabrina's dress is made of blue chiffon.
 * In the short film adaptation of The Ruby Princess Runs Away, she is played by Sara Paxton.