Fable

  “Okay, fine.” Mina could see that the gate was slowly closing, and she couldn’t waste any more time. She leaned down and put Nix’s arm over her shoulder, and half dragged, half carried him toward the portal. Once Charlie had seen that he had gotten his way, he happily jumped through the gate into their world.

  Mina couldn’t help it. She turned to look at the Fae world one last time. A battle had ensued between Jared/Teague and the guards. Being a Royal meant that they were both shifters, and now that the two were one, he was an even stronger and more ruthless fighter. She heard a scream and a sword flew past her face, and she knew then she needed to leave.

  She took a deep breath and dipped down to get better grip on Nix. She heard him whisper in awe as he looked at the gate, “Is this Heaven?”

  “No, but it’s as close as we get,” Mina answered before jumping through the gate.

  Chapter 28

  She awoke back in the biology lab. Something wet was pressed against her face, and she sat up abruptly to wipe it away. She had been drooling. Soft whispers and giggles erupted around her, and Mina sat back in the chair and stared at everyone in confusion.

  She was sitting at an empty lab table at the back of the room, and the rest of the class seemed to be in the middle of a lab experiment.

  A familiar face popped in front of her, and Melissa smiled sweetly before whispering loudly, “So are you thinking of retaking biology? I hear it can get pretty gross.” She had sneaked over to Mina’s empty table. Her friends were looking at Mina and waving. They were the source of the giggles. “I didn’t even know you were here. One minute this table is empty. The next, you’re here. Are you, like, related to Houdini?”

  “No, where am I?” Mina asked worriedly. She spun around in her chair and then hopped off to look underneath the lab table for Charlie.

  “Um, last period,” Melissa answered, and ducked under the lab table with Mina.

  Luckily, most of the class seemed preoccupied with working, and the teacher didn’t notice the sudden appearance of an extra upperclassman student in their class.

  “Well, what day is today?” Mina felt completely at a loss. What had happened? Where was Charlie? Where was Nix?

  Melissa frowned and then gently touched Mina’s head. “You don’t look so good. Maybe you should head out to see the nurse. I’d use the back door, since you don’t want to get detention. I’m pretty sure I can cause a distraction, and you can slip out.”

  “Can you?” Mina asked, relieved.

  “No problem.” Melissa popped up from under the lab table and walked right over to her jar with a very live frog in it, and dumped it out the open window. She winked at Mina and whispered, “I’ve been looking for a way to get out of this dissection.” She turned to her friends, who Mina recognized earlier from choir, and the other girls followed suit. Three more frogs made a flight to freedom.

  “Mr. Pierson! Our frogs have escaped,” Melissa said with a very worried expression. “I don’t know what happened—we turned our backs, and then they were gone.”

  “Now, girls, frogs just don’t walk off on their own.” Mr. Pierson frowned at them and pulled out a key from his pocket, then walked over to the large glass cabinet and unlocked it, looking for another specimen for the girls.

  “You’re right. Frogs don’t walk off, they hop off,” Melissa answered innocently.

  The whole class erupted into fits of laughter, and Mina used the distraction to slip out the back lab door into the empty hall.

  She clutched her head in wonder and tried to make sense of what had happened. Where’s Charlie? Where’s my brother? She began to walk the school halls on tiptoes, calling out her brother’s name. Maybe he appeared in a different classroom, and now he’s scared and hiding.

  Room by room she went, storage closet by storage closet. She searched the gym, the locker room, the library, and finally she gave up and sat down in defeat by her locker. She was a terrible Grimm; she had lost her brother again, lost her good friend Nix, who she was sure didn’t survive the trip here, and Jared was lost to her. Nothing was easy, and she had a zillion more questions to answer. The final bell rang, and Mina ignored the students coming and going, grabbing their backpacks and leaving for the day. She didn’t care. She wasn’t going anywhere until she had found her brother.

  A pair of white flat shoes stopped by her and gave her leg a little nudge. Mina looked up into Nan’s worried face.

  “What’s wrong? Are you feeling okay?” Nan leaned down and touched Mina’s knee gently. “Do we need to cancel the movie tonight?”

  “I’m not in the mood to see a movie,” Mina whispered, and tried to ignore her best friend’s attempts at conversation.

  Nan turned and sat down on the floor next to Mina. “Well, if you don’t want to go, I can just take Charlie. He’s been dying to see that new movie called Fable for weeks now, and I know you didn’t really want to see that one anyway. I’m not even sure why, because it’s been getting such great reviews.”

  Mina’s head snapped in Nan’s direction. “What did you just say?”

  “I said that Fable has been getting great reviews, and just because you’re a sucky sister doesn’t mean that I can’t be a cool best friend and take our little brother to see it.” Nan poked Mina in the arm.

  “And how long has Charlie been wanting to see it?” Mina’s voice quivered in disbelief.

  “For-ev-er!” Nan dragged out. “Just last night at your house, he drew me a whole made-up comic strip about it, with a snake, a cute green guy, and a giant. He said I have to take him. Well, okay, he didn’t actually say I had to take him, but he wrote me a note.” She pulled out the paper, and, sure enough, Mina recognized Charlie’s scribbles.

  Mina lunged sideways and hugged Nan around the neck. “You are awesome as always.”

  “I know. I know. And one day, you will grow up and become awesome, too. Maybe even as awesome as me,” Nan teased, before getting up and putting her backpack on her shoulder. “So, see you at seven, then?”

  “Is Brody going?” Mina asked.

  “Brody Carmichael? Uh, why would he?” Nan asked, confused.

  “Well, aren’t he and you…?” Mina gestured with her fingers back and forth between them, and Nan’s smile dropped. “Uh, ew. He’s your hot boy obsession, not mine. Besides, he’s probably at water polo tryouts. But I’ve got to go run an errand before tonight.” Nan waved and headed for the exit, but then turned around and yelled, “If you decide to go watch the practice, bring a napkin to catch your drool.”

  Mina stood up and laughed at Nan. Could it be that the world had been put back to rights? It sounded like it was. Charlie was home safe and sound, Nan and Brody weren’t a fairy-tale item anymore, but where did that leave her and her curse?

  She walked slowly to the aquatics building and sneaked into the top row of the bleachers. Sure enough, there was Brody Carmichael, getting ready to do a dive into the water. The tryouts hadn’t officially started yet, so the boys, being boys, were roughhousing and trying to dunk each other.

  She felt the aluminum bleacher dip as someone sat on the seat next to her. Mina didn’t take her eyes off the water for fear that this reality would fade away. Besides, she could tell from the scent of the perfume that it was Mrs. Colbert.

  “That was a brave thing you did.” She leaned forward and put her folded her hands on her knees.

  Mina sighed loudly. “I only made everything worse.”

  “Did you, now? I thought that this was one of the better outcomes. Of course, it’s not the ideal one, but we can live with these consequences.”

  Mina looked at Mrs. Colbert, and her voice quavered with unshed tears. “I saved my brother, but at what cost? Jared’s gone, Nix is gone, and the curse has messed with my friend’s memories again. Is there a side effect to all of this tampering? I mean, they’re not going to go crazy or anything, right?”

  “No, as long as you can hold your reality together and truly believe in it, then they will accept it
as well.” Mrs. Colbert rocked back and forth on her heels, and seemed really interested in the start of the water polo tryouts. The coach had come in and started giving the men a pep talk.

  “Here, you fixed it—I think you should keep it safe.” Mina pulled out the seam ripper, which had somehow made it back into her pocket, and handed it to Mrs. Colbert, who fidgeted with the seam ripper.

  “Hmm, you should have seen how worried Jared was when he saw you go over to the Fae plane. He found every single piece of the seam ripper and begged us to fix it. It was Ken Wong who finally figured out how it went together. That boy was determined to go after you.”

  Mina could feel herself getting angry with her teacher, and she couldn’t hold back the bitterness in her voice. “You knew, didn’t you? You knew why Jared couldn’t go back. That his brother wanted to destroy him. You knew all of these reasons, yet you helped him come after me and now he’s…he’s no longer…”

  “Yes, I knew. It’s why we kept the young prince in the dark, because one day they might be reunited, and then none of our secrets would longer be safe. Teague is stronger now, and more dangerous. Even the King and Queen can no longer hold him in check.”

  “Why did they allow it to happen? Why couldn’t they control their own son?” Mina felt herself start to tear up again, but she bit the inside of her cheek. She wouldn’t be weak anymore.

  “Mina, there’s something you need to understand about Jared and Teague. This was shortly after, mind you, the Grimm Brothers began their quests to close the gates between the worlds. Teague was engaged to the princess of a neighboring kingdom and almost caused a war when he called it off. It seemed that was his intention all along: to cause a war of mass destruction. To save their son, the Queen and King had the strongest Fae in the land come and try to drive the dark side of Teague out. They did it. They separated his dark personality from his good, but it didn’t necessarily split down the middle evenly.”

  “I’ll say,” Mina grumbled, remembering how surly Jared could be at times.

  “But now that they had split Teague’s two halves, they needed to imprison them and keep them far apart from each other so they would never become whole again. So one of the Queen’s own handmaidens, a sprite, split the Grimm book that Teague was ever so obsessed with in two and attached each of the two personalities to it, and then sent them to separate planes.”

  “So are you saying there was never a Jared?” Mina didn’t think she could handle this news.

  “Oh, no, there was always a Jared. There still is a Jared. He’s just one side of Teague.”

  Mina made a face in disgust. “I don’t think I like any part of Teague.”

  Mrs. Colbert gave Mina a scorching look. “Don’t discredit him. After all, there is a small part of Teague that you love and will always love—the Jared side. And if you love him, there’s always hope.”

  “So everything was a trap all along. Teague was just trying to get his other half back over to the Fae plane so he could combine himself again and become even more powerful. All of the quests, everything was just a big fat lie.” She yelled out the final word, and it echoed inside the building. A few people stopped to stare at them before they kept on working.

  “It’s always been his plan, but for it to work, he needed a Grimm to use the Fae book to combine them.”

  “And I was the only Grimm stupid enough to do it.” Mina began to twirl her brown hair around her finger in distraction.

  “No, you were the only one brave enough to do it.”

  “What about my father?” Mina forced the words out and stared at her hands clenched into fists, preparing herself for the worst.

  “He, like you, made a deal with the Stiltskin, only his deal was different. He didn’t know the real side of Teague and Jared. Your father sought out Temple on this plane and made his own deal. If he died during a quest, he wanted Sara to have a son to replace himself. So, during one of Teague’s more deadly attempts at a quest, your father was mortally wounded, and the Stiltskin came to collect. Your father’s life for Sara’s yet unborn son. He gave the rest of his life willingly, Mina.”

  Mina’s eyes squeezed shut, and her heart filled with pain. “So what did I see on the Fae plane? Who was it I saw released after the Stiltskin died? A ghost?”

  Mrs. Colbert reached over and squeezed her hands. “He died in this world, Mina, on the physical plane. I don’t think he can come back.” She handed her a tissue.

  Mina sniffed and crumpled up the tissue to wipe at her eyes. “Soooo,” she stuttered out between crying breaths, “as long as he stays on the Fae plane, he’ll live.”

  Mrs. Colbert picked up the seam ripper and handed it back to her, gently placing it between her hands. “You’re not done with this yet, my dear.” She smiled softly. “Whether you know it or not. You are one step closer to breaking the curse on your family.” She pulled her bag onto her lap and opened it up to pull out a familiar small book. It was the Grimoire.

  Mina had been so worried when it didn’t travel across to the Fae plane with her, and worried about who would find it. It turned out she didn’t have to worry at all. Mina gingerly picked up the notebook and ran her fingers over it. It didn’t feel the same. It felt lacking, like it was missing something—Jared.

  She opened up the book and found that it was just a book. The cover was still the same, but all of the pages were blank. Her pulse started to quicken, and her hands became clammy.

  “What happened? Did I break the curse?”

  Mrs. Colbert shook her head. “No.”

  “Then what—what’s going on?”

  “You’ve come farther than any other, and yet you are so young.” Her teacher’s eyes were sad, and Mina could feel dread creeping over her.

  “What’s wrong?” Mina asked.

  “The Grimoire is just a book, nothing more. It will mimic the Fae book for you, but that is it. It’s lost its guardian, and so have you. You’ve weakened the curse, and now there is only one more thing for you to do to be completely free,” Mrs. Colbert whispered sadly.

  “Don’t. Don’t say it.” She knew—she could tell just from the way her teacher pitied her that it was going to be bad. And she knew from the intuitive way her heart was breaking that she couldn’t do it.

  “You said it yourself, Mina. All you have to do to break the curse is kill Teague.”

  “No…you’re wrong,” Mina said, trying to convince herself.

  “Teague is now more vulnerable than ever. Before he didn’t have a weakness. If Jared loves you, then Teague will be feeling those emotions as well. So you have to ask yourself, Wilhelmina Grimm, can you use that to your advantage? You’re Jared’s greatest weakness, and now you’re Teague’s. Are you willing to kill Jared to break the curse forever?”

  Chapter 29

  Mrs. Colbert stood up and used her hands to smooth her skirt down and put her bag over her shoulder.

  “I don’t think I can do it,” Mina whispered, and felt her throat start to catch. She had just started to love again, just to lose it. Well, actually, kill it.

  Mrs. Colbert leaned down and gently touched Mina’s shoulder. “I believe you will do what you have to do. Just trust your instincts and your friends, and maybe, maybe you will survive this tale.”

  “Why did you have to tell me this? You could have waited, till, like, next week, or next year,” she cried out.

  Mrs. Colbert scanned the pool and smiled wryly. “There is no time like the present, since the Fae time and your time don’t always see eye to eye. Plus, I don’t think it will be long before Teague comes for you. After all, he’s going to be pretty upset you got away.”

  Mina sighed and started to pick at a spot on her jeans. This was too much. She hadn’t even seen Ever yet. How in the world was she going to tell the pixie that she’d ruined everything? Brought Teague and Jared together, and now she had to kill them both. Was there no bright spot in her future? It seemed like everyone she came in contact with was either hurt, doomed, or de
ad.

  She was so lost in her thoughts that she failed to see what Mrs. Colbert thought was so amusing, since she kept chuckling and laughing.

  “Well, that sure is a mighty fine water polo team we have this year, isn’t it?” She nudged Mina and pointed.

  Mina groaned and felt her cheeks turn red. Her teacher had caught her ogling the guys.

  “Especially that new kid, what’s his name, Nix, uh, no, that’s not right. It’s Nick now. I’ve never seen anyone more acclimated to the water. He may even give Brody a run for his money.” She smiled and moved away from the bleachers, her heels making soft clicking noises as she left Mina to her thoughts.

  Mina didn’t need any other urging. She found herself scanning the water, looking for a green-skinned boy. Oh, what was she thinking? He couldn’t possibly have Fae-colored skin here. It only took a moment to see the one young man who was swimming laps around the other athletes. He seemed to be born in the water. His strokes were long and powerful, and he had great stamina and could tread water without breaking a sweat. He actually acted like he had a new lease on life. Well, he did.

  It wasn’t until he turned around and made eye contact with her that she did actually truly know it was Nix. He was alive and well, and apparently human. His hair was a shocking red color, and his skin was pale white. But his eyes—his eyes were still that brilliant shade of Fae green.

  The coach was busy discussing the tryouts with his assistant, and Nix smiled at her and gave her a thumbs-up. Brody used that moment to hit Nix on the back of the head with the ball. Nix’s head bounced with the impact, and he turned and dove after Brody, attacking him from beneath and pulling him underwater. Brody’s smile dropped from his face as he sucked in a mouth full of water. Brody resurfaced with an impish look on his face and lunged at Nix, pushing his head under the water.

  Mina laughed at the boys, who were bonding as only brothers with a love for water could. It looks like Nix had found another family. She couldn’t help but think back on what the phoenix had said to her. Even if I heal him, he will still die on this plane. It was his Fae self that was dying. By bringing him here, he got a chance to live as a human. A teenager with a future that was much more stable than hers.