Reign (An Unfortunate Fairy Tale 4)

Mina smiled back and continued with her report. When her eyes flickered to Brody Carmichael, she started to stumble over her words again. Brody was leaning back in his chair, his arms crossed over his chest with his head cocked ever so slightly to the side. He gave the impression that he was studying something of interest, and that something of interest happened to be Mina.

What had she just said? She’d been talking about their volumes of tales and then she lost her train of thought. Brody’s chair tipped forward and then gently settled on the ground again. With its impact, her thoughts scattered like cockroaches in the daylight. But it wasn’t Brody’s striking looks that distracted her; it was the person standing just behind him against the back brick wall.

He was wearing a long, dark jacket with a high collar, and his hair looked almost black. There was no mistaking the intensity of the hate rolling off of him in waves. But he wasn’t focused on Mina at the moment. Teague was glaring at the back of Brody’s head with enough hate to bore a laser hole through it—which confused Mina. Why would Teague hate Brody? Teague was the one responsible for Brody falling unnaturally in love with her and then promptly making him forget her. What was with the ire?

“Is that all Miss Grime?” Mr. Morris asked.

Apparently, she was so shocked by Teague in the room that she had completely stopped talking. Mina chewed on the inside of her cheek as she tried to retrace her steps and think of where she had left off.

“Um…um…” She faltered and shot Nan a desperate look, unwillingly casting another worried glance to the back of the room.

Nix frowned and followed her gaze. As soon as he saw the Fae prince, he turned around and slouched low in his desk, trying to hide from his prince—who may or may not recognize the Nixie in his human form.

“I uh, I’m…” She glanced down at her cheat sheet, but she could no longer read the words written across the plain notebook paper. They were simple bullet points, and facts about the brothers, but the script staring back at her wasn’t her own.

Careful what words you utter. For they may be your last.

Mina was careful to keep a neutral face as she read the threat. Instead of causing her to become scared, the words ignited a fire within her. Schools should be a safe zone, free from Fae influence—at least from the bad kind. There were too many innocents at risk: Nan, Brody, and Nix to name a few. And here Teague shows up and tries to intimidate her.

Nan noticed Mina staring and turned to follow her friend’s line of sight, but it was obvious from her confused looks at the brick wall that she couldn’t see Teague. Even though Nix could.

In fact, it seemed that most of the room couldn’t see Teague, so that eased her fears. But only a little.

“Mina, do you need a minute to regain your thoughts?” her teacher interjected.

Mina’s eyes never left Teague. He was now giving her his full, undivided devilish focus. Those blue eyes bored into hers with a clear challenge. Everything about him screamed Jared except for those blue eyes.

“No, I don’t need another minute. I’m fine,” she answered. “I’m almost done.”

“Okay then. When you’re ready to proceed.”

She nodded her head, crumpled up the paper into a small ball, and tossed it in the trash can. A smile crept up her face and she raised an eyebrow in challenge. The smirk dropped from his haughty face and he moved away from the wall.

“An interesting fact that is not well known is that the Grimm Brothers were inter-dimensional travelers who captured and sent evil Fae back to their world, which exists on another plane.” The words were clear and crisp, and she didn’t stutter. “Although tasked with an impossible quest, they never gave up in their mission. And to this day their descendants carry on the same assignment. I once said that Joseph and Wilhelm were cursed, because it seemed like the odds were stacked against them. But I was wrong. They’re not the ones cursed. They’re the ones who live free. It’s the Fae that are cursed, and all the ones who must live in fear of tyranny. It is those on the Fae plane I pity, for their time here is short. The Grimm grace period is over. I will not fail to end the tyranny where others have. So run. Run while you can,” she threatened.

Silence filled the room as the tension tried to find a way out. Mina knew what her classmates were probably thinking, although no one said a word. It was uncomfortable and awkward.

Teague looked angry enough to spit acid. “I warned you, Grimm. I warned you, but you didn’t listen,” he spoke out.

Not a single head turned his direction. They were all focused on her. She could see the odd shoulder shrug, the pairs of rolled eyes as some tried to process what she’d said. Only Nix heard Teague, and when Teague’s threat reached his ears, he started to tremble and slid lower in his chair. Any lower and he would be sitting on the floor.

Mina didn’t back down from Teague. She knew never to back down from a rabid dog, and this was the same. This was an intimidation game, and she could not show any sign of weakness.

She managed to cross the short distance without her legs crumbling under her. Now for the icing on the cake. When she reached her desk, she turned her back on Teague, sat in her chair, and pretended to inspect the non-existent nail polish on her fingers.

She could feel the crackle of energy building behind her. It was almost impossible to ignore. The room dropped in temperature, and goose bumps ran up and down her arms. Without looking, she knew Teague was doing what he could to draw her attention, but she turned to Brody and gave him her most dazzling smile.

Or what she hoped was a dazzling smile. It probably looked a bit pained and constipated. “How’d I do?” she asked.

“That was intense,” he answered. His brows furrowed and he looked around. “Does it seem like it got really cold all of a sudden?” When Brody exhaled, his breath turned white.

“No, I don’t find it cold at all,” she lied. Her heart was racing so fast that it sounded like a bass drum leading a marching band in her ears. The temperature dropped again.

Just go away. Please just go away. She looked over her shoulder to see frost creeping up the nearest window and spreading out in impossible swirling fractals. Mina picked up the pencil on her desk and tapped it on her notebook. She visibly shivered from the chill in the air and watched as Mr. Morris went over to thermostat. He rapped the square white box a few times and waited before flicking it off then on.

By now a few of the students were pulling their arms inside of their sleeves and rubbing them to create friction. To have this kind of chill in the middle of a seventy-degree day was nuts.