Forever (An Unfortunate Fairy Tale 5)

She was quiet afterward, solemn. Nothing Nix or Ever did could bring her out of the spiral of depression her mind had sunk to. She hadn’t dreamed of her brother. She couldn’t find his location, and there was nothing she could do for another twenty-four hours or until it was safe for her to take the tea again. Mina was so overwhelmed that she knew there was no way she’d fall asleep naturally. Not when she didn’t know how many days she had left to live.

>“I’ve seen her,” Mina whispered under her breath. “I’ve heard her call to me.”

Winona’s head dropped in despair, while Ternan’s voice rose in anger. “We have no love for the Fates and their cruel ways.”

“I need to go back. You don’t understand. I can’t stay with you.”

“Nonsense. You’re family. You will be accepted here among us,” Winona spoke up.

“No, I made a deal—willingly. I said I’d stay with the prince, and he promised to leave my friends alone. If I left, they’d be hurt or killed.” She decided not to mention that she was worried for the prince himself.

“Well, then we must get to your friends first,” Ternan announced.

“Yes. And your brother,” Winona agreed. “With Sarafina gone, we are no longer barred from interacting with her children. Let’s bring them home.”

Mina felt a moment of relief that she wasn’t alone in her quest to protect her brother, but the Fae plane wasn’t any safer than the human plane. She’d have to find him, trust the sirens, and find a way to keep them all safe from Teague.

They called Ever into the room and spoke quickly about what they were going to do and how they were going to find Charlie.

“The seam ripper is only strong enough to open a gate for a few people. We’d never be able to take everyone with us,” Ever said.

“We will have to use one of the natural gates then,” Ternan stated.

“It won’t do us any good unless we know where Charlie is.” Ever looked to Mina for an answer.

“I don’t know. The whole point was that I wouldn’t know where they’ve taken him.”

“She can find him,” Winona said firmly to Ever. “Mina has the closest connection to him of any of us.”

“I don’t know how.” Mina felt the mounting pressure being placed on her and began to doubt.

“In your dreams. The pixie told me of your dreams, that you see things,” Winona encouraged.

“No, mostly nightmares. But then sometimes it feels real,” Mina answered, a slight panic rising within her.

“Can you honestly tell me you’ve never dreamed something, a conversation that never came true?”

The premonition of Ever’s death. And more than that. Mina thought back to her many restless nights and the pieces of her dreams that came true. Of being pulled underwater by Teague, though he was pulling her underground. Or the conversations she had with him. Her heart raced, and breathing became a challenge.

It was true. She was seeing bits of the future. “But how can I do it on purpose?”

“Just think about him while you fall asleep. Your subconscience will seek him out,” Winona said.

Mina felt all of the eyes on her and swallowed. “I’ll try, but I think I’m too wound up to sleep.”

Winona smiled. “I have a tea for that. I’ll brew you a cup and let you sleep. Take your time. The dream will come.”

“But what if I’m too late?”

“Then we will have to fight Teague to steal him back,” Ternan answered.

“You’re not afraid of him?” Mina asked.

“No. In fact, it will be our pleasure to inflict a little payback on the Royals for what King Lucian did to our daughter.” He grinned evilly.

Mina felt a moment of indecisiveness arise at her grandfather’s eagerness for war. Was she really in the right place to find help for Charlie? She couldn’t go back to Teague now, so she prayed that she was doing the right thing.

Chapter 26