Forever (An Unfortunate Fairy Tale 5)

She grabbed the post at the last minute and hung on, her fingers clawing at the post. Her feet dangled twenty feet above the water. Using every ounce of strength she had, she swung her body to the side and got her foot up. Slowly, she pulled herself back onto the pier.

“You’re no match for my power, no match for my hate. You are weak,” Teague taunted.

“That’s where you’re wrong.” She stood up and wiped her hands on her pants. “You think hate makes you strong, and I understand. But love always wins,” Mina answered back. “Jared!” Mina called to him. “I know you’re in there.”

Teague sneered, and she felt the squeezing pressure around her body as her feet slowly lifted off of the ground. Teague came forward, pulled out the poisoned dagger, and held it up in front of her. “You tried to kill yourself with this and rob me of my victory.  I saved you. Now I will finish the job. Only I’ll do better than try.”

Mina struggled to look out across the bay. The golems continued to wreak havoc on the bridge. They were only a few cars away from the bus. This has gone on too long. If I can’t have Jared, I’ve just got to die and give Teague what he wants. It’ll save everyone else.

Just then, she heard a loud piercing shriek, and one of the stone golems burst into small pebbles. She saw the siren ship and recognized Kino at the bow attacking a third golem who’d appeared in the water. A giant wave surged up and over the bridge. As it passed, it deposited an army of very ticked off sirens. Cars began to rise up out of the water as if on lifts.

Mina knew Ternan and Winona would do their best to fight off Teague’s army. But she also knew they were vastly outnumbered. There was only one way to stop this.

She couldn’t feel her legs. They had gone numb from Teague’s grip on her neck. But she had to fight against his power. As she hung in the air, she gathered all of the love she had—all the feelings and memories of Teague before he was poisoned—and she willed those images into his subconscious. Her memories of Ferah stabbing him, of Mina trying to save him, to close the wound in his chest.

He shook his head and shoved his hands into his hair. “Stop it. It’s all lies.” The pressure released from her neck, her feet touched the ground, and she sucked in a deep breath.

“No, only truth,” she gasped out. “Love always prevails. Good always wins.”

Teague turned and this time physically grabbed her by the throat. She slipped and fell backward onto the pier. He landed on top of her, and she tried to push against him, but he was too strong. The knife landed with a thud on the pier next to a piece of broken railing.

Mina used her right hand and scrabbled around trying to find the dagger. In a desperate attempt to stall, she closed her eyes and willed a piece of wood to morph into a decoy dagger. Then she made the dagger look like the broken railing stake. Jared had once shown her that very same trick on a beach.

She turned her head, frantic, and reached for the true dagger. Teague hadn’t noticed her switch. He turned, grabbed the fake, and raised it above his head.

“I love you!” she choked out. “I always will.”

It was about to come down toward her chest, when with a final lunge, her fingers reached her goal. She closed her eyes. The stake grew hot in her hand, and then it was gone. Disappeared. Morphed back into the dagger of Erjad.

Without hesitation, she thrust the blade upward into Teague’s chest. He shuddered, his blue eyes opening wide in pain and then traveling to look at his closed hand. He opened his fist, and the wood shaft fell to the ground.

Mina sobbed as she shoved the knife deep, deeper, until it couldn’t go anymore.

Teague’s mouth opened and closed, and he reached down to gently touch her face. He didn’t look angry. He didn’t look full of hate. He looked… relieved.

“I knew you had it in you,” he whispered and slowly fell forward.

Mina caught him and helped him onto his back. She leaned down and took his hand in hers. “I didn’t want to. I never wanted to kill you. But you’ve hurt too many people, taken too many lives.”

He tried to say something, but it was lost in a scream of pain as the blade, made entirely of hate, began to poison him again.

Desperate, Mina pushed more power into his mind. She searched and called and coaxed. He had to be in there. She imagined it like the dream, different mirrors with different reflections of Teague.

“Don’t! Let me be. Let me die in peace,” he said, trying to push her hand away.

Mina ignored it and kept holding onto him. “No, I won’t give up on you. I won’t.”

Teague screamed at her, his eyes glowing with hate. He transformed, his mouth turning downward, his hands arching into claws. “Get away! I hate you.” Blue veins appeared along his face as the dagger’s hate-poison traveled through him, changed him. He gasped, and black blood bubbled up and poured slowly from the corner of his mouth. He grabbed at Mina’s hand.

She gripped it tightly. His eyes opened again, and she watched the familiar blue slowly fade to gray.

“Mi…na,” he mumbled. “You did what I didn’t have the strength to. Thank…” He coughed, and more blood came up. He lost the battle with one last word, whispered across his lips. “you.”

Grieving, she eased her grip. His hand fell to the ground.

Chapter 31