Fairest (An Unfortunate Fairy Tale 2)

Mina shifted uncomfortably under her stare. “Uh, yeah, sure. You have my permission to talk to him whenever you want. And when you see him, tell him thanks for ditching me in the forest.”

The color drained from Ever’s face. “That’s not funny, Mina.” It was the first time the girl had ever said her name.

“Look, Ever. I don’t know what kind of relationship you think that Jared and I have, but it isn’t a close one. I can’t help you.” Mina turned and pulled her backpack over her shoulder.

“No, wait. I’m sorry.” Ever looked distraught again and looked down at her black boots, rubbing the toe against the gravel. She took a deep breath and looked at Mina, her eyes belaying the insecurities she refused to speak. “I’m sorry that I called you a Gimp and was rude to you. It’s just part of my defense mechanism as being a Pixie. We are kind of low on the food chain, you know.”

Mina blinked in surprise. “Um, apology accepted.”

Ever let out a sigh of relief. “Good, I’m glad. Now, if you can just check and see...”

“Ever,” Mina breathed out her name in exasperation. “I’ve already told you; I don’t know where Jared is. I can’t check and see if I don’t know where he is.”

“But you called him! He came to you when you called him.” The poor girl was confused.

“No, I never called him; I don’t even know his phone number.” Mina was done with this conversation. She now realized that maybe it wasn’t the Grimms who were dumb but the Fae.

In an instant, the contrite and sorry Ever was replaced by a very loud and angry Pixie. Her voice rose in anger, and her eyes darkened in power. Mina could feel a cold breeze set in, and the wind picked up leaves from the ground and they swirled around Ever angrily. It took a moment for Mina to realize the girl was beating her invisible wings in anger.

“You Gimp! You lost it, didn’t you? How could you do something so stupid, so careless?”

“What are you talking about?” Mina called out, but Ever had turned her back on her and pulled something out of her pocket that looked like a silver lipstick tube.

Ever opened the tube and began to draw a large human-sized oval in the sky. The silver tube sparked and zapped, and a shimmering line appeared where Ever drew. Seconds later, the oval began to glow, and the school lawn disappeared to be replaced by a door of light.

“Ever, what is that? What are you doing?” Mina held up her hand to block the blinding light that poured through the door. She could vaguely see outlines of silver and white trees on the other side.

“You lost the Grimoire, stupid! Someone needs to tell the Queen before all hell breaks loose and something bad happens.” She moved toward the door of light and turned before stepping through to shoot one last remark at Mina.

“I always knew that of all the Grimms, you would cause the most trouble. I told him you didn’t deserve the Grimoire. I knew you were a mistake right from the beginning, and I was right.”

She stepped through the gate of light, and both Ever and the doorway to the Fae plane disappeared leaving Mina to wonder what she meant by something bad happening.

Chapter 16

The car ride to Nan’s party was boring and uneventful. Sara continually tried to console Mina about the loss of the Grimoire, but it didn’t help. Sara turned off the highway and drove their green four door Subaru wagon onto a barely visible dirt road.

“Are you sure these are the right directions?” she asked Mina.

Mina pulled out the wadded up notebook paper and checked it again for the eighth time. “Yes, we take the interstate southbound for thirty miles. Hang a right at Carl’s Junction and left at Anawatchie Road. Drive for four miles and take the first dirt path on your right. Cabin’s on the left.”

The dirt road narrowed even further down the hill, and they came to a sharp left turn followed by a metal bridge. One look told Mina that this road was barely wide enough for two cars side by side or a small Subaru. Sara wisely slowed their car, opened the window, and listened for the sound of oncoming cars before pushing on the gas and crossing the bridge at a faster pace than she would normally drive.

“Boy, I would not want to be driving this route during the winter,” Sara chuckled nervously.

“Well, you won’t have to because the cabin is closed during the winter.” Mina wasn’t in the most congenial of moods. In fact, she was downright sour. Haunted by Ever’s parting words, Mina found little rest or comfort without the Grimoire. Panicking, she had run back to the hospital, spoke to numerous nurses, doctors, staff, and dug through their lost and found; nothing. No one had seen her notebook.

Sara had tried to be comforting about the loss, but she was just as worried as her daughter. She made daily trips to the hospital looking for it. Finally, they both decided it must have been lost in the woods. There was no other explanation. Mina tried to remember the last time she had it, and all she could recall was that it was somewhere between the bear attack and the hospital. The signs were not good of her ever finding it.

The only solace she could remind herself of was that her Uncle Jack had never had the Grimoire and he had been successful at completing some of the Fae tales. So she would just have to be smarter and more resourceful than her Uncle Jack, who was dead. Yeah, Mina knew she was in serious trouble.

“I know you have a lot on your mind, sweetie,” Sara spoke softly to Mina. “But everything will be okay. It has to be.” She reached over carefully, keeping her eyes on the road, to brush her daughter’s soft brown hair.

What Sara didn’t understand was the real cause for Mina’s attitude. Even though they were in the car, being surrounded by woods on all sides, was really messing with Mina’s mind. She had a hard time breathing and focusing without having flashbacks to being abandoned in the woods. Luckily, the road widened again, and they could see a beautiful, crystal blue lake in the distance and a very large three story cedar house.

This wasn’t a small wooden cabin like Mina had pictured. It was a huge rustic hunting lodge in the middle of nowhere. Mina could see as they drove closer that they weren’t the first to arrive to the party. In fact, it looked like they were the last, as at least twenty cars could be seen parked along the driveway in the grass. Lots of her classmates already in swimsuits were diving off of a small wooden dock on the lake. Many were hanging out by a very classy stone fire pit; others played sand volleyball.