Fable (An Unfortunate Fairy Tale 3)

Jared looked uncomfortable. “I was ignoring you because you had been ignoring me. So I purposely tuned out your emotions. I didn’t know something was wrong until you fell. I almost didn’t get there in time. I didn’t know about Char…about what happened till after…”

“You caught me, didn’t you?”

He nodded. “I carried you to the alley by the ambulance and left you there. I’m sorry. I was still angry.”

“You should have stayed with me. Not left me and my family alone on the worst night of my life. I thought you’d abandoned me.”

Jared leapt off the couch and stood within inches of her, his breath warm and sweet upon her face.

“I would never abandon you. I will always be there to catch you when you fall.”

She closed her eyes and leaned into him, being careful not to touch him…and careful to shield her heart.

“I’m scared to fall—I’m scared I’m not strong enough for the tasks ahead.

Jared’s jaw twitched with emotion. “Then I shall teach you to fly. It’s time for you to get some answers. Pull the sheet,” he answered.

“You just told me not to.”

“Okay, how about this…pull at your own risk.”

For once she actually didn’t want to know, but he was looking at her with such sorrow in his eyes that she actually was becoming angry at being pitied. She yanked as hard as she could on the sheet, and the easel almost fell over. It settled, and Mina focused on the portrait. A man in his thirties, wearing a brown suit and polka-dot tie, sat on a red lounge chair, facing the artist. His hair was dark brown, and a neatly trimmed mustache framed his nice lips. His eyes were warm and the same boring brown as his hair. It was the same boring brown of Mina’s hair. She was staring at a portrait of her father.

Chapter 6

“Who painted this?” she gasped.

“One of the Fae. I don’t remember which one it was, but it’s a pretty good likeness.”

“Why is his picture in this house?” Mina asked, feeling agitated by this new discovery. “What’s it doing here, Jared?”

“Haven’t you figured it out yet? The house used to belong to your father, although he never lived here.” She stared at him with an utter look of confusion on her face. Jared started chuckling at her. “Okay, now I’m seeing how lacking your training as a Grimm is. Someone should see about that.”

“Yeah, why don’t you work on that?” Mina quipped back, feeling relieved at finding out the house didn’t belong to a serial killer. But it left way more questions that dealt with her father and his death. She wasn’t really ready to delve into that, so she let the plaguing questions drop.

Jared wiped away the tears and sat up straight. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be laughing at you—I just thought you would have been smarter than that.”

Mina was insulted and punched Jared playfully in his arm. “I would be if you weren’t a deceitful, pigheaded prince who plays both sides of the tales and obviously gets enjoyment out of terrorizing me.”

“I like terrorizing you. Your face turns the prettiest of colors.” Jared playfully punched Mina back. In retaliation, she pushed him a little harder. Being a boy, and spurred on by the challenge of a wrestling fight. Jared whooped loudly and lunged for Mina, knocking her onto the couch. She squealed and started hitting Jared when he began to tickle her sides.

“Stop…stop…NOO!” she screamed. He laughed and continued his ambush. She tried desperately to catch her breath. She kicked at his legs and tried to push him off, but all it did was bring his face that much closer to hers, and his eyes widened when he realized it as well. He stopped tickling her, his hands on her hips, and he leaned down and nuzzled her cheek. Mina immediately froze and sucked in her breath. Jared stopped and lifted his head to stare at the door.

A second later, the storage room door opened and the light flicked on, illuminating the room. Surprised, Mina flew off the couch, and something hard fell to the floor. Sara stood in the doorway with a fire poker held out in front of her. Her chest was heaving from running. Her eyes flew to Mina.

“Are you okay?” Sara asked. “I heard screaming.”

Mina stared hard at the plastic mannequin on the floor that moments ago had been Jared. Her cheeks flushed, and she shook her head. “Yes, I was exploring in the dark and knocked this over. It scared me at first.”

Sara looked around the room, unconvinced. Her eyes scanned every inch of the room before she nodded. “Okay, then. Let’s get out of here. There seems to be a lot of breakable items in here. Is that dummy okay? It’s not broken, is it?”

Mina tried not to laugh as she stood up and gently kicked the mannequin. “This old thing? Nah, it’s not broken. It’s as hard as a rock…see?” She took pleasure in knocking her foot into it one more time, a little harder.

“What an odd thing to be in a house. It almost looks alive.”

Mina couldn’t help it—she snorted. “No, it’s a dummy all right. No heart and all.” She walked over to her mom and ushered her into the hall.