Fable (An Unfortunate Fairy Tale 3)

Temple laughed, and disappeared as abruptly as he’d materialized.

Mina stared at the single drop of blood still on her finger, a painful reminder of the bargain she’d just made with a Stiltskin.

In seconds, the room was back to normal, the haze gone as the double doors leading outside burst open and girls filed in, grumbling and complaining. Mina took the gold sandal on the floor, and kicked it into the locker and slammed the door while moving over to her own locker. Hurriedly she changed, not even bothering to fix her hair or get out of her shoes. Tears of relief poured out of the corners of her eyes, and she turned to rush out of the locker room, but not before she heard a loud shriek from Savannah White.

“What in the blazes happened to my Louis Vuitton sandal?”

Chapter 9

Her mind was numb, her heart beating uncontrollably, but somehow she made it out of the locker room and stumbled in a stupor into the hallway. She let her panic rise to the surface, and she called Jared. He appeared within seconds, took one look at her face, and grasped her arms as she almost collapsed.

“He’s alive!” Mina rushed out after the shock had worn off.

“Who is?”

“My brother. That man, the one who’s been following me, came here to the school. He told me he kidnapped my brother, and he’s alive—on the Fae plane. All I have to do is cross over to the Fae plane and trade an item for him. Jared, I have to get him back.” Her hands gripped Jared’s jacket, and he very carefully separated her fingers from the jacket.

>Mina flinched, but he reached past her into the opened locker to withdraw a single expensive sandal that she recognized as belonging to Savannah. As soon as his hand touched the sandal, it immediately turned to gold. He smiled crookedly when he saw her eyes widen, and dropped the sandal into her hands. Mina immediately tossed the shoe back into the locker.

“The Midas touch?” she asked.

He frowned at her. “No, more like the family trait. So you see, you can be rich beyond your wildest dreams. Rich enough to impress your young human and maybe even steal him back from your best friend.”

“How do you know about that? How could you possibly—”

“I make it my business to know these things. So, what do you say? Procure the item for me, and I’ll make you rich.”

Mina looked at the gold sandal and bat, and back at the man. Every inch of her knew better than to make a deal with the Fae, no matter what the cost.

“No, there’s no amount of money in the world that would make me enter into a bargain with you.” She tried to step around him, but he held out his arm, blocking her.

“Wait! Everyone has their price, and no one says no to me.” He frowned at her.

“Well, I just did say no.”

“That’s only because you haven’t heard my other offer.” Temple took off his hat and brushed imaginary dust off it.

“It wouldn’t matter, because the answer is still no. You have nothing I want,” Mina said.

“Ah, and that’s where I beg to differ. I do have something you want. I make sure to always have something someone wants.” He placed the hat back on his head.

“Are you deaf? Because I just said no.” She placed her hands on her hips and raised her chin.

“What about your brother Charlie? Such a quiet boy, but charming all the same. He misses you, I can tell.”

Mina came alive with anger. “What do you mean, Charlie? He died in the fire!”

“Come now, you can’t really believe that!” He touched his hat and fingered the golden feather. “I sent my servant to retrieve the boy for me and destroy your home. Now he is mine. I will trade him to you for the item I want you to procure, and nothing more. His life for my item. It’s fair—what do you say?”

Mina stared at Temple in horror. “You did this? You planned this from the beginning, stealing my brother to make sure I couldn’t say no! What kind of monster are you? It’s been weeks. Why now? You could be lying. Why didn’t you come to me that night?”

“Because you’ve been surrounded by Fae. What’s a few weeks in the life of an eternal Fae? I’m patient. I’ve been waiting for hundreds of years—what’s a few mere weeks? But if you fail, Charlie is mine forever.”

Tears of relief started to trail down Mina’s cheeks. “What is it I have to do?”

“A favor, one itsy-bitsy, teeny-weenie favor. A piece of cake for a Grimm.” His smile was so sweet it was sickening.

“What is it?” Mina said, her heart dropping into her stomach, since she already had an idea.