Fable (An Unfortunate Fairy Tale 3)

Yes, help you—help me. Mrs. Wong’s Chinese dialect came out. The Stiltskin has me imprisoned and uses my gifts terribly. I want to make my own deal with you. I’m much more valuable than your brother. Choose me instead, Sara’s voice cried out to her, filled with despair.

“I can’t. I have to save my brother.”

The phoenix’s feathers began to dim a little bit in sadness.

“But I will find a way to free you. If not today, then soon,” Mina promised.

Then I will grant you your wish. I will send you to the Fae plane. The phoenix flew into the air, his feathers burning so bright they were blinding. Mina heard the classroom door open, and Jared rushed into the room in a panic. He saw the bird and began to maneuver around the lab tables. Mina was absorbed with the firebird flying in circles above her, weaving a blazing trail of fire.

“No, Mina, don’t!” Jared yelled. “It’s too dangerous.”

A yellow flash whisked past her shoulder, and the piercing screech ripped through the air again. A vortex of fire whirled above her and began to descend upon her, as if to swallow her whole.

She saw Jared try to grab her arm, but he was fighting the vortex of wind and kept being pushed just out of reach. Her hair whipped around her face painfully and she tried to warn Jared to stay back, but he kept pressing forward.

“I won’t let you go.”

“I have to go, Jared.” She saw his face fill with despair as he realized he couldn’t save her, as the fiery vortex swept her up and she disappeared.

Chapter 19

Pain! A burning sensation ripped through her. She gasped for air, but nothing but heat filled her lungs. It was as if she was underwater, and when she opened her mouth, something else rushed in instead of oxygen. She panicked and tried to scream, but again nothing would come out. Tears streaked down her cheeks as she thought she was suffocating, slowly dying.

Something punched her in the stomach, and all of a sudden she could breathe again. Winded, she lay immobile until the blinding lights disappeared from her vision.

Mina lifted her head from the grass she was lying in to take in her unfamiliar surroundings. Gone were the brick walls, windows, and desks of the school. Instead, she was surrounded by odd-looking trees and plants and flowers. They were twisted, warped and menacing-looking, and not a single breed was familiar. A few minutes ago it had been daytime, but here it was night.

“Jared!” Mina called out, and looked around to see if he had made it through the portal. He hadn’t. She was alone.

The forest unnaturally echoed her call, and she decided it would be better if she didn’t do that again. Who knows what was out in the Fae woods? Gathering her nerve, she stood up and dusted off her pants, and saw the phoenix feather lying on the ground next to her.

But she felt like she had forgotten something. Her hands went to her jacket pocket where she kept the Grimoire, and the pocket was empty. After a few minutes of searching the immediate area, she came to the conclusion that the Grimoire couldn’t exist on the same plane as the Fae book. Or it was because it was so tied to Jared that if he didn’t cross over to the Fae plane, neither did the book. Either way, she was up a creek, without help.

Instead of standing still, waiting for Stiltskin to find her, she thought she needed to start looking for him or the palace. She started walking and kept getting distracted as some new species or flower caught her eye. Mina stopped and sniffed a flower, and it smelled like…blueberry pie, but better. Curious, she walked over to another bright orange flower and took a careful sniff. It smelled like a mix between snicker doodles and butter pecans.

Even the insects that buzzed around the flowers were larger than any she had ever seen in her own world. There was a yellow bumblebee the size of her fist. She watched as the bee came to land on a large lily, but no sooner had the bee landed than the flower closed up and ensnared the bee. Mina swallowed nervously and decided to give all flowers a very wide berth. Jared was right—even though his world was beautiful, it was also dangerous.

Mina walked along a path until she came to a fork in the road.

“Now where?” she groaned, and accidentally bumped into the branches of a nearby bush. Small lights the size of fireflies lifted off the small berry bush and began to dance around her head.

Captivated, Mina reached out to try to touch one of the lights. One of them flew closer and almost alighted on her finger before flitting away just out of reach. She smiled and kept walking until she heard the most wonderful voice. Melodic, wistful, full of longing. The worry she had felt moments ago was forgotten as the desire to follow the song and dancing lights grew.

Her feet moved on their own accord, and she followed the song away from the fork in the road, onto a different, almost indiscernible path that led deeper into the woods and toward a large lake.

Mina was enthralled. Never before had she seen or heard something so glorious, so enchanting, so unnatural, and something told her she needed to possess it—if only it would stop moving over the lake. The song grew louder when Mina paused and hesitated, urging her on.

Her sneaker dipped into the water’s edge, and she lingered momentarily as the cold seeped through the canvas, but it wasn’t enough. Shaking off any hesitation, she listened to the song and stepped farther into the water. She could always dry her shoes later, but right now, right this moment, she needed to obey the song more than she needed anything else, and nothing was going to stop her.

A few steps later, the water was up to her knees, but she was undeterred and waded farther into the stream. She could swim; she wasn’t afraid. Moments later the water was up to her waist, and a triumphant smile reached her lips. The smile only lasted for a second, replaced by fear as something large grabbed her around the legs and pulled her under the water.

She didn’t have time to scream as an icy chill wrapped around her and she plunged deep into the dark water. The dancing lights fading from above the water no longer seemed so beautiful. Now they seemed deadly as they illuminated her watery grave.

Mina tried to struggle and kick at the thing that grasped her foot, but it held her like a vise. A momentary illumination from the light gave Mina a glimpse of what had captured her, and the image terrified her to the core.

It was a young woman. Her skin shimmered like scales, and her long hair, the color of seaweed, flowed past her waist. But her huge cat-like eyes were black as night, and they glared hungrily at her.