Fable (An Unfortunate Fairy Tale 3)

“Yes, you can. It’s easy. It’s the same as your book. Just open its pages and finish the tale.”

Mina slowly walked through the rubble of the room, toward the podium. She kept glancing between Charlie, who was being very brave and watching from inside his cage, to Jared, whose face had now broken out in a sweat. He was doing his very best to stay calm and not worry her, but his eyes kept flicking to her brother.

Why would Teague want to hurt Jared? Why would he need her to use the Fae book? Was it all part of his giant plan to gain more power? Why was Jared so worried about Charlie?

“Not until you release my brother,” Mina said firmly. She knew that no matter what happened, he needed to be safe.

Teague’s eyes narrowed, and he wiggled the knife inside Jared, who groaned and bit his lip to keep from crying out.

Mina stood tall, the tears still coming, but she refused to waver. “LET MY BROTHER GO! I defeated your quest! I want my brother, now!”

“Very well.” Teague waved his finger, and the lock clicked off Charlie’s cage. The small boy ran to Mina and clutched her around the waist. Mina knew that now was not the time to be distracted again. She pulled Charlie with her and looked upon the Fae book for the very first time.

She had been told that at one time there was only one book, and that a Fae had split the book in two: one with the power for good, the other for evil, and that whatever quest or tale the Grimms completed on the physical plane, it would magically appear in the Fae book. Here she had the chance to look upon it with her own eyes, and she gasped.

The Fae book was definitely filled with the same stories as hers, but this one was filled with picture after picture of Jared. She couldn’t help but flip backward a few pages and see magical images come to life: of Jared defending her in an alley. Sitting in art class with Mina, spinning on the pottery wheel. There was another one of Jared by the lake, teaching her to fight. Jared and her in the storage room, laughing, before their tickling fight. She flipped forward and saw the last page filled with a motion-captured image of Jared and her sharing a kiss.

“What is this?” There was something terribly wrong, a feeling deep in the pit of her stomach that this wasn’t right. It wasn’t the same as the pictures in her Grimoire.

“Use the Fae book and finish the quest, Mina. Or I’ll kill Jared.”

“Mina, don’t do it. Just take your brother and run,” Jared hissed as his brother squeezed more tightly around his throat.

“I can’t get back, Jared. I never figured out how to get back on my own.”

Jared’s gaze flickered down to his pocket, and one hand slowly reached down to pull something out of it. It was small and silver, and it fit in the palm of his hand. “I had to go to the old biddies and have them fix it, but it’s yours. It should have always been yours.” He flung the seam ripper as hard as he could toward Mina, and he screamed as Teague pulled the knife out at the same time. Jared collapsed on the ground, holding his side, and slowly his fingers turned red with blood.

The seam ripper came to rest by her boot. Charlie picked it up in his hands and stood protectively by Mina’s side.

“Now you have no choice, Mina. Use the Fae book, or Jared will die…here…right now.”

“Okay!” She spun around in anger and lifted the book high into the air above her. She flipped open a black page, and turned it toward the golden body of Temple and the snake. Nothing happened. “Why aren’t you working?”

Teague turned to her, his arms opening wide; he dropped the knife onto the floor and smiled widely. “Because that is not the quest I’ve set up for you. You need to use it on me—on us.” He started to spin widely in a circle. “I’ve waited hundreds of years, brother, for this moment. To finally have you and a Grimm in the same place, and now I’ve done it. The other Grimms didn’t entice you enough to come back to our world. But you never expected me to pick a girl, did you? And one that you would fall in love with.”

Mina stared at them and felt numb. Teague wanted Jared. It was always about Jared. He manipulated Temple to steal her brother, knowing Mina would come here, and eventually Jared would follow. It was a trap, and she was the bait, and now Jared was going to die because of her.

“Miiinna, Miiinna. You’re wasting valuable time. He’s dying, Mina, and it’s all your fault. Just complete this final tale, and you can save him.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, he’s my brother, my other half, and I want what is best for him. I’ve always wanted what is best for him. But what kind of hero are you if you can’t even save the one you love? You do love him, Mina, don’t you? I’m sure in that small, confused, easily swayed human heart, there beats some love for this Fae.”

“But the book, it could…what if it..?”

“The books have been a part of us for so long, it won’t hurt us. I promise. It’s the only thing that can heal us.” Teague held his hand out to her. “We’ve been torn apart for so long, you are the only one who can truly heal us.”

Her heart started to race, and she gripped the pages of the book so hard she could feel them wrinkle in her fingers. She was angry, angry at being tricked, angry at being used. But she wouldn’t let her own feelings get in the way of saving Jared’s life. She at least owed that to him.

Mina pulled all of the magic in the room toward her and let it flood her. She was furious and she wanted Teague to pay, but she wanted Jared to live more. She felt a guttural scream rip forth, and she forced all of the power through her and into the book. She flipped open the book to a blank page and turned it on Teague.

He was so sure it was the only way to save Jared, and she didn’t have any other choice. Jared had stopped moving on the floor.

A bright light burst forth from the book and shot straight into Teague’s heart, while another beam of light poured into Jared’s dying form on the ground. They both began to glow brighter and brighter. Teague began to laugh maniacally, his body slowly raised off the floor until he was floating in the air. Jared’s unconscious body lifted into the air and floated next to Teague’s. Mina could see the wound on Jared’s abdomen slowly start to heal itself. Teague was right. The book was healing them and not entrapping them within its pages.

She began to have hope and kept pouring every ounce of power she could into directing the book. She didn’t know what she was supposed to be doing, but obviously the Fae book did.