Fairest (An Unfortunate Fairy Tale 2)

Brody’s body tensed up, and he slowly frowned at her. “I don’t consider myself a jealous person, but I barely know Jared, and I really, really don’t like him. And the thought of you and him together makes me want to punch something. Especially when I have no right to feel that way about Jared, or you. It’s as if we met somewhere…” he trailed off.

“No, it’s not what you think,” Mina rushed out in defense.

“How do you know what I’m thinking?” Brody stood up, walked over to Mina, and leaned down, placing both hands on either side of her body, he pinned her between his muscled arms. He was so close Mina could smell his familiar aftershave.

She looked up at his jaw line and swallowed before turning her head away from him and playing with the seam on the blanket, trying anything to appear more interested in the hospital blanket, than his closeness, his jaw, his lips.

“Tell me why do I have this sudden urge to hold you, to kiss you, when I barely know you?” Brody pulled away in disgust. “What’s wrong with me? You must think I’m some kind of crazed psychopath talking like this. I come into your room unasked and start to demand answers to some crazy questions that I’d hoped you would have answers too. I can’t help but think something is wrong with me, that I really am going crazy.” He turned his back on her and ran his hands through his hair again in frustration.

Mina licked her lips nervously. “Maybe you’re cursed too?”

Brody sighed heavily and looked over his shoulder at her. “I must be, why else would I be here?”

Those words drove straight to Mina’s heart like a wooden stake. They hurt, but there was truth in those words. Brody could be being manipulated by the Story once again. It made Mina angry. Angry at the world, at the Fae, at how unfair everything was for a sixteen-year-old girl in love. He began to move toward to door.

“Brody, wait!” she called out.

Brody froze, his hand on the door, his back stiff, waiting for the ball to drop.

“I wish it was your name,” she blurted out. “I wish it was your name that I had called out.” She waited in anticipation, hoping that he would turn around, run to her and kiss her like he said he wanted. He didn’t turn around

His broad shoulders relaxed, and his head bent forward to look at the ground. “I wish you did too,” he choked out. “Can you tell me why I feel this way? Can you tell me what’s wrong with me?”

Mina’s heart soared with the prospect of telling Brody EVERYTHING! She opened her mouth to explain, when a mirror image startled her. In the reflection of the window, she saw Jared, and he looked scared. She looked over her shoulder, but he wasn’t there in the room with her. She glanced back toward the window and his reflection was faint, far off. It looked like Jared was speaking to her; his mouth was moving, but she couldn’t hear anything. He was trying to warn her about something.

She turned to Brody to see if he noticed, but he still had his back to the window. Mina looked toward the window again, but Jared was gone. And with him went the message, he was trying to get to her. But it gave her just enough pause. What she did was dangerous, and because she cared for Brody, she shouldn’t involve him. But it was because she thought she might love Brody that she wouldn’t involve him.

Reluctantly, she dropped her chin to her chest and sighed out loud. He was still patiently waiting for an answer. When one didn’t immediately come forth, his posture stiffened again.

“I see,” he said.

No other words were spoken by either one of them because Brody left the room.

Chapter 14

Having to stay off of her sprained ankle made it impossible for Mina to make it up the fire escape to her garden refuge on top of her apartment building. She waited on her window bench, staring dolefully out into the night. There wasn’t much to look at since her room faced the adjoining building and the window of Mrs. Orn, the neighborhood cat lady. Her visitors included, Mr. and Mrs. Wong, from the restaurant downstairs, who brought her dumplings, Nan, and the errant news reporter.

After the fourth knock on their door by reporters wanting to do interviews, Sara Grime was at her wits end. Mina’s mom didn’t know how she was supposed to protect her daughter from the curse when everyone in the world was somehow able to find them, despite being unlisted. The very observant Mrs. Wong, dragged out large bamboo mats and tall plants out of her restaurant to the curb. She covered the entrance to the stairwell with the tall mat and placed various plants and vases in front, making it look like a beautiful display.

She then sat outside with a tray of free samples of orange chicken and in broken English distracted the rest of the reporters by purposely giving them wrong directions to her house. Her behavior was a complete one-eighty compared to a few months ago when she had made a collage of newspaper articles about Mina and plastered them to her storefront window, bragging how a famous celebrity lived above her. Maybe because this wasn’t exciting news but more of a tragedy that brought out the protective instincts of the small Chinese woman, but whatever reasons the Grime family were grateful for their paparazzi protector.

But it wasn’t long before the news reporters forgot about the girl lost in the woods, to report on bigger stories. A local DMV worker had disappeared during the night. At first, a few people wrote it off as an unfortunate government employee being unhappy with their benefits. The next day a young female coffee barista from the local Starbucks disappeared as well.

Three people, in as many days, disappeared without a trace. People began to talk, spread gossip, rumors arose of possible kidnappings, but since no ransom notes were found, and no bodies were discovered, the media and police downplayed it, as individual runaway cases.

Mina barely kept up with the news because she still hadn’t found the Grimoire and was at her wits ends. If it wasn’t for her mother, who made sure Mina left her house to go to the doctors and school, Mina would have become a hermit, too scared to go anywhere.

Dr. Martin, gave Mina explicit instructions and she had to wear a brace and use the crutches as much as possible for a week. Much to her dismay, her school was almost impossible to navigate. Her crutches kept getting knocked accidentally by stray bags and shoes and Mina would find herself on her back looking at the putrid yellow paint of the hall ceilings.

Thankfully, Nan was there to yell insults at the boys who obliviously knocked into her. She also turned every embarrassing tumble into a comical adventure, by creating a photo tally. Mina’s fall count had risen to four and it wasn’t even lunch.

“Ooh, that fall was the best; I think you got air on that one.” Nan pulled Mina up and dusted off her bottom and back. “You ready?” she asked. Nan carefully pulled the phone in front of her, and Mina made a face and held up five fingers symbolizing the fifth fall. “Cheese!”

Mina tried to smile, but all she was able to bear was a painful grin. Nan grabbed up Mina’s books, put them in her locker, and helped her get in line for lunch.

The lunchroom was crowded, and the roar of people eating and talking mellowed to a quiet din as she entered. People stared, pointed, and whispered in their direction. When Mina pretended ignorance and didn’t do anything interesting or spectacular, they returned to eating their mediocre lunches. She was used to this pattern of silence then ignorance; it had already happened in each of her earlier classes.