Reign (An Unfortunate Fairy Tale 4)
“You don’t want any old dress. You need a dress fit for a queen.”
Mina shivered. “Don’t say that too loudly. I have no desire to be queen of anything.”
Ever snorted loudly.
“Fine. Then you’ll be the belle of the ball.”
Mina inwardly groaned. Now it sounded like Beauty and the Beast. The last time she’d gone dress shopping, she was stuck in a Red Riding Hood tale. “No belles, no queens. Just a dress. A simple one, with not too much stuff on it.”
“Boring. Got it,” Nan answered.
“No, not boring. I just don’t want any extra attention on my date with Brody.”
Nan looked to Ever and wiggled her eyebrows. “You heard that. We got our marching orders. We are on a mission to make her as unattractive as possible.”
Ever smirked. “Shouldn’t be too hard.”
“Hey, watch it!” Mina bumped her shoulder into Ever playfully. Ever withdrew and moved away to walk on the other side of Nan. That hurt.
Mina wanted to say something, but Nan pointed to a sign above a store with a bunch of old clocks. “Hey, I’ve never heard of this one. Hickory Dickory Dock! We should—”
“No!” Ever and Mina answered simultaneously.
Nan’s eyes went wide and she was about to ask why, when Mina noticed the traffic. A large garbage truck barreled toward them. She thought it would slow down for the light.
Only it didn’t. It continued picking up speed.
“Watch out!” Mina shouted. The garbage truck hit the curb and vaulted onto the sidewalk. It was heading straight for them.
The ground rumbled and noise split the air as the driver blasted the horn in warning. The world moved in slow motion as the faded green garbage truck crashed through a newspaper stand, scattering papers into the air. The license plate came into focus. After all, she was only feet away.
Mina saw Ever grab Nan and try to fly up into the air, but the Pixie wasn’t going to be fast enough.
Instinctively, Mina stretched out her palm and used power to launch her friends out of harm’s way. That was it. She knew it. Save her friends or save herself. She turned and saw the driver’s terrified expression as he raised his arm to cover his face, prepared to slam into her.
But right before impact, she heard the sound of metal scraping across cement. And it wasn’t from the truck.
Chapter 10
“Stupid! You’re so stupid. I can’t believe you didn’t try to save yourself. How dumb can you be?” A male voice growled into her ear as her rescuer carried her, pressed tightly to his chest.
Mina couldn’t see the person who spoke. Her arms were wrapped awkwardly around his neck, and she didn’t let go for fear of being dropped.
It was dark, and the sounds of the city were faint. Where was she? It had happened so fast. One minute she’d been facing death, the next she’d been pulled downward into someone’s arms. The person holding her stopped and tossed her roughly to the ground.
She slid across the cement in something slimy and let out a pathetic yelp.
The voice continued to berate her for her stupidity as her rescuer walked back and forth in the darkness. “You helped them instead of yourself.”
She kept quiet and let her eyes adjust to the lack of light. It took almost a minute, but light trickled down through a hole in the ceiling, circular like a manhole. After a few more seconds, she saw rungs in the wall near her and made out that the top of the manhole was partially blocked. From this distance, she could see part of a wheel and the undercarriage of a car up there.
Now that she could see, she stood and glanced over to spot Teague only a few feet away, his chest heaving in anger, his hands clenched into fists. The look he shot her was pure disgust.
Had Teague just saved her? Why?
Before she dwelt on those thoughts too long, she took another look at her surroundings. She decided to wait before she called him savior. Right now, since she couldn’t find an exit, he was her captor.
“Teague.”