Forever (An Unfortunate Fairy Tale 5)

Charlie disappeared inside after them.

Chapter 7

Mina slowed just before entering the building. Inside, cheesy calliope music blared, but over it she could just hear Nan’s angry voice telling the bear off.

There was a loud roar, and then Nan’s voice cut out mid-sentence.

Mina’s heart clenched. She darted around and entered the maze through the exit, hoping to cut them off. Mina slipped into the back hall and came face to face with her own reflection. She almost cried out but held in her scream. With her back to the wall, she pressed on, trying to make her way through the maze.

Wasn’t this how it always was in horror movies? Hero and bad guy duke it out in a mirror maze. She could have rolled her eyes at the irony of what was happening, but she couldn’t even blame the Fates, because she doubted the Fae bear had seen those movies.

A noise to her left made her freeze. It came from another mirror, behind it maybe. Mina wanted to call out for Nan or Charlie, but again, movie self-preservation told her to hold her tongue.

She made it past two more turns and didn’t see or hear anything else. The floor squeaked beneath her foot, and she froze. Had she given away her position? She should have made it to the middle of the maze by now. Where had the bear gone?

A noise came from ahead, and Mina ducked behind a self-standing wave mirror and listened. She heard footsteps—light and close together. Mina moved from behind the mirror.

Charlie stood in front of her, wooden popgun hefted over his shoulder like a weapon.

“Did you find her?”

He shook his head no.

“Where did they go? I came in the exit.” Mina didn’t think she missed anything, so she continued toward the front where Charlie had come in. It would’ve been easy with all the twists and turns to have missed them. Maybe the bear was hiding, and she or Charlie had walked right past them.

But then Mina thought she heard scuffling, and this time it didn’t sound like it was behind the mirrors. It sounded like it was under them.

She dropped to her hands and knees and pressed her ear to the floor. The sound was clearer. Something large was crawling under the floor.

“Charlie, can you go find Ever?”

He shook his head and crossed his arms.

“Please! We need help.”

He didn’t look happy, but he went running out the front entrance. After she was sure Charlie had gone, Mina backtracked to the spot where she’d made the floor squeak and searched for a trapdoor. She didn’t want her brother to know she knew where the door was. She didn’t want him anywhere near that angry Fae bear.

Mina felt along the floor until she found the edge and the metal clasp. She slowly lifted the trapdoor, expecting something large to spring out at her. When nothing terrifying immediately attacked, she opened the door and rested it back on the floor. The darkness under the house of mirrors almost caused her to chicken out.

She swung her legs over the edge and dropped down to the ground. There wasn’t a lot of room below, but she immediately saw a large wheel. The fair was mobile, so the whole house was on wheels. As she let her eyes adjust, she could see a lot of light leaking in through the shabby tarp wrapped around the wheel bed.

She crawled over to the next section. Her heart sank when she noticed a large tear in the tarp where the bear had made a hasty escape. She backtracked and climbed back into the house of mirrors and called out for Charlie. When she pulled herself up out of the floor, she saw Teague—not just one Teague, many Teagues.

His reflection appeared over and over among the mirrors, each one smirking at her in unison.

Mina stood tall and tried to stare down the reflection closest to her.

“She’s gone.”

“No, she’s not,” Mina argued.

“You’ve lost.”

“The game is only beginning.”

“I’m taking each of your friends one by one, Mina. Like I promised I would. Even your Godmother friends are no match for me.”

“Let Nan go!”