Fairest (An Unfortunate Fairy Tale #2)

He paused and looked at her carefully. “Then try and explain what happened here. Otherwise, I’m calling your mom and you are going home. I don’t care if you are Nan’s best friend. I don’t want her hanging out with someone that is a bad influence.” On the word influence, he pulled the bandage a little too tight and her leg flinched and she thumped her head against the bathroom cabinet in sudden surprise from the pain.

“Ow!” she mumbled, rubbing her head carefully. “Would you believe that I am just that clumsy?”

“Then what was with the glass?” He held the piece of mirror that he had taken from her; it still had a few specks of blood on it. But it gave Mina the proof she needed.

“It’s only spots of blood. I was washing my hands when the mirror detached from the wall and fell on me. I used my hands to protect my head when it fell. Look around. Other than a few scratches from the glass on the outside of my arms, I have no injuries. I cut the inside of my palm when I tried to clean up the mess. That’s when you came in.”

She held out her arms, exposing her wrists and flipping them to show the back of her hands. “All the damage is on the back of my hands. Proof I wasn’t trying to hurt myself. You have to believe me when I say I am extremely clumsy and have inherent bad luck.”

“Hmm,” he intoned, before slowly regarding the bathroom and broken mirror thoughtfully.

“Where’s Nan?” Mina asked quickly before he accused her of anything else.

Dr. Martin didn’t look at her; he continued to scrutinize the wall where the mirror had hung earlier. She could tell he was weighing the possibilities, still deciding if he was going to believe her. “Out on the dock with Veronica--they are getting ready for a boat ride.”

“Oh,” Mina moaned sadly. She was surprised that her best friend had left the house without telling her. It was obvious Nan had forgotten about her; she was preoccupied.

“Come on,” he mumbled and pulled her up to her feet. “She wouldn’t let Veronica take off without you. It’s getting dark soon, and then we have to light the bonfire.”

Her spirits lifted instantly.

He held stubbornly onto her shoulder when she tried to move away. She looked at him, and he spoke quietly, barely above a whisper. “I don’t believe you are telling me the whole truth, but I want you to know that I love Veronica and her daughter like my own. If you do anything to influence Nan or cause her harm, there will be serious consequences.”

“I understand, but let me--” Mina started.

Dr. Martin held up his hand, cutting her off. “This conversation is over.” He held the door open and waited for Mina to pass through it first. She couldn’t help but pick up her pace and practically ran down the stairs out of the house, feeling duly chastised and ashamed.

She ran past the students gathering by the bonfire and felt the sting of tears. She would not cry. It was stupid to cry.

Veronica waved at Mina when she made it to the dock. “There you are, sweetie. We were worried about you,” Veronica called out kindly; her long blonde hair was braided into a single plait over her shoulder. With the excitement of being on the speedboat making her cheeks flushed, she looked very much like Nan at the moment. Nan, on the other hand, was sitting on the bench wearing a red polka dot swimsuit and engaged with every word that Peter spoke.

But it was just the two young people with Veronica; Brody wasn’t on the boat. She wasn’t sure why, but she had assumed he would take the boat ride with them. She turned and scanned the dock and saw Brody by the unlit bonfire with Savannah and Pri. Dr. Martin had just joined them by the bonfire and was arranging the kindling to get it started.

Mina was about to change her mind and get off the boat, but Veronica started the engine and backed away from the dock. It was too late. Great, Mina thought wryly to herself. Now she was going to be stuck on a boat ride with two love birds. How awkward. She desperately wished she was back on dry land. The ride would be beautiful; the sun was setting and was the perfect backdrop to a magically romantic evening for Nan and Peter. Mina could see how awestruck Nan was by Peter, and he seemed to be equally entranced with Nan.

The two of them were holding hands, and he was whispering into her ear, neither one of them paying any attention to the inspiring sunset. When they had pulled far enough away from land, Veronica took the boat as fast as it could. Circling back around the lake, riding the crests of their previous waves, the boat would lift off of the water over and over.

Nan and Peter screamed in excitement holding their hands above their heads in triumph, similar to riding a roller coaster. Mina held onto the seat and hated every minute of it. She hated her circumstances, her lot in life, and was even beginning to hate Nan’s absolute luck with finding a boyfriend. Mina thought the second time around would be easier for her and Brody to start over, but it was proving more difficult. She felt her fingernails dig into the leather seat angrily.

It wasn’t fair. What was different this time? Was it because she wasn’t rich? Or maybe it was because she wasn’t pretty enough. Why couldn’t she have been born rich or with Nan’s good looks? She heard Nan laugh out loud, and it made her cringe in annoyance. The boat ride was becoming torture. She couldn’t even look at her best friend without feeling anger, regret for even coming, and a twinge of jealousy. Nan had it so easy; she just happened to sit next to a rock star and get accidentally kissed in a spur-of-the-moment incident and now she had a boyfriend. She was free to live her life without the threat of a family curse over her head. Free to argue with her parents over what college to attend when Mina didn’t even know if she would live long enough to go to college. Free to date anyone without fear of being attacked by the Fae.

The feelings of dissatisfaction and jealousy hit her like a painful stab in the stomach, and Mina felt like she was going to be sick. She motioned to Veronica who saw how green Mina had become and turned the boat toward the dock.

“Why are we going in?” Nan asked confused.

Veronica called back over her shoulder, “Mina is going to be sick. I think we’ve had enough for the night. It’s time to get back for the s’mores anyway.” She managed to bring the boat around, cut the motor easily and glide in the rest of the way to the dock.

Nan was visibly upset and kept casting Mina accusing glances. Mina didn’t need to wonder what those looks meant. Since they had been best friends for years, she knew that Nan blamed Mina for robbing her of her alone time with Peter. What could she say except that Mina didn’t really care? As soon as Dr. Martin ran down the dock to help tie up the boat, Mina was off the boat and up the dock in a split second.

She wanted to get away, to go home. This was not how she pictured the night turning out. But when Mina passed the bonfire, it was impossible to miss the three new latecomers that had arrived. Especially, when one had spiked skunk like hair and they made enough noise to raise the dead. The rest of the members of the Dead Prince Society were there, and the party really seemed to be getting underway.

Music was blasting. Magnus was once again eating his way through the food on the picnic table. Naga had found extension cords, had run them from the house and hooked up their amplifiers to their guitars. Constantine had brought out his bass for an impromptu music jam. The students were screaming and crowding the band; Naga and Constantine were standing on a table shredding and making a lot of noise that to them was music.