Fairest (An Unfortunate Fairy Tale #2)

Mina felt slighted, and her anger rose to match Maeve’s. “Yes, I know all of that. Jared explained it to me. He also told me that you and the Story manipulate the quests so that the Grimms trap your enemies for you. You use me and my family, to do your dirty work. And we have died doing it.”

The wind quit attacking Mina as Maeve calmed down. “Yes, when a Queen is cornered she must sacrifice pawns to protect her King.”

The chessboard analogy made Mina pause in thought. Someone else had spoken similar words, but at the moment she couldn’t remember who.

“The Grimoire has fallen into the hands of an enemy. I know not who, but they are using the Grimoire to trap innocent Fae. Even you cannot plead ignorance to these circumstances because it was you who lost it. And it is you who must pay for those lives that are lost. It is only a matter of time before more disappear. You know of whom I speak, don’t you?”

Mina pondered, unsure of what Maeve was talking about, and then it came to her. “You mean the missing people, the UPS delivery guy, the DMV worker and the coffee girl?”

“Even your teacher,” she answered solemnly.

“Mrs. Porter, my homeroom teacher? I thought she just retired?”

Maeve shook her head. “All innocents, all imprisoned unjustly.”

“I wouldn’t say all are innocent,” Mina said out loud, thinking of how cruel Mrs. Porter was to her. But if she were Fae, then it made sense why she hated Mina, she was a Grimm.

Maeve became angry again. “ALL were INNOCENT. All imprisoned because of your mistake and they are paying the price. Especially my son.”

“Your son?” Mina asked, but Maeve ignored her.

“I cannot undo what has been done, but I can change the outcome. The rest is up to you, as long as you promise to find the Grimoire and not lose it again. For it holds that, which is most precious to me.”

“Do you mean, you can save Nan?”

“No, I cannot save her fully, but I can give you a fighting chance to save her. If you are willing?”

“YES!” Mina cried out, tears flowing down her face. “I am willing. I will try anything to save her.”

“So you agree?” Maeve asked.

“Yes, I agree.” Mina answered before she realized she had agreed without understanding the full terms.

Maeve opened her arms and spread them wide, her eyes glowed with ethereal power. The stars themselves seemed brighter and closer to the earth than what was naturally possible. The leaves rustled and began to swirl in the air around Maeve, starting at her feet and then rising slowly into the air.

“Then you must go!” she whispered to Mina.

“What? Go where?”

“GO!” she ordered.

Mina bolted, ignoring the Fae woman in the woods. She continued running down the hill, toward the wreck. She could see that Nan’s body had been pulled from the car and was on a stretcher. The paramedics that were gathered around her pulled away. It was obvious that their attempt to revive her was unsuccessful.

Dr. Martin was holding onto a hysterical Veronica as they slowly lifted the stretcher into the ambulance. There was no longer any hurry because they couldn’t save her. They weren’t rushing to the hospital; they were driving her to the morgue.

“NO, WAIT!” Mina cried as she stumbled onto the road, knowing that she probably looked wild eyed and terrifying. “She’s not dead!” A firefighter stopped her from running toward the stretcher, trying to hold her back.

Veronica sobbed even louder at Mina’s announcement. Dr. Martin looked at Mina crossly.

“Dr. Martin, you’re a doctor. You must believe me, she’s not dead,” Mina screamed again and struggled against the man holding her.

Dr. Martin looked disgusted and came over to speak to Mina. “It’s because I’m a doctor that I know she is dead. I checked myself. Don’t go causing more problems, Mina. I’m warning you,” he threatened.

“Dr. Martin, please trust me! She’s not dead. Don’t give up on her.” She kicked the fireman in the shin and ran toward the ambulance. She was so distracted she didn’t see the person sitting on the second ambulance bumper until he stood up and blocked her path.

Brody grasped Mina’s upper arms and pulled her into a hug. “Don’t. Don’t upset them more. She was dead over a half hour ago. She was dead before I called the ambulance.” He looked down at her, his blue eyes filled with grief and sorrow. His red rimmed eyes proof that he had been crying for a while.

“No, you’re wrong. You don’t know her like I do. She’s a fighter. She’s going to go to Julliard in a couple of years. She is NOT dead!” Mina yelled at Brody.

“Mina,” he spoke her name, and his eyes welled up with tears again. “Mina, you have to let her go; she’s gone.”

“Brody Carmichael, let go of me, NOW!” she ordered and shrugged him off angrily. “I can’t believe that you won’t even try to save her.”

Brody looked pained at her words. “I did; I tried everything I could to save her.”

Mina raised her chin angrily. “Obviously, it wasn’t enough because you got her killed.” She pushed him away and stormed over to Veronica who was still crying.

“Listen to me. Mrs. Taylor, listen; she’s not dead. Don’t let them take her to the hospital morgue. Tell them to take her to the emergency room, now!”

Veronica was as pale as a ghost; her lips trembled. Her eyes wouldn’t focus on Mina, but deep down, Mina knew that the woman could hear her. Mina repeated her command over and over until Veronica nodded in agreement.

She stood up and glared at her boyfriend. “She’s right. Don’t let them take my baby to the morgue; she’s not dead.” She pushed Dr. Martin away and opened the back of the ambulance. She crawled in next to the stretcher and her daughter’s still form zipped in a black bag. She motioned for Mina to join her in the ambulance.

Ignoring a bewildered Brody and an angry Dr. Martin, she jumped in the ambulance and slid across from Veronica, who was having a very interesting argument with the ambulance driver.

“NO! You take us right to the emergency room right now. You put those fancy lights and horns on now. We have a girl to save.”

The EMTs looked over their shoulder at Dr. Martin, who closed the back door and slid next to his fiancée, for confirmation. He looked warily over at Mina and the stubborn mother fighting a lost cause, and he sighed wearily. “Well, you heard her, go!”

The two paramedics shrugged their shoulders, hit the lights, and pulled out onto the road toward the hospital.

Mina zipped open the bag and had to stop herself from crying out. There was so much blood across Nan’s face, but it was mostly from a head wound. She couldn’t see anything that was life threatening or that was an obvious reason behind her death. It gave Mina hope. She looked around the ambulance, recognized a stethoscope, and handed it to Dr. Martin. “Don’t give up,” she whispered to him encouragingly.

“We have an electronic heart monitor, Mina,” he said dejectedly, already giving up. “They tried to resuscitate her and it didn’t work.”

Mina shook her head. “Machines can make mistakes. People can make mistakes. Don’t listen to this.” She pointed to the heart monitor. “Listen to this.” Mina reached forward and touched his chest. “What is your heart telling you? Mine is telling me to believe, to have faith.”