Forever (An Unfortunate Fairy Tale #5)

She sat on a crate of supplies and stared across the sea at the setting sun.

The image of the omen’s eyes bothered her so much, she finally gathered the courage to ask Winona about it. She went to stand near her grandmother. “What is an omen exactly? Is it a Reaper or something else?”

“An omen is the form the Death Reaper takes before he strikes and takes your soul. They are a different breed of Reapers, unlike the ones that guard the Fates. Because they are already dead.”

“So can it be killed?” Mina asked.

“No. Only the dead can challenge Death to become the next omen. Then they must spend their half-life collecting souls.”

“How horrible.” Mina shuddered.

“It is,” Winona agreed.

“Who’d want to become a Death Reaper?”

“Someone desperate enough to want a second chance at life, even if it’s only a half-life.”

“Then is there a way to stop it?” she asked.

“There’s lore of a bone whistle that can control the Reaper, but I think that’s all it is—a tale. Because nothing can stop Death when he strikes.”

“It’s how I lost Mom,” Mina whispered. “The omen stole her soul.”

“I know, but I also know that she loved you and would have traded her life for yours in a heartbeat, love. Don’t ever mistake her sacrifice for weakness.”

Mina stared at her hands and saw the half-moon fingernail indents she had left on her palms. She made herself relax and looked up as Winona moved to Ternan’s side.

While they’d talked about the omen, Ternan had his siren crew unfurl every sail—crimson, copper, aquamarine. They were trying to beat the sunset and make it to specific coordinates. Ternan and his first mate were hunched over a sea map calculating distance and wind speed.

Nix asked Winona if she thought they’d make it.

“Of course, dear boy. This is the fastest siren ship ever built. The sirens were the first to discover the sea gate to the human plane, although the humans were the first to discover its sister—the Bermuda Triangle. This one is closest to us, and we’ve risked many of our lives keeping the Fae from using it to cross the planes.”

“Luring them to their death, you mean,” Nix said.

Winona’s chin lifted in challenge, but she laughed good-naturedly. “Aye. The only ones that come sailing here for the gate are up to no good. They’re the low down, dirtiest scum that walks the Fae world. So yes, we call them to their doom, and no one has cared or stopped us. In fact, we do the world a favor.”

“And that’s how my mother met my father.” Mina spoke up.

“Somehow the young man sailed through the gate into our world while he was chasing the Loch Ness beast across the planes.”

“You mean the Loch Ness Monster is real?” Mina asked in disbelief.

“Well, they’re certainly not all from your Loch Ness, but the beasts like deep lakes on both planes,” Winona said. “James followed it through the gate, and, when he did, it attacked and capsized his vessel. It was our youngest daughter, your mother, who saved him. We told her to let him drown since he wasn’t one of us, but she couldn’t. She cried for days when we made a raft and sent him back through the gate to his own plane. There was nothing we could do to help her. She was young and in love, and she begged us to let her go after him.”

“And you let her?” Mina asked. Then she saw Ternan’s face of disgust. “…right?”

“Of course not. We’d never tell her to expose her Fae side to a human. But when we forbade it, she went to a sea witch for help and had her powers bound. That wasn’t enough for her though. She wanted to forget all about us and went to a guild of rogue Fae for help.”

“I believe they call themselves the Godmothers,” Winona corrected.

Ternan growled out, “Whatever, but they helped her. Before they altered her memories, she contacted us and told us never to try to reach her again. It wasn’t until years later that we realized she’d fallen for a Grimm. It kind of changed some things since he already knew about the Fae, but it hurt that she wanted nothing to do with us. Wanted to be human, to raise human children.”

“So we watched you, in our dreams,” Winona said, “and waited, hoping one day, you would need us. And that day is today.” Winona came over and put her arm around Mina in a side hug.

Winona’s eyes locked on the iron cuffs around Mina’s wrists. “How dare he?” Winona gripped the band harder, fuming. “How dare someone shackle the power of a siren!” Her hair crackled with static electricity as her anger rose to the surface.

Mina watched in awe.

Winona held out her hand and power raced to her, her hair whipping about from the abundance of energy. “No one lays a hand on my granddaughter.”

Winona touched the cuffs, and Mina felt the current of power blast through them, turning them black. Whatever magic had blocked her was killed. Her bonds clicked open and fell to the deck with a thud.

Mina hadn’t known what she was missing, but when the Fae power came rushing back to her, it was as strong and as sharp as regaining the ability to see after being blind. She needed to grab a hold of Winona’s arm to steady herself. Her wrists weren’t rubbed raw like Jared’s, she could only assume that it didn’t hurt her as much because she was only half Fae.

Winona smirked and raised her eyebrow. “Now that is just a taste of our power. Shall I teach you the rest?”

Mina’s mouth was dry, and she had to swallow a few times before her verbal yes spilled out. “Teach me anything and everything I need, so I can save my friends.”

“Very good,” Ternan grunted, watching the exchange. “There’s the siren spirit. But you’ll have to delay your lessons until we are through the gate. Any outlash of power can collapse it around us, trapping us between the planes forever.” He gestured to the setting sun.

Mina ran to the front of the ship to watch the miracle that was about to happen.

She saw nothing on the horizon except for two giant stone monoliths that rose out of the sea. Heads popped out of the water to watch them.

Mina couldn’t help but be drawn in by the beautiful aquatic features of the sirens. The fleeting sun reflected off their tails and scales as they swam alongside the ship.

A few came up and called out, a loud piercing shriek, but it didn’t damage the boat. If it had been anything like her brother’s gift, it could very well tear them to pieces. These calls were more of a warning to the boat. The closer they came, the more violent the attacks became.

Until Ternan strode to the bow holding a giant gold trident. He raised it, and the sirens in the water jumped high into the air and flicked their tails in a salute before diving deep below the waves. This continued the last mile. When they reached the twin monoliths, the sirens that guarded the gate left them as the ship continued toward it.

“Almost,” Winona called out. “Starboard,” she yelled to the young siren with dreadlocks who currently stood at the helm. “We can’t breach the gate too early, or we’ll miss our chance completely. We won’t have time to turn around. We’ve got one chance tonight. We can’t afford to have to wait till tomorrow.”