Reign (An Unfortunate Fairy Tale #4)

“What is that?” Mina asked, wondering if these were the charms her mom wore.

“Pandora’s box,” Mrs. Colbert answered, walking toward Nan with her hand outstretched.

“Like the Greek myth? Where Pandora opened the box to release all of the evil into the world. Is that the same box?”

“No, that box was destroyed. Since then, Pandora has tried to make up for her transgression by collecting the strongest and best attributes in the box as a way to make amends. We’ve been the protectors of this box for over a century now. This is Pandora’s jewelry box.”

Nix moved over to stand closer to the box, highly interested in the other symbols, his lips moving as he read them. Ever kept to the edges of the room as she watched in silence. She had her arms crossed in front of her and leaned against the wall, pretending she wasn’t interested in what was happening.

But Mina could tell. She was as curious as Nix.

“It took many years, but we were able to add locks to each compartment.” Constance approached Mina and leaned down to speak quietly with her. “The Guild and I have spoken. We listened to your request for help, and we’ve voted in your favor.”

“Meaning?”

“We’ve decided to allow you one.”

“One?”

“Yes, you are allowed to tell one human. We will allow only one to know of our existence. Other than your immediate family of course...and your Fae friends.” She looked over at Ever and Nix.

Mina was quiet for a second, contemplating how wrong all of this was. There were hundreds of Fae that knew about her, but she could only tell one human person. She had already told Brody and now Nan knew. She was already over her allotted human limit. “What happens if I want to tell more?”

Constance shook her head. “We can’t allow that. We would have to erase their memories ourselves. Any more and they become a liability to us, to you— to all Fae. So I have to ask you now…” She held out the small gold charm in the shape of an anchor. “Is Nan Taylor your one?”

Mina’s eyes flew to Nix who leaned back in surprise. He pinched his lips tightly, signaling that he wouldn’t say anything about Brody knowing. Now—when they were locked into a magic room with Pandora’s box—was not the time to argue. But this clearly made him even more interested in the box full of charms.

When Mina hesitated, Constance added, “Because if she’s not, we need to erase her memories before she leaves this room. And unfortunately, we aren’t as skilled as the Fates in doing it.”

Her veiled threat made Mina rush out her answer. “Yes, yes. She’s my one.”

“Okay then. The Guild will be happy to hear you’ve chosen.” She waved her hand and Nan picked up right where she left off.

“—ing to escape?”

“Nothing that you need to worry about. Here, Nan. Take this charm and wear it, but do not ever take it off.” She pressed the small key-shaped charm into her hand. “It will help unlock your memories and keep them from being altered in the future.”

Nan looked at the little golden key charm. “Sweet.” She lifted it up in the air and promptly dropped it. The charm slipped across the floor. “Oops.”

Nix moved away from Pandora’s box and reached down to pick up the runaway charm. He handed it to Nan, shooting Mina a disappointed look.

Mina understood. If the Guild caught her—she’d just chosen her best friend over Brody. They would once again be back to square one in their relationship. But in that moment, she’d had to make a choice.

She would just have to make sure the Guild didn’t find out.

Mina was silent and despondent as Constance led them back to the main hall. Nan seemed as chipper as Mina had expected and took everything in great stride. She had a spring in her step. It also helped that Nan held onto the charm and continued to rub her finger over it like it was a good luck token.

“I’m to bring you to the hall of mirrors,” Constance said.

“Ooh! Sounds interesting,” Nan smiled and came over to squeeze Mina’s arm.

The hall of mirrors was a white circular room filled with mirrors of all shapes and sizes. Mina had been in there once before. With Jared.

The door they entered disappeared into the white wall, making it almost impossible to detect in the rounded room. The mirrors covered almost every square inch. One was the size of a small moving truck with an illegible plaque next to it. Many had ornate frames of gold or silver; a few had simple wood frames.

Mina walked past an antique mirror, the glass now cloudy with dust. There was no shadow of movement behind it and she briefly wondered if that was because the Grimm it watched had passed on. There was no reason to clean a mirror if you weren’t looking into it every day.

Usually she could see at least the barest glimmer of a silver shadow before it came into focus. But now she noticed more mirrors had no movement behind them. They were just lifeless.

She was drawn to her own looking glass, a smaller handled mirror that hung on hooks on the wall across from them. It took only a moment after her finger brushed the surface for her image to appear in her mirror. This time she didn’t look around searching for the hidden cameras.

Nan had moved over to a large mirror to check her reflection. She was studying the spot on her forehead where there’d previously been a cut, but jumped in surprise when someone else’s image reflected back at her.

Mina turned to see who was in there. A large man in his fifties, wearing a suit, sat eating a bratwurst at his dinner table. The colors of the kitchen and the cabinetry didn’t look American. It must be one of the distant Grimms over in Germany or Europe somewhere.

Something moved near the edge of the frame, catching Mina’s eye. A little brown mouse perched precariously on a wooden ledge, watching the goings on in the mirror closely.

Nan waved her hand in front of the man’s face but nothing happened. “Hey. Hey you!” The man continued eating, oblivious to the fact that he was being watched in the mirror. “This is so creepy.”

Nix had apparently never been in the mirror room and was writing in the dust on all of the old mirrors. When he walked away, they read NIX in capital letters.

“Why’d you do that?” Nan asked.

He shrugged his shoulders. “Now they will have to be cleaned.”

“Dork,” Nan rapped his shoulder playfully.

“Sprunk.” Nix answered, his face lighting up.

Nan looked taken aback. “I don’t even know what that is.”

“And you think I know what a dork is?”

“Ha, ha. Very funny. That is exactly something a dork would say.”

“Not only are you a Sprunk, but you’re a Feeter too!”

Her eyes went wide, and she called out in a whiny voice, “Ever?”

Ever held up her hands. “Don’t drag me into this name-calling game, or both of you will lose.”

Just then, Mei entered the hall of the mirrors, rejoining them.

Constance moved to a small door near the floor and gave a slight knock. The door opened, and a little white mouse wearing spectacles and a blue robe stepped out.

“Hello, Constance, Mina, and friends,” the small mouse said in greeting. His high-pitched voice was soft and squeaky. Nan squeezed Mina’s arm in unbidden excitement at seeing the talking mouse. He quickly ran up the closest frame, perched at eye-height for Constance.