Fairest (2 page)

They came closer, and Mina dropped the book to the ground and moved away, scared of getting pulled into the book as well. She hid her eyes from the light and waited until the rushing wind stopped. When all was quiet, she looked around and saw that once again the book was closed. Slowly, she stood, dusted off her dirty and ripped jeans, and picked up the book to check on its contents.

What once was a blank page was now filled with a beautiful illustration--a perfect likeness of her attackers, in their true Fae forms. To the side of the three bears was the silhouette of a young girl that looked like Mina. She flipped to the beginning and saw words scrawled across the index. She had finished another quest and this one without help!

“Earth to Mina! Yoo-hoo!”

“Hmm?” Mina lifted her head from its perch on the stack of books splayed across her school desk to gape at Nan.

She hadn’t heard a word her best friend had spoken in the last few minutes because she’d been staring out the school window toward the aquatics building. Any minute now
he
would be walking out of that particular grey building with the rest of his water polo team. She was wishing, -hoping-no praying for a chance to catch a glimpse of him. Every day it was the same: she would wait here, stare out the window, watch him walk by and hope he would turn in her direction and smile at her the way he used to. Well, not every day, just each day she had detention. And because of the narrow-minded, unforgiving Mrs. Porter, she had detention again today.

Nan spoke again.

“I’m sorry.  What did you say?” Mina asked lamely, resting her head on her hand. She’d been too exhausted with her Grimm tasks and her hopeless crush on Brody to be an attentive friend lately.

“I don’t understand what has come over you these last few weeks? You’re mentally preoccupied; you’re never home; and you’ve been really secretive. If I didn’t know better, I would think you’re seeing someone. Hey, now that I think about it, you have been avoiding that new kid, Jared, like the plague.” Nan squealed in delight, her golden hair bouncing with each head bob. “It’s him isn’t it?”

Nan looked striking today in her cute skinny jeans, trendy boat shoes, sparkly blue nails, light blue band t-shirt and fedora hat. She was simply the loveliest girl in school and only had detention because of her insane habit of constantly using her phone in class. She slid onto the desk opposite Mina and leaned over, cutting off Mina’s view of outside.

Mina frowned and leaned farther out of her chair. Nan mimicked her movement and leaned with her. When Mina didn’t respond, Nan reached over and playfully tugged on Mina’s brown hair.

“Ouch, Nan!” Mina grumbled and swatted at her friend’s hand.

“Nan, what? Tell me what’s going through that square noggin of yours?”

“My head is not square.”

“No, but you sure are becoming one. You used to be a lot more fun. Tell me, is it Charlie?” Nan crossed her legs and arms trying to hide her worry. Her foot wiggled back and forth nervously.

“No, it’s not Charlie. He’s fine.”

Nan sighed in relief but then quickly asked, “Is it Sara?”

“No, Nan, it’s not my mom!” Mina leaned back into her chair in a moment of frustration.

“Well then, what is it? I give up. I will give you my favorite CD. No wait, my favorite pair of shoes if you tell me. No, wait.  I’ll let you
borrow
my favorite pair of shoes.” Nan gave her an unconvincing smile.

Mina didn’t hear the rest of Nan’s attempt at bartering because the person she’d been waiting for appeared. Brody Carmichael rounded the corner with his gym bag slung over his shoulder. Mina’s breath caught in her throat and she forgot everything, even where she was.

There he was: perfection. Tan skin, square jaw, blue twinkling eyes, and blonde hair that curled slightly since it was still wet from the pool. Brody threw his head back and laughed at something his friend T.J. said.

Mina’s heart began to break all over again. Someone called out to the boys, and they turned expectantly and waited.

A girl of equal perfection, in a cheerleader uniform, ran up to greet them.  Her naturally curled ponytail swaying side to side, and Mina had the distinct urge to take scissors to the offending blonde plait. Mina had no choice but to watch the exchange between them with narrowed eyes. It was obvious by the way Brody’s mouth turned down that he was beginning to lose patience with the girl. Mina wanted to scream encouragement through the glass and across the courtyard toward Brody. Apparently, the conversation was over because Savannah White flounced away smiling like a Cheshire cat. Brody’s shoulders were tense when he spoke to T.J.

Mina didn’t know it but sometime during Brody and Savannah’s discussion, she had left her seat to stand with her hands pressed against the window’s glass, trying to reach through to be as close to Brody as possible. The pain of knowing love and losing it was almost too much for her to bear. She breathed his name under her breath and was startled when Brody looked across the courtyard right at her.

There was no way he could have heard her whisper his name, was there? Brody’s frown turned farther down and his brows furrowed in confusion. Mina froze and then realized how silly she must look half pushed against the glass, staring at him like some kind of lovesick puppy. She let out a squeak and dropped her hands to her sides.

Brody looked at Mina and then at the back of Savannah’s retreating form and shook his head. He turned, opened the door to the aquatics building and stormed back inside. T.J. jumped in surprise at Brody’s sudden change in mood and followed quickly behind.

Mina’s cheeks burned with embarrassment and she looked back at the door that Brody had just entered. He looked at her! He actually stopped and met eyes with her. His reaction was not what she expected. A painful imaginary orb lodged in her throat making it hard to swallow, and her heart broke a little more for her once-upon-a-time boyfriend.

It wasn’t that long ago that she found out that her name was not Mina Grime but Mina Grimm and she was descended from the Brothers Grimm. Her mother had changed their name and moved constantly, trying to hide from the Story. But it didn’t matter; it had still found them. Mina was now tasked with completing hundreds of fairy tale quests was in order to end a generational curse on her family.

Her first fairy tale quests had been the most challenging. She had imprisoned an ageless Fae named Claire, defeated a wolf pack and saved her best friend’s life. All while secretly dating the hottest and most popular guy in school. But their whole relationship, the whole experience was gone. Completely forgotten, this was a horrible side effect of her curse. Apparently, the Story, to protect itself and the Fae from humans, could erase memories and alter events.  And it did, to Mina’s horror, and she lost her boyfriend and the few blissful weeks they had been together.

Her mother, Sara had tried to explain it to her. “Well, honey, it’s similar to walking somewhere and being lost in thought and all of a sudden you arrive at your destination with no recollection of the journey.  Your mind fills in the blanks, and it will fill it in with what is the most plausible scenario.”

“What does he think happened?” Mina asked in desperation.

“He thinks whatever the Story pushes him toward thinking. If he normally would have gone home after school each day, then that is what he did. Honey, at your age, hundreds of your days are so similar and repetitive that it is easy for the Story to make us believe we lived the same pattern over and over again.”

Mina’s lip quivered as she whispered, “it’s not fair!”

Sara reached over to her daughter and pulled her into a hug. “There’s no such thing as fair when it comes to the Fae and their tales.”

“Will he ever remember, Mom? Will he ever remember the dance, the rides to school? Will he ever remember he kissed me?” It was becoming too much for her to fathom.

“Sweetie, the Fae are powerful and so is the Story that drives all of the Grimms’ futures.  But let me tell you that nothing is more powerful than true love. And until you find out whether he is your true love or not, I can tell you from experience that those caught in the Story’s web will have intense moments of déjà vu. So don’t give up.”

And that is exactly what Mina had been hoping for-- a chance, a glimpse, something that would spur a moment of enlightenment--and then he would turn to her, take her in his arms and say, “I remember!” But after a few days of awkward and confused glances, Mina began to think it wasn’t going to happen.

“He must think I’m some sort of creeper,” Mina mumbled under her breath.

“Um, yeah, he probably does,” Nan answered.

Mina was startled by her friend’s voice.  She had become oblivious to Nan and hadn’t noticed when she came and sat on the desk next to her to stare out the window at Brody. 

Nan took a sucker out of her mouth and pointed the sticky ball at her friend. “You, dear Mina, need to get a life.”

Mina’s eyes crossed as she took in the wet, red, candy ball on a stick. “Where did you get that?”

Nan rolled her eyes and pulled three more out of her purse. “I’m trying to lay off the cupcakes, too many dyes.  So I switched vices. Want one?” She fanned the suckers and waved them enticingly in front of Mina.

“No thanks.”

“It wouldn’t solve your problem anyway!” Nan spoke with the sucker still in her mouth.

“What problem?” Mina asked, slightly confused.

“The one where you’re turning into a square.” She held up her pointer fingers and thumbs to create a square and looked through it at Mina.

“Compared to what? Are you saying I wasn’t one before?”

Nan turned her head to the side. “Well, you always were more of a triangle. But ever since the dance, you’ve been different.” She pointed a thumb at the aquatics building. “Is it because of Brody, that you’re so broody? Ha! I made a joke…get it?”

Mina turned back toward her desk and put her books into her new backpack. She paused as she remembered a similar backpack with safety pins holding it together. Her mind was flooded with images of Brody falling, her reaching out and grabbing his backpack and saving his life, and all of the days after. The onslaught of memories made Mina frustrated, so she violently tossed the books into her bag.

She needed to quit living in the past and start worrying about her future. Who knew how long before the Story gathered power and unleashed another fairy tale quest on her?

“Okay, I’m a square and I need a life. What do you, oh Wise One, suggest?” Mina tried to smile and play along.

Nan pulled out her iPhone and started typing. “Next weekend the hottest band is playing, and I am determined to get tickets to the show.”

Mina groaned aloud. “Don’t tell me it’s that band that sounds like screeching cats? What are they called? Um Royal Flush, King’s Council?”

Nan pouted. “They do not sound like screeching cats. And they’re called the Dead Prince Society. I’ll stand in line all night if I have to, but we are definitely going. And we definitely need to find you different clothes.”

“What’s wrong with my clothes?” Mina looked down at her vintage striped shirt and grimaced at the obvious paint stain from her earlier art project. What others called thrift store, Mina’s mom called vintage. How could she have missed the stain? She furiously rubbed at the offending paint and it started to slowly chip off, but it was going to take a lot of chipping to get it all.

She’d thought she’d been doing better with her wardrobe.  At least she no longer wore hoodie jackets, which had tended to be a bane to her on her last encounter with the Story, when it had tried to turn her into Red Riding Hood and made all of her clothes red. Still, it was tough to fit in and buy expensive clothes when her single mom, who cleaned houses for a living, supported her and her brother.  So Mina chose to wear hand-me-down, garage-sale items and thrift store finds which weren’t all bad.

 “Forget it, Mina.  The shirt is a lost cause. It’s not worth salvaging.” Nan grabbed her hand, pulled her out of the chair. Mina sighed, picked up her backpack and followed her friend out into the hall of Kennedy High.

Most of the students had already left for the day, and only those who had detention or were involved in afterschool clubs and sports were on campus. Mina never minded staying late after school.  It meant she was able to see Brody and avoid running into despicable Jared.