Fairest (21 page)

She locked the door and sat on the edge of the bed, looking out the window. Her window overlooked the front yard of the house and had a fantastic view of Imperial Lake. An hour later, she heard a car pull up, and Mina stood up and walked solemnly over to the window. She wasn’t sure why, but something deep down inside of her spoke to her, told her to look. To look at what was happening underneath her very nose.

She pressed close to the glass and saw Brody’s SUV pull up to the porch, windshield wipers on high battling the torrential rain that was still falling. Music poured out of the car, and she could see the overhead light inside as he opened the passenger door for someone who dashed into the front seat. He spoke a few words to the passenger and then closed the door. The car went dark for a second as Brody raced around to the driver’s side door. When he opened up his door, the car was illuminated once again, and Mina could see who his passenger was. It was Nan.

Mina didn’t see anything else as she stepped back away from the window. Her hand reached for her heart as it exploded with the pain of betrayal. How could she? How could she go off with Brody, at night and alone? She knew that Mina liked him. Only hours ago she was all snuggled up with Peter. How could her best friend do this?

In her irrational state of mind, the only conclusion she could reach was that Nan never cared about Mina at all. It was all an act. She only cared about using her to get to Brody. Images of them singing in the car, laughing together, texting each other about her birthday played in her mind. It made sense.

She heard gravel kick up as the SUV pulled away. Mina raced back to the window and watched as they pulled away down the road. Mina cried silently, her tears mingling with the rain as it washed down the glass window. She moved from the window and collapsed on the bed.

“Please, make it stop,” she cried to no one in particular. “Make the pain stop. I don’t want to feel this way. Make it stop!” She was too focused on her own pain, to see Jared’s form appear faintly in the window, trying to warn her, he was shaking his head violently.

“I just want this feeling to go away. I don’t want to hurt any more. Make it stop.” Mina never meant for anyone to hear her pain, but someone heard, someone listened. Mina finally cried herself to sleep, unaware of the rustle of wind that picked up in her room, moving her hair slightly by some unseen force.

She was awakened later by the sirens of a police car. Her room was awash in the rotating colors of blue and red. She raced to the window to see two police cars pulled up outside. It had quit raining, and Dr. Martin and Veronica were on the gravel driveway speaking to two officers in uniform.

Mina couldn’t hear what was going on but could tell something bad had happened. The police officer was pointing down the road to where Brody and Nan had driven earlier. Veronica screamed, crumpled to the ground, and began sobbing loudly. Dr. Martin held his fiancée and whispered softly to her, rocking her. He held Veronica close to him, and he looked up at the sky, silent tears flowing down his face. She stepped back in horror; her heart raced as she stared out the glass. Slowly smog began to form on the window pane creating a vision in slow motion, and she could see it all.

It came rushing forward, images flashing in front of her on the glass, as if she were there in the car. The downpour had washed away most of the road on the dangerous curve, and Brody not knowing it was gone took the curve too fast. The car slipped down the embankment and rolled over and over. She could hear Nan screaming and Brody trying to reach over and protect Nan. The car came to a sudden collision with a tree at the bottom of the ditch. She could see them clear as day.

Brody groaned, blood pouring out of a gash on his forehead from hitting the steering wheel. He reached over to Nan, but she didn’t respond. He shook her arm slightly but nothing. He began to yell loudly, although Mina couldn’t hear what he said through the glass vision. He pulled his seatbelt off and reached for her neck to check for a pulse. She saw him look through the wreckage of his car to find his cell phone. He dialed 911. He spoke quickly and urgently to the operator, and Mina watched his lips carefully. She fell to the floor in shock and couldn’t breathe.

It couldn’t be true! She looked back up to the fogged window pane, and in slow motion it played Brody’s last words to the operator, over and over. She could easily make them out.

“She’s dead.”

Mina flew down the stairs, knocking over a table lamp at the bottom in her rush to leave the house. The door crashed open, and Mina ran past a sobbing Veronica and a stunned Dr. Martin. The police officers yelled something unintelligible after her, but she didn’t stop to listen. Her heart pounded in her chest, and her shoes slid in the mud as she ran down the road. It wasn’t far before she saw the lights of more police cars, ambulances, and fire trucks about a quarter mile away.

This was all her fault! She knew it deep down. Somehow the Story must have heard her thoughts and wishes, but this wasn’t the outcome she wanted. She never wanted to hurt anyone, especially the two people she cared about most.

She was crying hysterically and had problems seeing in the dark. If she cut straight through the woods downhill, she could cut her distance in half instead of following the curving road. Not caring about how many scratches or cuts she got, Mina fell, tumbled, and slid on her bottom down the long hill. The forest took on an eerie appearance since it was illuminated by the red, blue, and white lights of the emergency vehicles. A loud whirring sound echoed through the night, and sparks illuminated the forest. The firefighters were cutting Nan out of the car, so the paramedics hadn’t been able to reach her yet. Maybe her vision was wrong, and she was still alive.

“Nan! Brody!” Mina screamed and continued her descent. “I’m sorry.” She chanted over and over as she stepped over a fallen tree. “I’ll save you!” She pushed a tree limb out of the way and continued, praying the whole way.

A rush of tingling sensations overwhelmed Mina, and she saw a large electric oval of sparks appear. She had seen a circle like this appear once before, and that was when Ever created a doorway to the Fae plane. Now something on the Fae plane was coming through here.

Mina backed up and away from the sparkling doorway to take refuge behind a tree. She clamped a hand over her mouth to slow her breathing, too scared to look at what could be coming through. She had a fifty-fifty chance of it being either a good Fae or a bad Fae. Either way, without the Grimoire, she was just a normal sixteen year old girl.

The glow became brighter and brighter.  She wondered if the police officers down the hill would notice the ethereal light, or if they were too preoccupied with their rescue. She didn’t even know if Brody had made it out of the car.

The forest darkened for a second as whatever was coming over passed through the gate and blocked the light from the Fae world. The woods filled with the scent of freshly cut gardenias.  A second later, the forest went completely dark again. Now Mina was in the woods alone with a Fae.  She closed her eyes and listened for sounds of movement. If she screamed, someone would come running, she hoped.  That is, if they heard her over the sound of the machine.

There it was, the sound of leaves crunching.  Someone was walking toward her behind the tree. She was going to die, she knew it.  But at least she wasn’t going to die without a fight. Quietly, Mina slid down the tree and reached for a stick that was by her foot. If she got the jump on the creature from the Fae plane, she may be able to immobilize it.

She gripped the stick, took a deep breath, mentally counted to three, and sprang from behind the tree stick held high.  She froze at the sight of what was in front of her.

An ethereal woman, pale, hair like starlight, wrapped in the bluest silk, stood before her, a crown of silver stood upon her brow. She looked upon the stick that Mina held up in the air as a weapon.  Her beautiful brow arched high in disbelief. She flicked a finger, and the stick flew from Mina’s hands to land somewhere in the forest behind her.

“Who are you?” Mina asked, somewhat in awe and somewhat fearful.

“I am Maeve, and I have come to make a bargain with you,” she said simply, without emotion.

Mina looked over the woman carefully.  She knew better than to make bargains with the Fae. She shook her head no, but the Fae woman raised one finger carefully.  Mina felt her head immediately stop shaking. She no longer controlled her own body.

“I would be careful before answering without hearing my terms. Once a bargain has been made it cannot be undone.” She stretched her pale white hand and pointed with a polished finger toward the wrecked car and the emergency team, working hard on rescuing her friends. Mina could see car lights coming down road from the lodge and had to assume it was Dr. Martin and Veronica.

“Okay,” Mina whispered nervously. “Let me hear your terms.  But I’m warning you, if you are trying to delay me from saving my friends, then I will hear none of it.”

Maeve lowered her arm, closed her eyes and a slight glow appeared around the beautiful Fae woman, she opened her eyes and spoke without emotion, “The girl is already dead, the boy has a slight concussion but will live.”

“You lie!” Mina argued, sliding to her knees in the dirt of the forest. “Nan can’t be dead.  It can’t be true.”

“But it is, my child. You’ve failed your quest, and failed in your duties as the keeper of the Grimoire,” Maeve answered. “But I can give you hope, if you agree to my bargain.”

Mina stiffened at Maeve’s words. “My mother told me never to trust the Fae.”

“Then your friend is lost for all eternity.” The Fae queen spoke firmly; her eyes glowing in anger.  She turned, and reaching her hand into her dress; she pulled out a silver tube to create the doorway to leave.

“Wait, what is it that you want?” Mina was desperate, willing to do anything if it could bring Nan back.

Maeve turned around and stared at Mina.  It was easy to see that she was starting to lose her hold on her emotions. “I will make you a bargain that has never been offered to a Grimm before, but never before has a Grimm made such a grave error and done the unthinkable.”

“You mean lose the Grimoire,” Mina answered angrily. “I would think that would make you happy, seeing that it makes it almost impossible for me to complete my quests.”

Maeve’s eyes flared and a cold wind blew whipping Mina’s hair around her face. “Silence, you insignificant human. Your ignorance is costing innocent Fae their lives. The Grimoire is a prison.  It is being used to trap Fae within its pages.”

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?”