Reign (An Unfortunate Fairy Tale Book 4) (15 page)

She wanted to ask more, but Ever vanished
around the corner.

Confused but determined, Mina retraced
her steps and found the hall of mirrors. Nix sat on the floor, his head leaning
against a smooth wooden frame. Nan kneeled in front of him, trying to coax him
out of his depression. Constance and Mei were busy detaching a mirror from the
wall and lowering it onto a rolling cart.

Mei patted the antique mirror and gave Mina
a wide smile. “I knew you’d come around. You are not one to let others suffer.
Yourself? Yes. Others, no.”

“I had to have someone talk some sense
into me. I seem to have lost all my own for a minute.” Mina walked over to look
at the mirror they had removed from the wall. The frame was made of crystal
clear glass inlaid with diamonds and pearls. It looked to have been well taken
care of over the years. “That’s beautiful.”

“It’s very old. Probably the oldest
mirror here.”

“Whose is it?”

“Don’t you worry about it.” Mei ran her
hand across the frame and a sparkle followed her hand. “I know we are asking a
lot of you. You have met every challenge so far with great strength and
determination. I’m proud of you.”

“Mei, I’m scared,” Mina admitted.

“I know, sweetie. I’d question your
sanity if you weren’t.”

“What if I go and I can’t get back? What
if I get stuck there…or killed?”

Mei shrugged her shoulders. “There’s no
guarantee, Mina. But we hope you can stop whatever is doing this to the Grimms.”

Mina sighed. “What do I have to do?”

Constance came and placed her hand upon Mina’s
shoulder. “Do you still have the seam ripper?”

“Yes.”

“Good, because you never know when you
might need to jump from plane to plane. Keep it with you at all times. We will
do our best to get you to the right time.”

“What do I do when I get there?”

“You blend in. Try and find whatever
caused the anomaly and fix it. But you will only have a short amount of time
before you are transported home. A few days at most—but possibly as
little as hours.”

“And what if I can’t find the problem?”

“Then you and your family are doomed.”

“Okay then. No added pressure or
anything,” Nan chimed in, coming to stand beside her. She met Mina’s eyes, her
face full of understanding. “You know I would go with you if you asked.”

“No,” Baynard answered. “We don’t have
another mirror. We can’t send you both back.” He’d reappeared from a ledge
above them, Thistle at his heels.

“Schumacher says he thinks he can have it
done by tomorrow evening,” she said. “Once the enchanted item is made, it will
decide on the best time and place to send you. Once the shoes become active,
you will have only seconds before you’re transported. It will be the same with returning.
Do you understand?”

“Yes, I think so,” Mina answered feeling
lightheaded. This wasn’t a good time to faint.

“Good.” Baynard pointed, and Mei took the
mirror out of the room. “Expect a forthcoming delivery with further
instructions.”

“I think she’s got it,” Nan answered for
her. “I’ve got total faith in her.”

“That makes two of us,” Nix smiled. He
stood up and brushed his hands off on his pants. “Thank you, Mina.”

“Don’t thank me yet,” Mina breathed out
softly. “Wait to see if I fail first. I may end up in the wrong time period.”

“You won’t,” Ever confirmed in a loud
voice. “You’ll make it, but your course of action once you’re there will
determine your future.” Ever’s eyes were puffy and her tears had removed all of
her makeup. She looked so lost. “So don’t mess it up again. Got it?”

Confused, Mina just gave Ever a thumbs
up.

“So we don’t know exactly when she’ll
have to go back, right?” Nan asked.

“Right. We have to wait for Schumacher,”
Baynard said, looking across the room as the door opened again and Mei came in.

Nan leaned in. “Is there still a chance
she can go to the ball tomorrow?”

“I completely forgot.” Mina slapped her
forehead.

Constance looked worried.

Mei’s interest was piqued. “A ball, you
say? That’s my specialty. After all, I am your Fae Godmother.”

Mina groaned.

Chapter 17

It was the suckiest of all sucky days.
Mina was walking the line between being extreme happiness and hysteria.
Constance worried about the Fae Guild being attacked and promised that they
would be on alert. Nix was sent to the healing ward to get his head taken care
of, and Mei drove all the girls home. Once Mina reached the safe haven of her
messy bed, she collapsed on a pile of clean laundry and slept through the night.

She woke around two Saturday afternoon.

Her mom must’ve seen how exhausted she
was and let her sleep. “Woohoo, Meehna. Wakey wakey. Open door. We get you
prettied up for you big date.” Mei was pounding on her bedroom in full on Mrs.
Wong character.

“Mmmfff, not by the hair of my
chinny-chin-chin,” she grumbled loudly into her pillow. Mina turned her head to
make sure the door was locked. It was. It was a terrible idea for her to go to
the ball, especially when she had much bigger problems.

Maybe she could close her eyes and wish
really hard and everything would just go away. It’d all be a dream.

No such luck. She heard a whooshing sound
as the lock on the door turned with a click. Mei’s grinning face peeked through
the crack in the door. “I huff and puff and blow your door in.” In other words,
she used Fae magic.

Mei carried a large garment bag draped
over her arm and gently laid it across Mina’s back, pretending not to see her
in the pile of clothes and blankets amassed on her bed.

Mina groaned and pulled herself out from
beneath the offending garment bag until she slid off the other side of the bed.
Peeking up from beside the mattress, she glared at Mei. “I’ve decided to not
go.”

“You have to go.” Mei gave her the stink
eye and thrust her fists onto her hips. The dreaded finger came out and began
to wave at her. “Every Fae Godmother dreams of this, and they never get the
chance. They always boys. You make my dreams come true and be a girl for once.”

“I’m a girl,” Mina argued offensively.

“Not today you not. You stink like river.
Get in the shower now.”

Mina cringed and pulled her collar up to
sniff it. Oh yeah, she reeked. It was that odd combination of lake water and
fish. Without another word of argument, she grabbed a towel and headed to the
bathroom. It wasn’t the world’s quickest shower, but it was fast in her book.
She came back into her room wearing her pink polka dot robe, a towel wrapped
around her brown hair, and her Cookie Monster slippers.

As Mei finished fluffing her pillow and
placing it on her neatly made bed, she cast one look at Mina and started
muttering about how she could give Charlie a run for his money in the odd
costume department. In the few minutes she’d been gone, Mei the brownie had
cleaned her room top to bottom. She could see her floor and the odd colored
rug, her clothes were folded and put away—even the pictures and knickknacks
had been dusted. If she hadn’t had known Mei was a brownie, she would surely
have accused her of being a cleaning fairy.

But the cleanliness of the room was
quickly forgotten at the sight of the glorious dress that peeked out of the
unzipped garment bag on her closet door. Mina walked to the bag and reached out
to run her fingers across the white bodice. It looked to have been embroidered
in intricate fine silk half-moons. She noticed the barest glimmer of small
crystals buried deep within the silk. The skirt flowed downward into what she
first thought were squares of silk, but were actually feathers.

“What is it made of?” Mina asked, nervous
she might brush across it too hard and break the threads of silk.

Mei grinned merrily. “You like? The
bodice is made from the rarest spiders’ silk and moon crystals. The skirt is
made from the feathers of
the
golden goose.
You my dear are vera vera lucky.”

Tears formed in Mina’s eyes. Never before
had she seen such splendor—and she would be the one wearing it! “Oh, Mei,
thank you. You wouldn’t happen to have a rabbit’s foot and a four-leaf clover
would you?”

Mei made a face. “Why? Those not lucky.
Those superstitious mumbo jumbo.”

Her Godmother continued to fuss over her.
She blow dried her hair and curled it, using a wee bit of Fae magic to get the
curls flowing perfectly over one shoulder. “Now, this is a masquerade, right?
So you need a mask.” She reached down to pull a feather from the skirt and
cupped it into her hands. Bright gold light poured from between her fingers,
and she held up a perfectly sculpted feather and crystal mask that matched the
dress.

Mina couldn’t help but let out a little
cry of joy.

Her mother came to look in on her. “Oh,
she’s beautiful!”

“I know.” Mei smirked proudly, folding
her arms. “She’ll make anyone fall in love with her tonight.”

Her mother ran to get the camera and
spent the next ten minutes taking silly pictures along with serious ones. It
was almost time for Brody to pick her up.

When she heard the knock on the door, her
heart thudded in anticipation.
He’s here!

How come she was suddenly excited to
spend the evening with him when just a few hours before it had terrified her?
Everything was going so well. Maybe she’d been wrong about her next quest.
Maybe this had nothing to do with Teague and the Story. It wasn’t like Brody’s
car would turn into a pumpkin.

Charlie beat Mina to the door and yanked
it open.

An extremely tall and gangly man with an
equally long face stood on their front porch. His skin was pasty white, and his
eyes were small and beady as if he never saw the sun.

“Can I help you?” her mom asked.

“I’m Schumacher. I’ve brought you your
shoes.” His deep voice resonated, reminding Mina of Lurch from an old show
called
The Addams Family.
Charlie and
she would often stay up late to watch the reruns.

“Excuse me?” her mom said again, glancing
at what he was holding out in front of him.

Mina was scared to look, but she leaned
to the side of Mei and—sure enough—sitting in the palms of
Schumacher’s long hands was a pair of pumps with a small two-inch heel
fashioned from glass. Mina and Sara both registered the implications at the
same time, because her mother slammed the door on poor old Schumacher.

“Mom! We need those.”

“No you don’t! I know what this is. Why
didn’t you tell me you were given another tale? I’m your mother. I should know
if your life is in danger,” she spoke harshly.

Mina rushed to her mother, grabbed her
hands between her own and tried to calm her. “Mom, listen to me. We will always
be in danger as long as we are alive. There’s no way around the curse. But
there’s something even worse that is about to happen to you, to Charlie, to
us…if I don’t take those shoes and use them to save us.”

Her mother started to cry. She reached
out and pulled Mina into a long hug. “I know. I know this is something you have
to do. But don’t ask me to not worry or be afraid. That’s my right as a mother
to be terrified for you.” She sniffed and wiped at the back of her nose with
her sleeve. Mina stepped back and nodded.

Charlie had kept the curtain back to
stare at Lurch.

Mei pulled her mother into another hug,
and they both watched as Mina approached the door again.

She opened the door and Schumacher was
still standing there with the beautifully horrifying shoes. Beautiful in their
design, horrifying in what they symbolized.

“I’m Schumacher. I’ve brought you your
shoes,” he repeated.

“Why yes. Thank you, Schumacher.” Mina
held out her hands to receive the shoes from him. The glass shoes tinkled
together when she grasped them. Upon closer inspection, Mina could see that
they were a mixture of clear glass and long pieces of mirror. The sole of the
shoes were lined with mirrored glass, and she could see her reflection staring
at her from within the slippers. The form and heels were sculpted glass, the
tops decorated with little glass diamonds. These were the creation of not only
a master cobbler but a master glassblower as well. “They’re beautiful.”

He nodded and his long face stretched
into an awkward smile. He leaned forward and whispered softly to her. “Wear
now.” Mina opened her mouth to ask a question, but he cut her off. “Now. Wear
now!”

Mina’s mouth lost all of its moisture.
“Sounds good.” Her tongue felt like a piece of sandpaper when she tried to
answer him. She watched as Schumacher turned and stepped off of the porch. He
walked to the nearest shadow, made from a large maple, stepped into it, and
disappeared.

She turned and showed the shoes to Mei
who only whistled. “You hear him. Listen to Schumacher. Don’t dilly-dally. Put
them on.”