Reign (An Unfortunate Fairy Tale Book 4) (29 page)

Mina held her half of the Grimoire
tightly and eyed the one Teague held. She started to shake. It couldn’t be.
This wasn’t how it all started, was it? Was she the reason the Grimoire had
been split in the first place, creating the two books? Could all this
really
have happened before? It was too
much for her to take in.

The sky spun and she felt light headed.
She could barely make out Teague dropping the book and running for her as she
slid to the ground in a faint.

Chapter 27

It was a maze.

The final test was a maze and Mina was
horribly lost.

She’d awakened the following morning back
at the Fae palace in her own bed, weak and a bit disoriented. Her head
literally pounded.

No wait. It was the door. The brownie
girl came in and helped Mina get dressed for the final test. The rules were
simple. They would each be placed on different corners of the maze. Teague
would be waiting in the middle. The maze was enchanted and would shift and
change. Whichever girl made it to the tower would be worthy of being Princess
of the Fae and would marry Teague.

The brownie overlooked not a single
detail as she curled and pinned Mina’s hair to befit a princess. Mina’s dress
flowed from her hips in swaths of lavender silk that resembled flower petals.
Strips of the same lavender silk wrapped around her torso creating a fitted bodice.
She had no jewelry, nothing to adorn the beautiful dress, but it really didn’t
need anything else. She looked like a beautiful chrysanthemum.

“You did a beautiful job—not just
today—but every day that you’ve helped me.” Mina felt sad that she hadn’t
spoken to the brownie before this.

Her deep tanned face grinned, making her
eyes sparkle with pride. “My charge will be on equal playing ground with the
others. Doesn’t matter if you’re not from here. You belong with the prince.”

Mina’s stumbled in her borrowed shoes.
“How do you know I’m not from here?”

The brownie smiled knowingly and pressed
her finger to her nose. “We brownies are smart.” She waited a moment before
adding, “Plus, I found something in your coach when you first got here. I was
looking for your trunks, but all I found was this.” She handed over the seam
ripper.

As Mina felt the cool silver tube in her
hand, she wanted to cry. “How? Why are you giving this to me now?”

“I had to make sure it wasn’t dangerous,
so I brought it to my brother who studied it and took it apart. We had to make
sure it wasn’t a weapon.”

“You took it apart? What if it doesn’t
work now?”

The brownie looked offended. “He wouldn’t
have broken it. See? It looks as good as new.” She paused and looked eagerly at
the silver object in Mina’s hands. “But he didn’t know what it does. What does
it do?”

Mina lied. “Nothing. It’s just a good
luck charm.”

Now the Fae had the schematics to make a
seam ripper. All because of her. Things were getting stranger by the minute.
She tucked the seam ripper in her pocket next to the Grimoire.

“Thank you.” Mina answered, unsure about
what she was supposed to do next. Captain Plaith, wearing his sun and moon
emblazed armor, was the one who appeared at her door to escort her to the final
test. He seemed on edge, worried. Similar to how she’d seen him when she and
Nix snuck into the palace before. Though this time, he had less gray hair.

Everything was a daze. She barely
registered walking the halls. One minute she was in her room, the next she was
outside being led across the dew-covered palace lawn. There was a slight chill
in the air, and a morning fog crept along the ground which only added to her
dismal mood. The fog hid the maze until she was almost right on top of it.

Green. Walls of twisted green bushes rose
out of the ground, ten feet high.

“The maze is over two square miles in
size. In the very center is the glass observatory. That is your goal.” Captain
Plaith relayed information to her the same way he relayed information to his
troops—formal and direct.

She could hear voices on her near right
and caught a glimpse of Ever and her escort just before they disappeared into
the morning mist.

A loud, haughty voice laughed to her
left, and Mina cringed. Annalora’s laugh would haunt her for days. She was glad
the fog hid the horrible girl from view. Only briefly did she wonder where
Dinah would end up.

“Each of you will be entering from a
different side of the maze. But be careful. It is enchanted. You will come face
to face with your true self inside, and that can sometimes change people.” He
clipped his boots together and turned abruptly, presenting her very own
entrance to the maze—a large silver door decorated with vines and roses.
She couldn’t help but think of Alice and Wonderland. Would she the words “Off
with her head” today?

The beautiful door loomed in front of
her. Mina’s future depended on the choices she’d make once she entered. It was
too much for a seventeen-year-old girl to take.

Queen Maeve and King Lucian stood on the
nearest palace balcony overlooking the maze. He addressed the contenders.
“Remember, only the most worthy among you shall make it to the tower. Once the
princess has made it into the star observatory,” he pointed to the tower, “a
light will shine across the land for all to see.” Lucian seemed pleased with
his announcement and placed his hand around Maeve’s waist.

Two trumpeters on either side of the
Fates lifted their instruments to their lips and began a melodious fanfare.

Mina was neither nervous nor excited. She
was sick to her stomach and really just wanted to find a place to throw up.
This wasn’t happening. She shouldn’t be here. The trumpeters ended the fanfare,
and the final contest began.

As Mina approached the silver door and
her hand brushed the iron latch, she almost lost her nerve. What was she going
to do? She had to enter, or at least start the contest. She turned the latch
and the door swung inward with barely a creak.

Swallowing back her misgivings, she
entered the maze. The grass was soft and a pleasant aroma of poppies surrounded
her. The door swung closed behind her, and Mina gasped. She grabbed at the
handle and twisted, but it was too late. She was locked inside the maze.

Forward was the only option. As she moved
farther into the maze, she kept her right hand on the hedge and tried to follow
the twists and turns by never letting go. She wandered that way for most of an
hour. After a few more bends, she came across a beautiful stone bench.

Trying to use the bench as a marker she
continued on for another hour and wound up right back at the same bench.

“What?” she turned in a circle and looked
at the entrances to her little seating area. “Okay, I’ll go this way.” She took
off again on a mission to get as far away from the bench as she could. Forget
the tower. After another hour, the bench greeted her once again.

“So this is how it’s going to be, is it?”
She spoke to no one in particular.

Mina decided to sit down and think things
through before she went on. She knew—or at least thought she
knew—what was going to happen. All of her steps up to this point had
seemed oddly destined. There was no doubt in her mind that she had already come
to the past and had a part in the division of the books and even in giving the
seam ripper to the Royals.

But the possibility of what could happen
next terrified her. She wasn’t sure how to proceed without messing up her own
timeline. She
was
here to change
things, after all, but what was right? And what would ruin everything? Should
she sit and wait for Annalora to make it to the center of the maze and to
Teague? Maybe by doing nothing—she was doing something. If only that was
the answer.

No, waiting didn’t feel right. She caught
her breath and continued searching the maze.

Mina tried to gauge the time by watching
the suns cross the sky. She had to have been going in circles for quite some
time. The contest had started a few hours ago, and it looked to be almost
afternoon. Her stomach was growling, and she’d begun to lose feelings in her
legs from walking for so long. She shaded her eyes and looked up at the tower
for any sign of life. Had she seen a shadow move past the glass? Had someone
made it to the tower? Or was that Teague pacing and watching them from above?
She turned toward the tower and was again confronted with the stone bench.

She heard soft footsteps and angry
muttering. The noise drew closer.

Annalora hurried around the corner of the
hedge.

“You!” her angry voice rang out. The
gnome princess looked out of breath, her cheeks red and perspiring. A sheen of
sweat dotted her forehead. Her deep red dress was cut low to show off her
assets, which honestly made her look desperate for attention.

Annalora glanced around hesitantly to see
if anyone was near before approaching Mina. Her right hand was hidden behind
the folds of her dress. The way she walked warned Mina that something was
afoot. “I finally have you alone.” Annalora laughed softly, but it sounded
stilted. Her eyes looked a little wild, and there was something desperate about
her mannerisms.

“Leave me alone, Annalora. Solve the maze
and go live your life with the prince,” she rushed out. “I’m no threat to you.”
Mina took a seat on the bench, hoping to convey she wasn’t going to compete.

Annalora continued her approach, her head
shaking, “Oh no you don’t. I’ve searched every inch of this maze, and I’ve
gotten to the center—to the tower. There is no entrance. There’s no way
up.” She started to laugh and scratched at right her arm. “Then it dawned on
me,” she continued. “The Fates said that only the worthy one would make it to
the tower.”

Mina looked at her, confused. “Yes, we
all heard the rules. So what?”

“Don’t you see? The answer was there all
along. There can only be one. Only one of us can win. The others didn’t believe
me, but they couldn’t find the entrance either. I’m right. I know I’m right.”
The whole time she spoke, she crept closer.

Mina noticed that some parts of her red
dress looked darker than others—wet.

“So that means the tower won’t open until
there’s only one of us left…alive.” She pulled a large stick from between the
folds of her dress and swung at Mina’s head.

Mina wasn’t prepared for the assault and
fell backwards off of the stone bench. Her dress hampered her attempt to get to
her feet, and Annalora was on her in two seconds flat. Mina struggled under the
weight of the gnome girl and used all of her strength to keep the makeshift
club at bay.

Annalora’s animalistic scream echoed into
the sky, sending birds flying. When she couldn’t get the branch past Mina, she
tossed it aside and went for Mina’s throat. She squeezed.

“Anna…
cough
…Ann…
cough
…stop!” Mina gasped out. She clawed
at the hands strangling the life from her. She didn’t dare release her grip to
reach for the Grimoire, but she was starting to black out from the lack of
oxygen.

Something moved in the corner of her
peripheral vision. Mina heard a thud and a small groan as Annalora went limp
and fell forward, crushing her. She continued to gasp and cough but was able to
move her unconscious attacker to the side.

Ferah stood over her with Annalora’s
discarded branch in her hands. The elf girl, wearing green leather pants and a
vest, looked fully recovered. She gave Mina a slow nod, and a mutual
understanding passed between them.

A life for a life.

“Thanks,” Mina wheezed, rubbing at her
sore neck. But the girl was gone, running back into the maze.

That’s when Mina noticed the blood on her
hands. She searched her body for the source, but she had no open wounds. She
rolled Annalora over and searched her, but again came up empty—except for
the blood splatter on her dress.

It must have come from one of the other
girls! “No! Dinah, Ever!” Mina whined, and took off running, desperately
searching for her friends.

There was blood on Annalora.

Fresh blood.

She’d said she had to convince the
others. Did that mean what Mina thought it meant? Had the crazed Annalora
killed Ever and Dinah?

“Ever!” Mina screamed into the maze.
“Ever! Answer me, you stubborn pixie.”

Picking up her skirt, she ran toward the
tower. Of course it wasn’t easy. It was a maze. Every time she turned right, it
dead-ended into a wall. She’d turn around again and hit another wall. The
hedges were changing, making her turns impossible to keep track of. She was
thoroughly lost, and she kept envisioning Ever lying in a pool of blood somewhere
in the middle of the maze.

What had happened to Annalora? Was it the
maze that changed her? Bringing out her ruthless side? Or was that Annalora’s
true self? Is that what Plaith had meant about the maze changing them?

Near panic, Mina grabbed her head and
turned in a full circle. The maze changed again. There was no exit. She was
completely enclosed in a square hedge. Mina closed her eyes and took a deep
breath. “Please. I just want to find my friend.”