Reign (An Unfortunate Fairy Tale Book 4) (33 page)

Mina stepped onto the cold balcony and
shivered—from both the chill in the air and the worry creeping up her
spine.

Something bad was going to happen. Even
if Teague hadn’t threatened the impending doom, she’d have felt it coming.

Brody saw her shiver and wrapped his
hands around her. He pointed out across the golf course. They could see the
town and, to the right, the river. Down below, couples had gathered on the
grass to watch the fireworks display. Even from the second floor she could
recognize Daphne and Lara huddled together and pointing up at the sky. Mina
craned her neck to look at the watch on Brody’s wrist and wished for the second
hand to stop moving.

Thirty seconds left. She couldn’t take it
anymore. She turned to pull away from him, just as he reached into his pocket
and pulled something out.

“Mina, I know things have been kind of
crazy. And this has moved very fast between us, but I want you to know that
I’ll be there for you. Through all the crazy. Through whatever curse tries to
hunt you down. I want to be your knight in shining armor. And although this
tradition is a bit old fashioned, I find that’s the kind of guy I am.”

She had no idea what he was talking
about. Her heart was pounding, and she felt like any moment she was going to
fall down an elevator shaft.

She couldn’t focus on Brody. She was
consumed with Teague. Why hadn’t she just given him the stupid knife?

At the stroke of midnight, the fireworks
lit up the night sky. The first boom made Mina jump back in surprise. She gave
a little cry of alarm before laughing it off.

Another one exploded in the sky, followed
by a cascade of more colorful bursts. She watched for a full minute and then
felt the tension release from her body. It was midnight. Everything was okay.
She sighed and turned to look at Brody and the object he was holding in front
of her. It was his gold class ring with a ruby red stone.

All thoughts fled her mind, and she stood
there staring in shock. Around them, the sky was on fire with color, and right
in front of her was a boy that seemed to care about her. He was offering her
something she’d never thought to get. True, she hardly ever saw anyone wearing
rings in school anymore. They just posted their relationship on the Internet.
But here in this moment it felt so right. So perfect.

“Brody, I…I—”

“
Booooom
!”
The explosion came from over two miles away, but Mina felt the quake beneath
her. She stumbled and Brody caught her, dropping the class ring onto the
balcony. She watched as it rolled off the ledge into the row of bushes two
stories below. A second blast followed the first, and another ball of fire
erupted over by the river. Down below, people started screaming and running.
Others pulled out their cell phones and started taking pictures as the dark sky
filled with orange fire.

Teague’s warning came back to her and she
could barely speak. “Wh-what was that?” She had to ask, but deep down she
already knew.

Brody squinted into the night and she
could see that he was looking for landmarks and estimating distances. “It’s
fine. Everything’s fine. There’s nothing to worry about. It’s just an abandoned
building that’s nowhere near us.”

“Brody! What building is that?” She
grabbed ahold of the lapels on his suit and stared at the burning orange sky.

“Mina, it’s fine. You’re safe. No one was
hurt. It’s the Old Green Mill Recycling Center. It’s been abandoned for years.”

She cried out as her feet gave way
beneath her and she crumpled to the ground in a desperate heap. She stared
through the metal slates on the balcony railings and wanted to die.

“
Noo
!”
She screamed into the night. Her cries mingled with and echoed those of the
people below. Teague had finally gotten his revenge. He had tried before to
take them out but was unsuccessful. This time, his blow struck home.

Mina couldn’t pull her eyes away as she
watched the Fae Godmother’s Guild go up in flames.

Chapter 32

It took some convincing, but Brody
finally drove her to the recycling plant. Firefighters were already on site,
fighting back the blaze and dousing the building with water. Mina jumped out of
the car and ran to the edge of the caution tape. She didn’t see anyone coming
out of the building.

But there was no way the building was
empty.

Maybe the fire hadn’t reached the Fae
living below the recycling center. The firemen would have been evacuating the
wreckage. Many of the Fae could mask themselves as human, but there were still
quite a few that couldn’t. They’d have to be hiding somewhere.

She heard a wailing sound come from the
edge of the woods and ran toward the trees fifty yards away. Brody was right on
her heels. She crashed through the underbrush and passed through the illusion
that was hiding the real damage. Fae were dragging and carrying the dead and
wounded from the underground tunnel in the middle of the river. She saw a
familiar girl with short black hair, struggling to help an injured man out of
the tunnel.

“Brody, help them!” Mina cried out. She
ran to help Ever carry Ken Wong out of the river bed to the embankment. She
could see clear as daylight the fire and the firemen and policemen by the
parking lot and building, but they couldn’t see past the glamour. Which was
good. The remaining Fae were using all of their last resources to cloak their
escape from their headquarters.

“You missed the party,” Ever grunted as
she kneeled to get Ken to lie down. There was a large bruise on his face and a
bloody cut across his stomach. Most of his hands were covered with
second-degree burns. He was conscious and kept trying to get back up to head into
the tunnels. Two other Fae came and picked Ken up to move him into a large
truck. It seemed like they were doing a quick evacuation of the survivors.

“Ever, where’s Nix?” Mina scanned the
crowd of scared and injured Fae.

“He’s fine. He went back in to search for
survivors. We were able to contain the fire using wards and push it back to the
above floors. But there are still people trapped down there.” She coughed and
used her shirt to wipe the soot away from her face. She looked tired and sweaty
but determined. “He came back Mina. He brought trolls, giants, and ogres and
attacked the compound. Most of the Fae were sleeping, and he slaughtered them.
I got up, because I couldn’t sleep since it was a new place and all. I saw them
rip through the wards, no problem.” Tears fell, leaving streaks in the soot on
her face. “I was able to sound an alarm, but it was too late to stop it. There
were too many already in the facility.”

Mina wrapped her hands around Ever as the
girl cried, her shoulders shaking uncontrollably. Her grief was intense. “Shhh,
it’s okay. We’re here to help.”

Ever pulled back, sniffed, and
straightened her shoulders. Her eyes went wide when she saw the dress Mina was
wearing. “I knew it was you. There was a part of me that wanted to deny it, but
there was so much that didn’t add up about Elle, and then she disappeared.
Still, it was so long ago. I just thought you had to be her doppelganger, and
all this time, you just disappeared into the human plane.”

“Ever, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know. It
wasn’t just the human plane; it was a different time altogether. I wish I could
have changed the outcome. I didn’t want it to happen. I never meant for Teague
to be poisoned by a cursed dagger.”

“He’s been looking for you, I mean Elle,
for over a century. He wants his revenge. But I don’t understand why he
attacked the Guild. They seemed like nice Fae. They even accepted me easily,
and I know I’m a tough pill to swallow.”

“It’s because it was the Godmothers that
tried to assassinate Teague during that first test. Ferah was a Godmother. I
happened to save her the night before, and she came back and made it to the
tower. She was the one who stabbed him with the cursed knife. The tip of the
knife broke off and is still inside of him. It’s what poisoned his heart and
increased his power. I was trying to save him, but he blames me. He wants to
punish not only me, but the Guild for trying to assassinate him.” Mina looked
around for Mei.

Brody and Nix were carrying a female Fae
out of the tunnel. Nix shot Mina worried looks as they carried her—not
over to the trucks with the survivors—but down by the waterfront, where
the rows of the dead lay.

“That’s not—?” Mina didn’t finish,
because she jumped up and dashed after Nix. Ever called out after her. “Don’t
go down there.”

Mina didn’t listen. She recognized the
dark hair, saw her beautiful brown skin and her lifeless eyes. “Mei!” She
rushed down to the waterfront.

Nix ran up to meet her and blocked her
from heading down to the shore. “No, Mina. Don’t.”

“That’s Mei. Let me go. That’s my
Godmother!”

Nix looked pained, but he yelled at Brody
to help hold her back. Brody pulled her out of Nix’s arms and tried to lead her
back up the hill.

“Mei,” Mina cried, scratching and kicking
at Brody so that he would let her go.

He gripped her wrists and held on. “Mina.
She’s gone. There’s nothing you can do.” Just then, another rumble started from
deep in the earth and everyone scattered as the Green Mill Recycling Center
collapsed in upon itself. It was as if the earth opened up and swallowed every
inch of the place in a giant sinkhole.

The Fae who were coming out of the escape
tunnel ran for their life. Cries rose up around her as others screamed for
loved ones that hadn’t surfaced yet. But the collapse triggered the water, and
it rushed back down into the middle of the river, filling the escape tunnel and
cutting off the last refugees.

She couldn’t breathe. It was impossible
to inhale, and it burned as she tried to gasp for air. Finally, her lungs
expanded and she started to sob. “It’s all my fault. It’s because of me that
this happened.”

“No, it’s not your fault.” A feminine
voice spoke up from behind her. “It’s mine.”

Through her tears, Mina looked into the
face of Ferah. Like Ever, the girl hadn’t aged much since she last saw her running
away in the tower. Her hair was still a wild red, her eyes a deep blue.

Mina filled with rage at the sight of the
girl. She lunged for her. Ferah stepped back in surprise and Brody held her
back.

“Y-you,” Mina snarled. “It’s because of
you this happened.”

“But I would have finished the job, Mina.
I would have been able to kill the prince if you hadn’t interfered,” Ferah
added.

“If you hadn’t tried to assassinate him
with a cursed knife, he wouldn’t have turned evil and destroyed hundreds of
innocent Fae.” She pointed at the bodies lining the beach. “They wouldn’t have
died. Mei would still be alive. My father would still be alive.”

Ferah had her own tears rolling down her
face. “Blame me all you want, but if you hadn’t fallen out of the tower and
used the seam ripper at that place in time to go to Halle, you wouldn’t have
saved Wilhelm. You would never have been born.”

“But why?” Mina sobbed, finally wrenching
free from Brody.

“I did what I had to do to try and
prevent this from happening. Prophecies aren’t fool proof. Ask Constance. I’d
do it again.”

“I hate you.” Mina hissed.

“Yeah, well, get in line,” Ferah laughed.
“Behind me.”

“I think I’d like to join the
I Hate Ferah
club as well.” Ever
grumbled.

Ferah turned and looked at Ever. “Oh
look, if it isn’t the oh-so-shy Ever Farindale. Looks like you got over the shy
bit and grew up into a big girl.”

“Almost being killed in a maze will do
that to you,” she shot back.

Ferah looked over the Goth pixie and
smirked at her footwear. “Nice boots.”

“Yeah, the better to kick your little
elf—”

“Hey, I helped you that night.” Ferah cut
Ever off. She thrust a thumb out at Mina. “She would have forgotten about you,
if it wasn’t for me.”

“That doesn’t make us friends,” Ever
snapped. “I’ll have to agree with Mina on this one. It’s all your fault.”

“What do you two not understand? I was
just following orders.” The elf girl flung out her hands and pointed back to
the burning building. “I was trying to prevent this. This is what the Guild
does. Help Fae.”

“I want to know whose orders.” Nix spoke
up. “If everyone is going to start throwing blame on the powers that be, they’d
better have a name.”

Ferah’s lips pressed closed and she
avoided eye contact. Not willing to share that information.

“Oh don’t get all secretive on us now,”
Ever lashed out. “There’s no time like the middle of a life or death situation
to hash things out.”

“She was following my orders.” Constance
came up from down by the waterfront. Her white hair was filled with soot, and
her dress was burned along the side. She looked like she’d been in a battle.

“We knew this day would come, and this is
not the first or final battle. Teague attacked the Guild first because we are
the strongest of the Fae. We’re a collective, a mini army, whereas the rest of
the Fae are scattered across the world. We were the only ones that could stand
in his way of destroying your world. It’s why he attacked all of the other
Guilds twenty years ago. But
then
, he
wasn’t strong enough to destroy ours.” Constance looked toward the river.