UnEnchanted (7 page)

“
No, I’m not packing
unless you tell me why. This is crazy.”

“
Mina, we have to. It’s
for your own good.”

Mina noticed her mother’s eyes were rimmed
in red, but if she didn’t get answers now, she never would. “That
might have worked on me when I was younger, but not anymore.
Charlie will listen to you without arguing, but I won’t. What’s
good for me is to stay here. I have friends. Well, a friend.” For a
split second Mina almost decided that moving across country
wouldn’t be such a bad idea, after the terrible last two days. But
another look at her frantic mother gave Mina the determination she
needed to make it through whatever disaster would unfold.

“
You’re still my daughter,
and you will listen to your mother.” Sara turned on Mina and put
her hands on her hips.

“
Yes, Mother, I will
listen to you gladly, and do whatever you tell me to, AFTER you
explain why we are moving.” Mina was an obedient daughter, but she
was also old enough now to shoulder some of the burden that plagued
her mother. “Tell me why we keep running. I can help. Don’t you
think I need to know?”

Sara’s expression didn’t change, but her
shoulders dropped toward the floor as if they carried the weight of
the world, or at least one teenager. “I told you, it’s for your own
good.”

“
Is this because of the
newspaper article? About what happened on the field
trip?”

Sara didn’t say anything. Her silence was
the only answer Mina needed.

“
It’s because I saved
someone’s life isn’t it?” Mina challenged. It was starting to make
sense; a click went on in her brain that connected the pieces
together. “You always discouraged me from trying out for sports,
and clubs. You encourage me to not stand out and try to fit in, to
not get noticed, to be a loser. You always feared something
terrible would happen to me, but that wasn’t all of it, was
it?”

Charlie walked into the kitchen with a small
blue leather suitcase and began inserting his most prized
possessions: bubblegum, baseball cards, his rock collection. From a
distance, there didn’t look to be a single item of actual clothing.
Ignoring the discussion between his mother and sister, Charlie
wandered around the kitchen and began to pack up his cereals.

“
But I finally accomplish
something. I do something great like
save
a life
, and for one day I’m a hero.
Granted, I hate being the center of attention, but that’s it, isn’t
it? You were afraid of something like this.”

Sara sighed and collapsed onto a kitchen
chair. She rubbed her small hands over her face in anxiety.
“Something like that. I was trying to keep you from getting too
much attention.”

Mina stood motionless, confused and angry.
“That doesn’t make sense. Isn't that the opposite of what mothers
are supposed to say? Don't you want me to succeed?”

“
Darling, our family was
meant for greatness, but the sacrifice that comes with it is too
great. I thought if I could keep you away from the spotlight, if I
could keep you hidden, then maybe we could outrun it.”

“
Mom, I don’t understand.”
Mina began to shiver as a cold breeze wafted through the
room.

Sara looked at her a long time before
responding. “You’re right. You’re old enough to know the truth, to
share the burden.” Sara waited until Charlie had left the kitchen
and headed for a second round of favorite objects to pack away.
“Mina, I’ve lied to you about your name, about everything.”

“
Okay,” Mina said, her
voice sounding shaky.

“
Our last name isn’t
Grime. It’s Grimm. And for as long as I could remember, we’ve been
trying to outrun it.”

“
Outrun what
exactly?”

“
Outrun what killed your
father years ago…the Grimm curse.”

Chapter 5

She felt as if her world was spinning
uncontrollably. “I think I need to sit down,” Mina said
pathetically. Sara jumped from her chair to grab her daughter and
led her to the small uncomfortable couch in the living room.

Mina was about to ask more questions, but
Sara held up her hand to stop her. “Please, sweetie, let me
explain.” Taking a deep breath, Sara tried to gather her thoughts
before proceeding. “It goes farther back, to your
great-great-great-grandfather, Wilhelm Grimm, and his brother,
Jacob.”

“
The Grimms. Do you mean
the ones who wrote the fairy tales?”

“
Yes, the very same. And
no, they didn’t write most of them. They collected them. But more
importantly, they actually lived the tales. It’s part of the curse
that plagues the Grimm family. Each generation is cursed, chosen,
fated to relive the tales. It is why the stories keep changing
throughout history, as each Grimm’s action or decision changes the
outcome.”

“
Do you mean like
Cinderella doesn’t always get the prince?” she joked.

“
This is serious, but yes.
More often than not, the stepsisters do.”

“
Oh, come on, Mom. You
really believe this stuff? This is what is making you pick up and
run? Why not try to get the prince and live in the
castle?”

“
Because that’s not how it
works.” Sara looked frustrated; she kept gnawing on her bottom lip
as she pondered her words carefully. “You don’t get a choice in the
tale. You don’t get a choice in the part you play, and if you
remember, they don’t all have happy endings. Do you think everyone
could survive reliving these tales? Your Uncle Jack
didn’t.”

Mina’s jaw dropped in shock. “But I thought
that was an accident?”

Sara shook her head. “The curse followed
your uncle, and then when he died, it latched onto your father.
Strange things started happening, but he ignored the warning signs.
He believed that he was smarter and stronger than his brother and
could make it through the stories till the end.”

“
Is there a way to stop
it, to break the Grimm curse?”

“
It’s believed that if a
descendant of a Grimm can survive all of the tales, then the Story
will be satisfied. Your father survived ten tales before he died.”
Sara started crying and buried her face in the couch’s throw
pillow.

Mina felt her mouth go dry, and she had to
lick her lips and clear her throat before she could ask the next
question. “How many tales are there total?”

Sara looked up, sniffed, and then looked
over at her daughter. “Oh, sweetie, I won’t let it find you—it’s
why I changed our last name and why we keep moving. Every time we
move, it seems to take longer for the tale to find us, even longer
if we don’t do anything special to get ourselves noticed.”

“
How many?” Mina repeated,
feeling the strange tingling sensation throughout her
body.

“
We don’t have to stay. We
can keep running, and it won’t drag you into the tale. You won’t
suffer the same fate as your father.”

Mina stared at her mother hard.

Sara finally broke eye contact and whispered
out, “Over two hundred. Jacob and Wilhelm together made it through
over one hundred and ninety, but they couldn't complete all of them
before they died. So then it started over again with Wilhelm’s
children. Honey, they were the only ones to even come close to
breaking the Grimm curse, and that was almost two hundred years
ago. More Grimms have tried to overcome it but didn’t survive, like
your father. So I decided to try to run from it instead.”

“
Mom, I don’t want to
run.”

“
Mina, we have to. I
didn’t think the curse would pass to you because you were a girl.
Your father assured me that the curse only passed to the males.
After he died, I thought we were safe. I didn’t know I was pregnant
with Charlie until a few weeks after the funeral. Once I knew it
was a boy, there was really no choice. We had to run and leave
behind our past, even your father’s name, to protect his
future.

“
I knew one day it would
eventually come for Charlie, but I never expected it to choose you.
It wasn’t until I saw you in the backyard talking to a frog that I
realized your father was wrong. Too many of the fairy tales had a
female heroine, and you were too gifted and kind-hearted for the
story to ignore.”

“
You make it sound as if
it’s alive.”

“
It is. There is something
far greater at work here than what the human mind can process. It’s
ancient, it’s old, and it’s powerful. Some say it’s God, others say
it’s fate, but whatever it is, it can’t be stopped.”

“
What about Charlie?” Mina
asked. Her brother was back in the kitchen, and this time he was
putting on every single piece of costume he owned, layer after
layer. A Spiderman suit, Batman’s utility belt, and what looked to
even be a Doctor Who scarf and hat.

“
So far the story isn’t
interested in Charlie, not when it has you.”

“
So as long as I live,
Charlie is protected?” Mina looked over at her brother and felt her
heart grow with a single-minded determination to protect
him.

“
Yes…honey, look at
Charlie. He’s not strong enough to protect himself from the fate of
the Grimm Story. I can’t lose you, and I can’t lose Charlie. You
two are all I have left of your father.” Sara grabbed a few tissues
from the box on the beat-up coffee table. She picked at them,
tearing them apart.

“
Mom, I want to try to
stop it.” Mina didn’t know where her courage came from, but as soon
as she said it, she knew it was true.

“
No! I forbid you. Nothing
strange has happened since the field trip, right? We still have
time to run.” Sara looked at Mina, and she could see the sliver of
hope in her mother’s eyes.

“
Mom,” Mina said, packing
as much meaning into that one word as she could.

“
It’s too late, isn’t it?
What happened? What’s been happening?”

Mina mentioned practically riding over a dog
and donkey, and was shocked when Sara blurted out “and a cat and
rooster” before Mina had even finished. Sara blushed. “I’ve read up
on my tales. Anything else? Tell me exactly what happened on the
tour,” Sara demanded, and Mina did. “Oh, this sounds bad. It sounds
like it could be another story, but I don’t know which one. It may
already be too late. Well, at least that stupid book hasn’t
appeared yet.”

“
What book? Grimm’s Fairy
Tales?”

“
Mina, trust me, it’s
better if we don’t discuss this anymore. Words have power, and it
makes it that much easier for the Story to find you.”

“
What about the book?”
Mina asked again.

“
Again, it’s better to not
to mention it. The book is called The Grimoire. It’s the final
piece of the puzzle. Once it’s found you, you know it’s too late.
You are officially part of the Story’s tales. Only problem is,
other things are looking for the book as well. So it’s best we
leave before either of them find us.” Sara stood up and looked
around the small living room, furnished with only a sofa,
television, and a small rocker. A rarely used fifteen-inch TV was
in the corner, nestled against a few tattered books given to them
by Mrs. Wong. There were hardly any personal items in the home, and
Mina finally understood why.

“
Mom, I’m not leaving,”
she said.

“
Yes, you are. Think of
your brother.” Sara blinked at her daughter in
disbelief.

“
I am thinking of Charlie,
and that’s why I’m not leaving.” Mina could feel herself begin to
cry again, and pushed back at her tears with the back of her
sleeve. “I’m going to stop this. I can do this. I will do this, for
him, for you.”

Sara started to shake her head, but Mina
continued angrily, “Mom, you can either help me or hinder me, but
one way or another, the Story is going to catch up to us.”

Sara sat down again and looked at her hands
folded in her lap. Tears slowly slid down her cheeks to land in wet
drops on her khaki pants. “I don’t know if you can fight it. I wish
we could postpone this until you are older, stronger.”

“
I’m both, Mom. You did
great, but now it’s my turn to take care of the family. But I’m
going to need your help.”

Sara wiped at her own tears, and nodded her
head in understanding. “Okay. What do you need me to do?”

Chapter 6

Walking to school the next morning, Mina
felt like a completely different person. She had answers to
questions that had been plaguing her for years, though not all of
them. She knew why her family moved so much, why her mother always
discouraged her from trying out for sports, from submitting to her
school paper, or trying to get noticed in any way. She felt as if
her crazy teenage life now had meaning, a purpose. She was a Grimm,
and had a legacy to uphold. The fate of future generations of
Grimms depended on her to finish the Story and break the curse on
her family.

Mina had plenty of time to think over
everything as she walked to school. She had told her mother about
the mix-up at the Carmichaels’ and the fate of her bike, but had
convinced her not to call up the Carmichaels in a fit and to let it
go.

“
Really, Mom, it was my
fault, not theirs. I left the bike in the middle of the driveway.
Plus, I wouldn’t have been there if your boss Terry hadn’t gotten
the families mixed up.”

“
I don’t
understand—there’s only one Carmichael family. And you said they
weren’t expecting us? Pretty strange.”