Fable: An Unfortunate Fairy Tale Book 3 (19 page)

“
I believe you gave this
to me to help me. So if you want to help me, then help me,” she
whispered to the feather.

The feather continued to burn brightly, and
she studied it closely. Acting on intuition, she leaned forward and
began to blow on the feather, right near the flames, the same way
she would if she was starting a fire. This time, the flames grew
brighter and brighter. She tried to hold onto the feather but
dropped it when the light became too much. She could hear the fire
crackling, and it grew larger and more out of control.

“
What have I done?” Mina
panicked and ran to the door, and grabbed the fire extinguisher
from the wall. She had never before used one of these and tried to
maneuver the hose in the right direction. The fire was burning so
hot it turned blue. A scream erupted from the middle of the
inferno, and a loud explosion rocked the room. Mina fell backward
from the blast and covered her ears. She was going to be caught
now. There was no mistaking where that noise had come
from.

Mina looked toward where the feather was and
saw that the explosion had destroyed two lab stations and
transformed them into a pile of ash and rubble. But from the ash
another ember continued to burn, and a phoenix began to arise from
the rubble.

The phoenix craned its neck and flexed its
wings experimentally before turning its black beady eyes in Mina’s
direction.

“
Um, was that supposed to
do that?” she asked. The bird just continued to stare. “Okay, I
don’t know why you gave me that feather, but I think you want to
help me, so can you help me? I need to get over to the Fae
plane.”

A voice invaded her
mind—not just any voice, but Nan’s.
You
are a Grimm. You don’t need me to cross over,
the bird said.

“
How are you doing that?
You sound like Nan,” Mina asked, stunned.

The bird shook her head at Mina again,
ignoring the question.

“
Fine, I know that I’m a
Grimm and I should be able to cross over, but I don’t know how to
yet. I can’t do it on command.”

This time the voice
changed, and it started out as Ever’s voice before morphing into
Jared’s.
Then you need to pass through the
gatekeeper.

“
What’s a
gatekeeper?”

Brody’s voice filled her
mind.
I’m the gatekeeper.
The phoenix continued to speak to her using the
voices of those closest to her.

“
So you knew I needed to
go to the Fae plane. That’s why you wanted to help me.”

Yes, help you—help
me.
Mrs. Wong’s Chinese dialect came
out.
The Stiltskin has me imprisoned and
uses my gifts terribly. I want to make my own deal with you. I’m
much more valuable than your brother. Choose me instead,
Sara’s voice cried out to her, filled with
despair.

“
I can’t. I have to save
my brother.”

The phoenix’s feathers began to dim a little
bit in sadness.

“
But I will find a way to
free you. If not today, then soon,” Mina promised.

Then I will grant you your
wish. I will send you to the Fae plane.
The phoenix flew into the air, his feathers burning so bright
they were blinding. Mina heard the classroom door open, and Jared
rushed into the room in a panic. He saw the bird and began to
maneuver around the lab tables. Mina was absorbed with the firebird
flying in circles above her, weaving a blazing trail of
fire.

“
No, Mina, don’t!” Jared
yelled. “It’s too dangerous.”

A yellow flash whisked past her shoulder,
and the piercing screech ripped through the air again. A vortex of
fire whirled above her and began to descend upon her, as if to
swallow her whole.

She saw Jared try to grab her arm, but he
was fighting the vortex of wind and kept being pushed just out of
reach. Her hair whipped around her face painfully and she tried to
warn Jared to stay back, but he kept pressing forward.

“
I won’t let you
go.”

“
I have to go, Jared.” She
saw his face fill with despair as he realized he couldn’t save her,
as the fiery vortex swept her up and she disappeared.

Chapter 19

Pain! A burning sensation ripped through
her. She gasped for air, but nothing but heat filled her lungs. It
was as if she was underwater, and when she opened her mouth,
something else rushed in instead of oxygen. She panicked and tried
to scream, but again nothing would come out. Tears streaked down
her cheeks as she thought she was suffocating, slowly dying.

Something punched her in the stomach, and
all of a sudden she could breathe again. Winded, she lay immobile
until the blinding lights disappeared from her vision.

Mina lifted her head from the grass she was
lying in to take in her unfamiliar surroundings. Gone were the
brick walls, windows, and desks of the school. Instead, she was
surrounded by odd-looking trees and plants and flowers. They were
twisted, warped and menacing-looking, and not a single breed was
familiar. A few minutes ago it had been daytime, but here it was
night.

“
Jared!” Mina called out,
and looked around to see if he had made it through the portal. He
hadn’t. She was alone.

The forest unnaturally echoed her call, and
she decided it would be better if she didn’t do that again. Who
knows what was out in the Fae woods? Gathering her nerve, she stood
up and dusted off her pants, and saw the phoenix feather lying on
the ground next to her.

But she felt like she had forgotten
something. Her hands went to her jacket pocket where she kept the
Grimoire, and the pocket was empty. After a few minutes of
searching the immediate area, she came to the conclusion that the
Grimoire couldn’t exist on the same plane as the Fae book. Or it
was because it was so tied to Jared that if he didn’t cross over to
the Fae plane, neither did the book. Either way, she was up a
creek, without help.

Instead of standing still, waiting for
Stiltskin to find her, she thought she needed to start looking for
him or the palace. She started walking and kept getting distracted
as some new species or flower caught her eye. Mina stopped and
sniffed a flower, and it smelled like…blueberry pie, but better.
Curious, she walked over to another bright orange flower and took a
careful sniff. It smelled like a mix between snicker doodles and
butter pecans.

Even the insects that buzzed around the
flowers were larger than any she had ever seen in her own world.
There was a yellow bumblebee the size of her fist. She watched as
the bee came to land on a large lily, but no sooner had the bee
landed than the flower closed up and ensnared the bee. Mina
swallowed nervously and decided to give all flowers a very wide
berth. Jared was right—even though his world was beautiful, it was
also dangerous.

Mina walked along a path until she came to a
fork in the road.

“
Now where?” she groaned,
and accidentally bumped into the branches of a nearby bush. Small
lights the size of fireflies lifted off the small berry bush and
began to dance around her head.

Captivated, Mina reached out to try to touch
one of the lights. One of them flew closer and almost alighted on
her finger before flitting away just out of reach. She smiled and
kept walking until she heard the most wonderful voice. Melodic,
wistful, full of longing. The worry she had felt moments ago was
forgotten as the desire to follow the song and dancing lights
grew.

Her feet moved on their own accord, and she
followed the song away from the fork in the road, onto a different,
almost indiscernible path that led deeper into the woods and toward
a large lake.

Mina was enthralled. Never before had she
seen or heard something so glorious, so enchanting, so unnatural,
and something told her she needed to possess it—if only it would
stop moving over the lake. The song grew louder when Mina paused
and hesitated, urging her on.

Her sneaker dipped into the water’s edge,
and she lingered momentarily as the cold seeped through the canvas,
but it wasn’t enough. Shaking off any hesitation, she listened to
the song and stepped farther into the water. She could always dry
her shoes later, but right now, right this moment, she needed to
obey the song more than she needed anything else, and nothing was
going to stop her.

A few steps later, the water was up to her
knees, but she was undeterred and waded farther into the stream.
She could swim; she wasn’t afraid. Moments later the water was up
to her waist, and a triumphant smile reached her lips. The smile
only lasted for a second, replaced by fear as something large
grabbed her around the legs and pulled her under the water.

She didn’t have time to scream as an icy
chill wrapped around her and she plunged deep into the dark water.
The dancing lights fading from above the water no longer seemed so
beautiful. Now they seemed deadly as they illuminated her watery
grave.

Mina tried to struggle and kick at the thing
that grasped her foot, but it held her like a vise. A momentary
illumination from the light gave Mina a glimpse of what had
captured her, and the image terrified her to the core.

It was a young woman. Her skin shimmered
like scales, and her long hair, the color of seaweed, flowed past
her waist. But her huge cat-like eyes were black as night, and they
glared hungrily at her.

Mina’s mouth opened to scream in terror.
Water rushed past her lips, and she unconsciously swallowed. She
panicked and tried to swim up to the surface, but the sea witch
clung on and pulled her lower. Mina could feel herself starting to
black out, and unlike moments ago when her mind was muddled with an
enchantment, now she had control of her full faculties, and she did
the only thing she could do. She let the cold seep into her bones
until she felt the familiar tingle of power. It could have been her
body shutting down and losing feeling in her fingers, but she
didn’t think so. She didn’t have much time.

She reached into her jeans pocket, which was
a struggle in itself, and pulled out the shard of glass and held it
in the sleeve of her jacket. She swung the shard of glass downward
and missed the monster. She tried again and again, and on the third
try, she stabbed the water witch in the hand.

The witch ceased in her struggle to
overpower Mina. She became paralyzed and released her hold on her.
Mina watched as her attacker sank into the darkness below, her body
slowly turning to gold as if Stiltskin himself had touched her. The
witch sank with her hand outstretched, her last moment of humanity
slowly slipping away. Instinctively, Mina tried to grab the woman’s
hand and swim upward with her, but she couldn’t. The witch was dead
weight and pulling her down farther. Left with no choice, Mina had
to let go of the witch’s hand, and she watched as she slowly
disappeared into the darkness below, a golden carcass.

Remembering her predicament, she tried to
swim toward the surface, but it was too far, and she was so tired.
She shouldn’t have wasted those precious seconds trying to save the
monster that was trying to kill her. Now she was going to die
anyway. Her eyes started to close, and she saw something green
rocket through the water in her direction. She had just enough time
to realize it was another monster…and it had come to finish her
off.

Chapter 20

Her mouth was dry and her eyes were crusted
shut. Her hands felt like giant hammers pummeling her face as she
tried to wipe away the offending crud to open them. Something hard
and cool was pressed against her mouth, and she pinched them shut
against the unknown liquid being forced down her lips. She heard a
sigh of frustration before green fingers appeared over her nose and
gave a slight pinch.

Mina gasped in alarm, and
her mouth opened. The cup was back at her mouth, and she felt
something cool and minty fill her mouth.
Don’t swallow. Don’t swallow,
she
told herself, and when the cup moved away, she turned her head and
spat out the liquid. She tried to knock the helping green hands
away, but her own body had trouble obeying her commands. The green
hand came to her mouth again, and she used every bit of effort to
bite at the offending fingers.

“
Hey. Ouch!” a male voice
grumbled.

Mina turned her muddled head to stare at the
green-skinned young man. His green hair was medium length, just
touching the edge of his neck, and flowed back and forth as if it
was being tossed in an invisible current. He was lean and
well-muscled, like a swimmer. He wasn’t wearing a shirt but long
green pants that looked to be made of grass or seaweed.

“
Wh-who are you?” Her
voice was wrecked, and she had to lick her lips and swallow a few
times before she sounded normal.

The young man turned, shaking his injured
finger in the air, and gave her a wary look before answering,
“Nix.”

“
You saved me, didn’t
you?” She couldn’t tear her eyes away from his skin, which out of
the water looked very human, except for the greenish tint. If he
moved, the light would catch the faintish shimmer of his
scales.

“
Yes, I almost couldn’t
revive you, so I’m sorry if you’re a little sore.”

Mina was wondering why her chest felt like
an elephant had been sitting on it.

“
Thank you…Nix, is it?
What an odd name.”

“
It’s a perfectly good
name for a nixie.” He looked offended and held out his bitten hand,
and small translucent webbing appeared between each of his fingers.
When he was positive they were all intact, they disappeared
again.