Fable: An Unfortunate Fairy Tale Book 3 (5 page)

Boom!
The crash was simultaneous with the thunder, and he was
there! Right there! Thirty feet from the window, and he was looking
right at her. It was the man from the cemetery! He had stopped
right outside what looked like a ring of white rocks, and he was
beckoning to her.

Mina screamed and crashed backward into the
paintings behind her, her fear causing her to subconsciously call
for Jared.

An instant later Jared was by her side,
steadying her and trying to keep the picture from falling over.
“Clumsy, as always. I think you could use another lesson from
me.”

“
There’s someone…outside!”
she choked out. Her fear paralyzed her, making it hard for her to
speak. She pushed him toward the window to look for himself, but he
didn’t need to.

Jared took one look at her scared face and
ran out the door into the hallway, leaving her alone in the
darkened room. The silence of the spooky house, mixed with the
intruder outside, was too much for her nerves. They were shot. She
did the weak thing. She curled up on the ground by the sofa and
wrapped her arms around herself, and tried not to fall to pieces.
Minutes later Jared appeared in the room with her, soaking wet and
out of breath.

“
Mina?” Jared called out
when he didn’t immediately see her.

“
Who was it?” she asked
from her hiding spot by the couch.

Jared saw her and knelt in front of her,
being careful not to touch her.

“
I don’t know, but they’re
gone.”

Mina shivered. “You believe me, though,
right?”

“
Of course I do. There was
someone out there—I could smell them. I just didn’t recognize the
scent.”

“
You mean they were
Fae?”

“
Most definitely. I just
don’t know what kind, and that worries me.” He stood up and brushed
off his knees, and turned as if heading out the door
again.

“
Wait, Jared, don’t leave
me.” She felt silly at being so scared, but this was real. At first
she didn’t know who it was and didn’t know how to fight it, but
now, knowing it was a Fae gave her the knowledge that she could
beat it. But she needed the Grimoire; she needed Jared.

He stopped and turned to look at her with an
irritated frown. “Oh, so you didn’t need me all summer, and now all
of a sudden you want me around more? Look around you. You don’t
need me when you’ve got all this. Besides, whoever was out there
couldn’t get past this house’s defense, and I doubt that they will
tonight, or any other night. Call it a special gift that comes with
the house.”

“
Then how did you get in
here?”

“
You summoned me, dummy.
Where you go, I go. Unless it’s the women’s bathroom.” He made a
face at her. “Or you leave the book somewhere really far away or
lose it, and then that can cause problems, like you already
learned.”

“
Yeah, I remember,” she
scoffed. “But what do you mean, ‘he couldn’t get past the house’s
defenses’? What defenses?”

Jared moved across the room and plopped down
on the dust-covered sofa. A small poof of particles floated into
the air before settling around him. He leaned his head back and
closed his eyes as if he was taking a nap, purposely ignoring her
question.

She stood up and stormed over to him, fully
prepared to hit him on the shoulder, when she noticed how tired he
looked. His stormy gray eyes were closed in a feigned sleep, and
she couldn’t help but fixate on his looks. It wasn’t apparent at
first, but if you looked closely at his angular jaw and the way his
skin shimmered, it was quite clear that he wasn’t from this world.
He was too handsome. His hair was getting a little long and looked
like it could use a trim, but it was still messed-up and very
stylish. Standing there next to him, she couldn’t help but compare
him to Brody. The Fae prince could very well take on her high
school crush.

She had been avoiding
Jared, because seeing him reminded her of her oath to kill his
brother. How could she tell him that she needed to become stronger,
to work harder, because,
Hey, I want to
kill your family
. The truth was, she
couldn’t. She couldn’t face the truth, and therefore she couldn’t
face Jared.

What could she say? Mina decided to forget
it. There was nothing she couldn’t tell him tomorrow, in the middle
of the day. She had moved away from him to go back to her room when
her eye caught the easel and frame that she had almost knocked
over. She took a quick glance at Jared and his eyes were still
closed, so she moved to the lone picture and raised her hand to
pull at the covering.

He spoke without opening his eyes. “I
wouldn’t do that.”

“
Why not,
Jared?”

“
Because some things are
best left undiscovered...like Spam. Nasty stuff—that should have
remained a mystery.” He turned to his side and smiled at her
wanly.

Mina wanted to roll her eyes at him, but he
stopped her with that haunted look of his. “I’m sorry I wasn’t
there for you that day.”

She tensed up. It wasn’t Jared’s fault, it
was hers, but she secretly wanted to blame him for Charlie’s death,
for losing their house. But she knew that was a lie. She was to
blame. She looked up at Jared and shook her head. “No, I could have
called you, and I didn’t. It’s my fault he’s dead…no one
else’s.”

Jared looked uncomfortable. “I was ignoring
you because you had been ignoring me. So I purposely tuned out your
emotions. I didn’t know something was wrong until you fell. I
almost didn’t get there in time. I didn’t know about Char…about
what happened till after…”

“
You caught me, didn’t
you?”

He nodded. “I carried you to the alley by
the ambulance and left you there. I’m sorry. I was still
angry.”

“
You should have stayed
with me. Not left me and my family alone on the worst night of my
life. I thought you’d abandoned me.”

Jared leapt off the couch and stood within
inches of her, his breath warm and sweet upon her face.

“
I would never abandon
you. I will always be there to catch you when you fall.”

She closed her eyes and leaned into him,
being careful not to touch him…and careful to shield her heart.

“
I’m scared to fall—I’m
scared I’m not strong enough for the tasks ahead.

Jared’s jaw twitched with emotion. “Then I
shall teach you to fly. It’s time for you to get some answers. Pull
the sheet,” he answered.

“
You just told me not
to.”

“
Okay, how about this…pull
at your own risk.”

For once she actually didn’t want to know,
but he was looking at her with such sorrow in his eyes that she
actually was becoming angry at being pitied. She yanked as hard as
she could on the sheet, and the easel almost fell over. It settled,
and Mina focused on the portrait. A man in his thirties, wearing a
brown suit and polka-dot tie, sat on a red lounge chair, facing the
artist. His hair was dark brown, and a neatly trimmed mustache
framed his nice lips. His eyes were warm and the same boring brown
as his hair. It was the same boring brown of Mina’s hair. She was
staring at a portrait of her father.

Chapter 6

“
Who painted this?” she
gasped.

“
One of the Fae. I don’t
remember which one it was, but it’s a pretty good
likeness.”

“
Why is his picture
in
this
house?”
Mina asked, feeling agitated by this new discovery. “What’s it
doing here, Jared?”

“
Haven’t you figured it
out yet? The house used to belong to your father, although he never
lived here.” She stared at him with an utter look of confusion on
her face. Jared started chuckling at her. “Okay, now I’m seeing how
lacking your training as a Grimm is. Someone should see about
that.”

“
Yeah, why don’t you work
on that?” Mina quipped back, feeling relieved at finding out the
house didn’t belong to a serial killer. But it left way more
questions that dealt with her father and his death. She wasn’t
really ready to delve into that, so she let the plaguing questions
drop.

Jared wiped away the tears and sat up
straight. “I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be laughing at you—I just thought
you would have been smarter than that.”

Mina was insulted and punched Jared
playfully in his arm. “I would be if you weren’t a deceitful,
pigheaded prince who plays both sides of the tales and obviously
gets enjoyment out of terrorizing me.”

“
I like terrorizing you.
Your face turns the prettiest of colors.” Jared playfully punched
Mina back. In retaliation, she pushed him a little harder. Being a
boy, and spurred on by the challenge of a wrestling fight. Jared
whooped loudly and lunged for Mina, knocking her onto the couch.
She squealed and started hitting Jared when he began to tickle her
sides.

“
Stop…stop…NOO!” she
screamed. He laughed and continued his ambush. She tried
desperately to catch her breath. She kicked at his legs and tried
to push him off, but all it did was bring his face that much closer
to hers, and his eyes widened when he realized it as well. He
stopped tickling her, his hands on her hips, and he leaned down and
nuzzled her cheek. Mina immediately froze and sucked in her breath.
Jared stopped and lifted his head to stare at the door.

A second later, the storage room door opened
and the light flicked on, illuminating the room. Surprised, Mina
flew off the couch, and something hard fell to the floor. Sara
stood in the doorway with a fire poker held out in front of her.
Her chest was heaving from running. Her eyes flew to Mina.

“
Are you okay?” Sara
asked. “I heard screaming.”

Mina stared hard at the plastic mannequin on
the floor that moments ago had been Jared. Her cheeks flushed, and
she shook her head. “Yes, I was exploring in the dark and knocked
this over. It scared me at first.”

Sara looked around the room, unconvinced.
Her eyes scanned every inch of the room before she nodded. “Okay,
then. Let’s get out of here. There seems to be a lot of breakable
items in here. Is that dummy okay? It’s not broken, is it?”

Mina tried not to laugh as she stood up and
gently kicked the mannequin. “This old thing? Nah, it’s not broken.
It’s as hard as a rock…see?” She took pleasure in knocking her foot
into it one more time, a little harder.

“
What an odd thing to be
in a house. It almost looks alive.”

Mina couldn’t help it—she snorted. “No, it’s
a dummy all right. No heart and all.” She walked over to her mom
and ushered her into the hall.

“
Aren’t you going to pick
it up?” Sara asked.

Mina grinned. “Nope. It can stay on the cold
floor all night, for all I care. It’s punishment for attacking
me.”

“
I’m really starting to
not like this house. It feels too…mysterious.”

“
I think it’s perfect. It
was meant for us.” With that, Mina flicked off the light and closed
the door.

Chapter 7

“
You know you don’t have
to go today. I can call the office and get you excused,” Sara said
softly. Usually at this time of the day Sara would be dropping
Charlie off at his school, and Mina would be arriving on her bike.
But since Charlie and the bike were no more, it was time for a
different tradition.

Mina chewed on the inside of her cheek and
stared at the school. Just two weeks ago she was dying to go back;
now she was dreading walking through the double doors. And she
couldn’t figure out why. Nan was in there. She would get to speak
to Nan for the first time since she left for the summer, but also
Brody would be in there, along with Ever.

But Nan may not know about
Charlie
. Mina had intended to call her as
soon as she got back from camp, but it was the oddest thing. The
house they were staying at didn’t have a telephone, or a TV. Once
she walked in the school doors, every student’s eyes would be on
her and they would pity her, and Mina would probably break down and
cry.

What to do? What to do? She was about to
tell her mom to turn around and drive home when she felt her
backpack grow warm on her lap. A tingling sensation spread out
along her leg, and she gripped the car door and jumped out in
record time.

It wasn’t a mystery what the sensation
was—it was the Grimoire, which meant it was Jared telling her to
get going. Sure enough, when she had walked twenty feet from the
car, he joined her out of nowhere.

He silently walked next to her and only
bobbed his head in a casual greeting. Mina tried to smile back, but
it was forced. She could feel the tears building, and she
desperately tried to hold them at bay. She reached for the entry
door and began to open it, but Jared put his hand on the glass,
gently closing it. Students mumbled at the traffic jam they were
causing and walked around them, using one of the other doors. Jared
turned and looked at her, his dark gray eyes filled with
emotion.

“
Hey,” he said, gently
touching her shoulder so she would look up at him. “You’ll get
through this. If today is too much for you, just say the word, and
I’ll get you out of here. You got it?”

She dropped her head to look at her shoes
and found it impossible to swallow the lump forming in her throat.
“You promise?”

“
I promise. Just say my
name, and I’ll take you away.”