Fable: An Unfortunate Fairy Tale Book 3 (24 page)

First off, she needed to get out of her wet
clothes and tend to her leg wound from the sea witch. Second, well,
second, she needed to think of a better plan than getting dry
clothes. She swam to the edge of the bathing pool, which was barely
deep enough for her to stand up in, and crawled over the ledge by
the side closest to the waterfall and ducked behind a large potted
fern. She was right. Water puddled down her feet and ran across the
floor. It was a good thing she wasn’t wearing shoes, or she might
have been making squeaky noises as she walked. Mina did the best
she could to wring out her wet shirt into the fern. It started to
move and sway at her watery offering.

“
Psst, no,” she shushed
the plant. But its fronds tried to reach for her as if giving her a
hug. “Gah, no! You don’t have to say thank you.” She stepped away,
and the fern wilted a little, as if she’d hurt its feelings. “Are
you going to be nice and stay still this time?” The plant wiggled
in anticipation, but it looked like it said yes. “Then be good.”
Mina finished wringing out her shirt and hair, and did the best she
could with her pants. There was still a puddle forming whenever she
walked, but at least it was a small one.

Someone was coming from down the hall, and
Mina ducked behind the fern once more. This time the plant wrapped
its large fronds around her, not to hug her but to help hide
her.

It was a guard, in full white leather armor,
unlike the giants and the trolls outside. This one was covered in
head-to-toe steel with emblems of the sun and moon etched across
his breastplate. He was running toward the end of the hall, where
two huge double doors opened before he even got there. Her heart
leapt for joy when she saw Jared step out and confront the soldier.
No, wait, she had to remember that they only looked similar. It
wasn’t Jared—it was his brother Teague, dressed all in black.

“
What is it, Captain
Plaith?” Teague demanded angrily.

“
Something has agitated
the trolls and giants, my prince. Even the siren went
off.”

Teague froze at the words of his captain and
glared at him. “And…”

“
And kelpies, sire. They
were seen causing a ruckus near the palace.” The guard fidgeted but
was careful to stare at a spot to the left of the
prince.”

“
Kelpies? That’s it? Those
stupid water horses are always causing a ruckus. Anything
else?”

“
No, sire. Just that there
were two kelpies seen outside in the lake.”

Teague sighed and rubbed his forehead.
“There are always kelpies in the lake. Tell your men to get back to
your stations.” Teague shooed off his captain and headed down a
long hall, but then he stopped and turned around, and called back
his captain.

“
Plaith?”

“
Yes, my prince.” The tall
man shuffled forward once more.

“
Did you say that there
were only two kelpies?”

“
Yes, two. One on land and
one in the water.”

Teague stared toward the waterfall and then
the fountain in thought. His dark eyes missed nothing as he scanned
the room, and spent an awful lot of time staring directly at the
planter she was hiding behind. Her legs started to shake from fear.
Even the fern began to quiver.

“
There are never just two
kelpies. They travel in herds,” Teague said thoughtfully. “Where’s
the rest of the herd? You also said the underwater siren went
off?”

The soldier nodded.

Teague looked pleased with himself. “Double
the giants and the trolls at the gates, and bring more guards to
each of the walls just in case. I believe we have company.”

“
But sire, if there is
something in the castle that is a threat to the Fates, shouldn’t we
notify—”

Teague’s blue eyes blazed with fury. His
hand lifted to strike the soldier, but Plaith flinched and Teague
restrained himself. “Don’t question my authority again. The Fates
are at the Twilight Festival and won’t be back till later. There is
nothing here that could possibly be a threat to the Fates. Now go!”
He pointed, and Plaith fled. But Teague didn’t leave; he stood,
frozen, looking back at the potted fern.

“
There’s nothing or no one
here that could possibly hurt the Fates—right, Mina?”

Chapter 25

She froze and let his voice echo in the
empty hall. Maybe if she held her breath and closed her eyes, he
would disappear like a bad dream. He didn’t. The plant began to
shake even more, as if it was afraid of the prince, and she put a
hand on its fronds to calm it down. This was ridiculous. She
shouldn’t be afraid of Teague—she wasn’t before. This time she had
nothing—no Grimoire, no phoenix feather, and no shard of magic
glass—to defend herself with. Only her wits.

“
Come, Mina, you must be
freezing. Let’s get you warmed up, and then we will talk.” Teague
gestured down the hall, and she still stood rooted to the spot. His
eyes turned dark, and his voice dripped with venom. “I said, come
here.”

He whipped his finger in her direction, and
the large potted fern she was hiding behind was flung across the
room and smashed into pieces on the stone wall. She cried out when
the plant struggled once and then quit moving. Whatever magic was
within it quickly died, and the plant just became a plant. In that
one moment she understood a little bit more about the Fae magic and
how it worked.

“
It’s not like you to
hide.”

“
It’s not like you to
steal and lie, no, wait—it is.” She smirked, filling her voice with
false bravado.

Teague shook his head and let his dark hair
settle over his forehead. He was handsome—not as handsome as Jared,
because she could see it now, more so since she was on the Fae
plane. He was able to hide it whenever he visited the physical
plane, but here, Teague couldn’t hide the darkness that was
attached to his soul, put there by the splitting of the books. One
brother good, the other evil. Granted, there were a few times that
she thought Jared could be the evil one, but standing here, face to
face, with no cloaking, glamour or magic, she could see the true
Story. And it scared her to her very core.

“
I want what is mine,” she
demanded. “I want my brother.”

“
Oh, Mina, you can’t have
him. You haven’t completed your quest. You know the rules as well
as I. You must complete the Story. Only then can you have what you
so desire.” He walked away from her, down the darkened
hall.

How dare he walk away from her! She took off
running after him, but stopped when she came to the broken plant.
It was silly of her, and she knew it, but she couldn’t help but
want to touch it and thank it for trying to help her. Her hands
stroked its large fronds, and she whispered, “I’m sorry. It’s not
fair! But thank you for giving your life for me.” She stood to
leave, and didn’t notice that after she walked away, the plant
began to grow again. It slowly reached one frond after her, and
then she was gone.

Teague walked out of the bathing room and
into a large sitting room that looked to be connected to another
larger suite of rooms. He pulled the leaf of a small blue bell, and
a chiming sound could be heard in the distance. A few moments later
a small Fae scurried in wearing a pale blue dress and a silver moon
on a sash.

“
Bring the girl some
clothes and bandages,” Teague ordered, and then walked to a small
table and poured himself a drink and offered Mina some.

She shook her head and he smiled, but the
smile didn’t reach his lips. “Someone has taught you well.”

Mina couldn’t help but raise her chin and
smile.

“
But obviously it wasn’t
enough, because I don’t see Jared.” Teague sighed. “He is such a
coward.”

“
He’s not a coward. You’re
the coward. Kidnapping young innocent boys, burning my home down
because you’re scared of me. You’re scared of what I’m going to do
to you.”

“
He’s not an innocent,”
Teague said stiffly.

“
He’s a child, a
nine-year-old boy.”

“
He’s a Grimm.” Teague
gave her a look, daring her to argue that point with
her.

“
I’m a Grimm! If you have
a problem, come after me, not my brother.”

“
Oh, Mina, you are so fun
to play with. I tried to get you to play, but you ignored the
quests, and you know that’s not how we play nice. So I need to get
you interested in the game again.”

She was about to say something when the
servant appeared with clothes for her to change into. There was a
dress of deep red, and what looked like stockings and slippers.
Mina picked up the dress and unconsciously made a face in disgust
at the color choice.

Teague laughed hard at her expression. “Oh,
that was a good one. I remember turning all of your clothes red for
the Riding Hood Tale. To this day you still don’t wear the color
red, do you?” He continued to laugh so hard that he wiped a tear
away from the corner of his eye. “Oh, yes, that has been my
favorite quest to date.”

She stared daggers at Teague, and finally he
calmed down and walked over to the dress. “All right, what would
you like it to be?” He snapped his fingers. “Blue, emerald, white.”
With each color he named, the dress turned the matching color. “Or
how about your newest favorite—gold.” He left off on that color and
watched Mina closely to see her reaction.

She flinched but refused to make a sound.
Teague left the dress a pale shimmering gold, and pointed to a
delicate screen for her to change behind. This was stupid, she
thought. Even though she was freezing and dripping wet, the outfit
she had on was much more suited to escaping than a dress.

“
Thank you, but no.” She
stepped away from him and dropped the dress on a chair.

Teague wasn’t amused. “You should be
beheaded for trespassing. I still could have you killed, but
instead I thought it would be fitting to try to be nice. The least
you can do is not insult your host,” His words were soft-spoken,
befitting his royal status, but every word dripped with his
wrath.

She could feel the full
force of his ire, and her hands shook with trepidation. She picked
up the dress, stockings, and slippers, and ducked behind the
screen. By the time she was getting into the dress, she was no
longer scared but furious. How dare he play with her like she was a
pawn in a game.
Does he not know that even
a pawn can take down the queen?
Thought
after thought plagued Mina, and she was slowly building up enough
anger that she could feel her body trembling, but this time it was
with power. There was a full-length mirror behind the screen, and
she could see herself in it. Her hair, a wet tangled mess, fell
over one shoulder. Her skin looked pale, and her eyes burned with
anger. The dress was frilly, stupid frilly and too long, and rubbed
against her bandaged leg. The slippers were impractical, with silk
on the soles. She was dressed up like a doll, and she felt like she
was ten years old. It was then that she realized this wasn’t to
help her but to make her feel demoralized, weak. And she wasn’t
that. Never that.

“
Oh, for heaven’s sake.
This dress and shoes have got to go,” she grumbled as she tried to
brush out her hair. The power that had gathered around her flowed
to her almost excitedly and answered her deepest desire. The dress
shimmered and glowed, the long skirts shrinking away to become
formfitting pants in a soft tan color. The top of the gown became a
long-sleeved shirt of the palest white, and a brown belt appeared
around her hips. She was doing it again, unconsciously controlling
Fae magic. The slippers grew longer and ran up her calves until she
was wearing knee-high boots. Even her hair had dried and was
plaited in a braid over her shoulder.

She smiled at her
reflection and whispered,
Thank
you
, to the unseen magic. She really
needed to work at becoming more attuned to calling it, and feeling
when it was near. Feeling confident, Mina walked around the screen,
only to find Teague confused and speechless.

“
Wha…how? I didn’t give
you those clothes.”

“
Yes, you did. I just
changed them to suit my needs,” Mina quipped.

“
But how?” He stared at
her in disbelief, and then his expression changed to one of joy.
And not the happy joy, either. He turned, and she could see him
become even more excited. “I knew you were the right one. I just
knew.” He held out his arm and waited for her to join him. “Come, I
think there is someone you are dying to meet.”

Mina didn’t need any more prompting but
hurried after Teague, afraid that he would change his mind and
decide to not take her to Charlie.

He didn’t. They walked through three
different-colored corridors, a sky blue, a golden yellow, and a
soft lavender, before they entered what appeared to be the north
wing of the palace. The hall was a dismal gray, the colors on the
tapestries faded and drab, and even the rugs looked neglected, as
if this was the wing that life had forgotten. In a palace of sun
and moon and light, this wing reeked of darkness and death.

Teague came to a set of black double doors
with a dead tree burned into the wood grain. Teague raised his
right hand over a round metal sphere, and Mina knew it was another
magical seal. A bright buzzing glow, a pop, and the sound of a
lever clicking unlocked the seal. The doors opened inward, and they
entered the room.