Fairest (18 page)

The hotpot was one of the greatest inventions since the toaster and Pop Tarts, and Mina used hers almost daily. She found a cup that looked clean, wiped it out, carefully poured the hot water into the ceramic mug, and slowly added the teabag, stirring it around. Mina expected the water to turn a slight green or brown color from the color of the leaves; it didn’t. Gold seeped out of the tea bag, floating and shimmering across the top of the water reflecting the evening light.

Mina was scared to breathe, and watched as the flecks spun and twirled around the cup before slowly sinking to disappear under the water. The ceramic cup suddenly became too hot to hold. She almost dropped it but recovered quickly and put the cup down on her desk, rubbing her slightly burned palms on her jeans. The tea bag continued to steep, but the steam from the cup dissipated rapidly to be replaced by frost that slowly spread up the outside of the cup.

Mina pushed herself away from the desk and the cursed tea in shock.  Her wheeled chair only made it a few feet before tangling in a pile of dirty clothes and tipping over, throwing her to the floor. She looked up, breathing heavily, and continued to half scoot, half crawl away from the aberrant phenomenon. When she reached her bed, she pulled her knees up to her chest and watched the cup warily. She was positive that at any moment it would shatter into a million pieces. When minutes passed and the cup continued to sit there unchanged, she decided to inspect it further.

She untangled the wheels of the chair from her jeans, damaging a favorite pair in the process, and sat back at the desk. Slowly she scooted forward, inch by inch, to inspect the cup. The frost was gone! Maybe she had imagined it. She grabbed a plastic spoon and stuck it into the cup, half expecting it to be melted into nothingness when she pulled it out. The spoon was fine. Confused, she sniffed the cup, and it smelled like normal Earl Grey tea.

A slight breeze made the papers on her desk shuffle, and Mina glanced at her bedroom window next to the desk and realized it was open. She reached over and shut the window. Maybe it was the sudden chill of wind on the hot tea that made condensation appear on the outside of the cup. Maybe it wasn’t frost at all; it very well could just be her overactive imagination.

Gathering her courage, she dipped one finger into the tea and brought it to her mouth to taste. The tea was slightly sweet with a hint of spice that lingered, odd because she hadn’t even added sugar or honey. After a moment of hesitation, she threw caution to the wind and decided to drink the tea. After all, Mrs. Wong would never ever give her something that would harm her. Maybe it was a quaint Asian home remedy or something.

The tea made Mina’s body relax; her eyelids became heavy. Yawning, she crawled onto her bed, being sure to put an extra pillow under her swollen ankle to keep it raised.  She was hoping that she could take the air cast off soon, but the doctor had told her at least a week. It was only seven o’clock, but Mina couldn’t keep her eyes open anymore.  She lost the fight and fell asleep.

***

“Mina, where are the crutches?” Nan asked as she put her purse and Chap Stick back into her locker. It was between school periods, and they had about two minutes to head to their next class.

“I woke up this morning and my ankle felt great. I saw no reason to try and get around anymore with those horrible crutches. In fact, I felt so great; I even rode my bike to school.” Mina grinned in triumph.

It was true.  She woke up and there was zero swelling, and her ankle felt as good as new. She had even tested it by jumping, stretching, and running up and down the stairs to their apartment. It was a small miracle and blessing at once. Sara had tried to convince Mina to use the crutches per Dr. Martin’s orders, but she wouldn’t have it. Mina raced outside onto her red Schwinn bike and made it to school in record time.  Even Mrs. Porter, her homeroom teacher, wouldn’t be able to give her a tardy slip today.

When Mina walked in she was surprised to see that Coach Potts, was at Mrs. Porter’s desk. It seemed that the old teacher had retired early and without notice, or that was what the rumor going around school was. Either way, she was gone and that meant no more detentions. Mina was ecstatic.

But the day went from great to worse because Jared still hadn’t appeared since her glimpse of him at the hospital. Normally, this wouldn’t worry Mina because she was kind of used to him showing up whenever he felt like it. She began to worry though when Ever, the girl with spiky hair, approached Mina after school.

“Psst, Gimp!” an irritated voice hissed at her from nowhere.

Mina had only heard one person ever call her a Gimp. She rolled her eyes and turned to see Ever motioning to her from the side of the school.

“What?” Mina asked annoyed. She walked the fifteen feet to the side of the brick building, and they turned the corner, out of the view of most of the students.

Ever’s short black hair looked as if it had barely been brushed. Her eyes looked wide with fright, and her eyeliner was smeared from crying. Today, she had forgone the skirt and uniform and wore black leggings and a plaid skirt with a denim jacket.

“Have you seen Jared lately?” she mumbled. Her eyes skimmed back and forth nervously at the passing students.

Mina found herself frowning in displeasure at the mention of Jared’s name. “No, and I’m not his babysitter,” she retorted. She was angry, angry that this girl would call her an ugly name she didn’t even know the meaning of. Angrier still, that she expected Mina to help her. Mina turned to leave.

     Ever looking distraught reached out without thinking and grabbed Mina’s arm. “I haven’t heard from him, or seen him, in over a week. That’s not like him.”

Mina gave her an appalled look and pulled her arm out of her grasp. “No, that sounds just like the Jared I know. Coming and going whenever he wants. Only thinking of himself. Yep, that’s exactly like Jared.”

Ever became furious; her hands clenched angrily at her sides. Mina could see that this girl truly hated her.

“That is nothing like Jared. Once he’s been called, he always makes sure to try and check in with me every few days. It’s our safety system.”

“Then you would know if he’s okay better than I would,” Mina snapped back. “I would actually be quite happy if I never saw him again.”

Ever gasped, “Don’t say that! You Gimps have no idea what, or who, you are messing with. It’s why I hate all of you.”

“That’s it!” Mina rushed forward angrily and surprised Ever until she backed up into a hard brick school wall. “Why do you keep calling me a Gimp? It’s extremely rude. If you want me to help you, you had better explain and explain now.” Mina knew the only reason she had been able to surprise Ever was because she was too distraught over Jared.

Ever recovered quickly, and a wry smile sprouted on her face. “Why, I thought you knew? It’s what we Fae call all you stupid and dumb Grimms.”

The anger dropped from Mina’s face. “You’re Fae?” She should have known. Why didn’t she? Of course, since Jared was Fae, he probably knew a lot of Fae.  They probably banded together and formed their own gang. What Ever said about checking in made sense now. But not why the young Fae thought that Mina would know where he was.

Ever stepped away from the brick wall and stood a little taller. Her chin rose defiantly as she walked into the sunlight. Mina could almost see the faint glow that surrounded her, and when Ever turned a quarter turn to the right and exposed her back, she could see it.

Beautiful pearlescent wings in hues of deep purple and blue sprouted from Ever’s back. They were pointed and more jagged than what Mina would have thought fairy wings looked like, but they suited Ever’s sharp personality. The girl closed her eyes and moved out of the sunlight; with a moment of concentration she made her wings disappear.

“You’re a Fairy?” Mina asked in disbelief.

“Gah! Stars NO! They are happy, twittery, no-brained saps. I’m a Pixie,” she said rudely.

“I wouldn’t have thought Ogres and Pixies would get along,” Mina wondered aloud.

“Ogres!” Ever scoffed. “No, Ogres and Pixies are mortal enemies. They like to pull our wings off and eat them like candy. Gross! No, I would never go near an Ogre.”

This new news stunned Mina. How did this Fae not know Jared’s true form? She wanted to ask but was interrupted by the perturbed pixie.

“It’s been really nice chatting with you, doing the whole girl talk thing, but I’m over it now. Are you going to let me talk to Jared or what?”

Mina shifted uncomfortably under her stare. “Uh, yeah, sure. You have my permission to talk to him whenever you want.  And when you see him, tell him thanks for ditching me in the forest.”

The color drained from Ever’s face. “That’s not funny, Mina.” It was the first time the girl had ever said her name.

“Look, Ever. I don’t know what kind of relationship you think that Jared and I have, but it isn’t a close one. I can’t help you.” Mina turned and pulled her backpack over her shoulder.

“No, wait. I’m sorry.” Ever looked distraught again and looked down at her black boots, rubbing the toe against the gravel. She took a deep breath and looked at Mina, her eyes belaying the insecurities she refused to speak. “I’m sorry that I called you a Gimp and was rude to you. It’s just part of my defense mechanism as being a Pixie. We are kind of low on the food chain, you know.”

Mina blinked in surprise. “Um, apology accepted.”

Ever let out a sigh of relief. “Good, I’m glad. Now, if you can just check and see...”

“Ever,” Mina breathed out her name in exasperation. “I’ve already told you; I don’t know where Jared is. I can’t check and see if I don’t know where he is.”

“But you called him! He came to you when you called him.” The poor girl was confused.

“No, I never called him; I don’t even know his phone number.” Mina was done with this conversation. She now realized that maybe it wasn’t the Grimms who were dumb but the Fae.

In an instant, the contrite and sorry Ever was replaced by a very loud and angry Pixie. Her voice rose in anger, and her eyes darkened in power. Mina could feel a cold breeze set in, and the wind picked up leaves from the ground and they swirled around Ever angrily. It took a moment for Mina to realize the girl was beating her invisible wings in anger.

“You Gimp! You lost it, didn’t you? How could you do something so stupid, so careless?”

“What are you talking about?” Mina called out, but Ever had turned her back on her and pulled something out of her pocket that looked like a silver lipstick tube.

Ever opened the tube and began to draw a large human-sized oval in the sky. The silver tube sparked and zapped, and a shimmering line appeared where Ever drew. Seconds later, the oval began to glow, and the school lawn disappeared to be replaced by a door of light.

“Ever, what is that? What are you doing?” Mina held up her hand to block the blinding light that poured through the door. She could vaguely see outlines of silver and white trees on the other side.

“You lost the Grimoire, stupid! Someone needs to tell the Queen before all hell breaks loose and something bad happens.” She moved toward the door of light and turned before stepping through to shoot one last remark at Mina.

“I always knew that of all the Grimms, you would cause the most trouble.  I told him you didn’t deserve the Grimoire. I knew you were a mistake right from the beginning, and I was right.”

She stepped through the gate of light, and both Ever and the doorway to the Fae plane disappeared leaving Mina to wonder what she meant by something bad happening.

The car ride to Nan’s party was boring and uneventful. Sara continually tried to console Mina about the loss of the Grimoire, but it didn’t help. Sara turned off the highway and drove their green four door Subaru wagon onto a barely visible dirt road.

“Are you sure these are the right directions?” she asked Mina.

Mina pulled out the wadded up notebook paper and checked it again for the eighth time. “Yes, we take the interstate southbound for thirty miles. Hang a right at Carl’s Junction and left at Anawatchie Road. Drive for four miles and take the first dirt path on your right. Cabin’s on the left.”

The dirt road narrowed even further down the hill, and they came to a sharp left turn followed by a metal bridge.  One look told Mina that this road was barely wide enough for two cars side by side or a small Subaru.  Sara wisely slowed their car, opened the window, and listened for the sound of oncoming cars before pushing on the gas and crossing the bridge at a faster pace than she would normally drive.