Fairest (5 page)

Nan gushed about how cute Valdemar was, while leaning between the seats to put their CD into Brody’s stereo. They started to sing out the words to the song, ‘Beauty’s Dead’ and when their voices blended perfectly they laughed at each other and Nan hit his shoulder.

Feeling somewhat pressured and left out, Mina blurted out the only thing she could think of, “Did you know that Valdemar isn’t his real name?”

Brody laughed out loud, “Yeah, I called him Peter growing up.”

“Oh right, I forgot, cousins and all.” Mina wanted to crawl into the cracks of the leather seat and disappear. Thankfully, Nan stepped in again and pulled the attention away from Mina.

“Thank goodness! I don’t think Peter is a good name for the lead singer. Valdemar sounds much more mysterious.”

She hung back and let Nan and Brody banter back and forth the rest of the car ride, which thankfully, was almost over. They were able to find a parking spot within a few blocks walk of the venue. Brody walked up to the will call booth and gave his name.

An overly plump man in a black tank top with a dragon tattoo on his arm made a quick call on his phone.  He nodded his head, and handed them three vinyl tags on lanyards. “Don’t lose these and don’t sell ‘em,” he grumbled.

Brody handed out the backstage passes. Nan could barely contain her excitement as the man got off his worn stool in his small booth and led them to a metal side door. He knocked, and what looked like a bodyguard opened the door. The bodyguard and ticket attendant spoke in low tones before motioning them forward.

Not really knowing what to expect, Mina stuck to Nan’s side like glue.  They walked down a back hallway and were directed toward an elevator. Taking the elevator up, they walked out into a large open room filled with couches, food, makeup artists, photographers, and fans.

“Where are we?” Mina asked in hushed tones.

“The green room,” Nan said in awe.

Mina looked at the floor and walls. “But it’s not green.”

Nan’s neck snapped back and forth like a metronome as she took in the surroundings. “It’s just called that.  It’s the hangout room for special guests and the rock stars before and after they perform. I can’t believe it.” She squeezed Mina’s hand in excitement and pointed when she caught sight of one of the band members.

 Naga was Japanese and wore head to toe black leather with matching boots. He even had a spiked Mohawk tipped with white. He was clearly upset about something and was visibly arguing with his hairstylist. Mina could only guess that it had something to do with the very skunk-like turn his hair was taking.

Brody was talking to a young man with white blonde hair pulled into a ponytail, who was the epitome of a punked-out version of Lord of the Rings’ Legolas. Nan whispered Constantine’s name in awe to Mina. “After Valdemar, he is the second hottest Prince in the band. You do remember what I told you, right?  That each of them chose their stage name after an actual dead prince?”

The third band member was the largest and sat stuffing his face from the vast array of sandwiches, snacks and fruit on a table. It was interesting that all of the healthy food sat untouched while the floor was littered with bags of the opened candy. Mina wished she had spent more time learning the names of the band members, or at least their stage names. For some reason she kept thinking his name was Magpie—no Martin—ah wait…Magnus. Too nervous to stare at the fiercely intimidating guy for any length of time, she kept glancing to the others in the room, trying to guess who the other member was.

“Oh, I can’t believe this is happening! No one on earth is going to believe this. Here take my phone.  Get a picture of me next to Valdemar,” Nan hissed.

A solemn young man with golden hair down to his chin, wearing skin tight jeans and a black vest, sat on a red vinyl couch re-stringing his guitar. He appeared to be trying to ignore an over exuberant female fan with bright pink hair.

“Which one is that again?” Mina asked, already forgetting the names Nan had pointed out earlier.

Nan tossed her the phone and went over to delicately sit on the edge of the red vinyl couch, feet away from the Dead Prince Society’s lead singer.  Nan nervously pasted a smile on her face and posed.

Unsure of what to do, it took her a few moments to figure out what Nan wanted. She got the phone to the right screen but she couldn’t get Nan and the rocker in the same shot. Mina motioned with her hands for Nan to scoot closer.

Nan’s confidence faltered.  Her smile slipped a little as she carefully slid inches closer to the rocker. It wasn’t close enough. Mina mouthed the words ‘closer’ and Nan scooted even closer to Valdemar, who seemed oblivious to Nan’s inching. The girl with bubblegum pink hair started to shoot them both nasty glances, but they ignored her.

Just when Nan had inched as close as she dared, Valdemar reached his arm out and quickly pulled her into his lap. She screeched in surprise, but was quieted as Valdemar’s hands reached around her possessively, but was even more surprised when he leaned in and kissed her.

Mina snapped the picture.

Nan was too stunned to fight or pull away from the kiss and she let Valdemar continue. The girl with pink hair looked furious and screamed something incoherent at the kissing couple. When she didn’t get the immediate reaction she desired, she stormed out of the room, knocking over chairs and lamps in the process. When the exit door slammed with finality, Valdemar gently pulled away from the kiss. He looked momentarily surprised by his own reaction to the intensity of the shared kiss. It took him a minute to recover before he slid Nan onto the cushion next to him, closer than what was necessary. 

“Sorry about that. I was at my wit’s end trying to make her go away. Thank you for playing along.” He glanced at the door and smirked and turned back to Nan. “It worked at least.” His eyes still held a hint of desire, and he swallowed nervously.

Nan perched awkwardly on the cushion next to him, her hand gently brushing her lips where they were seconds ago pressed to his. Her cheeks turned bright red and she looked like she was at a loss for words. Hastily she jumped up from the couch, knocking her knee into the coffee table, trying to run away.

Valdemar’s hand shot out and caught Nan’s wrist. “Ah, I’m sorry. Please don’t run away, I’d like…” He never got to finish his sentence as a short fiery red haired woman in a business suit entered the room and started ushering people out for the concert that should have started five minutes ago.

The room became a mass of hurriedly fleeing flashes and last minute fixes by the hair and makeup crew. Mina watched as Valdemar tried to speak to Nan again but was pulled away out the door to the stage. She was sure she saw him motion for Nan to stay there.

When Nan’s blonde head swung forcefully back and forth in denial, his face dropped. But Mina could have been mistaken in what she saw because Valdemar immediately plastered a smile on his face and headed toward stage. They followed. Three of the band members headed underneath the stage. It was dark, but they had enough light to see a lift and hydraulics. Valdemar split off and headed towards another contraption and a crowd of techs.

From her spot in the wings Mina had a phenomenal view of the stage, and the packed-house. Suddenly, the whole arena went dark. Smoke billowed out from fog machines hidden along the platform, and a low rumbling of music began. Somewhere, an organ began a somber melody, something which would be played at a funeral.  Eerie sound effects and footsteps echoed off the walls and only those backstage could hear the hydraulics kick in when lift began to rise to the stage.

The hair on the back of Mina’s neck stood up in anticipation when the stage props and band slowly rose into view. The band’s stage was decorated like a dark and twisted throne room; a large golden mirror hung on the back wall. High in the middle of the stage sat a black throne made from a dark and twisted tree. Upon the throne sat a guitar painted in the deepest blood red color. Three of the band members were onstage playing the intro to their most popular song, “Beauty’s Dead.” Naga on the guitar, Magnus on drums, Constantine on bass, but Valdemar was missing. 

Mina’s head craned to look around the stage, her fear overtaking her as the dreaded feeling of magic began to tingle down her hands. A sign that the Story was interested in what was currently going on, and may even find a way to interfere.

Unexpectedly, the music stopped and Nan screamed in delight and pointed toward the large golden mirror that was filling with fog. The sound of a lone guitar picked up where the haunting melody had ended and the fog began to clear from the mirror. Valdemar was inside the giant looking glass playing a gold guitar.

 The crowd chanted as Valdemar ceased his playing and used his very expensive guitar to smash through the glass. Mina stepped away from the stage subconsciously as Valdemar stepped through the mirror. Their movements were eerily similar but polar opposite. The closer he moved to the stage the farther Mina moved into the background and away from Brody and Nan.

She could feel it. Deep in her soul, lingering in her bones she could feel the Story’s power hovering. It was only a matter of time before it started, twisting and using what she had just seen, heard and done into a quest. Her mouth went dry, and she started to shake with fear.

 Valdemar raised his hands high into the air and the audience and Nan jumped up and down in excitement. He strode over to the black throne and picked up the blood red guitar and continued with the rest of their music set. 

Why couldn’t she have paid more attention? There were signs, obvious ones now that she thought about it. The name of the band for one, and their hit song was a fairy tale ballad; even the group’s stage names were all things that would attract the Story into using them. Throw in the fact that Mina, a Grimm, walked through the doors and into a giant trap. Her mind began to spin with all of the possible scenarios, and outcomes and nothing looked good. If she didn’t want to get her friends involved with the Story, then she had to get her friends out of the concert. NOW.

The song came to a crescendo, the band quit playing, and everyone sang the chorus acapella. Everyone except Mina. Brody had a grin on his face and seemed to be enjoying the music as well. He turned to look at her, gave her crooked smile, then turned back to watch his cousin sing.  The smoke and Vertigo lights lit up the stage and spilled over into the darkness where they stood, giving them the appearance of being in a dream.

She moved toward Nan but was jettisoned to the side when a group of stagehands rushed in rolling out carts with large pyrotechnics displays. Mina moved back and bumped into another person and became pinned between the rolling carts. The stagehands were moving fast and Mina had no choice but to move with them or get run over. Fumbling to keep up, and stay out of the way, Mina and the carts ended up down in the galley below the stage. They began to strap in the contraptions onto the lift and she could barely make out a large glass case off to the side.

She walked toward it and could see that it was easily six feet tall, but it was on its side and she didn’t recognize what it was.

“What’s that for?” she asked nervously.

One of the stagehands looked at her but went on with his work. He must not have heard her speak over the loud music. She decided to repeat herself loudly.

“What is that?” She waved and pointed toward the glass again.

This time he stopped briefly enough to answer her. “It’s the glass coffin. We use it for the finale.”

Mina turned in horror to look at the glass coffin that in fairy tales housed the body of a dead princess, the most famous one being Snow White. She took a deep breath and leaned closer. She could see her reflection staring back at her. Her own skin was pale with fear, her dark eyes wide with worry and her lips looked red because she was biting them.  She looked beautiful, that is until she realized that her overlaid reflection gave the illusion that Mina was inside the glass coffin.

“NO!” She screamed and jumped away from the cursed coffin. No one even heard her over the Dead Prince Society playing onstage.

Anger and fear filled her as the tingling sensation began to turn into waves. She could feel the power rolling off of her, around her, into her.

“NO, I refuse! I refuse to play a part in this. Do you hear me, cursed Story. You don’t own me. You don’t get to choose what happens. It’s not fair!” The music began to beat loudly in time with the waves of power and Mina grimaced in pain, clutching her ears.

She had to leave and leave now, with or without Nan and Brody. She rushed upstairs, ignoring the confused looks of the stagehands. She found Brody and Nan where she had left them.