UnEnchanted (23 page)

Dancing on the floor was a visual montage of
fairy tale, storybook, and mythical animals. A minotaur was trying
to pour punch for a unicorn. A fawn was dancing with a goose girl
maiden. Mina saw various wolves, sheep, and dragons, usually
milling about in clusters off the dance floor. Those who weren’t
animals had chosen to be a prince, princess, or knight. Frank and
Steve could be seen pretending to joust, using stick horses and the
school’s flags.

D.J. Ogre, his requested moniker for the
night, pulled out some slower music, and the dance floor that was
hopping began to empty as couples filed on.

“
Do you want to dance?”
Brody asked.

“
I’m not sure you should
risk it,” Mina said, flushing bright red.

“
It’ll be fine, if you let
me lead.” Brody took Mina’s hands and led her onto the floor. He
was right; as long as Mina let Brody lead, she didn’t have any
problems finding the rhythm or staying away from his feet. It was
perhaps the most graceful she’d felt all her life. Of course, the
dress didn’t hurt.

“
See, you’re doing great,”
Brody said, encouraging Mina and holding her closer. “You know, I
should have thought twice about bringing you here.”

Mina was startled by his words. Was he now
realizing that he was ashamed of her? Had she stepped on his toes?
She’d thought that she was doing just fine. “What do you mean?”

“
I thought that I could
handle bringing you to the dance, but I’m finding that’s not true.”
His hands tightened around her waist, and he leaned in to whisper
in her ear. “Every Steve, Frank, and Larry can’t take their eyes
off you.” Brody nodded with his chin toward a crowd of boys, and
Mina sneaked a quick peek over her shoulder before turning bright
pink with embarrassment. He was right—everyone was staring at
them.

“
Maybe it’s you. You do
usually have a lot of people staring at you,” she tried.

“
That’s kind, but I doubt
that many boys at our school find me so attractive.” As they
circled the room, Brody glared at the boys, and a few actually
turned away in embarrassment. Some began texting on their phones,
while others refused to budge their gaze.

“
I’m sorry. I hope I did
nothing to embarrass you.”

“
Don’t apologize. This is
not your fault. You can’t help looking so gorgeous.”

Mina’s cheeks turned pink. When the song
began to die down, Brody had finally had enough. “Will you be safe
next to Nan? I really want to go talk to those guys.” Brody walked
Mina over to Nan, who was talking animatedly to a short boy with
glasses.

Once Brody walked away, Nan leaned over and
whispered to her, “Can you believe the attention you’re getting?
I’ve never seen anything like it.” She nudged Mina and pointed to
another group of guys wearing various animal masks.

“
Nan, I don’t think they
attend our school,” Mina whispered. She was right; there was a
completely different group of students who couldn’t or wouldn’t
take their eyes off her. To test a theory, Mina looped her arm
through Nan’s and walked over to a food table. They followed at a
distance, trying to not draw attention.

“
They ARE following you!”
Nan mouthed.

“
Where’s Brody?” Mina
walked back to where she had last seen him, but he was gone. “I
have to find Jared!” Mina called out, feeling herself panic. If she
couldn’t have Brody by her side, at least she wanted to know where
Jared was.

“
I don’t know. He danced
with me for a few songs, but then he disappeared. Mina, those guys
are coming over her.”” Nan nodded with her chin to the group of
guys again. They had stopped trying to blend in with the crowd and
now moved menacingly toward Mina and Nan.

The tingling sensation began in Mina’s body,
and she knew it was time. But instead of rising to the occasion,
she lost her nerve. “Nan, I have to get out of here.” She began to
pull on Nan’s arm, and together they turned and headed for an
exit.

The first door was blocked by Rapunzel’s
tower, and the second was right between the group of unknown guys.
No way was she heading there.

“
The stage. There’s
another exit behind the D.J. on the stage,” Nan yelled over the
music. They ducked under a column of streamers and balloons, and
headed up the steps to the stage. Once onstage, Mina looked out
over the dance floor and saw two groups of people making their way
toward the stage. Who were they? What did they want? When they
passed through the foggy dance floor and the lasers hit them, Mina
noticed a slight blurring of their human forms. What she saw for
that split second chilled her to the bone. One of them looked up to
the stage and saw Mina’s terrified face. He ditched the mask and
practically drooled with pleasure at seeing her so
scared.

“
Here!” Nan shouted,
having pulled a curtain aside and found the exit door that led
backstage. They ran toward the stairs that led down to the side
doors, but were blocked by a large man.

“
Eeep!” Nan squealed as
someone grabbed her from behind and clamped a fist over her
mouth.

Another figure loomed out of the dark. Mina
screamed in fright, but it couldn’t be heard over the thumping of
the bass.

“
Ah, Little Red, Little
Red, you strayed from the path.” The one Jared had called Grey Tail
moved in quickly. Mina tried to run, but he lunged for her and
slammed her against the wall, spinning her so that her head crashed
into the brick. Spots flecked across Mina’s vision.

Grey Tail leaned forward and pressed his
face into her neck, inhaling her scent. He brushed his teeth
against a vein in her throat, following the pulse from her clavicle
to chin. “Where’s the book?” he whispered, growling into her
ear.

“
I told you before, I
don’t have it,” Mina whimpered. The way he was leaning on her, she
feared he might feel it in her bodice.

“
She’s lying,” a woman
said, her gravelly voice echoing out of the darkness.

“
Does it look like I have
a book on me?” Mina shouted at the figure in the dark. Her vision
was swimming, and she heard a slow
click
,
click
in her head.

“
She may have left it at
home,” Grey Tail said hesitantly to the dark figure, while still
pressing himself close to his prey.

“
You searched her home
once and didn’t find it. What makes you think she would have left
it there now? Use your brain, you worthless dog.”

Mina’s vision began to clear, and she could
make out the wood flooring of the stage. The clicking sound drew
nearer, and slowly a pair of red high-heeled shoes came into view.
She knew those heels and was about to comment on them when a hand
grabbed Mina’s hair roughly, digging the bobby pins deeply into her
scalp and forcing her to look at the speaker.

It was Claire.

Chapter 22

Or what used to be Claire. She had aged
considerably within a few weeks. She no longer looked to be in her
thirties but now her eighties. Her hair had turned gray, and her
skin was wrinkled and covered in sun spots. She had lost weight,
too much of it, till there was barely a trace of the beautiful
woman Mina had met once before

“
This is your fault,” she
spat at Mina, gripping Mina’s head and slamming it against the wall
again, proving that her body had aged but her strength had not
diminished. “I was perfect, timeless, until you showed up at my
bakery. Who would have thought that an actual Grimm would walk
through my doors? I’m honored, really, to be included in the
infamous tales, and maybe if I had fed on an earlier school tour, I
would have noticed you. Believe me, if I had, you wouldn’t have
survived long.”

Mina shrank away from Claire’s touch. Jared
had said that she would eventually age and die, but Mina had
thought it would take years, not days. It made her wonder even more
at the depth and power of the tales.

“
I’m sorry—I had no idea
about the power of the tale until days later. You have to believe
me.”

Claire studied Mina closely. “I believe you,
sweet child. But you see, we still have a problem. I don’t want to
age. I want to stay young forever. I want it to go back to the way
it was before you showed up at my bakery.”

“
I can’t. I don’t know how
to reverse what was done.” Mina trembled with fear. The men who
surrounded Claire stepped forward, flexing their fingers, eager for
the violence to begin.

“
Nonsense, you can. I’ve
been told you’re the chosen one, and you have the Grimoire. You
have the power to change the tale.”

“
I don’t,” Mina cried
out.

“
You do!” Claire grinned
evilly. “And all I think you need is some proper motivation. Bring
them in, Lonetree.”

Mina didn’t know what to expect and was
surprised when a red-haired boy she’d never seen before dragged in
a compliant Savannah and Pri. They looked somewhat dazed and
confused, but unharmed. The girls sat at Claire's feet, immobile,
as if under a spell.

“
Let them go!” Mina
struggled against Grey Tail, but he grinned and squeezed Mina’s
arms tighter until they felt like they were about to
break.

“
I loved my husband,”
Claire said softly. “Do you know what it’s like to outlive a loved
one? Do you?” She screamed the last question.

“
Yes,” she cried. “I do.
And I’m sorry.”

“
NO, YOU DON’T!” Claire’s
face froze for a moment, and then she started to laugh maniacally.
“I used to feel cheated that they didn't inherit my longevity. But
then I realized I was meant for much greater things. Like stopping
the likes of you.”

A beeping noise interrupted Claire's rant.
She pulled a cell phone out of her purse and answered in a language
Mina had never once heard. Even from a cruel old woman like Claire,
her voice sounded breathy, melodic and mesmerizing. Mina could
barely hear the voice on the other end, gruff and clipped. With a
sharp click, Claire hung up the phone and studied the girls in
front of her and Mina.

“
Tell you what, Mina. I
will let you choose who lives and who dies. I only need two of you
and the Grimoire. You can't say that I'm completely heartless. I'm
giving you a chance to save your own skinny neck.”

Mina stared at Savannah and Pri's
unresponsive bodies, and contemplated what Claire was saying. The
two shallow girls seemed completely unaware of their surroundings,
staring ahead blankly. Pri might have even let loose a little
drool. If Mina named her enemies, she could turn over the Grimoire
and still live. But she could never be that manipulative, or that
heartless. This was her battle, and she knew she couldn't complete
the tale only halfway. There had to be an ending.

Mina had to think quickly. Maybe Claire
thought they were still trapped in the Hansel and Gretel retelling.
She didn't know that the Story had moved on and lost interest in
her. If Claire didn't know that Mina was now rewriting Red Riding
Hood, then that could be to her advantage. But she was going to
need help. Looking to her left, Mina caught Nan's angry glare. She
only hoped Jared would come in time.

“
Sorry, Nan, but I choose
us. Let Savannah and Pri go. Nan and I will go with you, but not
here. We need to know that the rest of the students will be
unharmed.” Nan whimpered, but Mina tried to relay through her eyes
that everything would be okay.

A cackling laugh erupted from Claire’s
cracked lips. “You fool. I knew you would choose to save your
friends. You Grimms are so predictable.” Claire walked forward and
through – literally through—Savannah and Pri, who disappeared into
thin puffs of smoke. Illusions, the girls were illusions. Simply
one of Claire’s Fae tricks.

Claire roughly gripped Mina's chin and
pulled the stage curtain to the side so she could see the real
Savannah and Pri on the dance floor, arms waving above their heads,
carefree and obviously alive.

“
You made your deal, and
so you’ll come with us. It's easier when you don't fight it. But
I'm warning you, any tricks, and it won't be the students who are
harmed. It will be your mother and brother.” She turned to Lonetree
and Grey Tail. “Take them both—we need to leave. Now! I can feel
something. Something is coming, and I don’t like it.”

Snapping jaws answered Claire, doubly
grotesque as the wolves were still in their human form. Mina had
only a moment to struggle before she was lifted into the air and
then hauled over Lonetree’s shoulder, which smelled of nicotine and
sweat. Mina tried to scream, but his shoulder dug deeply into her
stomach, cutting off her breath.

Nan fought harder and spouted incessant
derogative remarks at her assailant until he knocked her
unconscious. Mina cringed at the sound of fist hitting jaw.

Mina suddenly smelled a
whiff of wet dog, and found it disorienting to be coming from the
back of a fully dressed man.
Think, Mina,
think. How does this story end?

Footsteps, car doors opening, and Mina felt
herself falling to land on the metal floor of a delivery van.
Scrambling to gain footing, she tried kicking at the man crawling
in next to her in the van. Mina opened her mouth to scream, and an
old rag quickly filled her mouth, followed by rope around her
wrists. She pushed herself into a sitting position in the far
corner of the truck.

“
Just in case you get any
ideas,” Lonetree hissed into her ear. The van dipped as more people
clambered in. Mina saw them lower Nan's unconscious body next to
her. The engine turned over, and they were moving. Out the back
window she could see the brick gym slowly getting smaller as they
pulled away. What now?