Fable: An Unfortunate Fairy Tale Book 3 (18 page)

Mina followed Melissa to the second row and
hesitated. She didn’t want to sit this close to the front of the
class. She would have rather have sat in the back, but someone
filed in behind her, and Mina was forced to keep moving.

Melissa pointed to the girls on either side
of them. “That’s Julianne, Makaylee, and, of course, Bekah.” Each
girl waved when she heard her name mentioned and smiled.

“
Are you going to audition
for the musical?” Makaylee asked.

“
Musical?”

“
Mrs. Colbert always picks
a fairy tale. Last year it was
Princess
and the Pea
, the year before,
Rapunzel
. I wonder what
it will be this year?” Bekah wondered.

“
I hope it’s not
Red Riding Hood
,”
Julianne answered.

“
Uh, definitely
not.”

“
I’m sure there’s a
kissing scene.” Melissa shuddered. “You never know who would get
cast as the prince, and that could be very awkward.”

All the girls nodded in unison, but there
was a wishful look behind their eyes.

Mrs. Colbert walked into class and took her
place behind the piano. She called out to the class and began to do
warm-ups. Mina was altogether shocked by the voice that came out of
the Fae teacher. Constance wasn’t kidding when she said she was a
muse. She could really sing, and it was obvious that the Fae loved
singing. Her face lit up with joy, and she didn’t notice the extra
student sitting in on her class.

Music binders opened, and
Mina watched Melissa’s carefully to see what page they turned to
and tried her best to hide behind the music. They were working on a
piece from
Phantom of the
Opera
, and Mina stopped singing to stare
at Melissa. The teen girl had closed her eyes and was hitting every
one of the notes with ease. Mina was slightly envious and tried to
follow along, but her voice cracked, betraying that she was indeed
an alto. Melissa opened her eyes and made a poking motion with her
finger. Then she smiled widely and winked.

Mina found herself smiling back and thinking
how she could see Melissa and Nan being great friends. Halfway into
the second song, Mrs. Colbert finally noticed the new addition to
her class. She froze for a second and then recovered beautifully.
She raised an eyebrow in question at Mina but continued with the
rest of class. She ended early and gave the final instructions
about the auditions.

“
You’ve heard that our
musical has been announced. This year we are doing
Cinderella
. Auditions
will be in three weeks after school in the main auditorium. Please
come prepared with a solo piece to perform. That is
all.”

Since the class ended early, Mina had hoped
the students would all disappear from the room, but that wasn’t the
case. With the excitement of the announcement of the musical,
everyone wanted to stay and talk.

Mina excused herself and squeezed out of the
row, and left the girls talking excitedly about the play.

“
What are you doing here?”
Mrs. Colbert asked, a forced smile on her face. “Is something
wrong?”

“
No, not really. It’s just
that a lot has happened since the other night. Jared destroyed the
seam ripper, he’s not talking to me anymore, and I haven’t jumped
or whatever in my sleep. I don’t know what to do.”

Mrs. Colbert took off her blue wing-tipped
glasses and her glamour faded a little, making her look like the
muse Constance more than ever. “Mina, listen to your heart. When
the time is right, you’ll know what to do.”

“
No, I don’t. I’m too
close. I can’t find my way, and Jared’s not helping me.”

The students continued talking amongst
themselves, and Mrs. Colbert sat on her piano bench and motioned to
the music in front of her.

“
Remember what I said
about technology not working on the Fae world? Man-made things
can’t transfer over there. We don’t know why—it just can’t. It’s a
rule, a law of some sort that can’t be changed. And just like that
rule, another one always seems to surface in regards to
stories.”

She waved her hand over the sheet music, and
the notes and lines began to merge and dance across the white
paper. She began to play the piano, and the lines and notes formed
a story. The more she played, the more the picture continued.

“
With every tale
throughout time, there are rules. A hero is given an impossible
task.” A knight appeared made of the notes on the white paper,
sword in hand, bowing before a king. Then the drawing changed into
the knight traveling through a dangerous forest alone.

“
One that he is sure to
fail, but along the way help comes from the most unexpected
source.” The knight helped three creatures, and they offered him a
boon. “When the hero reaches an insurmountable obstacle, he forgets
that he has allies who will come to help him. One by one the
creatures in the story help the knight overcome his obstacles and
traps, and he reaches his goal. And wins the princess’s hand in
marriage.” She stopped playing, and the moving pictures turned back
into plain sheet music. “Mina, we are not your only allies, and the
Story, as you very well know, is not your only adversary. If the
quests were easy, then the curse would have been broken long
ago.”

“
But how do I know that
this is even a quest?”

“
Because it’s the loophole
of all Fae tales. Whenever you, the hero, get stuck, something or
someone will magically aid you on your quest. That you can be sure
to count on. The ending of the tale is still very much in your
hands, but I wouldn’t be surprised if you already have the answer
and you just don’t know it. Don’t forget that the Fae prince is
very much a servant of the Fae book. So they all have rules to
follow.”

Mina sighed in frustration. “So you’re
saying a furry woodland creature is going to come and help me?”

“
Mina, all Fae are
attracted to you. Help will come to you if it hasn’t
already.”

She was about to tell her teacher about the
mysterious phoenix feather gifted to her when the second bell rang.
Mina looked up to see the next class filing in and pulling out
music stands and opening violin cases. Constance’s next class had
arrived.

“
Oh, I, uh. I’m late,”
Mina said sheepishly.

Constance pulled out a pink pad of paper and
quickly wrote an excused tardy on her note, and handed it to Mina.
“As much as I loved having you drop in today, try not to make a
habit of skipping classes. Your education is extremely
important.”

“
As important as my other
job,” Mina hinted.

Constance frowned. “No…yes. Oh, that’s not
the point. Get going.”

Mina left and headed to her next class,
which was gym. Oh, why couldn’t she have skipped this period
instead? Then again, it would have been a lot harder to pretend to
play a stringed instrument than it was to slink into choir class.
Since she had the pass, she took her sweet time heading to the gym,
but came to a sudden halt when she turned the corner and saw him
standing, staring at the school’s trophy case. It was Temple.

His back was stiff. He wore a long gray suit
jacket trimmed with gold buttons, and gray lambskin gloves.

“
A lot of trophies. Too
bad they’re just pieces of plastic. Not worth anything. Unlike my
prized collection.” He turned to look at her and squinted his eyes
in study. “You’ve been straying from your goal, and I’ve become
impatient.”

Mina spoke evenly. “They say that patience
is a virtue.”

“
So is self-control, and I
feel that mine may be slipping where your brother is concerned.” He
opened his coat and pulled out a small glass globe. He held it out
in front of her, and she could see Charlie inside a gold cage, just
like her dream. “I have heard some disturbing news. It seems my
youngest brother has disappeared. You wouldn’t have anything to do
with that, would you?”

“
Maybe he went on a
spur-of-the-moment vacation.”

“
Maybe I have decided to
change my mind about what I want. If you can’t get the Fable, the
Fae-plane book, then I want the Grimoire.”

“
No, you can’t have
it!”

“
No one tells me what I
can and cannot have,” he hissed, and raised his fist and smashed it
through the trophy case. The glass shattered and rained to the
ground in pieces. He shook his hand and put it back down by his
side. He had lost control and was on the verge of trying to regain
it. Temple closed his eyes, and smoothed his vest and jacket back
into place. “Be glad that I’m gracious enough to spare yours until
our bargain is done. You have until tomorrow at midnight to give me
one of the books, or your brother will die and you will take his
place in my gilded cage. Don’t disappoint me again.”

He turned and strolled down the hall, his
boots making a hollow clicking noise. Mina stared at the shattered
trophy case and Temple’s retreating figure, and felt her heart
race. She needed to leave before someone came to investigate the
disturbance. But something on the ground caught her eye; she
stooped down and picked up something he had missed: a shard of
gold-tinted glass with a single drop of Temple’s blood on it. He
must have unknowingly cut himself on the shard of glass, turning it
gold.

A door opened, and she could hear the sound
of feet quickly approaching. Mina slipped the shard into her jacket
pocket and ducked around the corner just before Principal Hame
appeared and yelled, “What in the blazes happened to the trophy
case?”

Chapter 18

She was out of options and desperate. Mina
sneaked off to her locker and began to work on the combination. Of
course, since she was in a hurry, her fingers wouldn’t cooperate
with her, and it took her three tries to get the correct
combination before she heard the audible click and the locker
opened. It was just around the corner from the trophy case, and she
knew if she didn’t get moving she would get in big trouble for
skipping class. And she didn’t think that saving the world from Fae
was an acceptable excuse. In fact, she would probably end up in the
school counselor’s office if she tried that excuse.

The commotion was getting louder as more
teachers came to investigate Principal Hame’s verbal tirade against
delinquents that destroy school property. And how he would find
them and they would be expelled.

Come on
, she mentally berated herself, and desperately dug around in
her backpack for it. Her fingers brushed something warm, and she
snatched it out of her bag and slammed her locker door a little too
loud.

“
Did you hear that? It’s
probably our delinquent now.” His voice got louder, and Mina could
hear his footsteps drawing closer to her.

She clutched the golden phoenix feather
close to her breast and tried the doorknob to the nearest
classroom. Luckily, it was unlocked and currently devoid of
students. It took her a moment to adjust to where she was because
all of the shades had been closed against the heat of the sun. She
moved forward away from the door and bumped into the familiar lab
table. It was the biology lab. This room always gave her the
willies, as she couldn’t help but remember what had happened the
last time she was in this room. The creepy specimens in the lab’s
glass cases had come alive. She moved to the corner of the room and
crouched down behind a tall file cabinet. Would they look in the
darkened classroom?

A moment later the door opened, and the
light from the hallway spilled into the room. She pulled her knees
and shoes closer to her body, and held her breath. Principal Hame
stormed into the room and shouted, “I know you’re in here. I heard
this door close.” His portly chest heaved in and out from
excitement. Even his red face had a slight sheen of sweat.
Principal Hame, or Ham, as the students called him, really did in
real life resemble the pigs he collected. He had an office full of
them. And sure enough, like a pig can sniff out a truffle, this one
had found her.

Mina tried to rack her brain to think of an
excuse as she slowly began to inch out of her hiding spot, but a
familiar voice saved her.

“
I heard it, too, but I
think it was that door,” Mrs. Colbert’s voice rang out. “In fact,
I’m almost positive it was from the south hallway.”

Principal Hame grumbled something and
stopped right in front of the filing cabinet. He was two feet from
discovering her.

“
I don’t know. I’m sure it
was this one.”

Constance’s voice became silky smooth as her
skin took on a translucent glow. “I’m sure you are right. The
culprit ducked into a classroom and is probably cowering in fear
behind that filing cabinet right there. Or the culprit is probably
heading for the nearest school exit. Think about it. It’s the
trophy case. Who would destroy that? My guess is someone from
Barlow High School.”

“
You are absolutely
right.” He clapped his hands together and turned on his heel.
“Barlow High has always been trying to steal our thunder. I bet you
they’re not done yet. Quick, send security out, comb the halls, the
parking lot.” His voice drifted off as they exited the classroom
and the door clicked softly behind them.

Mina didn’t breathe or move till she counted
to one hundred. She kept her head down and stayed near the ground
as she pulled out the phoenix feather, which was still burning
slowly. Its miniscule flames danced around the quill.