Fable: An Unfortunate Fairy Tale Book 3 (23 page)

The kelpies had stopped around the last
little bend of the river before the palace and carefully treaded
water, keeping their distance from the trolls and their victim.
Within seconds the sound of gasping and splashing water
disappeared, followed by a scream. A long minute later, the green
eyes popped back up under the shadows of the bridge, signaling the
trolls’ return. They were now even more watchful.

“
What do we do now?” Mina
whispered, shivering either from the cold of the water or the fear
that penetrated her whole body. “I don’t have the Grimoire to help
me. I have nothing to capture them in on this plane.”

Nix rubbed his hand through the kelpie’s
mane and studied the layout of the palace. He looked concerned as
well, but gazed at her in disbelief.

“
Are you kidding? Mina,
look at me,” he commanded.

Shivering with uncertainty, she looked into
Nix’s green cat-eyes and saw utter faith.

“
You don’t need a weapon,”
he said softly. “You are your greatest weapon.”

She closed her eyes and let his confidence
and words soak into her very core. He was right. If this Fae
believed in her, then she wasn’t going to let him down.

“
Let’s do this before I
change my mind,” she said firmly. “Now, how do we get
in?”

Nix’s face lit up with excitement, and he
rubbed the back of his neck. “Okay, I’ve got a plan, but I don’t
think you’re going to like it.”

She stared at him through narrowed eyes.
“Nix,” she said in warning tones.

His cheeks turned that odd brown color
again, when he blushed. “Um, it requires us to swim underwater from
here under the bridge, past the guards, up to an underwater duct
that leads to an indoor waterfall that empties into a bathing
chamber.”

Mina quickly calculated the distance and
knew there was no way she could hold her breath that long. She
looked at Nix’s blushing face and back at the water, and she knew
exactly how he was planning on getting her that far.

“
Uh-uh, I would rather go
through the front door and tackle the giants than have to
life-saving-suck-kiss you for five minutes. How in the world am I
going to explain this to…” Her cheeks also turned deep red as she
imagined explaining this to Brody. And then she remembered she
wasn’t dating Brody, and she wasn’t even sure how Jared would feel
about her kissing someone. He probably wouldn’t even care. She
thought of Charlie in a fiery prison, and that clinched
it.

She wasn’t going to let her own modesty and
shyness keep her from her goal. She was in another world, playing
by different rules, and if she wanted any normal chance at a
relationship…with anyone…then she needed to finish these quests.
All of them.

Nix wasn’t offended in the least by Mina’s
rejection of him. In fact, he looked a little relieved himself.
“Well, I might be able to distract the giants from the gates, and
you can run across, but the trolls would be on the bridge in
seconds flat.”

“
Okay, okay. I like your
way better. Under the bridge and under the water it is.”

He shrugged and wouldn’t look her in the
eye. “All right, then. Life-saving-suck-kiss it is.” He pinched his
lips together and quickly turned away, but Mina could see his
shoulders rising and falling in rapid succession. He was laughing
at her. And then she realized how absurd it sounded and started
laughing, too.

Even the kelpies seemed to pick up on their
laughter and started to dance in the water. Which drew attention to
their area of the lake.

“
Uh-oh.” Nix calmed down
instantly. “They know someone’s here.” The trolls’ green eyes were
moving in their direction. And even the giants had moved to stare
out across the water.

“
We need to move quickly,”
Mina hissed.

“
Yes, it’s now or never.”
Nix slid off the kelpie, and Mina followed suit. He quickly leaned
in and pressed his head to the white kelpie, and she knew he was
trying to give him instructions. A moment later the red kelpie
stepped out of the water in full horse form and began running
toward the bridge, then stopped right before it. Rising up on his
rear hooves, he was a magnificent creature and the perfect
distraction. The white kelpie did the same thing and took off in
the water toward the trolls, dancing and frolicking mere feet from
them, taunting them mercilessly.

Nix held Mina close in the reeds, hiding
until he knew that both the trolls and the giants were
distracted.

“
You ready?” he
asked.

She nodded her head mutely.

“
Take a deep breath and
hold on to me. If you need oxygen, just tug on my hand. And
remember, we can’t show ourselves and come up for air until we are
safely in the palace. Do you understand?”

“
Yes,” she
whispered.

Nix counted down. “Three—two—one.”

And she took a deep breath, and they were
under, Mina swimming hand in hand with Nix toward the bridge. He
kept trying to pull her deeper toward the bottom of the lakebed so
they wouldn’t be seen, but every instinct in her body wanted to
avoid its murky depths at all costs.

He motioned with his hands downward, and she
finally kicked and followed him down just as a commotion of water
flew past them. Mina turned and could see the white kelpie take off
toward the reeds, where they had just come from. They were almost
to the bridge, and she could look up through the water and barely
see one set of green glowing eyes. Had the other troll followed the
kelpie? She had hoped for both trolls to follow the horse, but she
was still happy if only one did. That meant one fewer monster to
try to kill her if they got caught.

She was at her limit and quickly tugged on
Nix’s arm. He immediately turned and wrapped his arms around her,
and pressed his lips to hers.

Sweet air rushed into her mouth, and she let
him control the breathing and speed at which they exchanged carbon
dioxide and oxygen. It seemed like the polite thing to do. He
gently tapped the side of her neck three times, signaling for her
to count and start swimming. She immediately understood and took
one last breath, and they were off.

He still swam slightly faster than she did,
and she probably could have done better if she hadn’t started
doubting herself all of a sudden. Her plan was stupid, she wasn’t
strong enough, and even if she got inside, she didn’t know how to
save her brother. She felt herself slowing down, and Nix continued
to pull on her in desperation. He saw that she was freezing up and
kept shaking his head at her.

It was no use; the doubt continued to flood
her mind like a creepy hypnotizing song. She looked at Nix and
shook her head, and pointed up toward the surface. His eyes went
wide in horror, and he shook his head.

She couldn’t help it. There was no way she
could win; she might as well let herself get caught by the trolls.
Maybe they would take pity on her and just put her in jail. It was
better than death. She was weak—she wasn’t brave. She was useless,
a poor excuse for a Grimm. The words kept coming, and the song
never stopped. If she just let go of Nix’s hand, he could escape,
and only she would be caught. Yes, yes. That was what she must
do.

Mina felt herself let go of Nix’s hand, and
she kicked toward the surface, toward the green glowing eyes of the
troll that was waiting for her under the bridge.

A voice blasted into her
consciousness.
DON’T LISTEN!
It was Nix’s voice, she could tell, and she could
see the struggle it was for him to speak to her. He grasped his
head in pain, but then took off after her like a fish through
water. He grabbed her bare foot and pulled her down into the water
right before she almost broke the surface.

She kicked and struggled against him, but he
placed his hands over her ears, and she could see him
concentrate.

Don’t listen. It’s a trap,
a siren. They’re like a sea witch, but worse. Look at me. I can get
you through this. Trust me!”
He reached
forth and pressed his lips to hers, forcing more air into her
lungs.

It came as such a relief that she didn’t
even know she needed air until that moment. The desolate song of
fear, doubt, and hopelessness made her completely forget to
breathe.

Look there—do you see it?

Mina tried to follow his direction and could
see a statue buried deep in the water. It was the statue of a
beautiful woman at the bottom of the river, her arms held up in the
air as if she was waiting for an embrace from her lover.

That’s the siren. Turned
to stone by one of the trolls. She is the guardian of the deep
water. As long as you can ignore her song, we will make it.
He stopped talking into her mind, and she knew
that his energy was waning. Nix pulled her, and she kept swimming.
They swam right past the stone statue. Mina couldn’t tear her eyes
away from it.

She wouldn’t have made it if it weren’t for
Nix. She wondered what terrible song the siren had tormented him
with; he seemed in pain but otherwise fine. Soon they could no
longer feel the siren’s touch. Overwhelming feelings continued to
plague her, but not so much that she couldn’t deal with them.

After two more stops for Nix to help her
breathe, they finally made it to an underwater aqueduct. He waved
her over and pointed to the small circular entrance that looked
barely big enough for her to fit into. She couldn’t see inside. It
was pitch black. Her hands shook, but she uncovered the jar with
the phoenix feather and handed it to Nix. When it was obvious that
she wasn’t going to enter first, he leaned forward for one more
shared breath between them and turned to swim up the tunnel, using
the light of the feather to guide him.

Mina pulled a small green stone out of her
pouch and followed suit, being careful to stay right on Nix’s
heels. This tunnel was smaller than the caverns she had previously
swum through, and she felt herself become extremely claustrophobic.
Nix swam farther, and then turned and swam through a tunnel that
went upward. Mina had just braced herself and pushed off after him
when something grabbed her foot and pulled her back down.

She fought against whatever was grabbing her
and tried to hit it with her fist, but the thing wouldn’t let go.
The flow from her green stone illuminated the deathly face and
familiar black hate-filled eyes of the sea witch.

The hag’s face smiled widely to reveal
several sharp pointy fangs, and her hand swatted the stone from
Mina’s grip. She dropped it, and the glow disappeared, leaving her
in complete darkness with the monster.

Chapter 24

Panic overcame Mina as the darkness
threatened to swallow her whole. Was this her grim end? She tried
to swim away again but felt the witch’s hands grasp her legs. Pain
laced through her where the crooked claws raked against her skin.
But it was that painful slash which reminded her of her own weapon.
She reached toward her thigh and pulled out her glass knife, and
frantically tried to stab the witch, but she couldn’t see her and
missed.

A yellow glow filled the small space as Nix
reappeared. He looked horrified and rushed in to help Mina. But now
there were too many bodies and not enough room to maneuver. Someone
or something kicked her hand, and she dropped the knife. She was
also out of air and needed to find some…now. She tried to push off
and kick up the tunnel again, but the witch grabbed her and pulled
her down. Mina tried to push her off but then felt the witch
stiffen and freeze. Her snarling face froze in a mask of horror and
pain as something stabbed her in the back. The witch’s scream died
on her lips, and her black cat-eyes clouded over, turning gold.

The witch sank, freeing Mina, and she
couldn’t help but stare at Nix’s horrified face as he held her
Stiltskin-empowered knife. He had saved her, but had killed his own
mother. He slowly sat down in the tunnel and buried his face in his
hands. Mina tried to motion that she needed air, but he wasn’t
paying attention. He was lost in his own misery. She grabbed his
shoulder and shook, but he went limp and stared at the knife in his
hands.

Frustrated, she pushed off and swam as hard
as she could toward the tunnel that Nix had gone up. This one had
to lead out; it was her only chance. She kicked until she felt a
sucking current that began to pull her up. She was no longer
swimming but being carried forcefully along a pipeline. Her head
broke the surface of the water, and she had just enough time to
breathe and duck as she was swept into a tunnel and then down a
long slope. Faster and faster she traveled until she could see an
opening, and then a drop.

Didn’t Nix mention
something about an indoor waterfall that led to an inner bathing
pool? He just didn’t say how big it was.
Squelching any scream or sound, she tried to hold it together
as she was thrown over the drop. This time she was prepared for the
fall, and it wasn’t more than thirty feet before she plunged into
the small pool. She was careful; she kept her head under the water
and tried to look up and through the reflection for signs of life.
There was a shadow, but then it moved away.

Mina kicked along the bottom of the pool and
found a statue of a mermaid on a pedestal pouring water out of a
jar. Keeping her head low, she hid behind the water feature and
peeked around. Since it was nighttime, there weren’t as many Fae
around. She saw someone in a robe walk past, and she quietly slid
back down into the water and made her plan. The hall was dark;
torches lined the walls, casting eerie shadows along the marble
floor. Luckily, there were tons of potted plants, statues, and
décor for her to hide behind.