Fairest (22 page)

“YES!” Mina cried out, tears flowing down her face. “I am willing. I will try anything to save her.”

“So you agree?” Maeve asked.

“Yes, I agree.” Mina answered before she realized she had agreed without understanding the full terms.

Maeve opened her arms and spread them wide, her eyes glowed with ethereal power. The stars themselves seemed brighter and closer to the earth than what was naturally possible.  The leaves rustled and began to swirl in the air around Maeve, starting at her feet and then rising slowly into the air.

“Then you must go!” she whispered to Mina.

“What? Go where?”

“GO!” she ordered.

Mina bolted, ignoring the Fae woman in the woods.  She continued running down the hill, toward the wreck. She could see that Nan’s body had been pulled from the car and was on a stretcher. The paramedics that were gathered around her pulled away. It was obvious that their attempt to revive her was unsuccessful.

Dr. Martin was holding onto a hysterical Veronica as they slowly lifted the stretcher into the ambulance. There was no longer any hurry because they couldn’t save her.  They weren’t rushing to the hospital; they were driving her to the morgue.

“NO, WAIT!” Mina cried as she stumbled onto the road, knowing that she probably looked wild eyed and terrifying. “She’s not dead!” A firefighter stopped her from running toward the stretcher, trying to hold her back.

Veronica sobbed even louder at Mina’s announcement. Dr. Martin looked at Mina crossly.

“Dr. Martin, you’re a doctor.  You must believe me, she’s not dead,” Mina screamed again and struggled against the man holding her.

Dr. Martin looked disgusted and came over to speak to Mina. “It’s because I’m a doctor that I know she is dead. I checked myself. Don’t go causing more problems, Mina. I’m warning you,” he threatened.

“Dr. Martin, please trust me! She’s not dead. Don’t give up on her.” She kicked the fireman in the shin and ran toward the ambulance. She was so distracted she didn’t see the person sitting on the second ambulance bumper until he stood up and blocked her path.

Brody grasped Mina’s upper arms and pulled her into a hug. “Don’t. Don’t upset them more. She was dead over a half hour ago. She was dead before I called the ambulance.” He looked down at her, his blue eyes filled with grief and sorrow. His red rimmed eyes proof that he had been crying for a while.

“No, you’re wrong. You don’t know her like I do. She’s a fighter.  She’s going to go to Julliard in a couple of years. She is NOT dead!” Mina yelled at Brody.

“Mina,” he spoke her name, and his eyes welled up with tears again. “Mina, you have to let her go; she’s gone.”

“Brody Carmichael, let go of me, NOW!” she ordered and shrugged him off angrily. “I can’t believe that you won’t even try to save her.”

Brody looked pained at her words. “I did; I tried everything I could to save her.”

Mina raised her chin angrily. “Obviously, it wasn’t enough because you got her killed.” She pushed him away and stormed over to Veronica who was still crying.

“Listen to me. Mrs. Taylor, listen; she’s not dead. Don’t let them take her to the hospital morgue. Tell them to take her to the emergency room, now!”

Veronica was as pale as a ghost; her lips trembled.  Her eyes wouldn’t focus on Mina, but deep down, Mina knew that the woman could hear her. Mina repeated her command over and over until Veronica nodded in agreement.

She stood up and glared at her boyfriend. “She’s right. Don’t let them take my baby to the morgue; she’s not dead.” She pushed Dr. Martin away and opened the back of the ambulance.  She crawled in next to the stretcher and her daughter’s still form zipped in a black bag. She motioned for Mina to join her in the ambulance.

Ignoring a bewildered Brody and an angry Dr. Martin, she jumped in the ambulance and slid across from Veronica, who was having a very interesting argument with the ambulance driver.

“NO! You take us right to the emergency room right now. You put those fancy lights and horns on now. We have a girl to save.”

The EMTs looked over their shoulder at Dr. Martin, who closed the back door and slid next to his fiancée, for confirmation. He looked warily over at Mina and the stubborn mother fighting a lost cause, and he sighed wearily. “Well, you heard her, go!”

The two paramedics shrugged their shoulders, hit the lights, and pulled out onto the road toward the hospital.

Mina zipped open the bag and had to stop herself from crying out. There was so much blood across Nan’s face, but it was mostly from a head wound. She couldn’t see anything that was life threatening or that was an obvious reason behind her death. It gave Mina hope. She looked around the ambulance, recognized a stethoscope, and handed it to Dr. Martin. “Don’t give up,” she whispered to him encouragingly.

“We have an electronic heart monitor, Mina,” he said dejectedly, already giving up. “They tried to resuscitate her and it didn’t work.”

Mina shook her head. “Machines can make mistakes. People can make mistakes. Don’t listen to this.” She pointed to the heart monitor. “Listen to this.” Mina reached forward and touched his chest. “What is your heart telling you? Mine is telling me to believe, to have faith.”

He took the silver stethoscope while tears poured out of his eyes. He put the plugs in his ears and leaned forward to listen to Nan’s lifeless heart. Mina waited with baited breath and prayed. They pulled onto the main highway, and the ambulance picked up speed. Veronica encouraged them to use the siren, and they caught her urgency.

Minutes ticked by with nothing.
What is going on?
Mina thought to herself. Maeve promised that she was going to save Nan’s life. Dr. Martin took down the hand pump and put it over Nan’s mouth and nose. He adjusted the knob on the air tank and started her on the artificial breathing; he listened to her heart and then began the chest compressions. There were no obvious signs of life coming from her, so he continued the basics of lifesaving CPR. They ambulance turned off the highway and onto the main road to the hospital. Still there were no signs from Nan.

“Come on, baby,” Veronica whispered, holding her daughter’s hand between hers. “Come on, baby, breathe.”

“You can do it, Nan,” Dr. Martin coaxed. “Do it for your mom and me.” He continued the chest compressions, but after another thirty seconds Mina could see the defeat in his eyes.

Mina began to cry again as the ambulance turned into the hospital and headed for the emergency entrance. This wasn’t part of the deal. This wasn’t how it was supposed to end.

Dr. Martin reached for the stethoscope to take it off, but Veronica grabbed his hands, desperation ringing in her voice. “Please, Robert, listen one more time.”

He hung his head afraid to look at her, but he did it. He leaned down, placed the metal circle over Nan’s heart, and listened.

Mina and Veronica held their breath in anticipation, hoping to make it quiet enough for him to hear. The ambulance pulled up to the doors, and nurses ran out to greet them. Dr. Martin dropped onto Nan’s chest and began to cry loudly. Veronica covered her mouth to keep the sobs from spilling forth.  She touched his shoulder in comfort.

“It’s okay, Robert. You tried your best,” she soothed.

The back doors opened up, and the emergency team grabbed the stretcher and pulled it to the street and took Nan’s body indoors to the emergency room.

He shook his head. “I’m sorry, I didn’t...I couldn’t…” He raised his head to look at Veronica. His eyes were not filled with grief but with guilt.

Veronica’s hand flew to her heart in despair as Dr. Martin’s shoulders began to silently shake. “What is it?”

They began to shake even harder. “I heard it,” he laughed, tears streaming out of the corner of his eyes. “I didn’t believe it at first, but I heard her heartbeat! Veronica, Nan’s alive!”

They both looked in wonder at the hospital stretcher being rolled into the first emergency room, as doctor after doctor ran in to take care of a living, breathing Nan. The paramedics from the front seat turned to look at the motley crew in the back seat and started cheering.

While it wasn’t the full recovery that Mina had hoped for, it was better than being dead. Nan’s heart started beating and she was breathing on her own, but she was in a deep coma. It didn’t matter to Veronica; all that mattered was that her baby was alive.

What confused Mina was the fact that she was still in a coma. That wasn’t part of the bargain, but she did try and recall her words with Maeve. Well, she fought for Nan, but obviously it wasn’t enough. She changed, she was more angry than confused. It wasn’t until she cornered Ever at school that she got some answers.

“What is going on, Pixie!” Mina hissed into the Fae’s ear before first period. The slamming of locker doors helped disguise Mina’s words. “I had a talk with Maeve. Apparently she isn’t keeping her end of the deal.”

Ever turned on Mina with eyes blazing angrily. “How dare you talk about the Fates that way?”

“Fates? What’s with the plural anyway? Are you telling me Maeve is one of the ruling Fae?” Mina asked bewildered.

“How dumb are you? Of course, she is. She’s our Queen. Haven’t you ever heard of the royal ‘we’ when speaking? When we speak of our royals, it’s always Fates.” Ever pulled out her books and shut her locker door. She walked quickly, trying to outpace Mina.

Mina wasn’t letting her get away. “Yeah, whatever. I’m talking about this bargain I made with Maeve, and she didn’t keep her end.” She picked up her speed to keep Ever from outdistancing her.

“You don’t get to call her by her first name. To you, Grimm, it’s either Fates or Queen. But did you ever stop to ask yourself if you kept your end of the bargain? The Fates aren’t dumb.” Ever turned into her classroom and blocked the door so Mina couldn’t enter.

“Don’t think you’re getting away from me that easily, Pixie,” Mina hissed out loudly. “I know that your kind is disappearing. Do you want it getting out that you are here in this school? Do you want to disappear like Mrs. Porter.” She was done with playing the helpless heroine; she had best friends to save and a family to protect.

Ever paled at Mina’s empty threat. “Meet me after school at the football field.”

The second bell rang signaling the start of class and Mina’s obvious tardiness.  She didn’t care. Mina stared at Ever as the door closed and the pixie went and took her seat in class. Mina slipped down the hallway silently and entered her homeroom class. Mrs. Colbert was subbing and gave Mina a very pointed look as she humbly took her seat.

It was hard to listen to announcements when they came from someone other than the grey haired teacher. Mrs. Porter’s absence was a reminder of Mina’s failings and her current bargain. New rumors began to creep up about their missing teacher and how it wasn’t an early retirement, but a possible kidnapping. No one knew what was going on and only Mina knew that she wasn’t coming back.

 Brody didn’t come to school, and actually in most of Mina’s classes the attendance was low. There was a vigil going on at the hospital, and under any other circumstance, Mina would’ve been there.  But she knew, deep down that her presence at a vigil wasn’t going to help Nan.

Once the last bell rang, Mina left her books in her locker and sprinted outside and toward the football field. She knew that there was a good possibility that Ever would evade her and run away. She knew that the Pixie hated her. When Ever actually showed up, Mina was surprised.

“Yeah, yeah, don’t get your panties in a bunch. I’m here,” Ever snarled at Mina, brushing past her to sit on the cold steel bleachers. “So I’m sure you’ve got tons of questions, ask away.” She did a little flourish with her hand to add to her sarcasm.

“Maeve promised me that she could save my friend Nan. And if she did, then I would find the Fae that stole the Grimoire. Well, she lied. She didn’t save Nan. Nan is in a coma in the hospital!” Mina was pacing back and forth in front of the bored Ever.

“Hold it, hold it.” Ever held up her hands, and Mina stopped to look at her. “What were the Fates’ actual words?”

Mina’s face scrunched up in thought and repeated her conversation to Ever.

Ever held up her fingertips to her temples and closed her eyes as if contemplating. “Anything else, oh, mortal one?”

“Oh, and she said ‘I cannot save her fully, but I can give you a fighting chance to save her’.” Mina rushed out.