UnEnchanted (16 page)

Mina kept shaking her head "no" in their
direction. When Brody saw Mina’s head shake and looked over his
shoulder, the couple finally dropped their act and began furiously
cleaning the counters. As soon as he turned back, they went at it
again.

“
You ready to get out of
here?” Mina asked desperately, looking over Brody’s
shoulder.

Brody threw some money on the table while
Mina stared daggers at the laughing couple, and they escaped into
the crisp afternoon air.

They started walking the different districts
with no particular destination in mind. Mina knew they needed to
discuss what happened the other night, but she wasn’t sure she was
ready. She’d found the Grimoire, but she didn’t know how Jared or
the man with the wolf tattoo figured in, and she was running out of
ideas. But she didn’t know if she could trust Brody.

As if reading her mind, Brody spoke up. “You
know you can talk to me, right? I’m here for you.”

Mina kicked a stray piece of rock with her
shoe. “How can I, when I barely know you?”

“
I’m trying to amend
that,” he said softly. He brought his hand down and cupped her
small hand in his. Mina tried to pull away, but he held on. “I’m
sorry that I pressured you into going to the police after what
happened, but you have to understand I was scared for you. I wanted
to protect you.”

Mina shook her head, but Brody continued,
“You’re right—I don’t know what’s going on. But I want to help you.
I want to be there for you.”

“
I can’t talk about it.
I’m not ready to talk about it. I’m still trying to figure things
out. But when I know more, when I’m ready, I’ll tell you.” It was
the most she could promise.

They headed down the hill to the river walk,
and Brody bought some bread to feed the geese in the river. Mina
couldn’t help but glare at the geese angrily and refused to throw
them bread.

“
You got a grudge against
geese?” Brody joked.

“
You bet I do. Stupid
birds.” Mina snorted. She was boycotting all geese for leading her
into danger. Now, even though Mina wasn’t the one throwing the
bread or even holding it, the geese waddled out of the river and
seemed to be pecking their way toward her. Mina jumped back and
kept walking backward, but it was as if they had heard her call
them stupid. They kept following her until Mina stumbled and landed
on her butt in the grass.

Screaming, Mina held up her hands as the
swarm of geese started to crawl over her.

“
Get out of here. Scram!”
Brody yelled, kicking and pushing the flock away from Mina.
Reaching down, he grabbed her arm and pulled her up and out of the
reach of the geese. The geese kept following. Laughing, Brody
physically lifted Mina up out of their reach and over his shoulder
like a sack of potatoes. Mina’s feet swung in the air, her hair
hanging over her face upside down. Brody moved away from the river
and away from the attacking flock.

He turned around to look at the geese and
burst out laughing. The whole gaggle diligently followed them in a
“V” formation. “I think you underestimate these geese. They are
definitely not stupid.” Brody laughed.

“
They are, too. Put me
down!” Mina cried out, hitting Brody’s back playfully.

“
No way, not until you’re
out of danger. I won’t abandon you again.” He held on tighter,
walking faster.

Mina rolled her eyes at the geese, which
never actually bit her but certainly startled her. She tried making
shooing motions over Brody’s shoulder, to no avail. Finally she
whispered between clenched teeth, “If you don’t get lost now, there
won’t be a happy ending. I happen to be friends with a restaurant
owner who would love some fresh goose.”

The geese immediately turned and headed back
to the river. Mina stared in amazement, while Brody, realizing that
the threat was over, put Mina down. “That was the strangest thing
I’ve ever seen.”

Mina snorted. “Not for me.”

“
Are there a lot of
strange things that happen around you?”

“
Haven’t you noticed I’m
cursed?” Mina meant the words as a joke, but as soon as they left
her mouth, she felt a tingle of apprehension through her bones. The
words were too close to the truth.

Brody shook his head. They spent the evening
on the river walk, watching the different street performers and
musicians entertain guests. “I’ve never been down here before.”

“
It’s like the wrong side
of the tracks for your kind.”

“
What do you mean by ‘my
kind’?” Brody stopped and looked at Mina carefully.

“
Well, you know…” She
shrugged.

“
No, I don’t
know.”

“
The rich
kind.”

Brody rolled his eyes. “Mina, you don’t get
it. I don’t care about money or fame or social status. I would
rather have been born without it. My family is hardly ever home
because of it. My friends are only my friends because they think
that I can do something for them. Everyone is always watching me,
judging me, trying to see if I’m going to fit into the box they
want me in, whether it’s spoiled rich kid or reckless heir. In a
way, being rich is its own curse.”

Mina pondered his words, letting them sink
in. They were both the same in many ways. “I’m sorry, Brody. You're
right.”

“
No, don’t apologize. I
mean, I was that person, for a while. I was what money had made me
into, but not anymore. I’m trying to change. I’m trying to be
worthy of you.”

Mina blanched in surprise. “Funny. I feel
like it’s the other way around. I feel like I need to pinch myself,
or wake up from whatever dream I’m in, because I can’t understand
why you want to be my friend.”

“
You really don’t get it,
do you?” Brody turned Mina toward him and held tightly onto her
shoulders. “I don’t want to be your friend.”

Chapter 13

Mina felt her stomach drop into her shoes.
She looked at the ground in dismay. She knew this was too good to
be true. She tried to turn away, but Brody gripped her shoulders
harder. She looked up in surprise just as Brody kissed her gently
on the forehead. “I want to be more.”

Mina felt her knees go weak, and for once
had no snappy retort.

“
But I have a feeling, if
I pressure you, you’re going to run for the hills,” Brody
continued. “So I’m willing to wait until you’re ready.” He had
pulled her into a hug and was whispering into her soft brown hair.
“See you’re already shaking.” He pulled away from her, and she felt
an immediate sense of loss. That one brief moment had
felt…right.

Mina sighed wistfully, but didn’t feel
totally abandoned, as Brody continued to hold her hand. He walked
her up the stairs to the door of her flat. Mina fumbled for the key
and dropped it. She reached down sheepishly and was about to insert
it when the door opened on its own.

“
That’s strange,” Mina
said, leaning past Brody and pushing the door further open until it
finally hit something solid. The little view they had through the
opened door was enough to make Mina’s heart race with fear. Their
kitchen was destroyed.

Panicking, Mina pushed on the door harder,
but it didn’t budge. Sensing her fear, Brody helped her push and
got the door open, but grabbed Mina’s arm just as she was about to
run headlong into danger. A chair had been knocked over in front of
the door.

Brody shook his head and held up one finger
to his mouth. He entered first, silently, and moved through each
room, looking behind curtains, under beds, and in the closets. When
he was sure it was safe, he motioned for Mina to enter her family’s
apartment.

The sparse furnishings were knocked over,
dumped out, and looked to have been rummaged through, but nothing
was actually damaged too badly. When you didn’t own a lot, a
thorough search wouldn’t actually take too long.

“
No one’s
here.”

Mina needed to see for herself. She followed
the same steps Brody took and noticed nothing was terribly wrong.
She could probably put her home to rights before her family got
home. She was about to enter her bedroom, but Brody stopped
her.

“
Mina, it doesn’t look too
bad except for that room. It’s been destroyed.”

Mina peeked into her own bedroom and felt
her cheeks burn with embarrassment. It looked exactly the same as
before, except her dresser drawers had been left open, with clothes
hanging out. But Mina wasn’t about to admit it. She closed her
bedroom door and walked back to the kitchen, and began to put
drawers and utensils back where they belonged.

Brody went to the living room and helped
pick up the potted plants, even sweeping up the dirt. Mina was
secretly impressed that he hadn’t once urged her to call the
police. She was now doubly thankful that she had taken the Grimoire
to school with her, despite what she’d told Jared.

Wait a minute. Could he
have done this?
she thought. Could he have
followed her home and trashed her house while she was out with
Brody? He knew who she was, he knew about the Grimoire, and he’s
specifically asked if she’d left it at home. Maybe he was in league
with this Grey Tail, and simply trying to gain her
trust?

Brody noticed that Mina had quit
straightening and had begun to shake. He saw her, and this time she
came to him willingly and buried her face in his chest. “It’s okay.
I’ll protect you,” he whispered.

Mina wished she could believe Brody, but he
had no idea what she was up against. How could he protect her and
her family? Mina was still wrapped up in Brody’s arms when the door
opened and Sara walked in, carrying brown paper grocery bags. She
dropped them on the floor when she saw her daughter in the arms of
an unknown boy.

Mina jumped back guiltily. Brody regretfully
let her go, bending down to help her mother regain the dropped
bags.

“
Pardon me, Mrs. Grime.”
Brody deposited the bags onto the kitchen table. He turned, scooped
the bag Charlie was carrying out of his hands, and picked up the
cans that had escaped onto the floor before Sara could recover and
close her mouth.

“
And
who
are you?” Sara asked. Mina
wished her mother wasn’t always so suspicious.

“
Brody Carmichael.” He
leaned forward and offered Sara his hand. “I know Mina from
school.”

Sara’s eyes widened when she recognized the
name.

“
Oh, that’s right. He’s
the boy who you lent your notes to for class. Seriously, Brody, you
should learn to take your own notes and not live off the sympathy
of others,” Sara lectured.

Brody’s eyes widened with shock. He looked
over to a white-faced Mina before answering. “You are absolutely
right, Mrs. Grime. But you see, if I hadn’t asked to borrow your
daughter’s notes, I would have had no excuse to ask her on a date,”
he lied.

Mina could have died right then and been
happy. Brody looked over at Mina with a crooked smile and raised
eyebrow. He was going to ask her about this conversation later. She
knew it.

Sara, however, wasn’t
convinced. “
And
you’re
the boy who ran over Mina’s
bike.”

“
Yes, unfortunately that
as well. And I really couldn’t be more embarrassed. But I was so
surprised to see her on my front porch, I wasn’t watching where I
was driving. I’m trying to make up for it by giving Mina rides to
and from school.”

“
Oh. Oh, I see.” Sara
smiled. “Please call me Sara. Mrs. Grime sounds old.” She began
putting away the groceries. “Sorry about the mix-up with the work
pamphlets. My boss told me your house, and I sent Mina to drop it
off. We never did figure out where the mix-up in communication was
or where it was really supposed to go. But maybe it was fate.” When
Sara left it at that, Mina wanted to crawl under a rock and hide.
She couldn’t make eye contact with Brody.

Brody stayed for a supper of spaghetti and
meatballs, which turned into a rather awkward event. He would
direct questions toward Charlie, but when Charlie wouldn’t answer,
Brody would speak louder, as if he was deaf.

“
He can hear you,” Mina
said, giving her brother a sisterly kick under the table. “He just
doesn’t talk.”

Charlie tried to hide his smile but
couldn’t. He had enjoyed tormenting Brody.

All through dinner, Brody gave Mina pointed
stares, looking around the kitchen in an effort for her to tell her
mom what had happened. But Mina kept trying to mouth words like
"not yet," or "not now."

But Brody apparently wasn’t going to let it
slide. “Do you feel safe here, Sara?”

Mina could have kicked him if she’d had long
enough legs.

“
Why, yes, of course I do.
What would make you say that?” Sara asked.

“
It’s just that you’re
here all alone in an older section of town, with two kids. I was
just wondering if you ever felt like you were endangering them by
living here in the international district.”

“
What kind of question is
that?” Sara asked heatedly.

Brody’s jaw tightened in anger. “I’m trying
to protect your daughter, but she doesn’t seem to think she is in
any danger.” Brody put it all on the table and looked to Mina in
challenge. Mina knew then that if she didn’t tell her mother now,
Brody would.

“
Mom, you know that family
thing that we discovered last week? The one where I would most
likely face certain obstacles and you agreed to let me try?” Mina
tried to hint; she didn’t want to alarm her younger brother or give
Brody to much information.