UnEnchanted (24 page)

As the van chugged along, Mina heard the
distant hum of a far-off motor and barely gave it any thought until
it grew louder the closer it came. She almost cried with relief
when she saw a familiar black motorcycle pull up behind the
delivery van and spotted Jared’s shock of dark hair. The bike
disappeared around the side of the van, and Mina mentally cheered
for her hero. Jared would save them. She listened for the sounds of
a struggle, but she was slammed into the side of the van as it
swerved quickly to one side. Either they were trying to cut Jared
off, or run him over. The van hit its brakes, and this time she was
thrown against the driver’s seat. She struggled to her knees and
could see Jared out the front windshield. The driver picked up
speed once more, to position the van next to Jared.

She screamed his name and could have sworn
he looked her way into the darkened van, even though he couldn’t
possibly see her. The driver swerved, and she watched as the front
headlight struck Jared’s leg and he began to lose control of the
motorcycle. Her heart was in her throat as she jumped forward
between the seats and tried to pull the gearshift into Neutral with
her tied hands.

The driver yelled angrily, and Mina felt
herself picked up and tossed into the back of the van as it
careened wildly. Quickly, it was under control and speeding along
again.

“
What did I tell you about
interfering?” Grey Tail growled. “Just for that, I’m gonna kill
him. Jared appeared behind the van once more, and Mina saw Grey
Tail pick up a spare car battery from the truck bed and fling open
the doors. The
whoosh
of air caught her hair as she struggled to see Jared behind
him, to let him know that she was okay. As the truck swerved again,
Grey Tail threw the car battery out at Jared but just missed him,
growling in anger.

Next, Mina saw Jared do something crazy,
pointing at Grey Tail and beckoning in challenge. Grey Tail leaned
outside the van, fingers digging into the van door, leaving
inch-wide holes in the frame. A howl split the night as he arched
his back, preparing to lunge onto Jared's bike.

Suddenly the van slammed on its brakes, and
Jared quickly veered left and then backward, giving the wolf a
chance to lunge into his back. Mina watched in terror as two
hundred pounds of muscle hit Jared from behind and knocked him from
his bike. The men rolled several times across the pavement, and the
last thing she saw amid the chaos was the wolf’s claws ripping into
Jared as they began to speed away.

Chapter 23

Mina screamed into the gag, and tears flowed
freely from her eyes. Jared had risked his life for her, and now
there would be no one to save her.

Dread. Hopelessness. Loss. All of it
consumed her. Numbness took hold, and she didn't fight or struggle
when a different wolf reached down to haul her over his shoulder.
She barely registered that they were back at Babushka's Bakery.

Mina wasn't sure if she was surprised or not
to see none other than B.J., Claire's great-grandson, climbing out
from behind the wheel. Claire marched forward, holding open a side
door marked “Deliveries Only” for them to pass through. It was cold
and dark, and smelled of flour and diesel fumes. They removed
Mina's gag but not her bindings.

“
I'll start with the
blonde one,” Claire croaked out. She went over to Nan, hauled her
up by her hair, and peered carefully into her unconscious face.
Reaching out with a sun-marked, wrinkled hand, Claire rested it
over Nan's mouth. Faint glowing lines began to pour out of Nan and
into Claire through her hand.

Nan opened her eyes in fear as the process
began, and she began to age in front of Mina. Her blue eyes turned
gray, her ivory skin turned clear. Mina screamed as Nan went from
sixteen to eighty-six in seconds. All the while, Claire seemed to
reverse in age. Her hair grew out and became blonde. Her face
filled out and she grew younger, but stopped when she reached about
fifty.

Suddenly, Claire let Nan fall to the floor.
“That's all I can take without killing her,” Claire said, her voice
stronger and louder than before. She turned to Mina with a
predatory smile. “I know you don't want me to destroy her, so I
suggest you give me the Grimoire now, before I finish with
you.”

Mina shrank back in fear.

“
What did you expect? It's
easier to take a few years off unsuspecting teenagers than to leave
a dried-out corpse. To make this permanent, I need your life energy
and the Grimoire. Give it to me now, or I will take what little
years she has left. At least one of you will survive
this.”

Perhaps Claire thought she was scaring Mina
into compliance, but she was really giving her the extra courage
she needed. Claire moved toward Nan’s feeble body and reached out a
hand threateningly.

“
No, wait!” Mina struggled
to stand. “I'll give you the Grimoire, but I need to be somewhere
more private.”

“
Don't take me for a fool,
girl!” Claire grunted.

“
I don't. It's just that…”
Mina tried to play the part of a shy, reserved girl, which wasn't
that hard for her. Blood rushed to her cheeks in embarrassment. “I
strapped it in with my corset. I need to undress to get
it.”

Claire snorted and laughed at Mina's
awkwardness. She pointed to a shelf piled high with cans of lard.
“Behind there, but that is all the privacy I'll allow. Just so you
know, there is nowhere to run, and nowhere to hide.” She motioned,
and Lonetree cut off Mina’s bindings.

Mina bobbed her head and slowly walked
behind the shelf, as if resigned to her doomed state. Once out of
sight, she reached into her bodice and pulled out the Grimoire
easily. Opening it up, she was surprised to see the pages blank
still, except for the first story she’d solved. She was hoping for
a little bit of information.

“
C'mon, I need your help!”
she whispered to the book. “You’re supposed to help me, and now
would be an ideal time.” The book was lifeless; there was no glow
or hum. “Please! I beg you.” Nothing.

Mina curled up on the floor and held the
notebook to her chest. Images flooded in her mind, variations of
children's books she’d read in the library. Their images panned
through Mina's mind like a documentary on wolves, little girls, and
then hunters.

She was waiting for a hunter to come save
her, but that wasn't how it always worked. Sometimes Red saved her
grandma from the wolves. The story had changed. They were in
Grandma's house. “Babushka” was Russian for “Grandma,” right? Mina
hoped so. So Claire would have to be the grandma. No, that wasn’t
right. Claire was obviously the villain here. She peeked back over
the corner to see Claire next to an old lady who was quaking in
fear. Nan! Nan was now old enough to be Mina's grandma. The Story
had worked that it out so she was little Red, who had to outsmart
the wolves in Grandma's house to save her. Jared had said Claire's
story was over. It was completed, just not finished yet. So Mina
needed to focus on the villain in this story, which was not Claire
but the wolves.

Mina had been waiting for Jared or Brody to
save her, thinking that was what the story called for. But not if
Mina had any say.

“
I'm the hunter,” Mina
whispered to herself. “I'm now the hunter, not the hunted,” she
whispered louder. “I will not lose!” Mina grabbed tightly onto the
notebook and began running toward the side wall and the closest Fae
wolf. The wolf bared his teeth, but the book thrummed once, twice,
and three times like a beating heart coming back to
life.

Mina believed in the power of the tale. She
knew that the Story needed Mina to grow in power. And just because
she didn’t understand how to use the Grimoire exactly didn't mean
that it wouldn’t help her if she believed. She had to trust
herself.

Mina closed her eyes and pictured herself as
a hunter, and just before she swung the book, the weapon she needed
appeared in her hands. She opened her eyes in awe. The notebook had
transformed into an ethereal battle axe of light. Mina giggled in a
moment of pure insanity as she realized she must look like a crazy
character from some anime film. The wolf howled when the light
touched his skin. She saw the light burn through the human illusion
to the wolf underneath.

Mina pulled the axe back once more, and
swung again at the wolf. With each swipe, the creature howled and
tried to dodge the glowing light from the axe.

He clawed at Mina, but she jumped away. With
another swipe of the axe, another layer peeled from the Fae wolf,
and he dissolved into thin air. Turning, Mina headed toward another
wolf, but he panicked and ran down the hall, not wishing to be a
part of the same fate.

Turning toward Claire, Mina held the axe and
stepped forward threateningly. “Change her back!”

Claire's eyes squinted as she studied Mina.
“I can't. And where in the world did you get that?”

“
Change her back, or I’ll
use it. This is no ordinary axe.”

“
The Grimoire,” Claire
whispered, her eyes sparkling. She shrugged. “The only way I can
help your friend is if you give me the book. Perhaps then we can
find a way to extend her life. After all, she doesn't have Fae
blood like me.”

“
No, I don't bel…” Mina
couldn't finish, as she was knocked forward to the ground, the
Grimoire flying out of her hands and sliding across the floor. It
slowly changed back from an axe to a passive notebook lying at
Claire's feet.

“
Why, thank you.” Claire
reached down to pick it up. “I do so love it when things go my way.
Don't you agree, Lonetree?”

Mina felt herself get pulled upward off the
ground as Lonetree hauled her to the cold cement floor in front of
Claire, grunting his assent.

Claire opened the notebook and frowned when
she saw the unfinished sketch. “Come now.” She shook it. “Show me
my story. I saw the Fae copy when I was a child. I know this one
records a duplicate. I want to see mine to make sure it gets the
story right.” Claire chuckled and flipped a few more pages, finally
ripping out a page in anger. “Show me! Or I'll rip out more!”
Unsatisfied, Claire finally tucked the Grimoire into her purse.
“Never mind, there are other ways to make it talk. As long as you
understand that this story doesn't have a happily ever after for
Gretel.”

Mina spoke up defiantly. “You’re wrong!”

Claire glared at Mina. “What do you
know?”

“
I know your story. It's
finished. You’re destined to die. Whether it be today or tomorrow,
it’s already over. Nothing you do will change the final
outcome.”

“
You stupid girl!
Everything can be changed. Look how many times this story has
progressed over the years.”

“
But we are no longer in
your story. You're in mine. And in my tale, I win.” Mina held up
her chin in defiance. A small trickle of blood dripped down it onto
her dress, a wound from getting tackled by Lonetree.

“
I don't
understand.”

Banging doors and a few crashes later, Mina
heard someone calling her name. It sounded like Brody. He must have
seen Jared pull out of the school parking lot and followed. She
needed to finish this tale, and finish it now.

“
Do you want to know why
your tale isn't in my copy of the book? It's because I finished
your tale weeks ago. But the Story needed you for one more task. I
don't have a living grandmother. So the Story kept you around long
enough to create a grandmother for my current quest. It used you to
satisfy the needs of a different tale, to create someone that I
loved enough to risk my life for. Nothing more. And I finished that
tale moments ago.”

Mina stood up and walked over to Nan, who
was lying on the cold floor. She held Nan close, hugging her. “I
just killed the wolf and saved my dear grandmother. This tale is
over. I won. Check and see.” Mina pointed to the Grimoire as it
began to glow. Slowly etched pencil sketches began to fill in a
page that mirrored the surrounding scene. Mina knew that somewhere
on the Fae plane, a similar picture was appearing in the Fae Book.
She could almost hear an audible sigh coming from beyond. Claire
dropped the notebook, and Mina saw the words “The End” appearing
underneath the picture. With it came a loud rushing wind that
rattled the windows, and she felt herself being pulled forward
toward the Grimoire.

Mina gripped tightly onto Nan as the earth
shook and shelves clanged. The room seemed to spin, and bright
light burst from Nan's body. Mina screamed in fear, worried she was
losing her best friend. She, too, was being pulled toward the
Grimoire, and Mina wasn’t sure she could hold on.

Suddenly strong hands grabbed her, and Mina
recognized Brody as he embraced her and pushed her to the floor,
covering her with his body. He must have noticed her disappearance
and seen Jared take off running. Like Jared, he must have followed
the van here.

“
I’ve got you! I won't let
you go. I promise!”

Mina's eyes stung as she watched the book
float off the ground and begin to absorb a scared Lonetree and a
screaming Claire. Mina's teeth chattered in fright as Claire
reached toward Mina. Whether she wanted Mina's help or the last few
years of her life, Mina didn't know. But Claire was sucked into the
pages of the Grimoire.

The book fell open the
floor with a loud
plop
. When the wind, the noise, and the ground quit moving, Mina
tried to push herself off Nan but was held captive by Brody's
body.

Brody moved off Mina and looked her over for
injuries. Other than a cut on her face and a few bruises, she
looked okay. “You’re all right! Thank God!” He pulled her into an
embrace and kissed her. The kiss tasted salty and sweet. “I'm never
letting you out of my sight again,” he whispered, kissing her head.
Mina pulled away to check on Nan.