Fairest (An Unfortunate Fairy Tale #2)(11)

She could feel it. Deep in her soul, lingering in her bones she could feel the Story’s power hovering. It was only a matter of time before it started, twisting and using what she had just seen, heard and done into a quest. Her mouth went dry, and she started to shake with fear.

Valdemar raised his hands high into the air and the audience and Nan jumped up and down in excitement. He strode over to the black throne and picked up the blood red guitar and continued with the rest of their music set.

Why couldn’t she have paid more attention? There were signs, obvious ones now that she thought about it. The name of the band for one, and their hit song was a fairy tale ballad; even the group’s stage names were all things that would attract the Story into using them. Throw in the fact that Mina, a Grimm, walked through the doors and into a giant trap. Her mind began to spin with all of the possible scenarios, and outcomes and nothing looked good. If she didn’t want to get her friends involved with the Story, then she had to get her friends out of the concert. NOW.

The song came to a crescendo, the band quit playing, and everyone sang the chorus acapella. Everyone except Mina. Brody had a grin on his face and seemed to be enjoying the music as well. He turned to look at her, gave her crooked smile, then turned back to watch his cousin sing. The smoke and Vertigo lights lit up the stage and spilled over into the darkness where they stood, giving them the appearance of being in a dream.

She moved toward Nan but was jettisoned to the side when a group of stagehands rushed in rolling out carts with large pyrotechnics displays. Mina moved back and bumped into another person and became pinned between the rolling carts. The stagehands were moving fast and Mina had no choice but to move with them or get run over. Fumbling to keep up, and stay out of the way, Mina and the carts ended up down in the galley below the stage. They began to strap in the contraptions onto the lift and she could barely make out a large glass case off to the side.

She walked toward it and could see that it was easily six feet tall, but it was on its side and she didn’t recognize what it was.

“What’s that for?” she asked nervously.

One of the stagehands looked at her but went on with his work. He must not have heard her speak over the loud music. She decided to repeat herself loudly.

“What is that?” She waved and pointed toward the glass again.

This time he stopped briefly enough to answer her. “It’s the glass coffin. We use it for the finale.”

Mina turned in horror to look at the glass coffin that in fairy tales housed the body of a dead princess, the most famous one being Snow White. She took a deep breath and leaned closer. She could see her reflection staring back at her. Her own skin was pale with fear, her dark eyes wide with worry and her lips looked red because she was biting them. She looked beautiful, that is until she realized that her overlaid reflection gave the illusion that Mina was inside the glass coffin.

“NO!” She screamed and jumped away from the cursed coffin. No one even heard her over the Dead Prince Society playing onstage.

Anger and fear filled her as the tingling sensation began to turn into waves. She could feel the power rolling off of her, around her, into her.

“NO, I refuse! I refuse to play a part in this. Do you hear me, cursed Story. You don’t own me. You don’t get to choose what happens. It’s not fair!” The music began to beat loudly in time with the waves of power and Mina grimaced in pain, clutching her ears.

She had to leave and leave now, with or without Nan and Brody. She rushed upstairs, ignoring the confused looks of the stagehands. She found Brody and Nan where she had left them.

“Nan, look, we need to go!” She tried to grab Nan, but her best friend violently pulled away from her.

“What do you mean, we have to go?” She asked in disbelief. “Didn’t you see Valdemar? He wants me to stay here. There is going to be an after party. Brody, tell her!” Nan looked visibly upset at the prospect of leaving.

Brody looked back and forth between them, unsure of what to say. “Are you feeling alright? It’s okay if we stay. My cousin cleared it. Nan’s right, there is always a really cool after party. It’s better than waiting in the green room.”

Her lip was hurting from gnawing at it in panic. “No, I’m sorry. I just need…we just have to go.”

“No, Mina, I’m not going. For the love of chocolate, I have been waiting all my life for this moment. He kissed me, Mina! He kissed me.”

“You heard him. He said so himself. He did it to make the girl with the pink hair leave.” Mina’s voice filled with desperation.

“I don’t care if it was because he was trying to make someone else jealous. I don’t even care if it was a cruel and unusual jest on his part. I’m not walking away from that without pursuing it farther. What if it wasn’t a fluke? What if he actually kind of likes me? You want me to leave a very cool concert right now and go with you home because….”

“Because something bad is going to happen if we stay,” Mina whispered. She peeked over her shoulder at Brody, who looked out of place, stuck between two girls fighting.

Nan’s eyes widened.

Maybe, Mina thought, maybe she will believe me.

“How do you know?” Nan accused angrily. “How can you possibly know?”

“I just do,” Mina grumbled back.

“Well, that’s not good enough.” Nan stood there silently challenging her. “Give me one good reason. Any good reason at all. Heck, it could be an even okay reason as long as you give me a real reason. Why?”