Fairest (An Unfortunate Fairy Tale #2)(18)

Jared winced and decelerated the car. “Her name is Ever.”

“Who is she?” Mina asked.

“Nobody you should worry about,” he snapped.

It was the last straw. Mina was fed up with Jared.

“I’ve heard your pathetic excuses before, you sound like a broken record. You can’t tell me, or you won’t tell me!” She waved her fingers in the air at Jared. “Ooh, it’s not safe if you tell me, it’s taboo. Plus, you had no right to treat me like you did the last few weeks. You pretend that you don’t even know me at school and you won’t tell me how you are alive and what happened after you crashed your bike. All of these things are important and only when it is convenient for you do you want to talk to me. Well I’ve had it. I want answers and I want answers now.”

“You won’t like any of them,” he stated simply.

“Then why ask me to get in the car?”

“Because I needed to speak with you privately.”

“This is private. We are in a car alone.”

“No, this isn’t private enough. There are too many people. We need to be where no one can see us.”

“Jared, you are really starting to scare me.” Mina stated truthfully. Feelings of unease started to build.

He hit the steering wheel hard with the palm of his hand in frustration. Mina jumped. “That is exactly what I’m not trying to do. He looked at her with a worried expression etched across his face. “I’m trying to give you answers, and I don’t want to scare you, but you are just so darn impatient.”

Mina’s body tensed up from the sudden mood change in the car. Everything had become extremely serious. “I don’t care if I like the answers; I just want answers. I don’t even know if I can trust you, if you are on my side.” She stated softly.

Jared’s jaw twitched and she knew by his body language that she hit a nerve.

“Well are you?”

“Am I what?” he answered a little too quickly.

“On my side?”

“Who says there has to be sides?”

“Of course there are sides. You are either with me or with the evil Fae, who are always trying to kill me.”

“Not all of us are always trying to kill you. It’s just… complicated. Hey, there is an ice cream place up here do you want ice cream?”

Mina caught Jared’s slip of the tongue and how he immediately tried to cover it. That misdirection might have fooled Nan, but it wasn’t going to fool her. However, she did see something interesting next to the ice cream store.

“Yes, actually I do want ice cream,” Mina lied.

Jared looked relieved and pulled into the vintage ice cream shop.

“Great what do you want, double mint chip, vanilla, rocky road?” He pulled out his wallet and turned to her.

“Hmm, how about black raspberry chip?” She glanced out the window impatiently.

“Great, I’ll be right back.” He slipped out of the car and took the keys with him. Mina sat in the car and waited until Jared had entered the store and stood in front of the menu board.

Quickly and quietly, she slipped open the door of the car, grabbed her backpack, and ducked around the building toward the bus stop. She had seen the transit bus a block away and ran toward the bus pulling out her wallet. The bus had just pulled up and Mina had her bus pass ready.

The driver was a burly elderly man with a name tag stating his name as Will, and the words, “Happy to Drive You” underneath it. Mina scanned her bus card and made her way to the back of the nearly empty bus. She stopped in the second to last row, tossed her backpack to the floor and slouched down.

Two passengers got off the bus, and Mina didn’t breathe until the bus closed its doors and started to pull way. She took a quick peek out the window toward Jared’s car and the ice cream shop. There was no sign of Jared, he was probably still in the store.

Mina smirked, and a surge of adrenaline pumped through her when she realized she’d outwitted him. It had really freaked her out to be in the car with Jared and realize that he may not really be there to help her. His vagueness and stubbornness to answer questions proved it; along with the slip of the tongue. It may not have been obvious but she had caught the slight change in his voice and his nervousness when he realized his mistake.

She couldn’t believe how stupid she was. She knew Jared was Fae because he knew so much about her family and the Grimm curse. He had even used magic, when he tried to train her and teach her. But his elusiveness and his refusal to tell her what she needed to know put him in the dangerous category. He wouldn’t tell her who he was working for, who he was helping and even if he was one of the good guys.

She knew that she probably shouldn’t be angry at him, but he had ignored her. He also knew more about the Story than anyone she knew, and still refused to tell her about it. That made him a traitor in her book. As long as she had the Grimoire, she didn’t need Jared. It was the Grimoire, not Jared that helped her battle Claire and LoneTree. She was the one who’d found the magical book that was supposed to help in time of great need. It was the one artifact that could help her complete the quests and banish the Fae back to their own plane. It’s what had started it all.

Maybe, that’s what he was secretly after all along? Maybe, he was trying to build her trust so that he could steal the Grimoire for the Fae?