Forever (An Unfortunate Fairy Tale, #5)(14)

She grabbed the softball and tossed it underhand in a perfect arc for the milk can. It hit the edge, rolled around the rim and fell off. She frowned and tried again. This time, the ball went up and was falling in a perfect arc, right at the hole. But it changed course and bounced off the lip at the last second. Ever tossed her last throw—even more on point than the last—and it rolled into the middle, then popped out.

“That’s impossible,” Ever touched her finger to her lips and cast a suspicious glance at the vendor. He smiled slyly while counting out the bills in his apron.

“Oh, too bad. Better luck next time.” He waved them on.

Ever rolled up her sleeves and slammed another five dollars down.

The vendor smiled. “Oh you want to try again?”

“No, I’m betting you five bucks that you can’t make the shot again. If you can’t do it. I get to pick a prize.”

His eyes lit up in challenge. “Deal, and I’ll only need one toss.”

“Don’t count on it,” Ever said under her breath to Nan and Charlie.

The vendor picked up a softball and came over to stand behind the counter and toss the ball into the same milk can.

Ever stood slightly off to the side and, as soon as he tossed the ball, flicked her finger. When the ball hit the can, it rolled around and around the can but refused to go in. With another flick, Ever made it roll out.

“Oh, that’s too bad,” she said.

“No, wait. I get two more shots.” He stormed behind the counter to grab two more softballs. Mina could see sweat beading on his forehead in concentration as he tossed the ball perfectly. It would have been a perfect toss, if Ever hadn’t flicked her wings at the last second and blown it off course.

Now he was really nervous.

“One last shot, bub.” Ever sat on the edge of the booth and crossed her legs. “And I’ve got my eye on the popgun.”

“You won’t be getting it,” he growled.

And Mina realized suddenly what was going on.

He was Fae, and Ever knew it.

“We’ll see,” she smiled knowingly.

The man took his time lining up the last shot. Mina could tell he was trying to figure out what was going on. He tossed the last ball, and before it even got to the can, Ever knocked the whole milk can over, and it rolled away.

“Hey, that’s cheating.” The vendor turned on the girls in anger.

“So was what you were doing,” Ever snapped back. “Don’t even pretend you weren’t doing that to us. Don’t try and out-cheat a Fae.” Ever glared at him, and her skin glowed a bit, making the vendor cower in fear.

“Sorry, Miss. I didn’t know. I’d never intentionally cheat my own kind.”

“I may be Fae, but I’m not kind—or patient. Now give me my prize.” Ever pointed at the popgun.

The vendor nodded quickly, grabbed a hook, and reached up to grab the wooden gun off the display. He kept looking around nervously.

“Here. Now take your prize and scram!” He turned his back on them and went behind the booth.

“Wait, so he was Fae?” Nan asked.

“Yeah. Not a very strong one either.” Ever shrugged and handed Charlie the popgun. “I wouldn’t worry about it, Nan. There are lots of Fae living on the human plane now. Most of them are harmless, and you don’t even know they’re here.”

“Most…” Nan said and waited for Ever to continue.

“Like me. I’m harmless, unless someone tries to cheat me, and then… you know.”

Mina felt uneasy running into a Fae at the school fair. Still, Ever wasn’t worried, so Mina told herself not to worry either. Just because there was one Fae here didn’t mean there were others.

They continued walking the fair, stopping to ride the carousel and Ferris wheel and browsing the baked goods. It was easy to spot the drama club’s table selling pies. The football team obviously manned the football toss game, and there was a loud ruckus from that direction.

Mina had yet to see anyone from the water polo team’s booth or Brody. Until they bumped into a long line of girls.

“What’s this?” Nan stood on tiptoes to try and read the banner and mumbled, “Uh-oh.”

“What?” Mina asked, a sinking feeling in her stomach. She copied Nan and got up on her tiptoes to see that the white and blue banner read Kissing Booth.

“That’s kind of disgusting.” Ever made a face.

“And not sanitary,” Nan said, “but look at that line. I swear we came by here earlier, and it wasn’t that long.”

A feeling of dread crept back into her stomach, so Mina excused herself to walk around the line and check out the front of the booth. Her fears were confirmed. None other than the water polo team hosted the booth. The boys were lined up across the back of the booth, and each girl got to pick who they wanted to kiss. It seemed like two lines had formed since almost every other girl wanted to get their five seconds with Brody Carmichael.

He even had a stool to sit on. It seemed a lot of people were upset since he hadn’t been there the day before, and they had come to get their picture and kiss today. He was the town’s celebrity, not to mention extremely rich. Of course everyone wanted their picture with him.

Mina had shown up just in time to watch an excited sophomore bat her eyes and lean over to give him a kiss on the lips. The chaste kiss only lasted a few seconds, so there wasn’t really anything terribly wrong. Not that Mina had any official right to be jealous.