Forever (An Unfortunate Fairy Tale, #5)(17)

She gave Mr. Hamm the money before twisting the cap to see if the pointer worked. It did. The laser pointer could cut through planes and reveal a Fae’s true self through their glamour. Only Royals were strong enough to shift their shape and hold it.

Mina ran back out into the crowd and used the laser pointer, flashing it at passersby and at each of the booth vendors. Nothing morphed or changed. Maybe that was it for the rogue Fae.

She spotted Nan and Charlie on the large carousel and jogged to the metal security fence. She tried to wave at them to hurry and get off.

“Can’t,” Nan called from her perch on a giant brown dog before it spun out of sight. Charlie sat next to her on a smaller tan dog.

“Not till the ride is over,” Nan yelled again as it went around a second time.

Mina found Ever waiting impatiently by the carousel exit.

“Ever! We have to get out of here now! Claire and the wolves are here. So are the Stiltskins.”

“Wait, what?” Ever jumped to attention. “Didn’t you trap them in the Grimoire?”

“Well yeah, I did, but after the Grimoire lost its guardian, it became just became a book again.”

“But what about the pages… inside?”

“Blank. They were blank.”

“Then they must have been freed from their prisons.”

“All of them?” Mina asked, utter fear rising within her.

Ever nodded. “I’m afraid so.”

Mina and Ever looked at each other, and neither one could process what was happening.

Ever turned to yell at Nan. “Nan, get off that dang wolf now!”

“Wolf?” Mina looked closer at the carousel and what she’d thought was a dog. Gold windmills and flowers were painted along the trim. In the middle stood a large colorful landscape with a castle. Instead of wooden white horses, giraffes, and swans, this carousel had wooden wolves, bears, and griffins.

Her hand trembled as the carousel slowed to a stop. She lifted the laser pointer and flicked it at a currently unoccupied golden griffin.

The laser threw off the glamour. The griffin began to stir. A wing unfolded, and its head turned, revealing a black beady eye. It blinked right at her.

“Griffin!” Mina squealed and grabbed Ever’s hand. Ever snatched the laser pointer and shone it at the closest wolf, who didn’t take too kindly to her laser attack. It lost the glamour fast, shook out its fur, and howled into the sky.

People backed away in terror, not understanding how the wolf had appeared in the middle of the stopped carousel. A child stood right in front of the wolf, waiting to get on it, when it changed shape. Now the little girl was screaming.

The wolf lunged for her.

Right before it snapped its jaws around the girl, Mina saw a flash of red hair. Someone grabbed the wolf from behind and flung it back into the slowly shifting griffin. Nix handed the girl back to her mom and told her to run.

“Nix!” Ever shouted and jumped up and down.

“Run!” He pushed Nan and Charlie toward the exit as mass hysteria ensued. Everyone entering the ride tried to jump the security fence or run out the exit. The carousel creaked and groaned under the weight of all the Fae beasts as they slowly revealed themselves.

Someone in green appeared next to Nix. Ferah, knives drawn, fended off a griffin as it tried to snatch a young girl and haul her into the air.

Nan couldn’t get out the exit, so she went to the fence and lifted Charlie over it and into Mina’s arms. “I’m sorry! I didn’t know.”

She tried to swing her leg over the fence, but a bear in half-human form yanked her back. She screamed, and Mina saw her blonde head only for a second before it disappeared back toward the carousel full of monsters.

“Nan!” Mina yelled with Charlie in her arms. She tried to hand her brother to Ever, but Charlie screamed and lashed out until Mina dropped him. He wasted no time running toward the entrance to go in after Nan.

Ever was already flying over the fence to find Nan as Mina ran after her brother. Most of the Fae had scattered into the fairgrounds, and the griffins took to the air screeching a hunter’s cry. Mina jumped onto the almost empty platform and saw the mangled gold bars and posts. The carousel was lopsided now, broken into two. She ran to the back and saw the bear running away, Nan tossed over its shoulder like a sack of potatoes.

Charlie was right on their tail and didn’t slow down as the bear ran into the house of mirrors.

“No!” Mina cried.

Charlie disappeared inside after them.





Chapter 7



Mina slowed just before entering the building. Inside, cheesy calliope music blared, but over it she could just hear Nan’s angry voice telling the bear off.

There was a loud roar, and then Nan’s voice cut out mid-sentence.

Mina’s heart clenched. She darted around and entered the maze through the exit, hoping to cut them off. Mina slipped into the back hall and came face to face with her own reflection. She almost cried out but held in her scream. With her back to the wall, she pressed on, trying to make her way through the maze.

Wasn’t this how it always was in horror movies? Hero and bad guy duke it out in a mirror maze. She could have rolled her eyes at the irony of what was happening, but she couldn’t even blame the Fates, because she doubted the Fae bear had seen those movies.

A noise to her left made her freeze. It came from another mirror, behind it maybe. Mina wanted to call out for Nan or Charlie, but again, movie self-preservation told her to hold her tongue.