Forever (An Unfortunate Fairy Tale, #5)(21)

As soon as the giant disappeared, fire and rescue teams swarmed the area. Men in uniforms ran to those injured on the ground, and the GMs quickly phased and tried to hide their true selves again. Those that couldn’t hide their Fae side quickly made themselves scarce.

Nix got up from the ground and helped Charlie to his feet. His red hair stood out against his pale skin. “That was too close.” He reached out and ruffled Charlie’s hair. “And what about you, Mr. Siren? I’ve got a distant cousin.”

Mina ran over and hugged Charlie, fresh tears of relief pouring down her face. “Oh, Charlie.”

She ran her fingers up his face. He was still warm to the touch, and his fever seemed to be out of control, but he looked fine. In fact, he glowed with power.

Ever waddled over to Mina as she rubbed her backside. “How are your wings?” Mina asked.

“Could be better. I thought they were goners for a sec there. But it’s going to take more than an ogre to ground Ever Farindale.” She turned and slowly flapped her deep purple and blue tinted pixie wings, wincing in pain.

Mina turned and scanned their group for Brody, but he’d disappeared. She couldn’t see his blond head anywhere. She was about to turn and go look for him when Constance called her.

“Mina.” The muse spoke softly.

She turned to her high school music teacher, with her short gray spiky hair and wing-tipped glasses. Her skirt and top were torn and dirty, but she didn’t look injured.

“You came?” Mina said incredulously.

“We got our injured safely hidden with another inactive sect of Godmothers down in San Francisco. This one wasn’t going to let us abandon you.” She pointed to Nix, who blushed until his skin matched his hair and shoved his hands in his pockets.

“But how did you know where to find me?”

Constance sang a few notes and held out her wrist. A small dragon landed there and immediately began to dance around in excitement.

“Of course. Anders. How could we have forgot about him?” Mina exclaimed.

“You were meant to. He was supposed to follow you, and—when you were in trouble—come find us. There was a small group of us already on our way back to the Guild to try and salvage some of our archives when he found us. Sorry, this is all we had.” She gestured to those standing behind her.

Mina couldn’t help but zero in on Ferah, with her untamed red hair, standing among the GMs. She spoke wildly to the others.

Ken Wong separated himself and came over to them, whispering hurriedly to Constance. “Ferah says we have to leave. The police are asking questions, and we are a very large group standing in the open. We’re sure to draw speculation.”

Constance nodded her head. “She’s right. We must leave. But first I need to ask you, Mina, what happened? Why did he leave?”

That was one question she wasn’t ready to answer, especially not in front of her friends and brother.

She turned away. “He’s toying with us, trying to intimidate me by showing he can strike any time and anywhere.” She turned back to Constance. “What I want to know is what about Charlie? Did you know he’s Fae?”

“Part-Fae,” Constance answered. “And yes. So are you.” She grabbed Mina’s arm and walked closely beside her as their troop made a hasty exit, not out the front fair exit, but by the back bus-barns.

“Your mother was a powerful siren. When we learned what our future held, and how it depended on the Grimm family defeating Teague, we tried to strengthen your bloodline with Fae blood.”

“How dare you meddle where you have no business meddling? These are my family’s lives—not your genetic cauldron for creating weapons.”

“Do you think your mother didn’t love your father? Do you think we cast some sort of spell to make him fall in love with her? No, Sara and James fell in love all on their own.” They squeezed through a fence behind the school, skirting the worst of the damage. “Your mother was so in love with your human father that she went to a sea witch to bind her Fae powers so she could be human. We didn’t know at first that it was James Grimm that she was in love with.”

“So she lied to my father?”

“Do you honestly not recognize your mother’s own tale? Where a girl was so in love with a human that she was willing to give up her tail, forget her previous life, and live as a human forever so she could be with him?”

“You mean The Little Mermaid?” Mina scoffed. She followed Constance carefully past a sheer drop-off in the ground, actually the giant’s foot print.

“What do you think a siren is, dear?” Constance smiled sadly. “A mermaid is the human term for them. Once a month, on the full moon, sirens gain their legs and walk on land, usually to cause mayhem. After all, they aren’t the noblest of creatures and are tricksters. It was during your mother’s moon spell when she met your father.”

Mina couldn’t help but think back to the stone siren that guarded the waterways under the Fates’ castle. Nix had said sirens were like sea witches but worse.

“Am I going to sprout a tail?”

In the distance, the fire and rescue crews were still parked around the perimeter of the fairgrounds.

Constance laughed. “No, you and your brother won’t, because that is what your mother sacrificed to become human. So it wasn’t passed down to you. It does seem that Charlie picked up the siren’s call, and you picked up the lure, though.”