Forever (An Unfortunate Fairy Tale, #5)(41)

“Fine as well.”

“Is that the only word in your vocabulary?” He spun, the irritation across his face obvious.

Which just set her off. “I don’t know. I’m sure there’s a lot of really interesting vocabulary words I’d like to call you right now, but somehow this dungeon doesn’t seem like the ideal time and place to let loose those choice words.”

Teague started to laugh, and he didn’t stop. “There! That’s the fire and the wit I remember.”

“Oh, I’m sure you didn’t extend my life just so you could have intellectual battles. But then again, I’m sure you get plenty of stimulating conversations with the ogres each day.”

“You have no idea why I did what I did!”

“No, I don’t,” she yelled back. “So explain.”

“I plan on making you suffer like I suffered.”

“I don’t understa…”

Teague had vanished.



***



He came again hours later for more of the same. Taunting and teasing—they battled with wits and words. It became a frustrating habit, actually. Each time, Teague riled her until they were yelling at each other, and then he’d disappear, leaving her miserable.

She’d stared at the Fae light that floated above her cell and realized she could make it dim or glow brighter with just a thought. She had spent her hours trying to make the wall open up like Teague had and escape. But it must be warded against her, because the only thing she could actually control in her whole cell was the Fae light.

After another few hours, she grew hungry. Her stomach growled, but she wasn’t going to beg for food from Teague. She was too proud for that.

The light above her disappeared into the wall and left her in darkness.

“Hey wait!” Mina called out in shock. But then she stopped herself. She could handle being in the dark. She wasn’t scared.

Minutes later, the Fae light reappeared, floating just above her as if it had never left. The bricks in the wall folded out to reveal a slot, and a tray of food appeared. As soon as Mina took the tray, the bricks moved back and formed a solid wall again.

The meal was simple—bread, a sweet grain mixture similar to oatmeal, and warm cider. For prison food, it wasn’t half-bad. Mina finished the food and then put the tray by the wall and stretched out on the straw. She fell asleep only to wake up with a familiar sensation. There wasn’t a toilet in her cell.

“This is so embarrassing.” Mina wanted to cry as she looked around for options.

Again, the Fae light bobbed and floated through the wall. When it returned, the bricks shifted to reveal a door.

This was the first time a door had appeared. Mina wasn’t sure what to make of it, but she had a feeling the light had responded to her current need. She tried the brass pull handle, and it opened to reveal a simple water closet to relieve herself, along with necessities like soap and water. Mina took way longer than she needed and used the soap and water to scrub her face, hands, and as much of her body as she could reach. She didn’t have a comb, so she did the best she could, running her hands through her long brown hair to pull out the snarls.

When she came out, the closet disappeared.

That became her daily routine. Mina would sleep on the straw and then spend hours talking to herself, pondering aloud what had happened to her friends and family. Was Teague leaving the human plane alone? When he didn’t come to torment her, that was its own special torture—she assumed he was destroying her plane as she sat there helpless.

Her plane? There was a good part of her that wanted to go and explore the Fae world and learn about her mother’s family. She had learned all she wanted to know about the Grimm line, but she desperately wanted to know about her mother’s parents. Were they still out there? Did she have cousins, aunts, uncles?

Only twice did she give in to her sadness and cry over the loss of her mother and brother. She missed them terribly, and after days, even wished for Ever’s company. When she thought she’d been in the dungeon over a week, she almost began to miss Teague and his temper.

Mina amused herself by creating a game of sorts with the straw. She would bend a piece around and around creating a ball, which she would hold between her finger and thumb on her left hand and then flick with her right at a brick on the far wall. She even scratched a round target onto the brick.

She flicked the ball at the target.

Teague appeared and caught the ball midair.

“You know that almost hit me.” He looked at the crumpled straw in his hand.

“Oh no, you were almost impaled by a piece of straw and died,” Mina said. “Too bad.”

“It wouldn’t have killed me.” Teague frowned and discarded the homemade ball.

“Oh, bad sportsmanship, minus two points.” She picked up another straw ball and took aim at the target. She flicked it, and it hit low on the target.

Teague stood off to the side, watching her as she played her game. She didn’t ask him to join in, even though she kinda thought he wanted to. He seemed really interested in just watching her. He even made a chair materialize, so he could sit comfortably. He didn’t speak.

After an hour, he disappeared again.

He appeared again the next afternoon when she was scratching another target on the wall. She turned around, and he was next to her with his own pile of straw balls—his were green. He picked one up and flicked it at her. It bounced off her forehead, and she flinched.