Forever (An Unfortunate Fairy Tale, #5)(7)

“I know, sweetie. I know.” She rocked him.

“Mina,” Charlie whispered.

It unlocked something insider her. And then, with Charlie, she let the tears and grief overtake her. Their pain and grief poured out in loud, uncontrollable sobs.

When Charlie finally cried himself to sleep, Mina whispered, “I’ll protect you, Charlie. I promise.”

Brody came over and helped lift him onto the couch that she’d vacated. Mina pulled the blanket up to his chin, and her hands accidentally brushed his cheek. It was hot. She touched his forehead. Charlie was burning up.

She grabbed a digital thermometer from the bathroom. His reading was 101 degrees. She got a wet washcloth and put it over his forehead and searched for some liquid fever reducer to give him.

“Mina, can I talk to you?” Brody spoke softly over Charlie’s sleeping form.

She didn’t want to even look at him. He was the reason her mom was gone. He barely knew her mother, yet he listened to her mom instead of her. How could she trust him?

“I’d rather not,” she said stiffly.

Brody’s hands fisted, and he took a deep breath, about to say something, when they heard a knock.

All three of them turned to the door. Ever’s wings started to flutter, and she hovered off of the ground. Brody reached for the fire poker, and Mina walked quietly to the window and pulled the curtain aside to see Nan’s Volkswagen Beetle parked out front. They hadn’t even heard it pull up.

Mina opened the door, and her best friend rushed in the door. Her blonde hair hung plaited in one long messy braid, and she wore a sparkly headband over her forehead. Her cheeks were flushed with worry as she rushed inside.

“Mina, you won’t believe what I found…” Nan trailed off when she took a long look at her friend’s swollen and red-rimmed eyes. “What happened? Are you okay? Is Charlie okay?”

Mina nodded her head. “Yeah, we’re fine. But my mom’s gone.”

“What?” Nan snapped and rushed into the living room and was greeted by Brody’s somber face as he stood with Ever. “How?”

Mina didn’t want to relay the tale. She looked to Ever, who pulled Nan to the side and told her in hushed tones. Mina stayed near the front door. As she closed it, something rushed inside and scurried up her pant leg.

“Whoa!” She screamed and fell backward, thinking the omen had returned.

The thing scrambled up and out her collar, and her hands flew up to guard her. But she wasn’t being devoured by the invisible beast. She was being nuzzled.

A second later, Anders, the Baldander, appeared as a large brown squirrel.

“Anders?” Mina let out a relieved laugh.

Nan came back to the front room and kneeled beside her. “Yeah, he showed up at my condo this morning, a little burned, but he was okay. He wouldn’t stop morphing until I promised to bring him to you. “It’s like he knew something bad was coming.”

Mina sat on the floor with Anders cuddled up in her lap. He seemed content and unwilling to move.

“I know that a lot has happened. I can’t even imagine how it feels to lose your mother, but—” Nan spoke softly.

“Nan, not now.” Mina tried to stop the lecture that was sure to come.

“If not now, then when? When your brother is killed as well?” Nan’s eyes burned with indignation and unshed tears. “Ever told me Charlie spoke. Mina, you saw what happened with the Godmothers’ Guild. I just want you to know that—when you’re ready, you’re not alone. We’re in this together.”

“I don’t think I can involve you anymore. The cost is too high.”

“That’s bull! And you know it. This isn’t about you versus the almighty Teague. This is about us protecting ourselves from a greater evil. So grieve, sort of quickly, and then pull yourself together and fight back.”

Mina nodded and hugged her friend. “We will. I will. Thank you.”

A second knock on the door had all of them turning and looking at the door in distrust.

“Were you expecting anyone else?”

“No.” Mina shuffled her legs, and Ander scurried off of her lap and onto the floor as she slowly stood up. She reached for the doorknob and was about to open it when Nan hissed, “Stop! What if it’s Teague?”

“He wouldn’t knock,” Ever said. “It’s not his style. He’d just blast the door in or appear in the room.”

Brody positioned himself next to the front door with a baseball bat he’d pulled from the hall closet, and he gave Mina a nod of encouragement. He twisted his hands around the grip, hefted it over his shoulder, and waited. Without questioning her, he was once again stepping in to protect them all.

Mina let out a sigh of worry and concentrated on the door, trying to let her senses feel beyond it. She didn’t feel the onslaught of Fae power that she got when Teague was near, but she did feel a tingle of something or someone Fae.

She opened the door to reveal a distraught Terry Goodmother on the other side. Dressed in head-to-toe white, she rushed into the foyer. Her white hair looked disheveled, and black streaks of mascara ran down her face. Mina quickly waved for Brody to lower his weapon.

“Oh my darling, Mina. I’m so sorry.” The elderly woman, who was both her mother’s boss at Happy Maids and her Godmother, came into the room and wrapped her chubby arms around Mina. Terry’s shoulders wouldn’t stop shaking as she started to cry big, heaving sobs, which only set Mina off on another round of her own.