Forever (An Unfortunate Fairy Tale, #5)(77)

Brody leaped in front of her and grabbed Mina, pulling her behind him.

Jared’s jaw ticked with anger, and he squared off in front of Brody. “Take your hands off of her, before you lose them.”

“No,” Brody growled, doing his best to be intimidating.

“Brody, wait.” Mina looped her arm through his and met his eyes, pleading. When she turned to look at Jared next, she swallowed. His gaze was locked on her arm holding Brody’s. He was about to let someone have it. Mina quickly let go and stepped in front of Jared. “He’s okay.”

Now it was Jared’s turn to pull her behind his back and keep her out of Brody’s reach.

“I won’t let you hurt her,” Brody threatened. He crossed his arms over his muscular chest.

“I’m not going to… ever.” Jared’s voice dropped low.

“If you do, I’ll kill you. Whatever it takes.” Brody eyed Jared, and something passed between the two boys. A silent conversation.

Jared squinted.

Brody raised his chin.

A minute passed.

Mina sighed and rolled her eyes.

“Agreed.” Jared laughed. “I can live with that.”

Nan pushed past Brody. “Are you the evil one?” She jabbed him in the chest, and he stepped back with a look of chagrin. But it was clear he approved.

Mina couldn’t help but smirk. “Evil never won.”

She couldn’t say anything else, because Strong Arm pointed at the gate. More boats and ships filled with warriors came through. A small dragon suddenly hovered over her shoulder, nodding to her.

Anders. Faithful through everything.

“I swear those are not my men,” Jared answered.

“But how is it staying open so long?” Ever seemed miffed. “We only had window of a few seconds to get through.”

“I froze the moment in which the gate opened.” Jared shrugged like it was no big deal.

“They just keep coming,” Nan said, her voice full of panic.

Mina looked at Jared and then back at the gate, her face filled with anger. “Then we have to finish what you started. We have to destroy the gate—even if it means we destroy the bridge. We can’t let any more come through.”

Jared seemed surprised at her answer. “There’s that siren side of you!”

He ran up to speak with Strong Arm who agreed. He divided his and what was left of Constance’s Godmothers, and they headed out toward the bridge.

Ternan’s ship was still trying to retreat, under constant fire from the helicopters. A few of the Godmothers helped cloak it again, and it went invisible.

Kino rose up from the shoreline, limping, and shook the water from his hair. A boat of gnomes paddled furiously toward him.

“Godmothers!” Strong Arm pointed, and a few broke off to rush down to the shoreline to meet the oncoming hoard.

Kino crawled, barely able to get away from the gnomes. Brody rushed down and put Kino’s arm around his neck. He half-dragged-half-carried Kino up to them.

“Siren.” Strong Arm’s voice only had one volume. “Are you still with us?”

Kino, visibly shaken, was covered in cuts and bruises. Mina didn’t think he could fight anymore.

“Can you bring the bridge down?”

Kino followed his gaze to the Golden Gate Bridge and paled. “Not on my own I can’t. I may be good, but I’m not that good.”

Charlie rushed forward out of Nan’s grasp and stood by Kino. He pointed his thumb toward his chest and back at the bridge.

“Charlie!” A strange mixture of pride and fear coursed through Mina. She’d seen him use the power of his siren gift—his heritage—before, but so much was at stake here. She just couldn’t make herself believe he was safe. She ran to him and fell on her knees in front of him. “I love you, Charlie. Please be careful.”

Charlie’s lip quivered, and his eyes turned glassy. He gave Mina a thumbs up and grabbed Kino’s hand.

“You protect him, Kino,” Mina stated loudly. “Or I’ll do more to you than make you jump overboard.”

“Aye, aye, Princess.” He swung Charlie’s hand in his own and looked down. “Hey, little Prince, are you ready to see what a real siren call can do?”

Charlie just grinned crookedly at him. They turned and saw that Strong Arm’s guild had incapacitated the boat of gnomes. One of the Fae gestured for Charlie and Kino to get in the boat. Taz rose out of the water and used a large wave to propel them toward the bridge.

“We need to clear the bridge.” Constance said. Anders spun around excitedly above her head. “Warn any of our Fae to get away.”

Anders darted through the air toward the bridge. Jared’s hand slid into Mina’s, and they watched as her little brother and Kino were thrust into the main battlefield, right into the stream of gnomes coming through. Her heart felt like it would stop beating any second.

Kino leaned down to whisper to Charlie. A few seconds later, a shriek ripped through the air, causing their own little boat to move backward in the water. A portion of the bridge crumbled.

Charlie and Kino let forth blast after blast and began to knock down the Golden Gate Bridge piece by piece. It crumbled and fell onto the gnome ships passing through, sinking them.

Fighter jets returned and started firing into the water at Charlie and Kino.