Reign (An Unfortunate Fairy Tale, #4)(43)

“You’ll do it, Mina. You will fix this.” Mei jumped in, trying to calm her down.

“What do I do now?” Mina asked. A knock came on the door. “Wait,” she whispered. Mr. Carmichael popped his head into the room and motioned for Brody. When he was out of earshot, she whispered softly. “I met Teague on the Fae plane, and he didn’t know who I was.” She turned the volume down slightly so Brody and his dad wouldn’t hear.

“Then keep it that way. Don’t let him figure out who you are. Lie. Mina, I’ve told you before what you need to do to break the curse. If you go back again, I think you must seize your moment,” Constance said.

“And do what?” she said louder than she meant to. Brody glanced over at her, his brows lifting in concern before he turned back to speak to his dad. It seemed like things were getting heated over there too.

“I’ll be right back. I’m just stepping into the hall,” Brody said. He stepped out and closed the door softly.

“Mina you know what you have to do to save your family, your mother, and even your father.” Constance’s voice became sterner. “I know you know. Now I want to hear you say it.”

She sighed loudly into the empty room, “Kill Teague.”

Constance waited a moment before responding. “I’m glad you’ve come to accept that. This is why the shoes took you to that time and place. You can gain his trust and kill him before it’s too late.”

The shoes started to flash again, signaling another time jump.

“Oh no! It’s about to happen again,” Mina called out in fear. Mina turned the volume back up and set the phone on the seat beside her. She stood up.

“Mina?” Mei’s voice sounded unsure and her voice filled the room over the speaker phone. “If you do this, you may never meet me in the future. Because there will be no need for Godmothers.”

“Oh, Mei,” Mina started to cry.

“I’m not saying this to dissuade you.” Her voice was shaky with emotion, “I just wanted to say that I have come to love you dearly, like my own daughter. And I’ll miss knowing you.”

“I love you too, Mei,” Mina sobbed.

“Mina,” Constance’s self-assured voice called to her.

“Yes.”

“Do whatever you have to do to survive. Do you understand?”

“I do,” Mina answered, wiping her tears with the back of her hand. She moved to the middle of the room, leaving the cell phone on the chair.

“And, Mina, one more thing,” Constance’s voice sounded.

“Yes?” The shoes were flickering wildly, sending beams of light all over the room.

“You make us proud to call ourselves Godmothers.”

“Thank you, Con—” The ball of light surrounded her and she was cut off.





Chapter 21


This time she was prepared for the aftereffects of the time travel—the chill that ran through her body and the tingling sensation of pins and needles.

But she was sorely unprepared for the band of giants that immediately surrounded her upon her arrival. Their crested metal helmets and large thumping clubs created an intimidating and menacing picture.

“I got her,” the closest giant bellowed, lunging for her. He swung out his hand as if to try and pick her up by her feet.

Mina tried to run but couldn’t get her limbs to work. She tripped over the hem of her dress and fell into a pile of leaves. It looked to be mid-afternoon, if she had to hazard a guess.

“Careful! You’re scarin’ it.” A giant of slightly less stature than the other piped up. The giants backed up and Mina was left alone to struggle and get her legs to support her.

The leaves clung to her feathered dress and sticks and twigs were entangled in her long brown hair. She must look strange to them. The giants weren’t as frightening as long as they weren’t trying to kill her, and apparently they weren’t…at least not yet.

“What do you want?” Mina asked when she was able to stand without wincing and walk a couple feet unaided.

The first giant—the one who’d tried to catch her— seemed the least pleased with taking it easy on her. He had rough gray-colored skin, dead eyes, and a very large chin.

The smaller giant with sunspots splattered across his nose appeared to be the talkative one of the group. “We’ve been sitting out here for hours, waiting for you.”

“For me? Why are you waiting for me?” Surely that wasn’t right.

“Captain Plaith said to escort you to the palace,” he answered. They had to be mistaken. If it truly was her they’d been waiting for, the passage of time must flow differently on the Fae plane—what was minutes in her realm had been hours in the Fae.

The giants closed in on her and forced her to walk among them as they marched through the woods.

Wedged in the middle of the pack, she had no choice but to follow their lead. They walked for a quarter mile before they came to a road. Pulled off to the side was a white carriage, drawn by four large mice. Mina wondered who the carriage was waiting for, when a giant opened the door and motioned for her to get inside.

She picked up her skirt and put one foot on the step. A large hand shoved her roughly from behind and she landed fast face first in a velvety purple cushion. Mina heard the laughter that followed at her expense, and she might have yelled at them if they weren’t dangerous giants. She heard the snap of a whip, and the carriage lurched forward. Once the carriage was moving, she felt it was safe enough to part the curtain and look out the side window.