UnEnchanted (An Unfortunate Fairy Tale #1)(23)

It was like a dream and she knew that she was going to have to wake up soon. She didn’t belong with someone like Brody, she was used to the stares and whispers about being an oddball, but ever since Brody started paying attention to her, the whispers had gotten worse. She even got a rude letter shoved into her locker after lunch.

Brody refused to let go of her hand, with his other hand he lifted her petite chin so she could look into his eyes. His heart ached to hold her when he saw the wetness of unshed tears. “Please believe me when I say that this isn’t about a debt I owe or a bet to prove myself.”

“I feel like this is some sort of sick joke or a bad play and you are trying to mess with my emotions.” Mina turned away from his touch.

“This isn’t, believe me.” Brody leaned forward and would have kissed Mina right then in the parking lot, if there wasn’t a bunch of catcalls and whistles that alerted them to their very loud teenage audience. He could have ignored them too, but he felt Mina stiffen, when someone called her a Grimey Gold-digger.

She pulled away from him, but not far enough that Brody couldn’t steer her back toward his car. She got in it without a word, happy to be out of sight of the rest of the student population. Mina stared out the window in silence, ignoring Brody’s worried glances, tuning out the world, lost in her own myriad of thoughts. Brody wished he knew what she was thinking.

Grimey Gold-digger? They think I’m after Brody for his money? That is the farthest thing from the truth. Yes, she secretly had a crush on him from afar, but it wasn’t because of his money. This was worse than she had imagined. Mina was so distracted by her own inner monologue that she was surprised when Brody pulled up to the public library again. How did he know that was where she wanted to go?

“How did you know?” Mina asked, speaking for the first time since entering the car.

“I knew that you were looking for something pretty hard yesterday and you didn’t find it. Maybe if you tell me, I can help you look for it today?”

Mina shook her head. “I don’t know what exactly I’m looking for. All I know is that I’ll know it when I see it.”

Brody followed Mina into the library with his book bag and they headed toward the same table as before. This time he brought homework and was content to sit with Mina again as she poured through encyclopedias, journals and microfiche tape. After another three unsuccessful hours, Mina was ready to give up.

“You didn’t find what you were looking for did you?” he asked.

“No, I didn’t.” Mina leaned back in here chair and rubbed her eyes. “I’m going to check another shelf, I’ll be back.”

Brody raised one eyebrow at her in disbelief.

“I promise I won’t run off without telling you. After all I don’t want to walk home.” Brody seemed satisfied and relaxed back into his chair with ease.

Mina walked a few aisles down and peeked through the shelves to spy on Brody. What was he doing here? Mina couldn’t fathom why he would want to hang out with her, especially in a library. She would have thought he would have gotten bored and gone home already, but to stick with her for two whole days. Leaning against the shelf, Mina felt defeated; she was here to look for a clue, a sign, anything to help her family.

She had finally convinced her mother to tell her everything she knew about the Grimm family curse and the Story. Supposedly there were signs that would appear to tell her she was the chosen one. Like the appearance of the animals. Sara also explained that once chosen, the Grimoire would appear; a book of power that was supposed to aide her.

“How do I get the book?” Mina had asked, feeling as if she was already losing precious time in breaking the curse.

“You don’t,” Sara stated simply. “It will come to you.”

“What do you mean? Didn’t father have it and Uncle Jack before him?”

“Your father did, but after his passing the book disappeared. It's way of protecting itself, I guess. Then when the Story chooses the next Grimm member, the book decides if it’s going to help them or not.”

“What do you mean it decides?” Mina argued. “Shouldn’t it just automatically help the next family member?”

“Unfortunately no. The book goes into hiding and then it chooses whether or not to appear to help. What if the next Grimm descendent wasn’t honest, was greedy and selfish? What if they were evil? Then the Grimoire would be a terrible weapon in the wrong hands. So it must protect itself and after you’ve been weighed and tested then it will make itself known to you.”

“That sucks,” Mina furrowed her brows in thought. “Where did it appear to Dad?” she asked.

“In a library in Nebraska.”

“What about our library?” Mina asked hopefully.

“Maybe, you could try.” Sara shrugged, not sure if would work two times in a row. “It couldn’t hurt to look.”

Mina turned to begin her search and stopped in thought. Turning back to her mother she asked, “Why is it called a Grimoire? I thought that was something that was evil or a book of spells or something?”

“No honey, it's just a record of the tales our family members have lived through. Over time it has gained powers of its own. If your ancestor's name was Smith it would have been called the Smithoire. But are you sure you want to do this?” Sara then spent the next hour trying to talk Mina out of following through on finding the Grimoire.