UnEnchanted (An Unfortunate Fairy Tale #1)(49)

She stepped off the last step and was about to crawl through her bedroom window and felt her knees go weak. Jared reached out to steady her. Mina’s legs were numb and she moved away and felt the pin pricks of blood rushing through her lower limbs.

Jared called out to Mina when she safely made it over the sill. “You should keep the Grimoire close to you at all times.”

She bobbed her head in answer, never once looking him in the eyes.

“Be careful, I don’t know if you realize it but you are already in another fairy tale.”

Mina’s head snapped up to look at him eyes wide. “What? How did you know? Is it that obvious?”

Jarred shook his head and muttered the word “hopeless” under his breath. He pointed to her jackets. “There is a reason you can’t go out of the house without wearing red hoods and you keep meeting up with a Grey Tail.”

Mina let out a puff of air she didn’t know she was holding. He even knew about her jackets and how they keep changing colors and making themselves red. It made no sense how he knew so much. “I know, Red Riding Hood.”

“I suspect your clothes will return to normal after you completed this tale. That is, if you live through the final encounter with the wolf.”

Jared was serious, he was trying to warn her, protect her and prepare her and she kept getting angry at him and ignoring his advice. She was almost prepared to ask for forgiveness and his help again when he shot off one final parting comment, that made her blood run cold.

“I do think you need to be careful, your rooftop is not the safest place to cry yourself to sleep.”

Mina jumped away in alarm. She slammed the window and pulled the shade closed in frustration. She could hear Jared laughing from the other side of the glass. When her heart calmed down and she got her hands to quit shaking, she opened the window again and he was gone. She never heard the creak of Jared's weight on the escape, and he wasn't in the alley.





Chapter 20


The next day flew by. There were no strange storybook appearances by animals, unexplained happenings, or surprise attacks by wolves. Mina felt she knew why, with the date of the dance set, she could almost feel the power building, preparing for the final chapter. She read what she could of Red Riding Hood, but was too scared to touch the Grimoire. Mina kept the Grimoire in her backpack, and every time her fingers grazed the notebook it seemed to hum with excitement. Especially the closer it came to the dance the more it hummed and the more nervous Mina became, until she began hiding the book and locking it in a drawer in her room.

Jared barely acknowledged Mina at school but seemed to always be hovering just on the outskirts, watching, waiting. He hardly spoke, except when spoken to, and the sudden change in his countenance scared off the rest of the students.

Brody noticed Jared's surveillance and that his continued presence was making Mina uncomfortable, which led to an altercation after school.

Brody figured out Jared's routine. For the last few days he watched in his rearview mirror as Jared followed him and Mina home each day on his motorbike. And he saw him that morning following them in the distance to school. Brody had it. If this jerk had anything to do with the Biker that attacked Mina he wanted to stop it here and now. After class he skipped out a side door, knowing that he would be leaving Mina waiting, and hustled to the parking lot to wait by Jared's bike. He didn't have to wait long, before Jared turned the corner and stopped in his tracks at seeing Brody.

“That's my bike you’re leaning on.” Jared nodded toward his motorbike. “You scratch it, you buy it.”

“Maybe I should, and then you couldn't stalk Mina anymore.” Brody menacingly reached into denim jeans to pull out his keys with the intent of purposely scratching Jared's bike.

Jared snorted. “Get real, I'm not stalking her. I'll leave that to you, lover boy.”

Brody's eyes narrowed, “I've seen you! After school, before school, following her on this bike.”

Jared's eyes widened. “Dude, I haven't been following you anywhere. Are you sure it was this bike?”

Brody blinked in thought, “I could have sworn it was you, black bike and helmet?”

“No, I swear to you, it wasn't me. Must be some crazy fan of yours,” Jared answered lightly, trying to play off the feeling of dread that was overcoming him.

“Then why are you following her in school? You can't deny that you are always watching her. I've seen you, and you are making her uncomfortable.”

Thinking fast, Jared spit out the first thing that came to his mind. “Uh, I was trying to find an opportunity to ask her to the dance. That's all.” He tried to whip up an apologetic smile, but it was half done.

“Too late. She's going with me. So find someone else to torment!” Brody spit out and turned away.

Jared was preoccupied with the news of someone following Mina that he didn't see Brody turn around, fist flying. Brody’s fist connected with his jaw, knocking him backward over the bike. The bike and Jared came crashing to the cement in a pile of metal and bones. Pain exploded in Jared's jaw, and stars flickered in his peripheral vision.

Brody stood over the fallen Jared rubbing his fist. “That's for creeping out Mina. I don't care what you say; I still think it was you following her!” Brody pulled out a wad of cash and threw it on Jared's chest. “And that's for scratching your bike.”