Reign (An Unfortunate Fairy Tale, #4)(6)

One corner of Teague’s lip curled up in a smile when he saw her tear. He leaned even closer across the desk and whispered into her ear. “That’s right, little Grimm. You should be afraid, be very afraid, of what I’m about to do to your friends.”

Her breath caught in her throat and a little gasp escaped, but it was not for the same reasons he probably thought. Teague’s voice sounded so much like his other half.

“Jared.” Mina let the name slide across her lips in an almost inaudible whisper.

Except that Teague was close enough to hear the name. He pulled back from her with such force that Mina’s desk moved. His face turned red with rage, and his eyes glowed and crackled with power.

Loose papers began to flutter and fly about the room. Pencils rolled off desks and skittered across the floor. Students’ startled cries filled the air as many jumped up out of their seats. The desks moved outward, seemingly all on their own, from the epicenter that was Teague.

She knew better than to show that this had anything to do with her, so she sat frozen in her desk, staring at the display of power that Teague emanated almost unconsciously. Was this why he wanted his other half back? What if this was only a small taste of the power he gained when he became one with Jared?

Mina’s hands slowly moved to the edge of her desk and gripped the sides until her knuckles turned white. What had she done? They were doomed.

Her desk started to move backward from Teague’s fury storm of power, but she wrapped her ankles around the legs of the desk and held on. Pinching her lips together, she locked eyes with Teague in angry challenge and nodded her head—signifying that yes, she would give him his whatchamacallit.

Within half a second, he was gone. The wind had stopped, the desks had quit moving across the floor, and Mina looked around in surprise. Brody, Nan, Nix, and the rest of the classroom were pinned against all four classroom walls by desks.

Mina was the only student still in her seat. And her desk, in the exact center of the room, was the only one not disturbed. So much for being inconspicuous.

“Mina?” Nan’s shaking voice called out as she began to try and push a desk out of the way and make it over to her.

Mina’s fingers still gripped the edges of her desk, and she quickly released them and unlaced her legs as well. It looked odd, and frankly she had no explanation for what had happened. She glanced up to see an air conditioning vent in the ceiling that was right above her desk.

“That was scary,” she joked. “Someone should get the AC fixed.” She picked up her books and bolted for the door just as the bell rang.

Footsteps sounded behind her, but Mina didn’t slow her pace. A quick self-preserving glance revealed the redheaded Nix. He took two large steps and caught up to her.

“Don’t tell me that the dark prince visits you at school often.”

“I can’t tell him what to do. Or have you forgotten all the havoc he wreaked on the Fae plane?”

“No, I have not forgotten. Nor will I ever forget what he is capable of doing. But I wonder if you have.”

“I can handle him,” Mina said.

“No, I don’t think you can. Not on your own anyway.” Nix grabbed Mina’s shoulder and pulled her over by the water fountain. “You look at him and see Jared. You were in love with Jared, so you’re letting his looks fool you into thinking he is, in part, still the same person. He’s not. You don’t know what the prince was like before there ever was a Jared.”

“Do you? Does anyone really know someone?”

“I’ve grown up on the Fae plane. I’ve heard the stories of his destructive power. The other Nixies retold the stories frequently. What you did back there was suicide.” Nix flung his arm out toward the classroom they’d just left and almost clotheslined a poor unsuspecting student. “Sorry!” he yelled, grimacing. “Mina, what I’m trying to say is don’t throw your life away by challenging the most destructive being in the world.”

“I didn’t challenge him,” Mina whispered.

“Yes, you did. You were insubordinate, which only angers him more.”

“Of course I’m insubordinate. I don’t answer to him. He’s not my prince. He doesn’t rule my world.”

Nix swallowed and looked back toward the classroom as Nan exited. Her blonde hair was disheveled and she looked a little shaken, but she was now laughing at what had happened. Brody was searching the mass of students in the hallways. They could hear T.J. asking if anyone else’s air conditioning unit had tried to freeze the classroom into a fortress of solitude.

“Not yet, he doesn’t. Not yet,” Nix answered solemnly.





Chapter 3


Mina waited outside of the music room for Mrs. Colbert to exit. Mrs. Colbert—Constance, as she was known by the Fae—was in fact a Godmother. Or as they referred to themselves these days, GMs. Students filed out of the music class in groups of twos and threes. Mina waved as Melissa, Makaylee, and Julianne walked out, but the girls only smiled politely and waved in reply.

Mina heard Melissa ask her friend, “Who’s she?”

Makaylee shrugged. “Beats me.”

“No clue,” Julianne answered.

Mina inwardly groaned at how thorough the Story could be sometimes when resetting everyone’s memories. She knew she couldn’t keep letting the memory wipe happen to her friends. Not without permanent damage.