Fairest (An Unfortunate Fairy Tale Book 2)

by Chanda Hahn

  “Oh, no, I needed something…” Mina paused, unsure of how to proceed without giving away too much information. Dr. Martin didn’t seem to notice as he looked over her charts carefully.

  He grinned at Mina, displaying very even and white teeth. His light brown hair had just the touch of grey at the temples, and his eyes were a deep hazel. “I’m sure that whatever it is the nurses can get if for you. How are you feeling?”

  “Mmm, good. I guess,” Mina offered. “Thirsty and hungry though.”

  “Not surprising with what you’ve been through. You came in with a fever, and you were dehydrated. But your fever broke last night, and other than your sprained ankle and a few deep cuts, you are on the mend.”

  “Wait, yesterday morning? How long have I been here? Wasn’t I brought in last night?”

  “Oh, your mom didn’t tell you yet? You came in two nights ago. You’ve been unconscious with a fever for two days. It broke last night.”

  Mina sat stunned in her bed as Dr. Martin came and listened to her heart. Almost a week. She had missed almost a week of school.

  Dr. Martin scribbled something on her file. “If you are ready, I will have a nurse remove the IV. You think you can handle soup?”

  Mina nodded, her stomach rumbled at the thought of food.

  “Found it!” Sara came strolling into the room with white plastic bag. She handed the bag to Mina who tore it open and pulled out her denim jeans; she dug around in her pockets.

  “Mom, it’s not in my pockets!” Mina cried out.

  “Well, maybe it fell out and is caught in the bag,” she answered. They dumped the bag of dirty clothes on the bed and began to dig through everything. It wasn’t there.

  “Is everything alright?” Dr. Martin asked.

  Mina felt uncomfortable at letting her emotions get the best of her in front of a complete stranger. “Um, no,” she lied. “I seem to have lost something very important to me. Did you see a small leather book about yay big?” She held up her hands in the size of the Grimoire.

  “Ah, no, I haven’t, but I’ll check with the emergency team” Dr. Martin answered briskly. “Hopefully, they may have it. But I see that your mom’s already found the bag. Everything on you when you came in was in that bag. Maybe you lost it in the woods.”

  Mina’s heart dropped, and Sara reached forward and grasped her daughter around the shoulders in a form of comfort. “It’s okay, honey,” Sara whispered reassuringly. “We’ll find it.”

  This was turning out to be the absolute worst day-ever. How was she going to overcome the quests if she didn’t have the Grimoire to imprison the evil Fae in? She wasn’t, that’s how. She was doomed, just like her Uncle Jack.

  “Oh, by the way, I’ve promised a few of your friends that they could visit, if you were well enough. We’ll give you some time, maybe after you eat.”

  “I don’t know. I’m not sure I want to receive company?” Mina felt another moment of panic. Who could possibly be out in the hall?

  “Even if it’s my future stepdaughter?” Dr. Martin teased and began laughing. “I can only waylay her so long before she bribes one of my nurses with cupcakes or sneaks in here anyway.”

  “Wait, Nan? Nan’s here? Yes, I want to see Nan,” Mina cried out excitedly.

  “In a bit, after you eat,” The Doctor ordered. “She can wait that long. Although I’m sure she will be trying to sneak in, but I think she can hold on for another hour.”

  Mina grinned.

  Chapter 12

  It only took forty-five minutes before Nan maneuvered her way into Mina’s hospital room. Sara and Charlie had left a half hour earlier in search of the lost and found, looking for the Grimoire. Mina had just finished her soup when Nan came sneaking in.

  “You’re late,” Mina chirped. “I thought for sure you would sneak in here earlier.”

  Nan rolled her eyes. “I tried. I couldn’t get past Nurse Dragon and my future Stepdad wasn’t helping the matter. I think he purposely put old Dragon Lady on me so I wouldn’t sneak in here.”

  “Well, then how did you get in?”

  “I got Charlie to knock over a cart at the end of the hall!” She grinned triumphantly and crossed her arms. “It made such a commotion that everyone went running.” Nan lifted a backpack and put it on Mina’s bed. “I brought you the emergency essentials: lip gloss, curling iron, hairspray, high heels--”

  “Nan, I have crutches! I can’t wear heels,” Mina interrupted.

  “Okay, scratch the heels. I’ll wear the heels; you can wear my flats.” She began to pull everything out of her bag and reached for Mina’s hair.

  Mina grabbed her best friend’s wrists and pinned them down on the bed. “Nan, what’s going on? Are we okay?” She felt terrible for the way she had acted and treated her best friend. “Can you ever forgive me for getting freaked out at the concert and wanting to go home? I shouldn’t have abandoned you like that.”

  Nan’s face became still, quiet. Then she erupted into a huge smile and hugged her closely. “No, I’m sorry for overreacting. I should’ve figured it was your way of getting some alone time with Brody. I can’t believe I didn’t think of it earlier. I know you have a crush on him.” She grabbed Mina’s hand and squeezed tightly. “Can you forgive me for hanging out with Savannah? I did it to kind of get back at you. I was still mad at the time. But as soon as I heard that you went missing. I grew up and realized how stupid I was. I’m your B.F.F. through thick and thin.”

  Mina started crying and hugged her friend again. Nan leaned back and began to mess with the makeup and things she had brought in with her. “Nan?” Mina asked. “What is going on?”

  Nan smiled at Mina. “You’re on TV. I overheard one of the nurses talking. You probably didn’t know this but someone by the name of Jed Parsons was monitoring the old handheld radio channels and overheard a conversation about a young girl found lost in the woods.”

  “That was probably Karl calling in to tell people he found me,” Mina inserted.

  Nan raised her eyebrows skeptically. “Well, I don’t know anything about that, except that old Jed thought it was serious and called for help, and since he knew his radio could only reach a few miles, he was able to tell the park rangers and rescue teams a general direction of where to look.”

  “It wouldn’t have mattered, I was safe with Karl, and he had a radio and called for help.” Mina tried to assure Nan that it wasn’t a big deal.

  “By the time you made it to the hospital, there was quite the stir and there were news teams already waiting for you here.” Nan began to bounce on the bed excitedly.

  “I don’t remember.” Mina replied lamely.

  “Of course, you didn’t know. It was obvious from the footage that you were totally out of it. But it was so cool!” Nan gushed.

  “It wasn’t that big of a deal. Someone found me and then….I don’t remember much after that.” Mina touched her forehead in confusion.

  “What time is it?” Nan looked at the clock on the wall. “Here watch this; they’ve been replaying it over the last two days.” Nan grabbed the remote control from the hospital nightstand and furiously clicked away at the black box until the TV came to life. After a few hurried groans from Nan and more channel surfing, she squealed, “There you are!”

  Mina watched numbly as a female news reporter dressed in a light jacket with a blue umbrella spoke in a mellow voice that showed little emotion. “Here behind me we see the rescue of one, Wilhelmina Grime, who was lost in the Mt. Adams National Forest. The girl, a sophomore at Kennedy High, was last seen after school with friends. How she ended up lost in the forest is still unknown. A mysterious call by Jed Parsons into the Parks Services, led to a quick rescue.”

  The cameraman panned to the ambulance as Mina was loaded on a stretcher with the help of the emergency techs. It was obvious from the way her head flopped from side to side that she was passed out from exhaustion.

  The camera and a different reporter pushed through and tried to shove a m
icrophone in her face. “Mina, can you tell us how you became lost in the woods? Were you kidnapped? Held as hostage?”

  The camera zoomed in close to Mina’s mud streaked face. Someone tried to push the microphone away from Mina but not before it picked up her delirious whisper of one word. Mina in her unconscious state called out one name. One very audible boy’s name and it wasn’t one she was expecting. She called out Jared’s name.

  Mina froze in her hospital room and prayed that the reporter hadn’t understood her. But the reporter was fast, she was able to pick up Mina’s whispered name and she repeated it into the mic. “Who is this Jared? And if you know him, you better tell him that Wilhelmina Grime is calling for him.”

  “EEEEK!” Mina screamed into her hospital blanket as she watched herself on the small TV. She couldn’t have believed it, wouldn’t have believed it, if she hadn’t just seen it with her own two eyes. The news report was proof that she was completely insane. Well, hopefully no one would know that she was speaking about the Jared from her school. What if people got the wrong idea? What if Brody heard?

  Mina crumpled onto the bed and pulled the thin blanket over her head to hide herself from the world. She could hear the obnoxious reporter speak again, only this time it was a current broadcast, and it sounded like she was broadcasting from outside the hospital. Groaning, she pulled down the blanket enough to see the screen and the group of kids from her school leaving flowers, posters, and cards by the hospital for her. She was touched, she didn’t think anyone even knew who she was, but here was proof of their fondness for her. What happened next completely changed her mind.

  The reporter, whose name was Brandy Westhouse, appeared next to the serious and demure face of none other than Savannah White. “So how do you know Wilhelmina?”

  Savannah’s face looked forlorn with faked sadness. “We are friends at Kennedy High. Best friends and I’m devastated at what happened. Wilhelmina is sweet and didn’t deserve to have something bad like this happen to her.” Savannah sniffed and wiped fake tears away with a Kleenex. Mina rolled her eyes and would’ve given a million dollars to see if the hanky was actually wet. Savannah continued. “I only wish that I could’ve taken her place.”

  “HA!” Nan yelled at the screen. “You’re only saying that because you wish it were you lost in the woods so you can get all of the attention. You crazy attention addict! Can you believe the nerve of her, saying she’s your best friend and she doesn’t even know that you prefer Mina, not Wilhelmina. Geesh!”

  “When did that interview happen?” Mina pointed at the screen.

  “Oh, just this afternoon. The hospital has been really good at keeping the crazies away and giving you a bit of peace.”

  “They didn’t keep you away,” Mina remarked dryly.

  “That’s because they don’t have a meter able to measure my amount of craziness. Plus, I just told hospital security that I was supposed to bring my future stepdad his lunch. They all know me by name now, so the security and front desk didn’t blink an eye. But the head floor nurse, Dierdre, a.k.a. Dragon lady, she was another story.” Nan shuddered.

  The news story changed on the TV and a picture of a middle-aged gentleman wearing a brown U.P.S. uniform flashed on the screen. Mina read the words carefully that scrolled across the bottom. Dan Williams, a local U.P.S. worker, disappeared during his morning route. His truck had been left running on Main Street, but no one had seen him. A tip line number appeared if anyone had any information about his disappearance.

  “Oh, my goodness, that’s horrible! I can’t watch this anymore.” Nan clicked off the television with the remote. “By the way, are you hungry?” She reached over to pull out a brown paper sack and the sandwich that was inside.

  “But I thought that was for Dr. Martin?”

  “No way, are you kidding me? Do you know how much he makes? He can afford to buy his own lunch.” Nan took a large bite out of one half of the turkey sandwich and handed the other to Mina, who quickly took a small bite.

  Loud footsteps interrupted their picnic, and Nan scrambled to hide the evidence of their lunch. She shoved the food back into the bag and thrust it under Mina’s pillow. Mina had just enough time to wipe her face with the sleeve of her gown when her mother, and a chagrined looking Charlie, entered.

  “You! Sit over there and don’t move,” Sara pointed to a chair and Charlie walked slowly dragging his feet dramatically, as if walking to his own execution. Sara’s brown hair was pulled into a pony tail, and she looked frazzled. Charlie sat down on the chair and gave Nan a knowing grin. When Sara looked up, she was surprised to see Nan.

  “Oh, hello, Nan.”

  “Hello, Mrs. Grime,” Nan chirped merrily.

  Nurse Diedre walked in, gave Nan an angry glare, and went to the bed and unhooked Mina’s IV. Nan scooted quickly out of the grey haired nurse’s way and went to lounge on the chair next to Charlie. Nan sat texting on her phone, while Charlie played with the items in his box; the whole while Mina tried to make small talk with the nurse.

  The nurse refused to smile, talk, or comment, and her bedside manner was terrible. Nan was right. The nurse really was mean.

  But the cream of chicken soup, with the help of the forbidden sandwich, really gave Mina her strength back. She felt so good that she let her best friend brush her hair and paint her fingernails an obnoxious purple that only Nan could pull off.

  Sara’s phone beeped, and she went into the hall to answer it. A few minutes later she stepped back in, her face scrunched up with anger.

  “I’m sorry, honey. That was my boss, there seems to be a problem with one of the houses I clean, and she demanded I come right away. I told her that my daughter is in the hospital, but she was quite insistent. Do you think you will be alright with Nan, alone? I can pick up some more clothes for you, too. Is there anything in particular you want?”

  Mina made a shooing motion. “I’m not going anywhere until the Doctor says I can. I’ll be fine, and grab any old pair of jeans and shirt that is clean.” Sara hugged Mina before her and Charlie left.

  A few minutes later, Nan, bored out of her mind, went looking for some magazines and left Mina alone. Grateful for the solitude and the silence that came with it; she leaned back in her bed and stared out the window across the hospital campus. She couldn’t help but admire the architecture of the brand new hospital.

  The Memorial Hospital had only been opened for six months and was the result of copious very rich backers. Where most hospitals were square and made of boring brick, this one was configured like the number eight and made of beautiful reflective glass. It had a soothing flow to the layout because there were no hard edges or corner to any of the rooms. There were two botanical gardens in the center of each eight, giving every room a relaxing luxurious view. It was a hospital designed for the rich and famous and purposely designed to not resemble a hospital.

  When Nan didn’t come back right away, she had time to reflect on the recent events, Mina couldn’t help but feel her cheeks burn with embarrassment at the thought of calling out Jared’s name while she was unconscious. She’d probably said it because he was the last thing on her mind. Hopefully, Brody wouldn’t see that. Her heart began to break again at the thought of what they’d shared and lost. It was like a horrible Greek tragedy.

  A tear slowly escaped Mina’s eyes, and she quickly wiped it away. She ached for him, ached for him to hold her hand, to kiss her. She even missed the sound of his voice. Even now, in a hospital surrounded by machines, she could still imagine the soft baritone of Brody Carmichael’s voice whispering her name.

  Closing her eyes in pain, she bit her lip and whispered, “Stop it. Go away.” Mina spoke out loud to her overactive imagination. She literally thought she was going crazy. She was hearing his voice and it sounded so real. It was like he was right next to her.

  “But I thought you would like company,” the voice answered her back.

  Mina’s eyes flew open, and she gasped in surprise. Brody Carmichael
stood next to her bed with a bouquet of flowers.

  Chapter 13

  The flowers were Birds of Paradise. He walked over and placed them next to the get well carnations that her mother had brought. Brody’s Birds of Paradise made her mother’s flowers look cheap and drab, another reminder of the difference in their stations in life.

  He turned to her, his hands hanging limply at his sides. He tried to clear his throat a few times before he spoke. It was apparent he was more nervous than she was.

  Subconsciously, Mina’s hand flew to her heart as if she could slow it’s wild beating, she was sure that he could hear it beating, it was so fast.

  Gathering his nerves, he spoke first. “How are you?” He didn’t move closer; it was as if he were scared. His blonde hair looked as if he had wrung his hands through it multiple times, and his eyes were filled with worry.

  “I’m good,” Mina whispered, too scared to say anything more to the perfect boy in front of her.

  The tension that was evident in Brody’s entire body evaporated at her words. “Good, I’m glad.” He looked down at his hands and put them in his jean pockets. Mina wondered vaguely if they were six hundred dollar jeans.

  He continued to look down at his feet, afraid to look her in the eye, when he asked the next question. “Why?...Why did you call out his name?”

  “Who-what?” Mina stumbled over her words, shocked at what she was hearing.

  Brody’s eyes shot up from the ground to look her in the eyes, daring her to look away.

  “I’m sorry. This is not how I planned to ask you. Are you two dating? Seeing each other?” He looked hurt, confused.

  Mina felt like a stone plummeted to the bottom of her stomach, taking all of her bravery with it. “I don’t know what you are talking about,” she fumbled back.

  “You said his name. I heard it, clear as day, on the news. I even recorded it and watched it over and over again. What I want to know is why?”