UnEnchanted

by Hahn, Chanda

  “Oh!” He sounded relieved. “Is that why you called?”

  Mina smiled into the phone. “I called because I love the bike. Thank you. When did you have time to find one just like it?”

  Brody laughed softly into the phone, that whisper of breath made Mina shiver in delight. “I actually ordered it the same day I rode over yours. I was going to tell you about it in the car but decided to surprise you with it instead. So have you decided about the dance?”

  Mina couldn’t keep the smile off of her face. “I don’t know if dancing is how I would want to spend my birthday.”

  “Friday is your birthday? I didn’t know. We can do something else, if you want.”

  “No, I think spending my birthday with you would be the perfect gift.” Mina smiled over the phone.

  “So decide on what fairy tale couple you would like us to go as and then give me a call. I would prefer to not go as the frog prince if you get my drift. Green and slimy don't look good on me,” Brody teased.

  Mina was pacing her room and thinking of some of her favorite fairy tale characters, when she passed her bedroom mirror. She stared at her reflection and touched the fabric of her red jacket. She also looked at the red piles of clothes on the floor wistfully. No matter what she put on, it kept turning red. Mina came to the conclusion that no matter what fairy tale princess or character she would try to go as, the Story would keep making her into the same one.

  “How about Red Riding Hood?” Mina intoned sadly.

  Brody’s voice brightened. “Then I will be your hunter. Never fear Mina, I’ll keep the big bad wolf away.”

  Those words sent a tingle of dread through her limbs. She felt the power of the Story at work and she actually feared that very conclusion.

  ~~~

  After the phone call Mina climbed out her window and made her way up to her rooftop retreat. It was just after dark when Mina pulled out the red notebook. She decided to look through the blank Grimoire where her mom wouldn't worry. For Sara, out of sight, out of mind, really was the best medicine. Mina reclined in the lounge chair and flipped through the empty notebook's pages. Mina caressed the lines and spoke to the Grimoire.

  “So there's this dance and this boy. I really want to go but I'm scared what will happen. Do you think you can help me? I could really use all the help I can get. Please.”

  Mina waited as if for a response, but the wind chose that moment to pick up and swirl fallen leaves around the rooftop retreat like mini tornadoes. She dropped the notebook and the wind blew the pages closed. Mina felt the hairline crackle of power crawl over her arms and she new that something was near.

  “I take it, that was a no,” a masculine voice spoke behind her.

  Mina turned and grabbed the Grimoire holding it to her chest protectively, until she saw that it was Jared who was standing on the other side of the roof.

  “What are you doing here?” Mina snapped.

  “I'm surprised you are asking the book for help? I thought you had decided to run away. You certainly seem to be good at it.” Jared walked past Mina ignoring her to admire a rose bush growing up a brick wall.

  “I know that I can't run forever, but I can at least get away from you. But even that seems impossible now.” Mina turned her back on Jared and began to pick up her jacket and fold it over her arm. She didn't hear Jared move but in one second he was next to her grabbing her wrist, holding it up to the waning light so he could see a faint outline of bruising.

  He felt a moment of rage. He had lost control earlier and caused her pain. The paleness of her skin stood out against his dark tan skin. The bruises circled her wrists where he had grabbed them and tried to subdue her. In a rare moment of weakness, Jared found himself rubbing the bruise on the insides of her wrist with his thumbs.

  Mina’s eyes widened, she jerked her hands out of his in surprise. A caress from Jared was the last thing she would have expected. His eyes turned dark, his expression unreadable. Mina found herself rubbing her own wrists, whether to rub the feeling of his touch away or to soothe the pain she wasn’t sure.

  “You can’t run anymore. It’s too late.” Jared turned his back on her so she couldn’t read the emotions that were running across his face. “It was almost past the point of no return, once you stepped into the Babushka's Bakery. The power compelled you to enter the tale and act. It placed you in the position and you chose. Once you saved your friends life, it started. It’s too late for you Wilhelmina Grimm, great great great granddaughter of Wilhelm Grimm.”

  Chapter 19

  Mina felt as if she was going to faint. “Who are you really?” Jared was really starting to scare her. He knew too much about the Fae. Maybe he was a character from within the fairy tale come to life. “What part do you play in this?”

  Jared looked at her and she could have sworn that his skin glowed golden for one split second. But after she blinked her eyes she decided it was just an illusion from the setting sun. The sun was covering both of them with a bright warm glow.

  He closed his eyes as if he was soaking up the sun and took a deep breath as if it was his first or his last. He listened to the sound of the street music and let the wind caress his face. The words sounded like a whisper and Mina had to strain to hear them. “I am a part of this as much you are and have as much at stake, if not more.” He sighed and looked at her. “Everything else has a time and a place but it is not now, not yet.”

  Mina couldn’t understand the change in his speech, he was speaking in rhymes or puzzles. She shook her head as if to clear her thinking and remembered an earlier statement. “What tale are you referring too? When did it become too late?”

  Jared walked away from Mina back toward the edge of the roof, she had no choice but to chase after him if she wanted an answer.

  “Hansel and Gretel.”

  “But wait, how?” Mina thought back through the day. “The bakery was the gingerbread house?”

  Jared snorted, “Obviously.”

  “But there wasn’t an old witch. No one was imprisoned.”

  “There wasn’t? Are you positive? Think again, no one was held captive?” Jared’s mouth turned up in the corner in challenge and he actually looked at Mina in surprise.

  “Well no, we were all free to walk around. The boys did seem to act strange when the tour guide was talking but…” Mina’s eyes lit up with elation. “Wait, that’s it. The tour guide didn’t capture anyone but she did captivate the boys' attention, and then seemed to settle for Brody in the end. He was the only one she really cared about when the tour seemed to be winding down. But she wasn’t a horrible old woman and she didn’t try to put him in an oven. She wasn’t going to eat any of the students like in the story right?”

  “Not exactly, Mina. There is a word for her kind in your world, I believe?”

  “I don’t understand.” She turned and picked up a large rock and held it in her hands.

  “An older woman who preys on the attention of younger men, she uses them, eats them up and spits them out?”

  “A cougar?” Mina asked in disbelief.

  Jared snorted again, “A man-eater.”

  “OH!” Mina replied still dumbfounded. She thought back on the young Claire with her red heels and brightly painted nails, the way she sashayed when she walked and thrived on the younger male attention. It made sense.

  “Your teacher was lax in his duties to watch after you and you entered the factory alone, the same as the incompetent father in the tale. Then you were greeted by the young hungry female man-eater who lured boys into her clutches with her good looks. She’s quite a bit older than she looks by the way.”

  “What 30?”

  “Older.”

  “40?”

  “Try 120.”

  “How is that physically possible? I mean I saw her she didn’t look a day over 30!”

  “It’s the power of the tale. This particular Grimm fairy tale was set in motion a hundred years ago in preparation for you.” Jared turned and stepped clo
ser to Mina. “Think back, didn’t she seem familiar to you?”

  “She did seem familiar but where have I seen her before? I wouldn’t know anyone 120 years old?”

  “Come on, Mina. You have to figure this out for yourself; I can’t solve all of the tales for you? Think hard.”

  Mina tried. A picture of a smiling Claire flashed into her mind and then a Claire’s face after the accident seared itself into her brain. She was no longer smiling but somber; and then she knew where she had seen the woman before. “Mrs. Brimwell the severe wife of Larry Brimwell, the founder of the company.” Mina remembered the stern unsmiling blonde woman from the mural.

  “Very good, anyone else?” Jared smiled encouragingly.

  “Well B.J. looks like the young boy but there are some slight differences.”

  “That’s because he’s not the boy from the mural. He is Brimwell Jr. He is in fact Claire’s great grandson, although he doesn’t know it.”

  “How can that be possible, how come the boy aged but Claire didn’t?”

  “Because the tale didn’t need both of them to live forever. Just one and the makings for the Hansel and Gretel tale was all there, so fate used what it had. It helps that Claire is part Fae and won’t age as long as she continues to bring young boys and girls through the factory. The power of the tale keeps her young, she literally feeds off the energy of the youth, especially boys. I told you earlier that Fae feed off of human energy and feelings.

  She also can’t leave the grounds of the factory, which is why she alone does all of the tours, she doesn’t understand why it works the way it does, but she is quite content with the fact that she won’t age.”

  “But what happens now?”

  “Well, you saved Hansel from being fed to the man-eater by interrupting the tour and causing Brody to fall and then save him. Brimwell Jr. won’t allow any more tours for fear of a law suit. You, Mina, outsmarted the story's old woman, or witch, and completed the tale.”

  “But doesn’t the story end with the old woman getting pushed into the oven and burned alive?” Mina shivered at the thought. “I can’t do that.”

  “Doesn’t have to. As long as you fulfill certain requirements of the tales, the Story will be satisfied. The heroine saved the boy and defeated the witch, the power of that tale has ended and so with it the enchantment that kept Claire young, will fade away and she will age and die. When she dies, the tale will be complete.”

  “Oh,” Mina was saddened. Her actions will now cause Claire to die.

  “Relax, Mina she had lived a very long and youthful life, it’s time for her to join her son and husband.” Jared tried to be consoling but it made it seem like he was taking it too casually for her.

  “I feel horrible, like I’ve done something wrong.” Mina clutched her stomach and sat down on the edge. It was worse than she imagined, she didn’t have the stomach to do the task put at hand before her.

  “So do you see why you can’t run anymore Mina? Your mother can no longer protect you. You’ve already completed two of the Grimm tales. Hansel and Gretel and another lesser tale when you found the Grimoire.”

  Mina shook her head. “I feel sick, you should leave.”

  Jared reached down and helped her back up. He kept one hand on her elbow and led her to the fire escape steps. Mina barely held onto him and he had to reach down and make sure her hands still had a hold on the railing. He would have hated to have her fall and injure herself; he needed her to finish what she had started.

  He felt a sense of guilt at what he was putting her through. Then he remembered he had a part to play and shouldn’t be feeling any emotions regarding the girl. Jared decided he needed to steel himself against her, harden his feelings.

  When she maneuvered the steps to her window, Mina was so exhausted she didn’t even confront Jared on how he knew where she lived. She had begun to accept the fact that there were numerous things about Jared that she would never understand and she was too tired to care.

  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 a
nywhere. 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.”

  Jared watched Brody hurry into the school, not even sparing him a backward glance as he rushed to meet a worried Mina. Jared smiled to himself. Brody scored himself a point in his own book.

  Jared picked up his bike ignoring the cash that was blowing away in the wind, and looked at the damage done to his ride. Shaking his head Jared rubbed his hands over the dents and with a glow of power they began to fill themselves back out. The scratches glowed and began to spiral out erasing themselves leaving no trace of damage.

  A roar of a motorcycle engine coming to life made Jared's head snap up in the direction of the street. A man dressed in black with a bike helmet was sitting on a motorcycle watching him.

  Jared could feel the trickle of cold sweat slide down his back as he recognized the scent but couldn't place the name of the wolf. He could feel the Fae's inhuman growl underneath the vibration of the motorcycle; calling him, challenging him. He watched as the black reflective helmet nodded at him before tearing off down the road, leaving a trail of burned rubber following him.