Chapter 6 - Missing and Afraid
Woah woah woah. Two updates in one day? :O That never seems to happen any more with Dagger! Well, guess what? You aren't dreaming, if that was your thought process! cx I am updating twice in a day. Hurrah! I wrote this chapter while watching Once Upon a Time, and spent somewhere over two hours writing and watching. I'm quite pleased with the result! Hopefully you are too. c:
Evx : I hope you're having fun, wherever you are. c: And I'm glad you were able to read the updates, even though you are gone. I'm glad you like the twist, and I agree, Jared does seem to know more than he is letting on. Whether or not we'll find out about that knowledge is yet to be seen. :p I'm glad it's interesting, and that you are left wondering!
09Who knew90 : Once again, your review has brought a big smile to my face. :3 Your reviews are always so long and nice, and it means a lot that you take the time to write reviews that are that long! Thank you for that! I'm glad that you the Godmothers made more sense. c: I'm also glad that Jared is more like Forever Jared! That is super great to hear, as I was aiming for that. c: And indeed, Willa did kill herself to save Teague from becoming book Teague. Whether or not she's Mina - as you suspect - is still up in the air though for you guys. Of course, I know whether she is or not. And yes, Teague deserves pity for this whole situation. He's definitely very torn. I haven't ever read Grey Eyes, so I don't know what exactly that means. cx However, I promise we will find out - eventually - if Mina has time traveled or not in this universe! As for what happens when Teague sees Mina, and if he has her mirror? While, I guess we'll just have to find out, now won't we? :D I promise, we will be getting answers, and whether or not anyone sees it coming will be very interesting! There's a major plot thing that's coming closer and closer and I can't wait to see if anyone sees it coming or not. :3 I'm glad that you're having so many thoughts about the story. I like that my story is provoking lots of questions and theories and the like. And the stuff about Ever will be getting answered this chapter, so you'll find out if you're right or not this chapter. I'm glad the chapter was really good, and the fact that there were no typos is even better! Hurrah!
Enough of my rambling though. cx Let's get on to the story!
Before we go though, I just want to mention that Pri and TJ are both in this chapter. However, I don't remember their appearances very well and seeing as I couldn't get any of the An Unfortunate Fairytale books while I was writing to check, I made different appearances for them. Hopefully you guys are okay with that!
He frowns. "The Godmothers? Well, they want to murder Grimms. To be more specific, they want to murder the Grimm girls that are that have the actual curse, and that will be taken by Prince Teague. There are a rare few that just want to torture the Grimm in question, but mostly it's all killing. Temple was once a trader, so he's one of the rare, torture ones. That's why I mistook him when he first showed up." Jared sighs again. "The killing is partly to punish the Grimms for Willa's change of heart way back at the competitions, but it's also to prove a point to Prince Teague. That this killing won't stop till he's stopped. They don't kill Grimms. They'll kill anyone who's close to the throne that might impact the Prince."
"Why not do something to impact the Fates?" I question, a little confused.
"Because Prince Teague is the only thing that could be killed that would honestly impact the Fates. They barely even handle any political affairs at this point. Instead, Prince Teague handles them all. So, impacting him is much better for them, and far easier." Jared shakes his head, and looks up at the sky.
I barely even noticed that things were getting darker, but it's sunset now. "Shoot, it's a lot later than I thought." I sigh.
"Let's get you home. You still have to do your history homework." Jared says, grabbing my hand and walking me over to the motorcycle. "Ready to go?"
"Back on the motorcycle?" I groan a little, which just causes Jared to smirk.
"Of course we'd ride back on the motorcycle. How else, Princess?" He is quite pleased, but I groan in response.
"Can we go slower this time?" I request, and that just causes Jared to raise an eyebrow.
He answers that with his own question. "Do you want to take a longer time to get home?"
"No..." I shake my head. "Motorcycle at your illegal speed it is."
Mina's Point of View
Eight days left till Prince Teague and my sixteenth birthday come along, and my world is slowly crumbling.
After my talk with Jared two days ago, he's completely disappeared. It's as if he's dropped off the face of the planet. He hasn't bothered to show up since then to even make sure I'm okay. Seeing as I have absolutely no way of contacting him unless he shows up, I'm stuck with out my guardian when there are people who want to kill me. That spells out doomed.
Ad then, yesterday at school, Nix didn't show up. People don't show up to school all the time though, so that wasn't the weird, upsetting part. The awful part was that nobody even cared. Nix Taylor, one of the most amazing guys ever, has gone off the radar just like Jared, and the world just kept spinning. When I asked the office about it, they said that no one by that name had ever gone to school here. They obviously thought I was crazy for even asking, when I think about the looks on their faces as they skimmed over the files. They obviously knew - except they really didn't know, seeing as Nix did go here - he didn't go here, and were just trying to humor me. I just hurried away after that. I saw Nan Taylor - such a bubbly, lucky blonde girl - after school though, and so I decided to ask her about it. Bad idea. When I did, she looked at me like I'd grown another head and started talking in Russian. Not to mention she said that no one in her family was ever named Nix, and then hurried off to talk to Savannah White - a blonde brat who somehow manages to rule the school, probably because of her money - and the rest of Savannah's cronies, probably to tell them how weird I was.
These thoughts eat at my brain and flitter around as I walk into the lunch room at school today. I go through the lunch line in a sort of daze, absentmindedly grabbing whatever looks edible and slightly appealing, as well as grabbing my usual chocolate milk. It's almost scary that the body can work so well when the brain is somewhere else completely and very distracted. However, as I go to walk to my typical lunch table - where I will now be sitting by myself, instead of with Nix - someone stops me.
"Hey Gimp!" Someone shouts from across the cafeteria. "Grime!"
I spin around to look in their direction, having to convince myself not to go to my table and just ignore them. The only reason I don't ignore them is because it comes from the popular kid table, and today I'm not in the mood to have lunch spilled all over me. However, this doesn't stop me from being frustrated. Grime is the term - I guess you could call it a nickname - that most of the kids at school use when they talk to me or about me. Not Wilhelmina. Not Mina. Not Grimm. Just Grime. It's one of the most aggravating things in the world. I mean, honestly, how did someone take Grimm and get Grime? However, I've never heard anyone say Gimp before, let alone been called that.
The source is a purple-haired girl with a pixie cut. She has unnatural, bubblegum pink eyes - no doubt colored by contacts - and is dressed in a white tank top, as well as a white skirt that's around two inches above her knees. However, her black combat boots throw the whole 'popular girl' vibe out the window. Of course, her table almost balances it out; as I'd realized before, she's sitting with the popular kids. All these kids have been in a seat of power since elementary school, although I don't know most of them. In fact, I only recognize Savannah White and Nan Taylor by name, although I've seen the other girl - not the girl calling to me, but a different one - and the two boys who are seated there.
The purple haired girl beckons with her finger to me. "Come over and sit with us today." She gestures to an open seat across from her, and hesitantly I make my way across the cafeteria to her, and then sit down with my lunch. "I assume you know who we all are, right?"
There's a weird feeling in the air that I can't name now that I'm over here, stopping me from answering right away. It almost feels like whenever Jared and Templestiltskin were around, or even when Nix was around. I have no idea why being around them would feel any different though, so I ignore the feeling and focus on the conversation.
I'm almost embarrassed when I answer the question. "Um, I know of Savannah and Nan. I'm afraid I don't know anyone besides those two though. You'll have to jog my memory, seeing as I should remember them since I went to elementary school with them. I guess I recognize these two since they're blondes, and tend to stick out the most." I don't add that Savannah loves to pick on me specifically, and give a weak smile. I'm honestly becoming rather nervous here though. Why was I asked to come over and sit down? This never happens. It's just not normal.
Pixie cut girl gestures to the boy on my right first, who tilts his head a bit and waves a little. He's got the classic, model blonde hair with blue eyes that match perfectly. "That's Brody Carmichael, who's quite the charmer. He's as rich as he is handsome." I nod to him, and he offers a genuine, nice, sweet smile in return. He seems nice enough.
Pixie cut girl then gestures to the girl on my left, who has dirty blonde hair and forest green eyes. "That there is Pri. She's not the brightest girl to ever live," At that comment, Pri scowls a bit, but pixie cut girl doesn't really seem to notice. If she does notice it, she ignores it and probably could care less, "but she's extremely resourceful and is skilled with pulling off dirty work." No doubt this girl is the queen of gossip. I try to offer her an awkward smile, but she makes a point to turn away. Obviously she didn't want me to be over here.
"On my left," Pixie cut girl gestures to the boy beside her, "is TJ." The boy brushes his black bangs from his eyes, revealing one chocolate brown and one emerald green eye. "He's quite the sports star, except for in water polo. That's Brody's realm." TJ shoots a rather winning smile at me, but I don't respond to it any differently than I do to anyone else. Brody actually looks a bit embarrassed by pixie cut girl's praise. At least he seems humble enough, if that's even possible with a popular boy.
"As for me?" Pixie cut girl shrugs as if she's not very important, but I'm honestly curious. Plus, I need to stop calling her 'Pixie cut girl.' "I'm Ever."
In that instant, all the warning bells start going off in my head. Ever? That's who Jared mentioned was in on the assassination plot that was made to kill Prince Teague. She was a Godmother then, which means she's a Godmother now. Jared also said there was a Godmother at my school, although he hadn't figured out who it was yet. The Godmothers want to kill me, as I've heard from Jared, and also pretty much seen from what happened with Templestiltskin. I'd recognized the name Ever while Jared was telling me his story - although that whole discussion just left me with more questions that I haven't been able to ask since he disappeared - and forgot about the remembering. Now I wish I hadn't, because this is why I recognized the name.
Shoot, she's going to murder me!
"I really should-" I start, but then a chill runs through me, and I stop midsentence as if I'm frozen, eyes trained on Ever.
"You mean we really should be going." Ever 'corrects' me, and stands up. "I hope you didn't forget your promise to help me with my art project, Gimp." Why does she keep calling me that?
Another chill runs through the air, and nobody even questions how I managed to promise that I would help her when I didn't even know her name until maybe two minutes ago. Was it the work of Fae magic? Definitely.
"Let's go, then." The cheeriness in Ever's voice is almost sickening, and I find my lips are frozen shut as she links arms with me and pretty much drags me out of the cafeteria. Not that anyone really seems to care. They just go about their business like I'm fine.
Ever ends up leading me all the way out of the school, and once we're outside and beside the east side of the school, I find that my lips can move again. It doesn't do me much good though, as Ever quickly pushes me against the brick wall and punches me in the jaw.
"Oh gosh, that hurts." I groan, not bothering to try and fight back just yet. I won't stand a chance right now, seeing how the whole fiasco with Templestiltskin went when I tried to fight.
"You're so much like Willa that it makes me sick." Ever manages to chuckle while looking disgusted, and shakes her head. "She was a stupid girl too, except she was stupid in a different way. She fell in love. You were caught off guard by simple, rather easy to detect, Fae magic."
"What are you?" I ask, deciding to disregard her insulting comment and try and get answers instead.
"Don't you have any manners, Gimp?" This time, she knees me in the stomach, and I groan again. This girl might seem small, but she's strong.
I ask another question, coughing as I do. "While we're asking questions, why do you keep calling me Gimp?"
Once again, she laughs. "I call you Gimp because that's what I used to call Willa, although you would never understand why. Before, I used it as a fun nickname. Now, I'm using it as an insult." She pauses, and smiles a little bit. "As for what I am? Why, I'm a Fae." Well, no duh.
"So I concluded." I ponder screaming briefly, but quickly deduct from the look that Ever gives me that that won't change anything, except maybe how fast she kills me. And it would only speed up the process. "What specific type of Fae are you? I'm a-"
"-Siren." Ever finishes. "Oh yes, I know all about you, Mina. I've been specifically assigned to you, just like Templestiltskin was. I was assigned longer than him though. I'm your official Fae Godmother." Her slight smile turns into a more sadistic grin. "Did you ever think about being told that? I bet if you did, you thought it would be a good thing to hear that. Well, it's not, and I sure hope you did think like that. I hope you are thoroughly disappointed." I shake my head in amazement that someone can be so horrible, but Ever ignores it. "Anyways, you want to know what type of Fae I am? Well I'll tell you. I'm a pixie. One of the weakest Fae in existence when we're firstborn. We're at the bottom of the food chain. But, we're also magic stealers." She laughs, and grins even wider. "We suck up Fae magic that we're around. It's attracted to us like paperclips to a magnet. Fun, isn't it? I actually originally intended to steal your's before killing you, and if I did that, I would've stolen all of it, not just a small amount like I normally do. However, I can't take your's. The Grimm curse won't allow me to. I'll just have to kill you instead, seeing as it can't stop me from doing that."
"Jared!" I decide this is a good time to scream his name, but Ever looks rather amused.
The hand that Ever is not pinning me against the wall with reaches for my neck. "Calling for your pathetic excuse for a guardian, Gimp?" Is she really back to calling me that? I thought we were maybe making progress. "Maybe you should try calling for the cowardly excuse for a prince instead. Perhaps he'll save you."
I hesitate for a moment, but then shout, "Prince Teague!"
I wait - along with Ever - for a few minutes, but there's no sign of anyone coming. That small hope fades as a deja vu feeling creeps back inside.
Ever grips my neck, starting to cut off my air slowly. "I've been waiting a long time for this. Don't you see? No one cares what happens to you, Gimp. No one is comi-"
"Don't count your chickens before they hatch, Ever." A now rather familiar voice comes from behind Ever, and then Jared appears, yanking her backward by wings that have suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
I gasp for air like a fish out of water as I'm released, and out of relief nearly begin to cry. "Jared, you came!"
"You doubted me?" He raises an eyebrow at that. "Of course I came. You didn't have to alert the Prince to your dilemma. I was already on my way when you called for me. I will admit that I wasn't paying as close attention to your mirror as I should've been," My mirror? "but when I realized you were in trouble I came as fast as I could."
"Do you seriously not realize tha-" Ever begins to say something, but her voice is suddenly caught off even though her mouth keeps going. Did Jared just use Fae magic to mute her?
"Close your eyes, Mina. I'm going to handle her."
Alright guy! We'll see the conclusion to this next chapter! Let's hope it doesn't disappoint!
~ Dagger