Chapter Thirteen - Miss Me?

Hey guys, once again I'm back with an update for you guys after a very eventful last chapter! Hopefully this chapter appeases you guys...Or it makes you want another update even more. c; I'm excited for more reactions from you guys!

Evx : Hm, you seem to have a grasp of what's going on pretty well. cx That pretty much sums up last chapter. And that's kind of funny. xD I'm glad it was good! Just wait till you see what's coming though. :3

DragoFlare : ^-^ Haha, hopefully it wasn't too much of an information overload!

Anyways, let's get to the chapter itself, hm?

My surprise quickly turns to horror when I see his eyes. I didn't seem them before. This is the first time I do, and it hits me hard. The right eye is blue. The left eye is gray. Slowly, they transform into a form I know better. The form of Prince Teague.

It was him all along.

He transforms into a griffin, taking into the air. At first, I think he's going to come after this dog head and try and pull me away. Instead, he flies upwards and away, leaving me alone to face whatever I'm about to face.

The head releases me on the cliff, and I turn to find me staring upwards at the hideous, bald head of Scylla. "Where's Nix?" I can't stop myself from asking, but I instantly regret it.

She doesn't respond verbally. Instead, she responds with an imagine. I see Nix, bleeding out of his neck just like I imagined in my dream. The raven-haired head approaches quickly, and right as I realize that it's about to eat him, I shoo the image away.

"How could you?" I wail the words, tears pouring out of my eyes.

My head pounds a little. I told you, Mina. I'm cursed, just like you. I have to survive, just like you.

I sink to my knees, crying as I watch the remainder of the ship sink, and the floundering Fae below either go under or get dragged towards the whirlpool. "No, you killed my best friend!"

The edge of the tentacle pokes me and spins me around to face the bald head once more, and it grins a little, once again showing it's three rows of teeth. Now now. I saved your life. You're extremely entertaining, and I'd like to learn more about you. You can ask me any questions you want, as well. However, if you try to escape, I'll have to kill you sooner rather than later, as I'm currently planning. After all, my one head hasn't eaten yet.

I gulp, realizing that everything is much worse now, and shove my head into my hands as I begin to full out sob. I was abandoned by the Prince. I lost my best friend. I'm going to be eaten by this evil, maniacal, insane monster. None of this is okay.

Mina's Point of View

Night finally sets in, but it seems to take even longer than forever. At first, Scylla seems like she'll never fall asleep, always asking me questions in order to get me to ask questions she can answer. I don't ask anything important though. In fact, I try to be as boring as possible. I'm not sure if it actually contributes though. In fact, I end up faking going to sleep myself, although I'm a bit afraid that she'll try and eat me when she thinks I'm asleep. Finally, however, Scylla's head fall asleep one by one, including the dog heads.

Once I'm pretty positive all the heads are asleep, I creep around and hop over each neck as quietly as possible, freezing and panicking at every noise I make. I can't have her waking up. That wouldn't be good at all. As I sneak around, my eyes land on a body thrown carelessly aside. I creep up slowly, but then pinch my nose as I gag at the stench of blood that's overwhelming over here. As I look closer, I clamp my other hand across my mouth to keep from screaming. It's Nix. His right arm is gone, completely bitten off, and he's laying in blood. When I kneel beside him, I feel for a pulse, but of course there isn't one. I'd been hoping desperately that there would be one, but I suppose it's better that he's not in pain.

I grab his body instinctively. Even if it slows me down, I don't want him to die up here as fish food like I might if I don't continue trying to escape. Slowly, I begin to pull Nix down the cliff's ledges with me, trying to figure out how I'll get lower. A few times I scramble down a few feet of cliff to a ledge, cutting myself and nearly falling off a few times in the process. Nix's body nearly falls down at one time to my horror, but I manage to keep him from doing so.

When I can't find any more ledges to drop down from, I hear a voice in my head. Going somewhere?

"Anywhere but here!" I cry, and knowing that it'll probably hurt and that it might just kill me, I leap down to the water below with Nix.

I hit the water hard, giving me an instant headache. I go under, and bob up choking on water. Nix nearly slips out of my hands, but I pull him closer with one arm - he's heavy, so it's hard - and try to tread water with the other. Then I notice an approaching dog head glaring at me. I shift to siren mode, propelling myself to the other side of the strait with my tail and gills. I grin a little when I see I've escaped the dog head's reach.

That's when I realize the problem that I've just given myself. You're gonna regret that, Mina.

Mmm. Another voice makes the sound, sounding deeper and hungrier than Scylla.

I look ahead at the monster I forgot was on the other side of the strait. Charybdis. The whirlpool spins around and around as I start to get dragged towards it, and the teeth loom ahead like rocks. Now I see that my previous guess was right. They do have remains of creatures mixed with the netting and rubble. And they're spinning. I should've timed my escape better. Or at least had a bit more of a plan.

The fear inside me causes me to unexpectedly morph back to my human form, losing the tail and gills. And my brain also takes this moment to recognize how cold the water is. Ugh, why couldn't I have been an arctic mermaid, if those even exist? Or something that's better equipped to deal with cold water? With those two things mixing together, any hope of switching back to my siren form is hopeless.

I try to swim away from the whirlpool, but my own, inward ranting has ruined things. That's what I get for pulling a movie move. Those only work in movies and for people who aren't a first born Grimm girl that's marked with a black star like me. I get pulled closer, ramming against a tooth and grabbing on to it for dear life. It's at this moment that Nix slips out of my arms.

"Nix!" He's already been dead this entire time, but somehow it feels like he just died again as I stretch my arm out, only to miss it as his body goes spinning round and round.

I don't have any hope of getting to him now. Water splashes up, and I choke on it, unable to make my gills come back. I'm going to drown. I'm a siren, yet I'm going to drown. Unless this sea monster eats me first, of course. I cling to the rocks harder, but they're starting to get splashed by water more, making it slippery and hard to keep a grip, even on the netting. Tears sting my eyes. Why did I get this lot in life?

That's when I look up, and a small glimmer of hope lights up inside me. I lost Nix, but I may be able to save myself. I'd forgotten about the tree growing above Charybdis, and while it'll be a risk, I may just be able to snag it. I'll be risking my life to try and grab it, because I'll have to get swept up in the whirlpool to get close enough, but if I don't try now I'll die anyways. I release the tooth I've been clinging to, and instantly I start getting spun around. I can't help it; I scream. As I go round and round, I reach my hand up, forcing myself to keep my eyes open as water gets splashed into my face. I miss the root the first time, but I spin around again. I reach my hand up, crying and praying that I grab it.

I don't catch it, and it slips past, leaving me to my fate.

I scream again, clawing at the water as if it'll stop me from getting sucked in. I flail about, my scream turning into a sob of pure terror as I spin towards the center. I'm going to die like every Grimm girl before. I don't know why I ever thought I'd beat this curse. I hate Teague. I hate Jared. I hate my mom. I hate Ever. I hate everyone else who's contributed in giving me this lot and life as well. There's too many to list.

For some reason unknown to me - maybe human instinct - I force my eyes shut. Maybe that'll make it happen quicker. Maybe I'll die less painfully that way. I take a deep breathe, preparing for the worst, and that's when a miracle happens.

Someone grabs my wrist and jerks me out of the water.

I dangle in the air by my wrist, staring down at the whirlpool below and kicking my legs out of fright. I take a moment to stop so that my savior doesn't drop me. There's that sense of deja vu from when I tried to jump out of the tree in order to get Jared's attention. It doesn't seem likely that Teague would interfere now that the curse has begun though, would he? Even though I've begun to despise him, I can't help but hope he's just saved me again. I can almost imagine him yelling at me once again for being stupid.

I'm in for an even worse surprise though. "Miss me, love? Seems those slave traders failed to get you safely, but it's of little importance. I found you myself, and apparently, just in time."

I look upwards, and golden eyes meet my brown and gold ones. Suddenly, dying seems like a much better option as the guy grabs my other arm, pulling me up and grinning. I look over them quickly, and see that they're just as I remember. Golden hair. A golden earring. Golden clothes. Golden gloves. A dangerous grin.

Templestiltskin has reentered my life.

Uh oh. What's going to happen now? How worried should we be for Mina? Was this chapter satisfactory? What do you think Temple wants? And what on earth is going on with Teague/Jared based on what's been happening? I'd love to know what suspicions and opinions you guys have!

Please review, whether it's with constructive criticism, reactions (I love these especially!), compliments, or theories! I always try to read and respond to everyone - as you guys probably know - so I love seeing your reviews. Plus, they really inspire me to continue to write. c;

Also, some of you guys will be excited to know that a story of mine I paused awhile ago may be coming back. I'm not going to tell you which one, but there's only two, so you guys can guess between them! I'll probably be pausing Who Dun It : Grimm Edition till I finish a different story while I restart this one from where I left off, but we'll just have to see. See you guys when I update that one. Hopefully you guys are as excited as I am for it to continue! ^-^ I got my inspiration for it back. :D

~ Dagger