She woke up, breathing hard. The dream felt real—had she really seen Charlie? She lay in her bed and willed herself to go back to sleep so she could dream of her brother again and gain a clue as to how to save him. Sleep eluded her, and after she lay in bed for two hours, no more dreams came. She threw on a pair of blue shorts and a white T-shirt, and ran to the bathroom to quickly brush her teeth and run a brush through her hair without looking at it.
The wood floor was cold on her bare feet, and she paused when she heard voices coming from the kitchen. Quickly, she opened the door to the kitchen and was greeted by the sight of her mother and Jared sitting calmly at the kitchen table, chatting amicably. Mina froze with her hand on the doorknob. Her eyes went to her mother in disbelief and back to Jared.
He was dressed in the same clothes from last night and he looked like he hadn’t slept, but that didn’t take away from how handsome he looked. Never before had Jared shown any interest in getting to know her family. Did her mother know she was talking to the same Jared who had kidnapped her last year? No, if she did, she would probably demand that he leave the house…immediately.
Mina waited a few seconds, but nothing happened. Sara was oblivious to the internal battle her daughter was facing. Sara saw Mina come in, and she cleared her throat and motioned to Jared with her hand.
“Um, sweetie. This is Jared, and, uh…Terry sent him over to fix the shutters on the house.”
Mina stared at her mom before giving a cursory glance at Jared, being careful to keep her face neutral.
“Oh,” she responded.
“Now, I know this is sudden, but Terry assured me that he’s a good worker, and if she trusts him, then so do I.”
“How nice.” Her mouth felt dry, her words forced.
Jared’s eyes narrowed in thought as he leaned on the back legs of the kitchen chair, teetering on the brink of teenage rebellion. It was obvious that he knew something was up, even if her mother didn’t. But Jared replied in a formal tone, “Nice to meet you…uh?”
“Mina,” she answered irritably, knowing that he was only playing a part.
“What an odd name. Is it short for something?” he taunted her, knowing full well what it stood for.
“Yeah, a fat lip.”
Wrong answer, because she heard a gasp from her mother, and Sara stood up.
“Now, Mina, apologize at once to our guest.”
“Mom, look at him. Doesn’t he even look remotely familiar?” Mina hinted.
Sara turned to stare at Jared with bewildered eyes and shook her head. “No, sorry, honey. Is he supposed to be familiar? I don’t know—lately my mind has been pretty muddled. Can you show him the house…please?”
Mina rolled her eyes and held the door open for Jared to precede her into the hall, but not before she snatched an apple out of the fruit dish on the counter. When they had walked out of earshot, she snapped at him,
“Great, just great! Now you’re brainwashing my mom.”
He looked at her, confused. “I didn’t do anything.”
“Riiiight. What in the blazes are you doing here?”
“I started thinking about last night and what you said, and I realized that I may have acted—what happened to your hair?”
“Huh?” Her hand went to pat it, and it was still there.
Jared motioned with his fingers to her forehead, and she ran to the large hall mirror and gasped in shock. There was a whole lock of hair starting from her forehead that ran past her shoulders, and it was gold.
“I-I thought it was a dream,” she whispered, fearing to touch it.
“What dream?”
“I dreamed about the Fae, about Reid and Temple and…and my brother. He was in a golden cage, and there was fire everywhere. He touched me in my dream, and now this.” She swallowed and turned to Jared. “What do I do now?”
He stood there, looking at her in disbelief. “I can’t believe it. You can do it?”
“Do what?”
“Do you understand what this means?” He was getting angry, and reached forward and grabbed her forearms.
“No, I don’t know what it means, except that I’m scared.”
“I—I’m sorry. I was wrong, and this proves it.” He touched her hair in wonder. “If anyone can finish all of the quests and break the curse, it’s you. And you’re right—just because I can’t help you with the Stiltskin, doesn’t mean someone else can’t. The old broads are going to hate me for this…well, they already hate me, but they will be very interested in this new development.”
“Who?” she said impatiently.
Jared ignored her and headed down the hall to the front door. “Come on, let’s go.”
“Go? Go where?”
“To the old biddies. It’s time to stir up the henhouse.”
Chapter 14
Jared led her outside to his motorcycle. She looked up at the house and the broken shutters he was supposed to fix. “What about the shutters?”
He turned toward the house and snapped his fingers, and the shutters reattached themselves to the house magically.
“And the front porch.” Mina wasn’t letting him out of his ruse that easily. Jared leaned toward the porch and barely looked at it before the step was fixed.
“Can we go yet?” Jared was chomping at the bit.
“The house needs painting.”
“Done, now get on,” Jared demanded.
Mina looked up, and the house was a pristine sparkling white.