Ever paled at Mina’s empty threat. “Meet me after school at the football field.”
The second bell rang signaling the start of class and Mina’s obvious tardiness. She didn’t care. Mina stared at Ever as the door closed and the pixie went and took her seat in class. Mina slipped down the hallway silently and entered her homeroom class. Mrs. Colbert was subbing and gave Mina a very pointed look as she humbly took her seat.
It was hard to listen to announcements when they came from someone other than the grey haired teacher. Mrs. Porter’s absence was a reminder of Mina’s failings and her current bargain. New rumors began to creep up about their missing teacher and how it wasn’t an early retirement, but a possible kidnapping. No one knew what was going on and only Mina knew that she wasn’t coming back.
Brody didn’t come to school, and actually in most of Mina’s classes the attendance was low. There was a vigil going on at the hospital, and under any other circumstance, Mina would’ve been there. But she knew, deep down that her presence at a vigil wasn’t going to help Nan.
Once the last bell rang, Mina left her books in her locker and sprinted outside and toward the football field. She knew that there was a good possibility that Ever would evade her and run away. She knew that the Pixie hated her. When Ever actually showed up, Mina was surprised.
“Yeah, yeah, don’t get your panties in a bunch. I’m here,” Ever snarled at Mina, brushing past her to sit on the cold steel bleachers. “So I’m sure you’ve got tons of questions, ask away.” She did a little flourish with her hand to add to her sarcasm.
“Maeve promised me that she could save my friend Nan. And if she did, then I would find the Fae that stole the Grimoire. Well, she lied. She didn’t save Nan. Nan is in a coma in the hospital!” Mina was pacing back and forth in front of the bored Ever.
“Hold it, hold it.” Ever held up her hands, and Mina stopped to look at her. “What were the Fates’ actual words?”
Mina’s face scrunched up in thought and repeated her conversation to Ever.
Ever held up her fingertips to her temples and closed her eyes as if contemplating. “Anything else, oh, mortal one?”
“Oh, and she said ‘I cannot save her fully, but I can give you a fighting chance to save her’.” Mina rushed out.
Ever opened one eye in disbelief at Mina. “That’s it?”
Mina looked at Ever hopefully. “Yeah, that was it. So can you tell me what happened?”
Ever jumped down off of the bleacher and started walking away. “Yeah, stupid, you didn’t finish your end of the bargain. Get back the Grimoire and finish your quest. By the way, that will be fourteen ninety five; I take cash or check.”
Mina shook her head confused. “But Maeve said I failed my quest. So what is there to finish? I thought she would bring my friend back.” Mina began following Ever down the stairs to the field.
“Do I have to spell it out for you? We have rules. We like to bend those rules, um, usually to benefit us. But her Highness didn’t bring your friend back to life because she wouldn’t. It’s because she couldn’t. We aren’t all powerful, as some people think we are. But we are pretty good at manipulating things.”
Mina stopped walking and stood there dumbfounded waiting for an answer.
Ever turned back and walked up to Mina and began tapping her on the head. “Hello, Mina! She revamped your quest. Instead of your buddy being dead, she put her to sleep, like the old sleeping princess tales, Snow White and Sleeping Beauty. You get another chance to finish this tale, the right way. I’m sure once you complete it, your friend will wake up good as new. Just so long as you find the Grimoire and stop whoever is trying to kidnap us.”
A light went on in Mina’s head. She had just assumed that she had failed the quest and that was it. She wouldn’t get a second chance to save Nan. But that didn’t help her in trying to find out who took the Grimoire.
“So how do I find the person who stole the Grimoire? I don’t even know how to tell if someone is Fae or not. I mean, it could be anybody.”
“Gimp!” Ever dropped her backpack and began to fumble with a keychain that was attached to a zipper. “Here, it’s not that powerful and you don’t want to go flashing it around at just anybody. You can really tick off the wrong kind of Fae and get in a lot of trouble. But this will help.” She tossed Mina a small blue cylinder attached to a keychain.
She looked at it in disbelief. “A laser pointer? How in the world is that supposed to help?” She clicked it on and flashed it at Ever and nothing happened until Mina waved it over Ever’s back; the air began to waver, and her purple and blue wings appeared. “Hey, I can see your wings.”
“Yeah, we try to blend in as much as we can, but sometimes a strong laser can cut through both planes and ruin our disguises. It won’t work on any of the Royals though.”