“I can’t!” Mina cried, tears falling freely. She crumpled to the ground and watched the dragon and giant fight. Minutes ago, she had thought Diedre was her enemy. Now she knew that wasn’t true. How could she possibly entrap the dragon for eternity in a book?
Jared kneeled down next to Mina and grasped her upper arms, looking deep into her eyes. His grey eyes were red with tears. He shook her firmly but gently. “Listen to me. She is dying; she knows it. I know it. The Reaper knows it. If you don’t entrap them now, then once she dies, the Reaper will be free and he will kill you.”
Dark smoke filled the hallways, and she could feel heat begin to warm her back. Jared shook her again. “If you don’t do it soon, we will all die anyway.”
Mina looked over at Diedre and saw that her movements were slower, her bite not as aggressive, as if she was fighting just to stay on the giant. The dragon’s deep blue eyes made contact with Mina’s, and she saw the dragon nod in agreement.
Mina reached for the book and opened it, surprised at how many pages were now filled with trapped Fae. She found a blank page and whispered to it. The book began to glow, and light sprang forth. She turned the book towards the dragon, and the giant began to panic. He roared, kicked, clawed, and fought. The dragon watched the book expectantly, hopefully, lovingly.
The room began to spin, chairs flew, papers ruffled and both the dragon and giant began to slowly move toward the open pages. Diedre used her last ounce of strength to bite down hard on the iron giant as he fought against the pull of the book. A giant vortex formed out of the book, pulling them toward its pages. A chair entered the book, followed by a coffee table. The dragon and giant were much larger than a few pieces of furniture and so moved slower.
Jared threw Mina to the ground covering her with his body as burning furniture whisked by overhead almost hitting them. She tried to look up, but Jared kept her head buried in the ground. She could feel flames lick her feet as it passed by her and into the book. Mina and Jared began to be pulled toward the book. Loud rushing wind, howling and screaming could be heard, until Mina realized that she was the one screaming. She had never seen the book pull this hard before, and she feared that both of them would be entrapped as well.
One moment it felt like the hospital was about to fall down on them; the next, silence. Jared waited a few seconds before moving over and letting Mina up. But he kept his arm protectively around her. Mina barely noticed. Her attention was on the damage before them; the whole wing was destroyed. The fire had been smothered by the windy vortex. A half burned piece of paper fluttered down from the air to land on Mina’s head. Pulling it off she barely glanced at it but saw that it had Nan Taylor’s name on it.
“Nan! Dr. Martin! We have to make sure they are okay.” She looked to Jared, but he wasn’t moving; he was staring at the book.
Reluctantly, Mina moved away from him to grab the book. She opened it up to the last page and ran her fingers across the beautiful picture of a dragon fighting a giant. “Who was she?” Mina whispered.
“A dragon,” Jared answered. He touched the page tenderly, almost lovingly.
Mina touched his cheek with his hand and wiped away a stray tear. “No, who was she to you?” He wouldn’t look at her.
“Probably the only one who ever really cared about me.” He pressed his lips together firmly and she could see that he was steeling himself, getting ready to hide behind his stony mask.
“That’s not true.” Mina pressed her forehead to Jared’s, trying to comfort him. “I care.”
He opened his eyes wide at her admission, and she was sucked into his beautiful grey eyes. He closed his eyes and waited on baited breath as if savoring the moment. Reluctantly, he pulled away from her and looked at the book. “She was my Nanny,” Jared admitted. “She raised me since I was a kid, until I was banished. I was like a son to her.
“Why did she try to scare me?”
“I think she thought you had the Grimoire, and like most Fae, she’s not real fond of the Grimms. But I didn’t even know she came to the human world, she must have come here shortly after I did. I was as surprised as you, when she came crashing through the door.”
Mina nodded silently and stood up, pulling him up with her. She began to walk toward the stairway pulling Jared behind her. Once they were on the stairs, she realized that she was still holding hands with him. She tried to pull away, but Jared held onto her hand firmly.
Not seeing any reason to let go, they walked hand in hand down the stairs. On the second floor they were met by firefighters who escorted them to safety. The parking lot was chaos, filled with fire trucks, ambulances, police, and hospital staff.