“I’m not in the mood to see a movie,” Mina whispered, and tried to ignore her best friend’s attempts at conversation.
Nan turned and sat down on the floor next to Mina. “Well, if you don’t want to go, I can just take Charlie. He’s been dying to see that new movie called Fable for weeks now, and I know you didn’t really want to see that one anyway. I’m not even sure why, because it’s been getting such great reviews.”
Mina’s head snapped in Nan’s direction. “What did you just say?”
“I said that Fable has been getting great reviews, and just because you’re a sucky sister doesn’t mean that I can’t be a cool best friend and take our little brother to see it.” Nan poked Mina in the arm.
“And how long has Charlie been wanting to see it?” Mina’s voice quivered in disbelief.
“For-ev-er!” Nan dragged out. “Just last night at your house, he drew me a whole made-up comic strip about it, with a snake, a cute green guy, and a giant. He said I have to take him. Well, okay, he didn’t actually say I had to take him, but he wrote me a note.” She pulled out the paper, and, sure enough, Mina recognized Charlie’s scribbles.
Mina lunged sideways and hugged Nan around the neck. “You are awesome as always.”
“I know. I know. And one day, you will grow up and become awesome, too. Maybe even as awesome as me,” Nan teased, before getting up and putting her backpack on her shoulder. “So, see you at seven, then?”
“Is Brody going?” Mina asked.
“Brody Carmichael? Uh, why would he?” Nan asked, confused.
“Well, aren’t he and you…?” Mina gestured with her fingers back and forth between them, and Nan’s smile dropped. “Uh, ew. He’s your hot boy obsession, not mine. Besides, he’s probably at water polo tryouts. But I’ve got to go run an errand before tonight.” Nan waved and headed for the exit, but then turned around and yelled, “If you decide to go watch the practice, bring a napkin to catch your drool.”
Mina stood up and laughed at Nan. Could it be that the world had been put back to rights? It sounded like it was. Charlie was home safe and sound, Nan and Brody weren’t a fairy-tale item anymore, but where did that leave her and her curse?
She walked slowly to the aquatics building and sneaked into the top row of the bleachers. Sure enough, there was Brody Carmichael, getting ready to do a dive into the water. The tryouts hadn’t officially started yet, so the boys, being boys, were roughhousing and trying to dunk each other.
She felt the aluminum bleacher dip as someone sat on the seat next to her. Mina didn’t take her eyes off the water for fear that this reality would fade away. Besides, she could tell from the scent of the perfume that it was Mrs. Colbert.
“That was a brave thing you did.” She leaned forward and put her folded her hands on her knees.
Mina sighed loudly. “I only made everything worse.”
“Did you, now? I thought that this was one of the better outcomes. Of course, it’s not the ideal one, but we can live with these consequences.”
Mina looked at Mrs. Colbert, and her voice quavered with unshed tears. “I saved my brother, but at what cost? Jared’s gone, Nix is gone, and the curse has messed with my friend’s memories again. Is there a side effect to all of this tampering? I mean, they’re not going to go crazy or anything, right?”
“No, as long as you can hold your reality together and truly believe in it, then they will accept it as well.” Mrs. Colbert rocked back and forth on her heels, and seemed really interested in the start of the water polo tryouts. The coach had come in and started giving the men a pep talk.
“Here, you fixed it—I think you should keep it safe.” Mina pulled out the seam ripper, which had somehow made it back into her pocket, and handed it to Mrs. Colbert, who fidgeted with the seam ripper.
“Hmm, you should have seen how worried Jared was when he saw you go over to the Fae plane. He found every single piece of the seam ripper and begged us to fix it. It was Ken Wong who finally figured out how it went together. That boy was determined to go after you.”
Mina could feel herself getting angry with her teacher, and she couldn’t hold back the bitterness in her voice. “You knew, didn’t you? You knew why Jared couldn’t go back. That his brother wanted to destroy him. You knew all of these reasons, yet you helped him come after me and now he’s…he’s no longer…”
“Yes, I knew. It’s why we kept the young prince in the dark, because one day they might be reunited, and then none of our secrets would longer be safe. Teague is stronger now, and more dangerous. Even the King and Queen can no longer hold him in check.”