“Psst, Gimp!” an irritated voice hissed at her from nowhere.
Mina had only heard one person ever call her a Gimp. She rolled her eyes and turned to see Ever motioning to her from the side of the school.
“What?” Mina asked annoyed. She walked the fifteen feet to the side of the brick building, and they turned the corner, out of the view of most of the students.
Ever’s short black hair looked as if it had barely been brushed. Her eyes looked wide with fright, and her eyeliner was smeared from crying. Today, she had forgone the skirt and uniform and wore black leggings and a plaid skirt with a denim jacket.
“Have you seen Jared lately?” she mumbled. Her eyes skimmed back and forth nervously at the passing students.
Mina found herself frowning in displeasure at the mention of Jared’s name. “No, and I’m not his babysitter,” she retorted. She was angry, angry that this girl would call her an ugly name she didn’t even know the meaning of. Angrier still, that she expected Mina to help her. Mina turned to leave.
Ever looking distraught reached out without thinking and grabbed Mina’s arm. “I haven’t heard from him, or seen him, in over a week. That’s not like him.”
Mina gave her an appalled look and pulled her arm out of her grasp. “No, that sounds just like the Jared I know. Coming and going whenever he wants. Only thinking of himself. Yep, that’s exactly like Jared.”
Ever became furious; her hands clenched angrily at her sides. Mina could see that this girl truly hated her.
“That is nothing like Jared. Once he’s been called, he always makes sure to try and check in with me every few days. It’s our safety system.”
“Then you would know if he’s okay better than I would,” Mina snapped back. “I would actually be quite happy if I never saw him again.”
Ever gasped, “Don’t say that! You Gimps have no idea what, or who, you are messing with. It’s why I hate all of you.”
“That’s it!” Mina rushed forward angrily and surprised Ever until she backed up into a hard brick school wall. “Why do you keep calling me a Gimp? It’s extremely rude. If you want me to help you, you had better explain and explain now.” Mina knew the only reason she had been able to surprise Ever was because she was too distraught over Jared.
Ever recovered quickly, and a wry smile sprouted on her face. “Why, I thought you knew? It’s what we Fae call all you stupid and dumb Grimms.”
The anger dropped from Mina’s face. “You’re Fae?” She should have known. Why didn’t she? Of course, since Jared was Fae, he probably knew a lot of Fae. They probably banded together and formed their own gang. What Ever said about checking in made sense now. But not why the young Fae thought that Mina would know where he was.
Ever stepped away from the brick wall and stood a little taller. Her chin rose defiantly as she walked into the sunlight. Mina could almost see the faint glow that surrounded her, and when Ever turned a quarter turn to the right and exposed her back, she could see it.
Beautiful pearlescent wings in hues of deep purple and blue sprouted from Ever’s back. They were pointed and more jagged than what Mina would have thought fairy wings looked like, but they suited Ever’s sharp personality. The girl closed her eyes and moved out of the sunlight; with a moment of concentration she made her wings disappear.
“You’re a Fairy?” Mina asked in disbelief.
“Gah! Stars NO! They are happy, twittery, no-brained saps. I’m a Pixie,” she said rudely.
“I wouldn’t have thought Ogres and Pixies would get along,” Mina wondered aloud.
“Ogres!” Ever scoffed. “No, Ogres and Pixies are mortal enemies. They like to pull our wings off and eat them like candy. Gross! No, I would never go near an Ogre.”
This new news stunned Mina. How did this Fae not know Jared’s true form? She wanted to ask but was interrupted by the perturbed pixie.
“It’s been really nice chatting with you, doing the whole girl talk thing, but I’m over it now. Are you going to let me talk to Jared or what?”
Mina shifted uncomfortably under her stare. “Uh, yeah, sure. You have my permission to talk to him whenever you want. And when you see him, tell him thanks for ditching me in the forest.”
The color drained from Ever’s face. “That’s not funny, Mina.” It was the first time the girl had ever said her name.
“Look, Ever. I don’t know what kind of relationship you think that Jared and I have, but it isn’t a close one. I can’t help you.” Mina turned and pulled her backpack over her shoulder.
“No, wait. I’m sorry.” Ever looked distraught again and looked down at her black boots, rubbing the toe against the gravel. She took a deep breath and looked at Mina, her eyes belaying the insecurities she refused to speak. “I’m sorry that I called you a Gimp and was rude to you. It’s just part of my defense mechanism as being a Pixie. We are kind of low on the food chain, you know.”
Mina blinked in surprise. “Um, apology accepted.”
Ever let out a sigh of relief. “Good, I’m glad. Now, if you can just check and see...”
“Ever,” Mina breathed out her name in exasperation. “I’ve already told you; I don’t know where Jared is. I can’t check and see if I don’t know where he is.”
“But you called him! He came to you when you called him.” The poor girl was confused.
“No, I never called him; I don’t even know his phone number.” Mina was done with this conversation. She now realized that maybe it wasn’t the Grimms who were dumb but the Fae.
In an instant, the contrite and sorry Ever was replaced by a very loud and angry Pixie. Her voice rose in anger, and her eyes darkened in power. Mina could feel a cold breeze set in, and the wind picked up leaves from the ground and they swirled around Ever angrily. It took a moment for Mina to realize the girl was beating her invisible wings in anger.
“You Gimp! You lost it, didn’t you? How could you do something so stupid, so careless?”
“What are you talking about?” Mina called out, but Ever had turned her back on her and pulled something out of her pocket that looked like a silver lipstick tube.
Ever opened the tube and began to draw a large human-sized oval in the sky. The silver tube sparked and zapped, and a shimmering line appeared where Ever drew. Seconds later, the oval began to glow, and the school lawn disappeared to be replaced by a door of light.
“Ever, what is that? What are you doing?” Mina held up her hand to block the blinding light that poured through the door. She could vaguely see outlines of silver and white trees on the other side.
“You lost the Grimoire, stupid! Someone needs to tell the Queen before all hell breaks loose and something bad happens.” She moved toward the door of light and turned before stepping through to shoot one last remark at Mina.
“I always knew that of all the Grimms, you would cause the most trouble. I told him you didn’t deserve the Grimoire. I knew you were a mistake right from the beginning, and I was right.”
She stepped through the gate of light, and both Ever and the doorway to the Fae plane disappeared leaving Mina to wonder what she meant by something bad happening.
Chapter 16