Ken Wong separated himself and came over to them, whispering hurriedly to Constance. “Ferah says we have to leave. The police are asking questions, and we are a very large group standing in the open. We’re sure to draw speculation.”
Constance nodded her head. “She’s right. We must leave. But first I need to ask you, Mina, what happened? Why did he leave?”
That was one question she wasn’t ready to answer, especially not in front of her friends and brother.
She turned away. “He’s toying with us, trying to intimidate me by showing he can strike any time and anywhere.” She turned back to Constance. “What I want to know is what about Charlie? Did you know he’s Fae?”
“Part-Fae,” Constance answered. “And yes. So are you.” She grabbed Mina’s arm and walked closely beside her as their troop made a hasty exit, not out the front fair exit, but by the back bus-barns.
“Your mother was a powerful siren. When we learned what our future held, and how it depended on the Grimm family defeating Teague, we tried to strengthen your bloodline with Fae blood.”
“How dare you meddle where you have no business meddling? These are my family’s lives—not your genetic cauldron for creating weapons.”
“Do you think your mother didn’t love your father? Do you think we cast some sort of spell to make him fall in love with her? No, Sara and James fell in love all on their own.” They squeezed through a fence behind the school, skirting the worst of the damage. “Your mother was so in love with your human father that she went to a sea witch to bind her Fae powers so she could be human. We didn’t know at first that it was James Grimm that she was in love with.”
“So she lied to my father?”
“Do you honestly not recognize your mother’s own tale? Where a girl was so in love with a human that she was willing to give up her tail, forget her previous life, and live as a human forever so she could be with him?”
“You mean The Little Mermaid?” Mina scoffed. She followed Constance carefully past a sheer drop-off in the ground, actually the giant’s foot print.
“What do you think a siren is, dear?” Constance smiled sadly. “A mermaid is the human term for them. Once a month, on the full moon, sirens gain their legs and walk on land, usually to cause mayhem. After all, they aren’t the noblest of creatures and are tricksters. It was during your mother’s moon spell when she met your father.”
Mina couldn’t help but think back to the stone siren that guarded the waterways under the Fates’ castle. Nix had said sirens were like sea witches but worse.
“Am I going to sprout a tail?”
In the distance, the fire and rescue crews were still parked around the perimeter of the fairgrounds.
Constance laughed. “No, you and your brother won’t, because that is what your mother sacrificed to become human. So it wasn’t passed down to you. It does seem that Charlie picked up the siren’s call, and you picked up the lure, though.”
“Lure? Don’t you have to sing to be able to do that? You’ve heard me in class. I can’t sing a note.”
“Lure is of the mind. It’s the most powerful of curses, dear. I’m sure you’ve seen it firsthand. You lure others to do your bidding. You’ve been luring the Fae power and controlling it for years. You did it again with the giant, and you’ve done it with your friends.”
Mina let the knowledge wash over her as they headed toward the parking area. She wasn’t human, never had been. Her whole life was a lie—all because her mother was basically the little mermaid on steroids.
“And you just let it happen?”
“We didn’t think it would hurt anyone if the Grimm line inherited some of her Fae powers. In fact, it would only help. Your mother was one of the strongest sirens in the sea. How else do you think you made the crystal bowl sing if you weren’t already Fae, hmm? A siren doesn’t have to sing to still be a siren.”
“This is all too much,” Mina confessed as they hustled around the block. They’d made a huge circle to get back to their cars and not be stopped by the police.
“Or is it not enough, I wonder.” Constance muttered.
“Why couldn’t you tell me this earlier?”
“Too much too soon. Your mother didn’t want to remember her old life. And she never wanted you to know, because she was afraid you’d hate her.”
“That’s why all of her forgetting charms,” Mina muttered as she came to the parking lot.
“But she remembered whenever you needed her to. Don’t forget that, dear. Whenever she needed to remember the old ways, she could.”
The GMs hurried away, and Constance needed to go with them.
“What are we going to do about that?” Mina pointed back to the destroyed school and fairgrounds. “We’ve left quite a lot of Fae evidence.”
“We can only hide from the world for so long. It looks like our time is up. We’re prepared for the human world. The only question is whether they are ready for us.” She slowed down so that they fell to the back of the group. “I’m not sure why Teague backed off the way he did, but whatever you promised him, it’s not worth it.” Constance turned to follow her group.
Mina looked at her friends in the lot. Nix stayed close to Charlie, Ever waited by Nan’s car, and they all looked to her for direction. Brody and Nan hadn’t shown up.
“I thought they’d be here,” Mina mumbled to herself. She felt foolish thinking somehow Brody would be waiting for them by the car. She hoped he’d only stayed behind to help, rather than gotten in danger somehow. But where was Nan? “He promised… That he’d let them all go.” She kept waiting for Nan to pop out from behind a bush and say boo.
“Should I go back and look for them?” Nix moved Charlie closer to Ever and pointed back into the fray, at all the people who ran toward the school grounds to get pictures of what was happening.
“No!” Ever shouted and grabbed her side in pain. “We need to get far away from here as fast as possible.”
Mina was torn. Ever was right—she needed to get Charlie out of here. But she couldn’t abandon her friends. Finally, she understood the decision the Godmothers faced, trying to protect those who were injured or unable to protect themselves.
But she could make a different choice. Her path could be different. “Ever, stay here with Charlie,” Mina commanded and then nodded to Nix.
Within moments, they were picking through the mob of bystanders trying to get to the main street.
“This is chaos!” Nix shouted over the crowd. “Hey, I see something!” He pointed to a side alley, but Mina wasn’t as tall as Nix, so she couldn’t see what he saw. She broke through the edge of the crowd and breathed a sigh of relief. Brody was making his way toward them, carrying someone. Long blonde hair spilled over his right arm. Mina recognized the blue shirt as belonging to her best friend.
“Nan!” Mina ran to them both.
Brody gave them an accomplished grin. “She’s heavier than she looks.” He sounded out of breath.
Nan’s hand came up and slapped Brody upside the head. “Am not, jerk. Now put me down.”
“You’re wounded.” Brody shifted her body so he could hold on to her better. His eyes were filled with joy as he looked down at Nan’s frowning face. There was something else there too, some emotion he was trying to hold back.