“Nan, I can’t.” And Mina truly felt that she couldn’t. She had burned her bridges and burned them badly.
“Nonsense, all you do is pick up the phone and say, 'Brody, I’m not dead.'” Nan grabbed her phone and held it up to Mina’s ear. “Here, you can use my phone.”
Mina glared at Nan in response.
“Fine.” Nan put her phone away. “Since it seems you have a lot to do, maybe we should get cracking and find this Grimoire or whatever and prepare you to break the curse.” The way Nan said it, made it sound as if Mina was going on a camping trip and needed to find supplies, instead of possibly meeting her doom. “But before we do anything else today, we need to eat!”
“You just ate,” Mina said.
Nan made a gagging face. “That is not what I would call eating. That’s biting the bullet to win a bet. I’m starved, let’s grab food first. You owe me.”
After a cheap lunch at one of the Mexican stalls nearby, the girls walked the rows of small shops in the various districts.
“So your dad…?” Nan let her question trail off. It was too delicate of a question to ask outright.
“Yeah, my Dad was chosen by the curse before me and was caught in one of the more viscous tales. He didn’t live through it.” Mina walked a little slower.
“Do you remember the night?”
“No. I guess I must have suppressed a lot of those memories and my mom won’t speak about it. What I do remember was that my dad was happy, loving, and carefree until my Uncle died. That’s when it all changed. He changed. He was driven, obsessed with breaking the curse.
“He must have loved you a lot.”
“That or he wanted revenge for Uncle Jack. I don’t know.” Mina felt at a loss, confused, and a little angry. “So I HAVE to do this, Nan. I have to finish the tale and break the curse because if I don’t, it falls on Charlie and I can’t let that happen. I have to protect Charlie.”
“Sign me up, where do we start?” Nan spoke.
“Nan, you don’t have to help. You don’t even have to get involved. I only told you because I needed your support, in case I have more episodes where I can’t go to school.”
“You can’t tell me about this curse and then NOT expect me to help. I’m your friend, I care about you and I care about Charlie. It’s a done deal.”
“Nan?”
“Don’t you 'Nan' me; I’ve got two semesters of Karate under my belt, a serious case of attitude and mace on my keychain. I’m ready to tackle any giants that come my way. Fe Fi Fo FUM!” When she said Fum, Nan did a karate kick in the air and followed with a chest punch.
“I think that’s the wrong story,” Mina laughed.
“What, there’s no giants? I was really hoping to tackle some giants.” Nan looked devastated.
“From what my mom said, the tales don’t necessarily fit the Grimm guidelines to a T. They adapt to the modern world. Yes there are giants, but it maybe instead of a 30 foot giant, you may find yourself facing a six-foot six, 300 pound New York Giant football player.”
“I’ll take that!” Nan gushed excitedly. “Bring ‘em on.” When she had quit jumping around on the sidewalk doing martial arts moves and knocking into complete strangers, she stood up suddenly and looked at Mina.
“Yeah, for some reason the Story is the driving force behind all of this. We can never underestimate and never trust the Story.”
“So what happened on the tour was a fairy tale story? So cool, which one?” Nan was walking backward and kept throwing quick glances over her shoulder.
“I have an idea but it doesn’t make sense.” Mina put her fingers in her jacket pockets. Shaking her head, Mina decided it was nothing and kept walking.
“So how do we go about finding this book? You said your father found it in the library. What about your uncle? How did the Grimoire come to your uncle?”
Mina face turned down in anger. “It never came to Uncle Jack.”
“But I thought you said that it comes to the Grimm descendants and helps them?”
“I did, but it doesn’t always decide to help them. It chose not to reveal itself to my Uncle Jack, it didn’t help him and now he’s dead.”
“But Mina, it came to your father and he still died.” Nan put her hand on Mina’s shoulder and looked into her face. “All we can do is pray that it chooses to help you.”
Mina nodded her head and took a deep breath. “I’m just so scared. Nan, what if it doesn’t choose to help me and I’m stuck trying to fight off more people, like the man with the wolf tattoo, alone. I can’t do it. I need its help and I’m scared it won’t help me.” Mina sniffled, trying to hold back the tears.
Nan grabbed her friend in a huge hug. “Mina, you’re the sweetest, most kind-hearted person I know. The Grimore will come to you, how can it not? And if it doesn’t you’ve got me, and I’m ten times, no, twenty times more helpful than a book. I told you not to wear that hideous dress to homecoming and you didn’t. I kept you away from that disastrous looking egg salad at the buffet and then everyone else got sick. I even stood up for you when someone made fun of you for always wearing hoodies.”
“Someone made fun of me?” Mina asked. This was the first that she had heard about that.
“What matters is that I’m here for you and with me on your side, you will always win.” Nan grinned and put her arm through Mina’s.
Her best friend was right, with Nan’s gumption and determination they could face anything. There were times when Mina felt as if she was kryptonite to anyone who came near her, except for Nan. Nan was immune to Mina’s bad luck and seemed to thrive off of warding it away. It was almost as if Nan was her personal good luck charm.
“Oohh! We have to go in here and see the puppies!” Nan squealed and forcefully dragged Mina into Pawpers Pet’s. The door that jingled when they walked in, and immediately Mina was hit by the scent of dog, urine and bleach, so strong it nearly knocked her over. She fought the urge to breathe through the sleeve of her red jacket, knowing it would give Nan a reason to tease her.
Mina didn’t care for pet stores. She loved animals, but hated going in and seeing hundreds of caged dogs, cats, birds and mice. To her it was the same as walking into a prison and being asked to pick out a cute inmate to take home and care for. She sighed and walked over to Nan, who was already gushing over a playful Pomeranian and American Eskimo puppy.
“Oh, aren’t you the cutest? Yes, you are! You’re the sweetest thing since cotton candy,” Nan was saying. The pups yipped and crawled over each other in an attempt to lick the glass window where her hand rested. Before long, a cute red-haired employee spotted Nan’s interest and offered to bring the puppies to the viewing pen. Nan squealed with glee. “Did you hear that, Mina? We can hold them and play with them.” By the time Nan turned back she was nearly as excited as the puppies in the kennel. Somehow Mina didn’t want to be stuck in a 4x4 cubicle with the hyperactive Nan and two pups.
“Uh, I think I’ll pass this time. I’m going to check out the rest of the pets.” Mina backed away from Nan who was already adrift in her own world. She got an indifferent look from Greg, who was busy either sizing up his new customer, or trying to score Nan’s number.
