Ever dropped her head, refusing to make eye contact. “I wish I could. All I can tell you, Mina, is if you do what the Godmothers tell you, you’ll save your family.”
“How can you be certain?”
She lifted her head and tears ran freely down her face. “I just have a feeling. Call it Pixie intuition if you must.”
“Ever, that’s not enough.”
“Why can’t it be enough?” She turned to kick the wall. “Gah, you were just as infuriating back then.”
“What do you mean ‘back then’?”
Ever blew out a deep breath and ignored the question. “Don’t try and argue with me. Get your tush turned around and go back to the hall of mirrors. You have a quest to finish and a family line to save. More than you can possibly know is riding on this. If you don’t mess this up, you have a chance of righting more than a few wrongs.”
She wanted to ask more, but Ever vanished around the corner.
Confused but determined, Mina retraced her steps and found the hall of mirrors. Nix sat on the floor, his head leaning against a smooth wooden frame. Nan kneeled in front of him, trying to coax him out of his depression. Constance and Mei were busy detaching a mirror from the wall and lowering it onto a rolling cart.
Mei patted the antique mirror and gave Mina a wide smile. “I knew you’d come around. You are not one to let others suffer. Yourself? Yes. Others, no.”
“I had to have someone talk some sense into me. I seem to have lost all my own for a minute.” Mina walked over to look at the mirror they had removed from the wall. The frame was made of crystal clear glass inlaid with diamonds and pearls. It looked to have been well taken care of over the years. “That’s beautiful.”
“It’s very old. Probably the oldest mirror here.”
“Whose is it?”
“Don’t you worry about it.” Mei ran her hand across the frame and a sparkle followed her hand. “I know we are asking a lot of you. You have met every challenge so far with great strength and determination. I’m proud of you.”
“Mei, I’m scared,” Mina admitted.
“I know, sweetie. I’d question your sanity if you weren’t.”
“What if I go and I can’t get back? What if I get stuck there…or killed?”
Mei shrugged her shoulders. “There’s no guarantee, Mina. But we hope you can stop whatever is doing this to the Grimms.”
Mina sighed. “What do I have to do?”
Constance came and placed her hand upon Mina’s shoulder. “Do you still have the seam ripper?”
“Yes.”
“Good, because you never know when you might need to jump from plane to plane. Keep it with you at all times. We will do our best to get you to the right time.”
“What do I do when I get there?”
“You blend in. Try and find whatever caused the anomaly and fix it. But you will only have a short amount of time before you are transported home. A few days at most—but possibly as little as hours.”
“And what if I can’t find the problem?”
“Then you and your family are doomed.”
“Okay then. No added pressure or anything,” Nan chimed in, coming to stand beside her. She met Mina’s eyes, her face full of understanding. “You know I would go with you if you asked.”
“No,” Baynard answered. “We don’t have another mirror. We can’t send you both back.” He’d reappeared from a ledge above them, Thistle at his heels.
“Schumacher says he thinks he can have it done by tomorrow evening,” she said. “Once the enchanted item is made, it will decide on the best time and place to send you. Once the shoes become active, you will have only seconds before you’re transported. It will be the same with returning. Do you understand?”
“Yes, I think so,” Mina answered feeling lightheaded. This wasn’t a good time to faint.
“Good.” Baynard pointed, and Mei took the mirror out of the room. “Expect a forthcoming delivery with further instructions.”
“I think she’s got it,” Nan answered for her. “I’ve got total faith in her.”
“That makes two of us,” Nix smiled. He stood up and brushed his hands off on his pants. “Thank you, Mina.”
“Don’t thank me yet,” Mina breathed out softly. “Wait to see if I fail first. I may end up in the wrong time period.”
“You won’t,” Ever confirmed in a loud voice. “You’ll make it, but your course of action once you’re there will determine your future.” Ever’s eyes were puffy and her tears had removed all of her makeup. She looked so lost. “So don’t mess it up again. Got it?”
Confused, Mina just gave Ever a thumbs up.
“So we don’t know exactly when she’ll have to go back, right?” Nan asked.
“Right. We have to wait for Schumacher,” Baynard said, looking across the room as the door opened again and Mei came in.
Nan leaned in. “Is there still a chance she can go to the ball tomorrow?”
“I completely forgot.” Mina slapped her forehead.
Constance looked worried.
Mei’s interest was piqued. “A ball, you say? That’s my specialty. After all, I am your Fae Godmother.”
Mina groaned.
Chapter 17
It was the suckiest of all sucky days. Mina was walking the line between being extreme happiness and hysteria. Constance worried about the Fae Guild being attacked and promised that they would be on alert. Nix was sent to the healing ward to get his head taken care of, and Mei drove all the girls home. Once Mina reached the safe haven of her messy bed, she collapsed on a pile of clean laundry and slept through the night.
She woke around two Saturday afternoon.
Her mom must’ve seen how exhausted she was and let her sleep. “Woohoo, Meehna. Wakey wakey. Open door. We get you prettied up for you big date.” Mei was pounding on her bedroom in full on Mrs. Wong character.
“Mmmfff, not by the hair of my chinny-chin-chin,” she grumbled loudly into her pillow. Mina turned her head to make sure the door was locked. It was. It was a terrible idea for her to go to the ball, especially when she had much bigger problems.
Maybe she could close her eyes and wish really hard and everything would just go away. It’d all be a dream.
No such luck. She heard a whooshing sound as the lock on the door turned with a click. Mei’s grinning face peeked through the crack in the door. “I huff and puff and blow your door in.” In other words, she used Fae magic.
Mei carried a large garment bag draped over her arm and gently laid it across Mina’s back, pretending not to see her in the pile of clothes and blankets amassed on her bed.
Mina groaned and pulled herself out from beneath the offending garment bag until she slid off the other side of the bed. Peeking up from beside the mattress, she glared at Mei. “I’ve decided to not go.”
“You have to go.” Mei gave her the stink eye and thrust her fists onto her hips. The dreaded finger came out and began to wave at her. “Every Fae Godmother dreams of this, and they never get the chance. They always boys. You make my dreams come true and be a girl for once.”