Free Reign (An Unfortunate Fairy Tale Book 4) by Chanda Hahn Page B

“Pathetic,”
Teague taunted, staring up at the trickles of light that came from above. Police
sirens increased in volume, coming to the scene.
    “Why don’t you just kill me?” Mina stood
up straight to challenge him, her hands splayed at her sides.
    “I keep wondering that myself.” He turned
to square off against her, his hands clasped behind his back as if waiting for
her to make the first move. “What can you accomplish with no Grimoire to do all
of your dirty work for you? You have nothing in your arsenal but a pretty
face—and a lying one at that.”
    “Mina, are you down there?” This time it
was Ever, who had either heard something or figured out that she’d gone down
the manhole into the sewer. Ever’s hand squeezed through the opening the light shone
through.
    “I have enough to fight the likes of you,”
Mina challenged.
    Teague sighed, “You’re all talk, and I’m
becoming bored. I’m done with you and your pretty little threats to stop me.”
He started toward her with his hands aimed at her throat.
    Mina had no clue to what Teague was
referring, but she was scared she was about to die. Desperate to save herself,
she tried to use the power she had so little control over. Harnessing what she
could, she thrust it all toward him.
    Teague flew across the room and cracked
his skull into the wall, going limp. Mina used her chance to climb up the rungs
toward Ever’s voice.
    “Don’t go up there,” he growled from
below.
    “I’m here!” Mina thrust her hand through
a small opening between the chassis of the truck and the wheel. She waved her
hand in the air and almost started crying when Ever’s hand took hold of it.
    “I’ve got you, Mina. I’ll get you out. I
promise.” Ever called. Mina believed her.
    Something grasped her ankle and started
pulling her back down. Mina cried out when Teague’s hands began to pull on her
legs. He was trying to make her fall.
    “Ever! Don’t let go!” Mina yelled,
wrapping her left arm around the rung. It was useless, she knew. She couldn’t
squeeze out of the opening, and she was trapped underground. Her mind had a sudden
moment of clarity. This was so much like her underwater dream. Had she seen the
future?
      “Mina!” Ever cried, when Mina’s hand
started to slip through her grasp. Teague had crawled up to the rung behind her
and was yanking on her other arm. She knew how this would end.
    In her dream she didn’t make it to the
surface, so she doubted she would now.
    “It’s okay, just take care of Nan. Take
care of Nan,” Mina called.
    Teague reached up and yanked her arm from
around the rung, pulling her backwards. They both lost their footing.
    She was falling and Teague was falling
with her. The last thing Mina saw was Ever trying to look through the wreckage
into the hole. She knew the moment Ever must’ve seen Teague, because she
screamed. “ Nooo !”

 
 
    Chapter 11
    She was lying on something soft that
smelled faintly of cat urine. “Gross,” Mina grumbled. She rolled over to see
that she was resting on a yellowed mattress in an old abandoned runoff tunnel.
It took a moment for her eyes to focus on the blob of movement by her foot. She’d
thought at first it was an old towel—until it moved toward her. She
screamed and kicked at the rat sniffing at her shoes, making it scurry away.
    Mina sat up and ran her hands across her
body for injuries. Had she blacked out? Had she hit her head? Something
disturbed a can, and it rolled over by her foot. She jumped to her feet and
prepared to run, but Teague stepped out of another tunnel. A light that came
from behind her faintly illuminated him. This time he kept his distance from
her.
    He seemed to be in an odd mood, simply
studying her face silently. His eyes softened as he cleared his throat and
looked away from her. “That runaway garbage truck wasn’t me.”
    “What? You didn’t try to run me over?
That wasn’t part of your quest?”
    He shook his head no.
    “So why warn