“I’d kill anyone who touched a hair on his quirky little head,” she said fiercely.

“Good, then I need you to take him.”

“What do you mean?”

“Take my brother and run. Hide him from the Fae. I can’t focus on what’s coming next if I’m looking over my shoulder for Charlie. Is there somewhere you can go, somewhere your family owns that you can hide him?”

“Well, yeah maybe the—”

“Don’t tell me. I don’t want to know.” Mina gripped Nan’s arms. “No one can find him. No one can know, not even your parents.”

“But I can’t kidnap him, Mina. I’m not his legal guardian.”

“Nan,” Mina shot out. “Our mother’s gone. He’s going to end up in the system. They’re going to take him. But that’s the least of my worries. What if the Fae come after him? When this all dies down, you can bring him back. But remember, if something happens to me, Charlie becomes the next Grimm. He trusts you, Nan. You’re the one he’d want on his side. And he’ll need protection—help. He’ll need you.”

Nan’s eyes turned glassy with tears. She left the circle of mirrors, paced the hall, rubbed her hands across her face in worry. She cried. Then she got angry. Every emotion crossed her face as she battled with what she was about to do.

Mina knew the minute Nan had made the decision to take and hide Charlie. Her posture straightened, she held her head high, and she looked Mina dead in the eye.

“No one will harm Charlie on my watch. I swear it.”

“Good.” Mina hugged her friend and cried.

She was asking a lot of Nan. It was illegal, and she would have to hide from her family. But Nan was used to living on her own. Her mom and stepdad were hardly ever home. When this was all over, Mina knew that he’d be taken care of, she’d see to that. If they won this battle.

“Mina. What are you going to do while I’m gone?”

“Try and survive.”

There was more strategizing and planning schedules as they figured out what they were going to do about Teague. Ever had a plan that honestly might work, so Mina got Nix and Brody to agree to carry the mirrors upstairs and arrange them in her room.

Chapter 12

While Ever and Nix positioned the mirrors in her bedroom, Mina and Nan threw things into suitcases as quickly and quietly as they could. Charlie only woke up once, and that was when they were shuffling him out to Nan’s Volkswagen beetle. When he saw Mina, he immediately closed his eyes and started crying.

He was mentally exhausted, and she felt terrible about it. She stopped in the middle of the yard and wrapped her arms around him. “Listen up, bud. Nan is going to take care of you. You’re going off on an adventure together. You like adventures, don’t you?”

Charlie’s head bobbed yes.

“Well, she’s got the best one planned, and when you get back, we will have this all figured out. Okay? Can you do this for me? Can you listen to Nan and be a good kid?”

Charlie sniffed and looked over to Nan, who sat back watching them. Hands shoved in her coat pockets, her head dipping down. Nan was crying as well.

Charlie let go of Mina and walked over to Nan, sliding his smaller hand into hers. He smiled wanly up at her and said. “I’ll protect Nan.”

Nan looked at their clasped hands, and the tears flowed freely.

“Ah, little buddy.” She met Mina’s eyes, her voice filled with promise. “You know I’d give my life for him. You know that right?”

“That’s why it has to be you.”

“You give the word, and we’ll be back,” Brody said as he packed their sleeping bags into the back of the car. She never had any doubt that once he knew what Nan was doing, he’d go with and watch over her. That was why Mina needed to get Nan to agree before she told Brody.

“You have to go quickly.” Mina tried not to look at her watch in front of them.

They had spent hours packing and getting ready for this trip. She had only a few hours left. She wanted her friends far away. She didn’t want Teague to stop her—or to find them if he changed his mind.

Nan opened the car door, and Mina buckled Charlie into the backseat and ran her hand over his hair. He’d need a haircut soon, and his birthday was coming up. She hoped she’d be alive to celebrate with him. She had packed his suitcase with clothes, jackets, and his favorite toys—even his Star Wars light saber.

“I love you, Charlie,” Mina whispered as she gave him one last hug and kissed his forehead.

“Love you back,” he whispered with a bear hug.

She wouldn’t have let him go ever, except that he was the one who let go of her first. She wrapped the blanket from the sofa around him, and his head started to droop. Exhaustion was catching up with all of them.

“You’ll explain everything to him, right?” Tears fell down Mina’s cheeks as she softly closed the back door.

“I wouldn’t have to if you’d let us stay to help.” Nan’s blue eyes were glassy but on fire with determination.

Mina shook her head. “You know this is for the best.” Mina closed the passenger door, but Nan rolled the window down.

“I’ll take care of them,” Brody said across the roof of the car. “And I’ll find a way for you to get a hold of us if you need to.”

“Don’t tell me. It’s best if I don’t know.”

“Mina, it’s just…” Brody trailed off.

“It’s okay. I’ll always love you, just not the way you deserve. But Nan will.”

Those words seemed like the confirmation that Brody needed. He came around the car and pulled Mina into a hug. “Be safe.”

He was going to make her cry. Mina gently pulled away, “You need to go. Get them somewhere safe.”

He climbed into the driver’s seat and started up. Nan leaned forward and waved as he backed her car up and drove down the driveway. Mina watched the taillights until she could no longer see them in the darkness. She knew the car would turn left, away from town and onto the highway.

She stood frozen in the middle of her driveway. Tears poured freely down her face. Her knees buckled beneath her, and she collapsed onto the gravel. It was for the best, she kept trying to tell herself.

But if it was for the best, why did it feel like she’d just ripped out another part of her soul?

The screen door slammed, and Nix stepped outside. “Mina? What’s wrong?” He rushed to her side.

“He’s gone,” she whispered sadly.

“Who?”

“Charlie.” She sniffed, wiped at her eyes, and slowly stood up to face Nix.

“How’d this happen? I promise we’ll get him back.” His voice grew angry, but he gathered her into a hug.

Mina took comfort from his hug but gently pulled away. “No. We won’t.” She watched his eyes frown in confusion. “I sent him away.”

“What?”

“It’s better this way. I begged Nan to take him away, and Brody went with.”

“You can’t do that.”

“Wrong,” Ever’s voice cut in. “It’s exactly what she should have done. She was smart.” She had come out to stand on the porch and listen. “She’s cutting her losses, before Teague can use them against her. She’s thinking of what’s ahead. And this war is no place for a young Fae boy that just lost his mother.”