Mina didn't even know new houses still had sitting rooms. Her own house did of course, because it was hundreds of years old. But apparently the wealthy still liked to follow tradition. The sitting room was lovely with a large family portrait on a taupe-colored wall above the marble fireplace. Two Victorian white sofas faced each other across a white coffee table. An antique grandfather clock towered next to the bay window. Two high back chairs brought the room together in a perfect little circle, made for intimate conversation over tea. She could very well envision Melody sitting here with her friends talking about the latest news and gossip.

Once Mina was seated, Melody left to call the caterer for the event. Mina sat in a high back chair, and Brody sat on the sofa across from her. The redhead and brunette joined their party. The redhead slid onto the sofa, closer than necessary to Brody. She gave a slight tug on her white shorts before crossing her legs to dangle them in his line of sight. Her foot bobbed up and down, the tinkling of her charm anklet acting as a lure.

"So what happened?" she asked. "You're late, and you kept us waiting."

Brody sat a little straighter and shot Mina a worried look. She mentally kicked herself for sitting so far from Brody.

Brody answered, "I needed to pick up Mina."

"Oh! So you're going to help us with the planning?" the brunette asked. Mina heard a slight southern accent.

"No, I'm here for moral support."

The redhead's leg froze, and her eyes narrowed. "Like one of those twelve-step programs?" she whispered.

"No!" Brody and Mina answered at once.

The conversation was a bit awkward and stilted after that. Brody politely introduced the two guests. The tall brunette was Lara, and the spicy redhead, Daphne. Mina couldn't help but picture Lara and Daphne as the video game heroine and the cartoon detective, although the girls in front of her were nothing like the fake ones.

Lara opened up a magazine from the coffee table in front of them and pointed to the full color spread from last year's ball. "See, it frequently makes the headlines in Glitz & Glam Magazine."

Anxiety filled Mina as she scoped the page-photo after photo filled with ruffles, flounces, and feathers. Not to mention a few close up photos of Mr. and Mrs. Carmichael. Mina's gaze was instantly drawn to the photo of a very dapper Brody in a tux, with none other than Daphne on his arm. Her dress was a sweet peach that brought out the color of her hair and added a warmth to her cheeks.

Lara smiled, showing even white teeth. "It's one of the biggest events of the season, and Melody is the planning committee chair. We're on the junior planning committee." Her eyes dropped to the floor coyly when Brody glanced her way.

It didn't take a genius to see that both girls liked Brody. Who didn't?

"I think all that's left for us is to finish our playlist for the party." Lara looked only at Brody as she spoke. "I've made a list of fast, medium, and slow songs, and we need to put them in order."

"Isn't that what a DJ is for? To put the sets together and play according to the crowd's taste?" Mina asked.

Her question received two blank looks from Daphne and Lara followed by a snort from Lara. "This isn't some cheesy homecoming. This is the biggest event of the year. We leave nothing to chance." She handed out the song sheets to Brody and Daphne but ignored Mina's open hand.

Not to be outmaneuvered, Mina got up and sat next to Brody to share his song list. This only encouraged another dour look from the girls.

Mina scanned the names of the songs briefly and felt a bit lost. She knew many of the popular songs from the radio, but she was stunned by the number of waltzes being played by the live band. Not once had she thought it was going to be that kind of a ball. She didn't know how to waltz. Mina chewed her thumbnail, pretending to be interested in the discussion, while secretly thinking of a hundred excuses to get out of the date.

"So the ones marked with hearts are our must-haves," Lara said. "We'll intermix our live music with songs from the DJ. If we run out of songs, then we move on to the ones with stars on them. What do you think, Brody?" Her voice dripped with honey.

"Sounds all right," he answered. It was obvious he didn't want to be a part of this.

Daphne frowned. "Brody, really. You have to give us some input. After all, you're as much a part of this as we are."

"Okay then." He picked up the sheet again and gave it more thought. "I think it needs something else. What do you think Mina?" Brody turned to look at her.

Mina dropped her hands to her lap and clasped them together. She really didn't have an opinion and had stopped reading the list soon after she saw the word "waltz." But she lied. "I think you need to add in some Dead Prince Society."

Brody's face broke into a huge grin. "That's perfect! It's exactly what we need to bring it into the twenty-first century." He nudged her with his elbow and she blushed. "I'm so glad you agreed to come."

Daphne forced a smile. "We could definitely put it on our Maybe list."

He shook his head no. "Not going to happen." He grabbed a pen from the table and wrote it at the top of her paper with a big heart around it. "We added them."

Lara looked skeptical. "I guess we could do one or two songs."

"No, I say we bring them in live. If we're going to have a live orchestra for the waltzes, then they should switch off every thirty minutes. After all, the band is family."

Brody's announcement really sent the girls into a tizzy, but they aimed to please. Over the next hour, they crossed songs off, rearranged, and highlighted like crazy. The girls did everything they could to make it work-for Brody.

After a while, he disappeared to let his mom know about the song list and to get drinks, leaving Mina with the cartoon girls.

"So you know Brody from school?" Lara asked, playing with the locket around her neck. "I still think it's weird that he insists on going to public school instead of private like us."

"Uh huh," Mina answered, slightly intimidated by the elegant girls in front of her.

"What about the other girl? What's her name?" Daphne asked, tapping her lip with a perfectly manicured nail.

"Nan. Yes, we both attend classes with Brody." She automatically thought of her own best friend.

"No, not her." Daphne rolled her eyes, flipped a magazine open and pointed to an old photo of Brody and Savannah. "Is she still with Brody?"

"Savannah? No, they aren't together anymore." Mina wanted to claw the snarky Daphne for that jab.

Lara and Daphne started to pick up their notebooks, magazines, and seating charts for the ball.

"So are you coming to the ball?" Lara asked casually. Almost too casually.

"Why, yes, I promised Brody I would." This was starting to sound familiar.

"Really?" Daphne swung her cross-bag over her shoulder. She eyed Mina's clothes and ripped jeans. "As a server? I know the club was a bit short-handed for the event."

"No. As his date," she said between clenched teeth.

Brody returned with two glasses of iced tea. Daphne reached for one, but Brody turned and handed it to Mina instead. The gesture was so unexpected, she almost let the glass slip through her fingers. Thankfully, she caught it, as well as the look of hatred that shot her way. Brody took a long swig of his own glass of iced tea.

Right then, the old grandfather clock in the corner started to chime, and it didn't ring the two tones it should have. It continued-another ten chimes.

Lara's face scrunched up in confusion, "Twelve?"

"I think your clock's broken," Daphne snorted.

"It's not broken. At least it shouldn't be." Brody walked over to the clock, opened the glass door, and looked inside for the key to wind it. He inserted it into the face of the clock, gave it a few twists and turns, and gently moved the hands around the face until it showed two o'clock.

Immediately, the clock started to chime again. Everyone waited, silently counting two deep, resonant chimes.

There was almost an audible exhale as no other noise came from the clock.

"See, it's not broke," Brody turned and smiled.

"I guess not." Mina smiled wanly, but she kept her eyes on the clock because what she knew was coming next. She'd been on high alert as soon as she heard the girls' names. Steppes and Ziester? How close could the Story get to "stepsister"?

The slight tingling began, indicating the Story was near. Mina couldn't take her eyes off of the clock, watching as Brody hung the key up and closed the glass door. As soon as it clicked shut, the clock continued its haunting chime.

Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Eight. Nine. Ten. Eleven. Twelve.

And this time, when the clock struck twelve, the bay windows blew open, and the curtains flew horizontally into the room.

Lara and Daphne shrieked as the pages in the open magazine on the table began to flip.

Brody rushed across the room and tackled the opened windows. Once he got them shut, the wind died down. The magazine settled on a two-page spread of Brody wearing a white mask with the caption in bold Times New Roman: Brody Carmichael-A real, live Prince Charming.

Mina launched to her feet, knocking her knee into the corner of the coffee table. "Ouch! Excuse me, but I have to go."

"Where are you off to so early?" Daphne called out. "Is your coach going to turn into a pumpkin?"

"Don't be silly, Daphne. She probably just has to catch a bus."

"Girls, enough." Brody said heatedly.

Both Daphne and Lara turned pouty looks toward him.

Brody leapt after her. "Mina, are you feeling okay?"

She waved him off. "I'd like to go home."

Brody disappeared to tell his mom where he was going.

Mina could hear the two girls whispering. One of them-sounded like Lara-said it was all an act. That Brody couldn't possibly like her. She was only there to make them jealous.

Mina's anger got the better of her and she spun. "No wonder you're so excited about wearing masks at a ball. Who knows, if you don't say a word, you may be able to disguise your hideous personalities."

Lara's and Daphne's mouths dropped open. They looked like drowning fish as they tried to come up with a retort.

Mina didn't stay to listen or battle with words. She needed to get home and get help, because Teague had just set up her next quest. As innocent as the Cinderella story sounded, Mina knew there would be a deadly twist to this fairy tale.

The whole way home, she was tense and on edge. Brody asked if she was okay.

"No, I'm not okay." She blew out a long breath.

"Is it something I did?"

"Not intentionally. It seems like we're both in for another round of fairy-tale madness."

"You mean you're getting your intuition?"

Mina laughed softly. "Yeah, I guess you could say that. I think we are about to go head to head with the Cinderella tale."

Brody pulled the car up her driveway and put the car into park. She listened to the hum of the engine as he unbuckled his seatbelt and turned toward her.

"And you think we're both caught up in this tale?"

"Yeah, unfortunately I do."

"Okay and what part do you think I'm going to play in this quest?"

"I think you're Prince Charming," Mina said, feeling awkward at voicing her assumption out loud.

"So in Cinderella, it's all about the girl falling in love with Prince Charming, right?" A mischievous smile lurked at the corner of his lips.

She could hardly concentrate with how good he looked right then. She swallowed. "Yes."

"And the prince falls in love, loses the girl, and has to find her."

Again she answered, although her voice dropped in volume. "Yes." She studied her hands, clasped in her lap.

Brody reached for her hands and pulled them up between them. "Well, this may be the easiest quest ever then, because this prince has already found you." He placed a gentle kiss on the back of her hand.

Her heart slammed against her chest at the simple gesture that was so packed with emotion.

"And I don't plan on letting you go anytime soon," he added.

She smiled weakly. "It's never that easy."

"I wouldn't expect it to be. Otherwise the other Grimms before you would have beaten this."

"We could get hurt. You could get hurt."

Brody tightened his grip on her hands, cupping them between his. "I've seen you play sports. You need all the help you can get. Maybe Nix could make up another batch of that foul smelling fix-it-all? Then we'll be good."

Mina pulled her hand out of his to playfully punch his shoulder. He lurched forward and she missed.

He laughed. "See, you probably couldn't hit the broad side of a barn."

"Probably not, but I've got to try."

Brody mellowed. "As long as you let me, I'll be here to help you."

"As long as you remember me."

"True, but keep in mind that's not something I can control. Still, there's something between us that-no matter what-keeps pulling us together. So if I forget or get put under a spell, you'll just have to remind me how awesome you are."

Mina grinned and hopped out of the car. He was right. There was something between them, and it spun her in circles with confusion. Was it a crush, an infatuation, love? So soon after losing Jared, she didn't want to even think it was possible, but ...what if what she had for Jared hadn't been real? It had only been a few weeks ago, but in her heart it felt like years.

The stress of the quests was wearing on her. She could feel the next one looming over her. But for once, she felt like her future might not be so bleak.

One final question hung over her, though. Teague would manipulate this. How would she survive it?