UnEnchanted

by Hahn, Chanda

  Mina looked around in horror and grabbed a large aquarium rock to weigh down the toads' lid. The other amphibians must have got the same idea as the toads because they began to hop straight up or climb and maneuver themselves into escaping through the lid.

  “No, no, no, no,” Mina frantically called out and looked for other decorations to keep the frogs from escaping. She put a pink mermaid statue on the tree frogs' tank, and petrified wood on the poison dart frogs', which could have been disastrous. It wasn’t until something slithered past her foot that Mina looked down and abandoned her efforts. A large striped snake was disappearing under a shelf and from the looks of the snake tanks, more were dropping from them by the second. While she had been occupied with the noisy frogs, she never noticed the sly reptiles making their epic escape. When the boa slid to the floor and came toward Mina’s legs she screamed and ran toward the front door. All effort to keep the frogs contained left her the instant that boa made an appearance. She only hoped the frogs where smart enough to stay in their tanks, once the snakes were loose, but that wasn’t her problem anymore.

  Mina slowed by the puppies long enough to grab Nan’s arm by the elbow, who was handing back the American Eskimo pup to Greg.

  “Nan, we have to go NOW!” Mina whispered under her breath. A little louder she called out toward Greg, “I think there is a clean-up in aisle eight!”

  Greg looked up in surprise and went to get a doggy bag and broom, to clean up whatever present a customer’s unattended dog may have left for him. Unfortunately it wasn’t going to be that kind of surprise. Mina secretly hoped Greg wasn’t afraid of snakes.

  Once they were back on the sidewalk Mina kept up a fast pace, causing Nan to run behind her. “Mina? What’s the matter? What’s going on?” Mina didn’t answer until they were three blocks away, and by then she was out of breath.

  “Birds," Mina huffed, "Doom. Frogs! Snacks, I mean snakes!” Mina tried to make sense but her lack of breath and her own disbelief made it hard for her describe. How could she explain to Nan what she hardly believed herself?

  “He gave me his number,” Nan commented dryly, while staring back in the direction of the pet store, clueless to Mina’s anxiety. “Totally not my type though,” Nan continued. “But his glasses were very cool and trendy. I guess I could call him, if I find myself without a date.”

  Mina was taken aback at the calm way Nan spoke; apparently she never noticed the craziness that happened in the store. Nan shook her head and looked at Mina. “What were you saying again?”

  Mina’s mouth dropped open and the she stuttered. “U-uh forget about it.” Nan grinned and grabbed Mina’s arm.

  They walked arm in arm until Mina had settled down. She let Nan’s mindless chatter calm her nerves until she could focus on the matter at hand. “Please”, Mina prayed quietly to herself. “I need to find the Grimoire. I can’t do this alone.”

  Mina tried to hold back the tears that started to form in her eyes. The search for the Grimoire seemed hopeless and after the scare in the pet store and alley, she knew she probably wouldn’t live through one Grimm fairy tale. She had just about given up when her feet started in the opposite direction. Mina wasn’t prepared for the shift of balance beneath her and stumbled over a welcome mat.

  Biting back an angry reply, she kicked back the mat she tripped over and glanced up at a building. There wasn’t a marquee or name on the building front, just a precariously hung wooden sign with a picture of a bull and stag. The same tingling sensation that took over her body at the bakery was back and was trying to force Mina to enter the building.

  Mina pulled on Nan’s arm tentatively and led her into the store, being on the alert to not walk into another pet-infested store. You couldn’t be too careful especially with two animals on the store sign.

  It was nestled discreetly between Pottery Palace and Rosie’s Flowers. The quiet tinkle of a bell announced their entrance into the small dark store.

  “Hello! Anyone here?” Mina called out when no one came to greet them.

  “Maybe they are not open? I’m going to go check outside to see if the hours are posted.” Nan stepped out the rickety wooden door and down the front steps.

  Mina had the distinct feeling that someone was watching her. Turning around in a circle she took in the dark oak shelves, the paisley wallpaper, the dimmed and burned out lights. A check-out table and old cash register stood off to one side and looked as if it hadn’t been used in ages. The place was clean and dust-free, but had the feeling of being empty for a long time, or at least empty of anything living.

  A large chair stood to one corner and Mina began to walk toward it when she heard the distant sound of children laughing.

  “Hello? Who’s there?” She took a few hesitant steps in the direction she thought she heard the laughing come from. “You can come out; I’m looking for a book. Maybe you can help me?”

  A glow began in the back of the store and the sounds of children laughing continued. Mina followed the light as it grew brighter and seemed to pulse with its own rhythm and ended at a back wall. The light disappeared and she was encased in darkness. Letting her eyes adjust, Mina had a moment of fear when she turned and was confronted with red angry eyes. Jumping back, she stumbled and knocked into something furry that shifted from her weight. Mina screamed. When nothing reached or lunged for her she reached out her hands to touch the angry glass eyes she had seen earlier. They were part of a life size giant bull, but it was fake or dead. Mina wasn’t really sure she wanted to know. But whoever was the taxidermist behind the bull was incredible, she swore that it breathed. Behind her stood another life-sized animal. But it was a very large stag, frozen on his hind legs.

  The stag and bull were lifelike and magical in their realism, neither touching the ceiling nor the floor, and were in front of an intricately painted forest mural. The stag was on his hind legs, head angled as if challenging the raging bull. Mina touched the soft fur of the stag and felt heat emanating from the life-sized diorama. The stag swayed and slid a few inches to the right. Pressing her head to the wall, she could see that the pieces were attached to the wall behind and were movable, able to slide to the right or left.

  Taking a few steps back she looked at the two animals and decided that they were on the verge of being joined in battle. Mina went to the heavy black bull and pushed as hard as she could to move it to the center of the wooden puzzle. Grunting and biting her lip Mina struggled with the bull piece. It was as if it was fighting her instead of the stag. When she knew she had moved it as much as she could, Mina tackled moving the large stag piece. Unbelievably it slid with ease toward the bull, almost eagerly. When the stag reached the bull in battle in the exact center of the diorama, a loud audible click was heard followed by ominous creaking.

  Mina only had a moment to react as the giant bull, unhinged and fell forward toward her, horns aiming for her heart. Leaping to the left, she dodged the heavy piece as it collided with the stone floor, breaking in two large pieces. When the dust settled, a door appeared where the bull was moments before. How can that be? Mina thought. There was nothing behind there.

  Dusting off her hands, Mina stood and looked toward the stag and blinked in surprise. It was gone. She turned and couldn’t figure out where the large stag had disappeared to. Finally giving up, Mina decided to try the door that appeared behind the defeated bull. Opening it led to a dead-end circular room. Stepping through, led no further clues as she was surrounded by large stone blocks. There was stone above her, to the side of her, below her. Wait!

  Below her, there was something carved into the floor. Crawling on her hands and knees, Mina did the best she could to wipe away what looked to be hundreds of years of accumulated dust. Her fingers could feel the distinct outline of something. Getting excited, she blew on the engraving, scattering dust particles everywhere. They were all over her clothes and hair, making her sneeze, but it didn’t deter her.

  “So that’s where you went!” Mina spoke quietly as her f
ingers traced the outline of a fighting stag. It was the same stag on the sign and diorama piece, but in a circle of stone three feet in diameter. It looked as if it was a seal or cover for something. Mina stood up and looked around the room for something to break the seal. Finding nothing she turned and stepped on the stone circle in an attempt to head out of the room, but the ground shifted beneath her causing her to drop to her knees.

  The stone circle was dropping from underneath her into what looked to be, nothingness. Scrambling Mina, leapt away from the circle and dug her fingers into the crack between another stone in the floor. The stone circle stopped moving and waited, almost patiently until her fingers gave out and she slid back into the hole to land ungracefully on her backside. Once properly seated again, the stone circle continued its descent, although slower as if not to scare Mina further. It didn’t help, she was still terrified. The stone connected with another stone and it stopped a few inches in the air. The new room Mina was in was dark; the only light came from the hole she just descended.

  It took a few minutes for her eyes to adjust but when they did, she noticed they were in what looked like an oubliette, but with one difference, there was still a way out. Mina started to call for help but felt power gathering again, warning her that something was about to happen. Never leaving the circle of light cast into the hole, Mina waited. A small voice warned her to not step off of the stone circle. What if it decided to float to the ceiling again shutting her in the dark forever? What if there wasn’t anything anchoring it here and if she left it would never float again. There were too many “what if’s” to convince herself to not leave the stone tablet. That was until her eyes alit on a clear glass coffin.

  Mina averted her eyes, afraid of what she might see within the coffin. It could have been the bones of a small child or animal. When her mind was through playing tricks, Mina cast another glance to see that the glass coffin was not a coffin, but a glass chest. Instead of holding remains of someone who passed away, it held a yellowed scroll. Her heart began to thud with anticipation. Was this it? Was that the Grimoire?

  Everything was surreal, misty and cloudy like a dream. Mina had no choice but to step off the stone and approach the chest to open it. Fortunately it opened as soon as her fingers touched the lid, the scroll began to unwind of its own accord, and the yellowed paper seemed to resonate with a hum of power. Upon the scroll were words written in many different languages and dialects, along with beautifully crafted pictures.

  Staring in awe, the painted pictures began to move and walk and speak. The voices and singing came from within the scroll. Reaching a tentative hand up to touch the scroll, Mina recoiled as it shifted, moved and transformed into a large leather bound book.

  Wow, that’s huge Mina thought. How am I supposed to carry that around? The book, as if hearing her, shifted and changed again into a smaller thinner book.

  Still conspicuous, Mina debated. Now there are people after me and they are going to be looking for any kind of book. Another bright light appeared and the small book morphed into a school math book.

  “Better, but not quite, I’m terrible at math”. Mina encouraged the book to keep trying and it finally changed again, this time into a slim red spiral notebook.

  “Perfect. No one will expect a study notebook!” The book seemed to agree because it quit changing and floating around and came to rest in front of Mina.

  She picked up the notebook and was surprised by how light it felt. It was blank. The pictures where gone, the writing, everything had completely disappeared.

  “So how are you supposed to help me?” She held up the book to the light as if expecting an answer. Feeling slightly let down, she touched the cover lightly and whispered. “I hope you know what you are doing, because I sure don’t.” The book seemed to warm up in answer.

  Mina took the notebook and tucked it under her arm stepping back onto the stag platform, hoping and praying it would take her back up, into the world above. The stone rose into the air, taking Mina with it. It thudded softly as it clicked back into place. Mina was now back on the first floor. But as soon as her feet left the seal, the color seemed to fade from the room. The warm tones of the front room diminished and began to fade. It was as if she had unplugged the store from its battery source and it was now draining. Walking a little faster toward the front of the store, she tripped on a rug and saw that the store itself was shrinking! The shelves had gotten closer together and the rugs were moving beneath her feet.

  Mina began to run and had to dodge the falling books, figurines and various pottery as the shelves started to topple over. The walls began to twist and turn like a tornado and the room was being sucked back into the vortex. Books and flying papers flew knocking into Mina. She had to hurry and get out.

  Running, she saw the entrance door but by now it was two feet smaller. Mina threw her shoulder into the red door and it gave out with little resistance. She flung herself off the steps landing in a heap, scraping her elbows and knees on the hard cement, knocking the breath from her.

  Mina’s lungs felt like they were on fire as she tried to catch her breath. Groaning she turned over to look at the store and saw…a blank brick wall. The building had disappeared! Sitting up, Mina looked to the left and saw the pottery store and Rosie's Flowers, but there was no longer an unmarked store, just a plain brick wall. Quickly getting to her feet and brushing the dirt off of her, Mina tried to not draw any more attention her way; she was already getting a few uncomfortable stares. Where was Nan?

  Something was wrong! The sun wasn’t where it was supposed to be, it was almost evening. Mina looked at her watch and saw that it had stopped at 1:11 PM. Glancing to the clock in the square it was closer to 7 PM. Mina had been in the store for six hours? That couldn’t be possible, could it? Why didn’t Nan come back in? Where was she?

  Instead of waiting, she decided to head home, by cutting through the back alley between roads, something she had done hundreds of times before, and never would Mina have worried about meeting strangers down this particular alley, until tonight, when a dark shadow separated from the wall and followed her.

  Chapter 12

  Mina felt the dread run across her spine giving her an instant in which to react, she jumped back. The attacker made a grab for her jacket and she heard the tear of cloth as a piece ripped off in his hands.

  “Little girl, you should know better than to traverse dark alley’s alone. Tch tch tch.” The familiar voice made Mina shudder in terror. How did he find her? It was the same man with the wolf tattoo who assaulted her behind the library. The man chuckled and sniffed the ripped piece of her jacket and began to rub it along his face as if learning her scent. His hands looked longer than humanly possible and his nails were dark and dirty.

  “Leave or I’ll scream,” Mina threatened.

  “I like it when they scream,” The wolf man countered taking another step toward her menacingly. Using his long fingernails he tore the piece of cloth easily like a knife through butter.

  Mina bolted. Holding onto the notebook she ran like crazy down the alley, desperately hoping to make it to the road and people before he caught her. But speed was on her attacker’s side as she was jerked backward onto her back by the hood of her jacket, smacking her head against the pavement in the process.

  Bright dots obscured Mina’s vision as the man made a grab for the notebook. She bit his hand and he roared, the notebook fell and was flung open. Mina tried to scream, but he lunged for her throat and began to squeeze.

  “Please, somebody help me!” Mina yelled. The wolf man and was about to backhand her when a blurry form leapt toward him and knocked him off of her.

  Coughing and scrambling away on her hands and knees Mina grabbed the notebook and tried to make a run for it. One part of her told her to forget it, flight over fight, save her own skin. But another part needed to look, needed to see who it was that was helping her. Craning her neck, Mina saw and gasped. It was a young boy, who couldn’t have been older than sev
enteen. How could she abandon him? Mina froze; she didn’t know how to help him. The boy was definitely overpowered and outweighed but he looked determined.

  The attacker was using his long nails like a weapon, the boy was unarmed and they were circling each other warily. Wolf man lunged, the boy feinted to the right and sidestepped; turning he spun his body into the older stronger man and was able to land a side kick to his solar plexus. Grunting he lowered his head and pretended to lower his guard. The dark-haired boy ran and was going to kick him in the face but the man lunged forward, snapping his jaws very similar to a real wolf and knocked the boy down out of the air as if he was swatting a fly.

  The boy landed on the ground and tried to roll but the wolf man was everywhere and soon the boy was trapped within reach of the man’s huge strong forearms.

  The man laughed evilly and grabbed the young boy around his chest lifting him into the air hoping to crush him.

  “Use the book!” The boy yelled.

  “What?” Mina asked.

  “Turn the page.” He was struggling and losing the fight.

  Grabbing the notebook that had landed open, she flipped the page and gasped as a bright light flooded the alley and the notebook grew warm to the touch, a loud buzzing noise grew louder and louder. Mina dropped the notebook in fear as light flew out of the book and straight for the man with the wolf tattoo. It looked to be painful, because he hollered and fell backward, crawling away from the light. A few more whimpers followed then he gave up and ran out of the alley, the light diminishing after him.

  “Grey Tail will be back, there’s no question about that. You need to be more careful.” The boy looked Mina over. “What was fate thinking, choosing you?”

  Mina turned to look at the boy. “What are you talking about? Who are you? Who’s Grey Tail and how do you know about the book?”

  “Doesn’t matter,” he shrugged his shoulders. “All you need to know was that I’m here now and he’s gone.” The boy put his hands in his pockets and didn’t make any move to come closer to Mina. He looked Mina over head to toe, his whole demeanor changed and his shoulders slumped.