UnEnchanted (13 page)

“
No, no, no, no,” Mina
called out frantically, 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 abandoned her efforts. A large striped
snake was disappearing under a shelf, and, from the looks of it,
more snakes were dropping from them by the second. When a boa came
toward Mina’s legs, she screamed and ran toward the front door. She
only hoped the frogs were 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 as she was handing one of the puppies
back to Greg.

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

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

Once they were back on the sidewalk, Mina
kept up a fast pace, causing Nan to nearly 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. The frogs and
snakes—they came after me!” 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?

“
Well, in other news, that
creepo gave me his number,” Nan commented dryly, while staring back
in the direction of the pet store. “The glasses were cute, but he
is totally not my type.”

Mina was taken aback at the calm way Nan
spoke, how unaware she was of what had almost happened in the
store. Nan shook her head and looked at Mina. “What were you saying
again?”

Her mouth dropped open, and then 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.”

The search for the Grimoire was beginning to
seem 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 she felt the tingling start, which
usually accompanied magic of some sort. She felt all her limbs
stiffen, but there was no clear and present danger in their path.
Mina carefully looked up and down the block. Everything appeared
normal, just a busy commercial street with regular people going
about their day. The story wouldn’t do something so public, would
it? She slowed her walk but only felt the tingling intensify.

Turning to warn Nan, she tripped over a
welcome mat and kicked at it angrily. Then she noticed the animals
woven into the mat’s design. It looked very old. She glanced up at
the building in fear. There wasn’t a marquee or name on the
building front, just a precariously hung wooden sign printed with
the same picture, that of a bull and stag.

Was this the Grimoire, or another of the
Story’s games? She had come too far not to find out. Mina pulled on
Nan’s arm tentatively and led her into the building, which was
unlocked.

The quiet tinkle of a bell announced their
entrance in a small dark store.

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

“
Maybe they aren’t open
yet?”

“
Nan, the door was
unlocked.”

“
Maybe the owner stepped
out. I’ll step outside to see if there’s a number
posted.”

Mina started to stop her but realized it was
probably for the best. If something dangerous was down here, she
didn’t want Nan to get hurt. “Why don’t you go next door to Rosie’s
Flowers and see if they know who works here?” she suggested.

As Nan stepped out, Mina had the distinct
feeling that someone, or something, 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 they
hadn’t been used in ages. The place was 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
had begun 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’d heard the noise.
“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 intensified. Mina gulped, but
followed the light as it grew brighter and seemed to pulse with its
own rhythm against a back wall. When she finally reached the wall,
the light disappeared, and she was encased in darkness. Letting her
eyes adjust, Mina turned and was confronted with a pair of 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
either fake or dead. She wasn’t sure she wanted to know. Behind her
stood another life-size animal, this one 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.
They’d been set about six feet apart in front of an intricately
painted forest mural. The stag was on his hind legs, head angled as
if challenging the bull. Mina touched the soft fur of the stag and
felt heat emanating from the life-size pieces. The stag swayed and
slid a few inches to the right. Pressing her head to the wall, she
could see that the animals were attached to sliders on the wall.
Perhaps it was some sort of puzzle.

Taking a few steps back, she looked at the
two animals and decided that they were on the verge of being joined
in battle. The bull looked angry, but the stag bore another
expression entirely; it seemed fearful and determined at the same
time. This must have been a very talented taxidermist. She first
went over to the heavy black bull and pushed as hard as she could,
half expecting it to come alive at any second. Grunting and biting
her lip, Mina struggled with the bull piece until she had moved it
to the center of the wall.

When she knew she had pushed it as much as
she could, Mina tackled moving the large stag piece. Unbelievably,
it slid with ease toward the bull, almost eagerly. But at the
current rate, as she pushed the stag, she realized it would be
positioned dangerously in front of the bull’s horns. The thought
made her uncomfortable, so when the stag had nearly reached the
bull in battle in the exact center of the mural, she pushed up so
the rearing stag would have the advantage. She turned and heard an
audible click over her shoulder, followed by ominous creaking.

Mina only had a moment to react as the giant
bull unhinged from the wall 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 under the stag, breaking
in half. When the dust settled, a door appeared where the bull was
moments before. “How can that be?” Mina thought. There was nothing
there but the mural moments ago.

Dusting off her hands, she looked toward the
stag and blinked in surprise. It was gone, but there was no door
where the stag had once been. She supposed she had no choice but to
try the door that appeared behind the defeated bull. She opened it
slowly, looking behind her shoulder for Nan, reminding herself that
it was better if she weren’t involved. The door led to a dead-end
circular room built of large stone blocks. She looked around the
walls for clues but found nothing but solid stone. 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. Whoever cleaned the shop upstairs hadn’t bothered
with this place. 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 that didn’t deter her.

“
So that’s where you
went!” Mina spoke quietly as her fingers traced the outline of a
fighting stag, glorious antlers in full array. It looked as if it
were 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 cracks
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. Finally she heard a loud thump, and the
floor stopped moving. She could tell by a burst of air she’d
descended to a larger room, though it took a few minutes for her
eyes to adjust in the near-total darkness.

Mina wasn’t sure how she’d get out of here,
and thought about calling 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
inside warned her to not step off the stone circle. What if it
decided to float to the ceiling again, shutting her in the dark
forever? What if she ran into the bull out there? There were too
many “what ifs” 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. 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 the remains of someone who had 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.

As she stared in awe, the painted pictures
began to move and walk and speak. She heard voices and singing, the
same children’s laughter she’d heard upstairs, all coming from
within the scroll. Reaching a tentative hand up to touch the
scroll, Mina recoiled as it shifted and fell heavily to the bottom
of the coffin, now a large leather-bound book.

Wow, that’s
huge
, Mina thought.
How am I supposed to carry that around?
She watched in amazement when the book, as if hearing her
thoughts, slowly began to shrink into a smaller, thinner book. Mina
felt like cheering. She had done it. She had found the Grimoire,
and it was even shape-shifting to suit her needs. It would help
her.

“
Thank you,” she whispered
to the book. Then, after some thought, “That’s still rather
conspicuous,” she said out loud. Another bright light appeared, and
the small book morphed into a school math book.

Mina laughed out loud. “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 notebook.”

She picked up the notebook and was surprised
by how light it felt. She was even more surprised to learn that it
was blank. The pictures were 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’re doing, because I sure
don’t.” The book seemed to warm up in answer.

Mina took the notebook and tucked it under
her arm while stepping back onto the stag platform, hoping and
praying it would take her back up into the world above. She
breathed a sigh of relief when 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. 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.