UnEnchanted (An Unfortunate Fairy Tale #1)(32)

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.