Leaving the two of them, Mina walked past the parakeets and canaries, where melodic whistle made her stop and turn in surprise. The canaries where singing. She leaned in toward the birds slowly to listen to their song, careful to not startle or interrupt them. They fluttered about their white cage, seemingly impervious to Mina’s nearness. When the singing stopped, Mina froze, hoping that they would continue their song, but she noticed that the canaries weren’t the only birds to stop singing. All of them stopped making any kind of noise at all. The macaws, parrots, doves, and parakeets were silent, and stood unmoving in their cages. Never in her life had Mina walked into a pet store and heard this kind of silence.

She swallowed nervously and began to back away from the bird aisle and make her way back toward Nan. The canaries turned their heads and watched her retreat. Being under the scrutiny of so many black beady eyes was enough to make anyone jumpy. “It’s just a coincidence,” Mina chanted to herself. “It’s just a coincidence.” Mina was so nervous that she stumbled into a large fake tree stand with a gray macaw. The bird crooked his head and snapped his beak a few times before it spoke one word. “Doom.”

Chapter 10

The hair stood up on the back of Mina’s neck. “Doom, doom, doom.” The parakeets echoed. The silence disappeared as all of the birds seemed to chirp one word over and over. "Doom. Doom. Doom." Even the canaries seemed to take up the banter.

Mina covered her ears and ran down the aisle, putting as much distance as she could between the bewitched birds and herself. She didn’t stop running until she was in the aquatics department.

“Finally!” Mina muttered. The sound of the birds dissipated into nothingness among the hums of the stacked fish tanks. Looking around at the fish tanks, Mina was relieved. There was nothing here that could talk and spew out frightening words. The fish, either because they have small brains or were numb to humans, ignored her presence next to their tanks.

Mina walked aimlessly, staring at the different fish and thinking back to what had just happened. Did she imagine the birds speaking to her? Or was this more of the Story’s magic trying to take control? There wasn’t any way the canaries could talk, so maybe she had imagined it.

A thumping noise drew Mina’s attention toward a shelf of tanks along a side wall. There wasn’t a tag identifying the species in the tank, but the presence of logs and moss gave her the idea it was some kind of amphibian. Thump, thump. The noise came again and Mina leaned closer to look to see what was making the noise. Something smacked itself against the glass causing Mina to scream and step back. She could clearly see it was a toad, who was not only croaking but throwing himself against the glass as if trying to break through.

Thump! Thump! More thumping sounds came from one tank over. Mina stared in horror as frog after frog came out of hiding and began to throw themselves against the tanks. Eight tanks full of frogs in various sizes began to shake and move with the vibration of the frenzied frogs. Even the tree frogs were causing their smaller tank to shudder the slightest bit.

“Stop it!” Mina hissed out. “You will hurt yourself.” She reached forward apprehensively to push the tank with the large toads farther back on the shelf. The toads took this as a rally point and began to climb on each other’s back as a way to reach to top of the cage and lift the lid off.

Mina looked around in horror and grabbed a large aquarium rock to weigh down the lid. The other amphibians must have got the same idea, and began to hop, climb, and otherwise maneuver to the top of the tank so they could escape through the lid.

“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 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 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 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. 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 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.”

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 looks up and down the block, carefully. Everything looked 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 a 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 into a small dark store.

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