Family Secrets

Walking into the elegant, well-kept Victorian-style house would never be the same again. Grandma Lillian’s rowdy laughter was missing from the entryway, and the smell of her baking was nowhere to be found. The small things she’d done to make the house a home were slowly dwindling as boxes were packed up and items sorted for keeping, selling, or giving away.

I’d done my grieving, for she’d been gone almost three weeks now. She had passed, not quietly in her sleep like some would expect of an 89-year-old woman, but out in her garden, digging in the soil and tending her plants. A neighbor discovered her, still holding the flowers she had picked to bring in the house. Her heart had decided it was time to go be with Grandpa. So I’d spent the past few weeks reminiscing and grieving the loss of a one-of-a-kind woman.

I walked into the entryway and looked around. I was here today to begin sorting the library. Grandma Lillian had passed on her love of books to me, so I had been assigned to organize that section of the house. The silence of the place got to me though, as I wandered down the hallway, taking note of the small details that had often been hidden in the loud family gatherings and active visits to Grandma and Grandpa’s. I pulled out my phone and turned on some classic rock. Nothing like AC/DC to make you feel like you’re not alone.

I went to shove the phone back in my pocket and dropped it. It bounced a couple times, then landed behind a random box sitting in the doorway to the library. I hadn’t seen this box in any of my earlier visits and wondered where it had come from. I reached to grab my phone, then realized the box wasn't a typical cardboard moving box - it was more like a miniature pirate trunk. It was cumbersome and made out of old, scarred wood, about two feet by two feet maybe. There was even a lock on the far side of it. Whoever had gotten it in here must have been strong.

Getting down on my knees next to it, I tried to pry the lid open. It wouldn’t budge, so I grabbed a letter opener from the desk. It slid in between the opening, but wouldn’t open the lid. I tried using the letter opener as a key in the keyhole, but that didn’t work either. Sitting back on my heels, I pondered how to get the thing open. Then I wondered why I wanted it open so badly. We’d opened and closed so many boxes these past three weeks that I never wanted to open one again. Except this one. Really badly.

I ran my hand over the lid, trying to wipe away some of the dirt. That’s when I noticed the writing on the trunk. At first it looked like shipping and packaging directions, but as I looked closer, I realized the words weren’t in English. They definitely didn’t look like any other language I’d seen before either. My overactive imagination instantly thought - Is it a code? I tried sounding out the letters, and although I’m sure I butchered the pronunciation, as soon as my voice died out, the lock on the trunk clicked open.

“What the…” I jumped up and back. I looked around nervously. Should I open it the rest of the way? I crept back toward the box and slowly lifted the lid. Instead of creatures jumping out at me, there were stacks of small black books. They were smaller than a normal notebook and bound in black leather. I picked one up from the top and opened it. It’s the same type of language that’s on the outside of the trunk. I flipped through it and then picked up the next one. There were at least a dozen small black books full of this mysterious writing.

“What on earth?” I mumbled to myself. I recognized Grandma Lillian’s handwriting, and the longer I stared at the pages, the more I felt like she’s right there with me. Suddenly the letters began to shift and swirl. I nearly dropped the book, but my curiosity kept me hanging on tightly. The letters began to form words. Not English words, but words my mind seemed to recognize. Before I knew it, I’d spoken the words out loud.

“Enubrium con cavatar. Groviatas irim si!”

As my voice faded from the library, I realized how powerful and loud it had been. Normally a quiet wall-flower, the voice that had spoken those words almost didn’t seem like my own. I looked down into the box and it seemed like nothing had happened. Hearing a noise behind me though, I whirled around to see a small, evil-looking creature with sharp teeth crawling out of a hole in the floor that looked remarkably like some kind of portal or door. I’ve seen enough Marvel movies to know that’s not a good sign.

As the small creature clambered its way out of the hole, a human arm reached out from within the portal, grabbed it and hurled it back to where it came from. I squeaked and backed up several feet as the rest of the human emerged. He had his bare back to me and was swearing and yelling at things I couldn’t see within the portal. Wearing what looked like buckskin trousers, he was large and muscly. He took a step back, then another, and another, waving his arms and pushing with his hands, straining the entire time.

He took another step back so he was completely out of the portal, then waved his arms and shouted something similar to what I’d said earlier.

“Enubrium es cavatat. Groviatas irim si!”

The portal started to close, and when it was nearly gone he whipped around to glare at me. He started growling at me in that language I didn’t really understand, while his nearly black eyes burned obscenities at me. I couldn’t speak with him yelling at me like that, so I merely pointed at the creepy, slimy monster that sneaked through the quarter-sized opening in the portal. He paused in his tirade to turn around, then cursed as the slime creature melted through the furnace vent and disappeared.

He sprinted to the vent and yanked the cover right from the floor screws. He hurled it behind him and somehow I dodged the incoming missile while he shoved his arm down the vent as far as it would go. When he couldn’t grab the creature, he turned to me and began speaking again. When my mind couldn’t grasp how to respond, he rolled his eyes, then chanted something in that familiar language again.

The next time he spoke, my eyes widened and my jaw dropped. I could understand him.

“Who are you and how did you let the gateway open? Have you no sense at all? For eons that gateway has remained closed and locked down! My father, his father before him, and his father and so on and so on have managed to keep that doorway from opening. Why, of all times, did you have to open it now? When I’m in charge?”

His tirade continued, but I cut him off.

“How in the hell can I understand you?” was all I could come up with, even after his fantastical tale.

He paused and looked hard at me. Finally really looked at me. Then his eyes slowly tracked their way around the room until he found a window. His long stride took him to it in less than three steps and he yanked back the curtain so hard it nearly fell off the wall.

“I put a spell on you, so we could communicate,” he said with a shrug, then let the curtain fall back over the window. “What year is it?”

I looked at him incredulously. “You put a spell on me? Are you Gandalf? Or Harry? Or the Wizard of Oz? What the hell is going on here?” I started laughing even though I didn’t find any of this funny. Was this what it was like to lose your mind? I knew grief did strange things to people, but this went beyond that.

He looked as confused as I felt. I thought back over the whole situation, then slowly turned to the chest of black books. His eyes followed mine and I saw the dawning and recognition in his face as he put the pieces of the puzzle together. I was still missing too many pieces for it to make sense though.

“Who are you?” I tried again.

“I am called Taynin,” he replied, returning his attention to me. His eyes ran up and down me, making me shiver and blush. “What year is it and where are we?”

“It’s 2021 and we’re in Galena, Illinois. Where are you from?”

“Who are you? How did you come into possession of these spellbooks?” He completely ignored my question.

“My name’s Lily and these were my grandmother’s I guess,” I politely responded. “Where are you from again?”

He turned around and walked back to the trunk. My jaw dropped open at being ignored again, then snapped shut. I narrowed my eyes and got ready to rip into him for ignoring me when he suddenly turned around.

He had an understanding look on his face.

“My apologies for not answering. I just need to know one more thing. These were your grandmother’s. Did she never teach you about them? Or anything that goes along with them?” His eyebrows were raised, almost in disapproval or disappointment.

“No! I’m not even sure they’re hers. They just showed up in the middle of the room today!” I said heatedly.

He raised his palms in surrender.

“I meant no offense. I am merely surprised the great Lillian did not prepare her family and loved ones for the possibility of a breach or manifest.” As I continued to look at him in shock, he went on. “I am from a place called Dali Meridacca, where good and evil magic fight for possession of planets and galaxies such as this one.”

As I started to pinch myself to wake up from this nightmare, I watched a new hole open in the fabric of my family library. Ominous looking beasts began to climb and clamber through the hole faster than I could get words out of my mouth. It was like Taynin sensed them though. He whirled with an unnatural speed and threw his hands in the air as he chanted spells I could now understand. The portal closed, but more creatures had made it into the house.

One broke through the library glass and bolted away into the alley. Another bolted out the library door and into the hallway, eventually crashing out the front door. Tayning magically ended two before they could escape. He paused, breathing heavily and I couldn’t help but admire his quick reflexes and power.

Then one came at me from seemingly out of nowhere. All my years of kickboxing to stay in shape came in handy as I let out a roundhouse kick and uppercut, knocking the scaly thing back towards Taynin. He quickly ended this one, then turned and looked at me in admiration.

“They’ll just keep coming now,” he commented. “Now that one’s in, they can open more doors. They’ll have to be in locations where the magic is strong, but they’ll be able to get in. There are other protectors here in this realm, but I can’t find them and control the chaos at the same time. I need your help.”