Sealed

I was busy arranging the new arrivals at the bookshop when I heard a faint tapping from afar. I checked the entrance, but no one was there. I resumed my work right after, but I was disturbed by tapping yet again moments later. I looked around and found no one yet again. I called my husband, Preston, and asked him to pick me up since his office was about fifteen minutes away.

“Is something wrong with your car?”

“No, but someone keeps tapping on the door and disappearing..”

Preston said he’d be there right away.

As I hung up, the tapping returned. It was strange. I assumed it was coming from the entrance, but it seemed to be coming from behind one of the corner racks. I walked over to the source of the noise and examined the rack. It was as if the sound was emanating from behind it. Was something in the walls? I placed my hand upon the rack and, seconds later, it moved aside, revealing a doorway that was never there before.

“Please, help us.”

There was a woman trapped within the walls. Was it a trap? Could I trust her? The tapping was weak, and gradually grew slower and softer.

“Please…”

The woman’s pleas sounded too genuine; I couldn’t ignore her. Opening the door, I found myself facing a dark hallway. I took my phone out and switched on the torchlight. The hall was narrow and short, and its floors were lined with wood. At the hall’s end was a woman half-submerged in a pool. One of her arms was chained to the wall, while the other was free. The woman released a heavy sigh as her eyes locked with mine.

“I’m so glad you heard me,” she said, letting her half-raised free hand fall to the wooden floor.

I rushed to the woman’s side and knelt beside her, but then I almost fell back when I noticed that the bottom half of her body was that of a fish.

“It’s alright, I won’t hurt you. Honestly, I couldn’t even if I wanted to; I’ve been stuck here for so long that I barely have any energy left even to speak.”

“Wh-what are you?”

“A siren. And it’s not just me in here,” she said, gesturing to the right with her head.

I turned to find another woman chained to the wall. She was unconscious, but she wasn’t a siren.

“She’s human?”

“No, she’s a banshee. We were trapped here by the witch who stole our magical energy along with most of our life force. Without it, we’ve been slowly dying for the past two decades. You’re the only one who can help us.”

“What do you mean? I’m just human.”

“No, you’re also a witch. That door had a spell cast upon it. Your powers unlocked it by instinct alone when you decided to help us.”

I argued with her about me having powers, but she insisted that they were just dormant—that I had just not learned to harness them. The siren said it was likely that my mother had placed a seal upon my powers, as many witches had done over the years to ensure that their daughters were not dragged into the darkness surrounding the world of magic. The siren, whose name I learned was Aria, also told me that there was a spell on the chains that bound her and her banshee friend Sindra. She said they could only be undone once hers and Sindra’s powers were replenished.

Aria helped me write down a spell that would break the seal placed on my powers; she helped me practice the spell for a couple of minutes before I was finally able to unlock them. Feeling that enormous surge of magic coursing through every fibre of my being was an experience beyond words. Aria then taught me another two spells: one to summon the witch, and the other to steal her powers.

A few minutes later, I found myself battling the evil witch. We both struggled to gain the upper hand over the other, volleying energy blasts while also attempting to outdo the other with sheer magical pressure alone. It was a tug-o’-war that lasted for several minutes before I finally made the evil witch lose her footing and drove a blast of energy directly at her. She was rendered unconscious. I then stole all of her powers and took her to the hidden hallway, where I chained her to the vacant wall.

I restored Aria’s and Sindra’s powers, and they both hugged and thanked me. Together, we placed a spell upon the evil witch, sealing her in a deep sleep. Aria and Sindra undid her chains from the wall, but then fused them together with their magic to bind her arms and legs with a single chain link from behind. They said the witch would be punished for her crimes. Before they left, however, Aria gave me a blue crystal and told me that it would help me reach out to her if I ever needed her help. I accepted it and watched as they both disappeared from the room. Then I resealed the passage and walked back to the racks I was arranging earlier.

Preston stormed into the bookshop a couple of minutes later, apologising for being late because of traffic. I told him there was nothing to worry about, and that the noise I heard earlier turned out to be a rat that had snuck into the shop. We had a laugh about it before I wrapped up my work and left with him.