Family Secrets

S teph somberly approached his aunt’s house. He heard Joe down the hall as he entered so he wasted no time marching ahead.

Near the center of his aunt's study sat a busy desk with books and baubles on it, a luxurious leather chair sat behind. A similar chair sat in the corner furthest from the door with a small table and lamp next to it. Each wall had a bookshelf to the ceiling full of ornate books. Steph first scanned the intricate books on the shelf opposite the door. “I don’t think I’ll read that many books in my life,” he mumbled to himself. Any further thoughts of literature were put on hold by the scene of his younger brother pacing back and forth scanning the shelves while holding a jade tiger statue. It was nearly identical to the tiger Steph had received for his fifteenth birthday.

“Sup, bro?” Joe spun. “Just gonna walk around all day or you gonna help pack?” Steph smirked.

Joe returned the smirk, “Hey I’ve been here a while, sleepyhead. Comb your hair next time!”

Steph chuckled and replied, “Always so mouthy.”

“You started it, dingus!” Joe replied. Still laughing, they came together for a back-slapping hug.

“So, what have you been doing so far? Catching up on some reading?” Steph enquired, gesturing toward overpacked bookshelf to his left.

“Yeah and playing with her stuff. Look at this tiger, man!”

“Looks just like mine. She got me one for my birthday, remember?”

“I never got one,” Joe grumbled. “Whatever. Mom said to put all the books into those boxes, and we can keep anything we want.” Steph nodded and turned to the shelf to his left.

Some of her leatherbound books were clearly read more often than others. The nearest of which said ‘Common Potions for Everyday Use’ on the spine. Steph raised his eyebrow at the title but did not dwell on it. He gestured to the shelf across the room nearest the door, “I’ll start over there with the atlases and stuff.”

“What a geography nerd,” remarked Joe.

“Yeah just go check her desk for some books at your level with pictures,” Steph retorted with a chuckle.

Steph began looking through the massive tomes on the shelves while his brother hummed wistfully. Bringing them to his apartment would be a workout, he thought. His thoughts turned to Aunt Rose. How she had collected, transported, and deposited the prodigious books onto the shelves baffled Steph. “Guess I’ll never know,” he mumbled sadly.

Their great Aunt Rose’s death had plunged a knife deep in their family’s hearts. Little had changed since they found out a week ago and the wound was still fresh. The older sister of his maternal grandmother was well known as an eccentric lady who would often travel around the world. She gave everyone in the family strange but interesting gifts for birthdays, Christmas, or during any regular visit. It seemed that she had never needed a reason to give away a peculiar artifact from another country.

“Hey, dingus!” Steph jumped to find Joe staring at him from behind the desk. “Come look at this!” Joe’s enthusiasm was contagious enough for Steph to amble over.

Hunched over the desk, Joe was peering into the open bottom drawer of the desk. Deep within the drawer was the headache-inducing sight of a seemingly small, black leatherbound book. Steph’s perception was warped, and it seemed to bend reality. While appearing small it was all too large for the drawer. Steph had it in his hand before he realized he had grabbed it and read the title aloud, “Incantation Liber”.

“What does that mean?” asked Joe.

Without pause, Steph opened the book and found a table of contents that baffled him. “‘Command Spells?’” He read.

“Spells?” Joe asked excitedly. Steph was already flipping further into the book to the command spells section. The script seemed to glow and dance before his eyes, he had to strain his eyes to read them. Had he not felt the book in his hand, he would have thought it was a hallucination. “What does it say?” asked Joe.

“Just… a bunch of weird words. I don’t know what they mean,” explained Steph.

“Try to read them! What if they are actual spells?” Joe excitedly asked.

“Ok, how’s this. Volitant,” Steph incanted while pointing at another book on the desk. As he spoke, a powerful echo reverberated in his skull.

“No way!” yelled Joe excitedly as the book floated gently at eye level. “Bro that’s so cool! What else can it do?” Joe asked eagerly. Mind still reeling from the implications of his actions, Steph flipped back to the table of contents.

“So, there are summoning spells, protecti-.”

“Summon something!” commanded Joe, giggling.

“Ok, ok,” said Steph, quickly flipping through the pages. Joe was bouncing with excitement. “Hmm, oh man, this should be good,” Steph said as he focused on the arcane script.

“Aurum Accersi,” Steph invoked, hearing the same echo in his head.

A clank heralded a hand-sized gold coin appearing on the desk. “Dude, is that gold?” asked Joe. Steph eyed the coin in awe. “Do it again!” yelled Joe as he examined the coin.

A second incantation and a thud later, the first coin had a twin. This time Steph took a step toward the desk and stumbled, dizzy from the reverberations. “Bro, we’re gonna be rich!” remarked Joe excitedly.

“Man, what do you think they’re worth?” asked Steph.

Quickly checking his phone, “gold is seventeen hundred dollars an ounce! Oh, it’s in U.S. dollars. That’s twenty-three hundred Canadian!” Joe informed excitedly. Steph, speechless until now asked, “Is it real gold? What does it weigh?”.

“Let’s use that scale in the bathroom,” said Joe.

After weighing the coin, Joe and Steph found that they were a little over half a pound each. “There are sixteen ounces in a pound, right?” asked Joe. Steph nodded assurance. “So, we have a little over forty thousand dollars here…” said Joe, eyes wide and staring through the coins in his hand.

“Let’s do it again! What did you say? Ore accersi,” Joe quickly invoked. The book glowed subtly, and Steph saw Joe flinch at the echoes he must be experiencing. A dull thud on the floor indicated the arrival of something heavy.

Before them, a fist-sized, dark, metallic rock had manifested on the desk. “Yeah, I don’t think that was it,” said Steph.

Joe had pain in his eyes when he looked at Steph, “that didn’t feel good. I don’t like the noises.” Joe was rubbing his head as they left the bathroom with the two coins and the metallic rock.

“I don’t think we should be meddling with this book anymore. I’m getting a bit dizzy,” said Steph.

“Aww, man, but think of how much money we could get if we keep doing it. What did you have to say though?” Joe asked insistently.

Steph flipped through the pages again and realized he could not find the right page. “I can’t see it, dude. It’s like the pages have changed. Don’t try again,” Steph implored. Joe did not look well enough to try again anyway. He huffed defiantly regardless.

“Can you just try one more?” Joe pleaded.

Steph flipped back to the summoning pages to check once more if he could see where the spell was. “I can’t find it anywhere. How about this one… Canis lupus familiaris iuvenis accersi.” Instead of a thud, there was a soft patter as four paws landed on the floor. Looking up at the awestruck brothers was a golden retriever puppy wagging its tail. It gave a soft bark that woke them from their trance.

“Oh my god!” They yelled in unison.

Joe got to it first and picked it up excitedly, “He’s adorable! You summoned a puppy!”

Shaking his head nervously, Steph asked, “what are we supposed to do with a puppy?”

“It doesn’t matter! Summon another! Look at him!” Joe spat quickly. “Summon another!” Joe asked again.

“No, I don’t think we should. We need to put this thing away.” Steph said confidently and turned to put it on the shelf.

Steph’s body did not have his mind’s conviction and he could not put the book down. Peaking over Steph’s shoulder, Joe tried to read from the book again, “canis lupus accersi.”

“Dude, stop!” yelled Steph, but it was too late. In an instant, what appeared to be the size of a horse with a dog’s face appeared in front of them. Two malevolent eyes stared at their next meal while a growl rumbled out from deep within the beast.

Frozen in terror, “oh no…” was all Steph could mumble.

“Come on!” urged Joe, tugging at Steph’s arm, and grabbing the puppy. The wolf’s instantaneous conjuration left it stunned for barely a heartbeat, but it kept Steph and Joe alive. Joe dizzily pulled his brother and the puppy to the bathroom, closing the door in the wolf’s face.

Steph sat wide-eyed and trembling against the door while Joe sat on the toilet cradling the puppy. “Joe, are you kidding me. Why did you summon a goddamn wolf!” Steph screamed in panic-induced rage. “I’m sorry! I couldn’t read the whole thing!” Joe stuttered in one breath. The wolf battered the door. “Oh no,” they both mumbled in unison.

“Use the book or something! Get rid of it!” urged Joe, then whispered into the puppy’s ear, “It’s gonna be ok, it’s gonna be ok,” while cradling it to his chest. Steph flipped through the book rabidly as the door shook and the wolf continued snarling. Steph could hear the door cracking and knew time was scarce. “Hurry up!” Joe squealed, still shaking.

“You’re not helping!” Steph snarled.

Steph knew he ran out of time when he heard the last bang against the door. He jumped away just in time to miss it swing open and the strike plate clang onto the floor. Joe screamed in abject terror, expecting his brother to be eviscerated by claws and fangs.

In that instant, one word glowed brighter, illuminated in his time of need. “Volitant!” Steph finally invoked the word of power as the wolf lunged…

…And became weightless as it floated to the ceiling, confusion written in its predatory eyes. Steph knew he could not give it a chance to recover.

Another word blazed brightly on the page. Without wasting time, he uttered, “Exilium!” Steph felt the pull of the air as the wolf dissipated with a thwomp. Still mewling on the toilet, Joe finally opened his eyes to see his brother staring wide-eyed through the door and shaking.

“I hate magic,” Joe declared. Steph finally looked at him with wild eyes, the corner of his mouth twitching into a sneer. “We have to get rid of this book,” he grumbled, “and fix this door.”

Joe stood finally, still clutching the puppy to his chest, “At least we’re all ok. And we have a puppy.”

“Just what we needed,” said Steph, petting its head softly.

They went back into the study to survey the damage, finding scratch marks from wall to wall.

“This place is destroyed…” Steph whispered hopelessly.

Joe put down the puppy to let it walk, then said “I think you’re right; we should get rid of that book.

Steph rolled his eyes and turned to the puppy as it relieved itself on the floor. The smell was appalling, making Steph pull his sweater over his nose. “You get to clean that up,” he joked,

“Pffft, you summoned him!” Joe argued.

“I dealt with the damn wolf that you summoned,” Steph returned.

“Fine,” Joe conceded, sighing with exasperation.

Steph meandered to the desk, finding the coins that still gently glimmered there. “Over forty thousand dollars… Hey Joe, after we replace the door, we’ll still have twenty thousand dollars each.”

Joe smiled, “for twenty thousand dollars, I’m ok with cleaning up dog poop.”