Day Twenty Nine

Write about secrets revealed

Costal cities are always interesting places, as they draw the folk of land and sea and sky together in one place. The shaded corners and comfortable nooks of such cities hold untold treasures.

One such corner is home to The Junk Trunk, an antique shop run by a sweet-tempered mermaid named Kyrie. The front rooms of the shop are filled with china and shelves and vintage clothing and old keys, but it is in the two back rooms that her real merchandise is kept.

Kyrie sells secrets.

The back rooms are accessed by passing through heavy silver velvet drapes that hang in the doorway to the left of the shop counter. It is impossible to pass through them without being seen by Kyrie, and that is how she likes it.

The back rooms look much like the front rooms, scattered with a jumble of items, with a select few arranged on pillows or tables or in glass cases. But these things are very different.

A battered steamer trunk once contained three babies being shipped from a warzone in a desperate attempt to save their lives. Two of them survived the trip.

A pristine silver teapot belonged to a service owned by a highborn lady, who made a tea spiked with a potion bought from a back-alley witch and served it to the boy who tended to her garden, so that she might seduce him.

Carved wooden bracelets are stained deep, deep red by the blood of a priest who was murdered by a young woman who claimed to be possessed by an evil spirit.

The heavy folds of an old quilt were stitched by a grandmother sending her favorite grandchild to the US, not knowing that he planned to vanish into London with the money his family had raised for him.

Inside a gleaming glass case, seven skeletal hands rest side by side, held together by delicate silver wires. They are all left hands, and each ring finger has a wedding band on it. The hands belonged to seven beautiful young women, all married to the same man. He suspected each wife of being unfaithful and arranged a fatal accident each time.

A golden ring has a tiny spike hidden under the setting, once tipped with poison, which saved the life and innocence of a young woman out walking alone one night.

A graying wooden honey stick sits in a silver bowl. The stick saved the life of a single father of nine. He fell ill and refused to let a doctor treat him. His oldest daughter soaked the honey stick in medicine every day and then took it to him with his tea, eventually healing him.

The old iron key hanging from the pull on the ceiling fan opens a hidden door in a castle that was reduced to rubble many years ago. The door led to a tiny garden, in which the prince who lived in the castle hid three unicorns from a hunting party.

When dealing her back room merchandise, Kyrie operates on the trade system. In order to take a secret, you must leave one behind.