Secrets of the Cellar (Inside Secret #1) || COMPLETED

Chapter One: Wondering

Sometimes I wonder, why do people keep secrets from us? Why do people lie to us, even when we think they're our best friends, our closest things in life? That's what I wondered when my friends and I found the necklaces.

We were just sitting around on the bean bags I set down on the floor of my family's old cellar, when something caught my eye. It looked like it glowed, but I couldn't be sure. I nudged my friend Krissy in the knee.

"What? Do you have any ideas on what we should do next week, Delphi? Everyone else is obviously stumped." She shoots them a glare, but they're not paying attention. My friends are sitting down, playing with their phones and texting.

"No, sorry, but take a look at that. It looks kind of shiny." I pointed to the reflective thing laying on the ground next to the big trunk that mom always keeps locked. Everyone looked at the object, because, well, why not? I went around the bean bags and picked it up. It was a necklace, and it must have fallen out of the chest while mom was going through it.

I studied it a bit more, turning it over in my palm while my friends were coming towards me. The necklace has a gem strung on it, that sort of looks like a teardrop. The chain is golden and the gem itself is a yellow color. But it wasn't glowing, and only must have looked like it, because I was far away and couldn't see it well.

"What is it, Delphi? It looks like a necklace to me." Emilie says. I nod, and my friends approach the trunk.

"I think it fell out when my mom was looking through the chest." I tell them. I go over to the trunk and try to open it. It gives way very easily, and I didn't even need the key. Besides though, I can never find the metal thing, anyway. Brianna gives me a curious look.

"I thought your mom always keeps it locked." Brianna asks me. I shrug. She must have forgotten or something.

"Well, maybe not this time." I answer. My friends all crowd around me as I go through everything that's in the trunk. There are 8 books in the trunk, all leather-bound, and tied together with a piece of shiny twine. There are golden leaves that wrap around the opening, and it feels heavy when I lift a book up. Then there are 7 more of these necklaces, each in a separate box of it's own. I open a box with the word Martin on them, and take out the necklace. It is colored with a shades of purple, mesmerizing me slightly, also in the shape of the other necklace. Engraved on the back is EM.

"Wow. This is going to be, like, the first time I've ever said this, but, these things," She holds up a white necklace with FV on it, "are cuter than my usual pair of sneakers." Alicia says, very seriously. We all nod and laugh. Brianna paces in the room.

"But what are they?" Brianna asks. That's exactly my question.

"I'm guessing that they're just family heirlooms of Delphi's." Krissy says, picking up one of the boxes to examine them. It says Ericks on the lid. She opens it, and finds another square-shaped pendant with a different color than the rest, an orange. It says ME on the back of it.

"Melanie Ericks..." I think I hear her whisper, but I pretend to not hear her, because then it wouldn't make sense. Why would I ha--

"Maybe," I say, interrupting my thoughts, answering Krissy's question. Then Tyler laughs. I give her a look that says, "I think you're crazy, but I love you anyways." She smiles at me, as if she knows what I'm thinking.

"What?" Kellie asks her, "What's so funny?" Tyler starts shaking her head, and then, as if trying hard not to smile, she says:

"Look at the words and initials on the books, cases, and necklaces! I mean, like, look at mine! It says GR on it. My grandma's name is Gabriella Rodrique. And I think that they all match! What a coincidence!" Then she goes back to shaking her head.

"Unless it's actually not a coincidence!" I say. I lay out all the books with their necklace boxes. Martin with Martin, Casiva with Casiva, and so on. After I do, I realize that each box is color-coordinated with it's book.

"Wait a second," Alicia says, almost to herself. If they have our last names and our family's initials on them, what are you doing with them?" I think about this. Why does my family have them?

"Wait, weren't our grandmothers all best friends? And then our mothers all became best friends? And then we became best friends? Maybe that's why. Maybe our mothers left them at my house for mom to keep?" I ask them, trying to guess why.

"That's a whole lot of maybe's." Tyler says.

"Maybe." Alyssa tells us, making us laugh.

"But I do want to know," Emilie says, after we've all quieted down, "Why haven't our moms ever told us about their secret jewelry? Why haven't they, at least, given us some hints?"

"I don't know," I reply, whispering to myself, "I wonder why?"

Then I hear somebody coming down the stairs.

"Hurry, put them back!" Kellie whisper-tells me. I quickly put the boxes back, and we all share a look. I hurry up and close the chest, and we stuff the books in our bags. Right when we wear our necklaces, and hiding them under out shirts, my mother comes down the stairs to check on us.

"What are you guys doing?" She asks us.

"Nothing." We all answer. Mom gives us all a look that says she knows something, but I hope that isn't true.

So for the rest of the day, we try to forget we even found them. My friends would just have to deal with them when they got home.

And that's how we found the secret in the cellar.