Selina Rose leads a normal life as a princess: attending balls, tending to her garden, and going to school. But soon enough things start to fall apart.
Nothing makes sense in this princess's castle: the walls seem to hear secrets, the library seems...
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Through a heavy wooden door lay a magnificent library with books of every subject, matter, and time. In the middle of the high-ceilinged hall was a hazelnut-brown glazed table with four chairs, two on each side. On either side of the table lay two bookcases filled to the brim. And everywhere you walked, you found identical bookshelves with varying books. To the right, a ladder led to a podium of sorts.
There was an open wooden stage. On it was a lounge surrounded by more bookshelves alongside some couches and cushions. From here, a reader could witness the entire library. The podium itself had no ceilings, rising as high as the ceilings of the actual library. Selina loved the atmosphere of the library at night. The only problem was she was not allowed to be out and about in the castle after 9:00 pm. But she did not care for the rules.
Selina found a bookmarked book on a table in the lounge. She sunk into a couch as she read longer than she could count.
Dusk settled on another night not long after. Selina lay on her bed, anticipating her grandfather clock to strike at 10:30 pm. She went through the scenario in her head again.
If she got caught out of bed during after-hours, she would be under supervision and home arrest. This had happened quite a few times to her over the years and therefore knew how to avoid it. The castle staff were especially stringent about the top floors of the castle, known as the attic, but it never made sense. The multiple floors were simply unexplored. She was not allowed there.
Once when she was a kid, a maid had told her that the top floors had monsters that ate little children. This shook her up at the time but within a few weeks, she had snuck up there. This specific plan of hers had not worked out, as she was met with her angry mother in the attics.
The noise of the clock ticking made Selina feel anxious yet excited.
Selina and her sister Alyssa had been sneaking into the library for what was going to be almost two months.
Tick.
It started as a fun reading session, where she found the most obscure books in the library. It took a lot of convincing from her older sister for Selina to get the guts to do so. During after-hours every Sunday, they would sneak into the library together. Soon, this became a habit for the two of them. Some nights, her sister Alyssa could not make it, saying she needed work to get done.
Tick.
So certain nights, Selina spent alone in the library. She never got bored, no matter how hard she tried, although she did fall asleep plenty of times. But she was always careful to sneak back into her room, just in time, so she would not be questioned why she was sleeping in the library.
Tick.
It was 10:29 pm. Selina's heart froze.
Things had gotten weirder in the following weeks since the first breach.
The first incident happened when Alyssa was climbing a ladder with the bookshelves when she found a metal square hidden behind some bookshelves. At first, they ignored it.
Tick.
On a different night, Selina had to be alone in the library during after-hours, so curiosity got the best of her, so she looked at the square, but it was different. Different from what Alyssa had described it as. It had the letter 'R' on it.
When the bewildered Alyssa looked at the square on a different night, she indeed was shocked. At this point, the pair had concluded that the lines were metal, etched in the castle walls.
10:30 pm. It was time. The excitement had drained out of her, and the only thing that remained was dread knotted in her stomach.
A part of her did not want to know what the square was, but after two weeks of ignoring it, they thought it was time they found answers themselves.
Selina picked up her lit lantern from her dressing table and cautiously left her bedroom door.
They had tried asking questions but did not know if others in the castle had noticed this abnormality. They did not want to raise eyebrows.
Tick.
Selina and Alyssa tried to ask their mother why there might be a metal square in the library, clearly meant to be hidden.
"Mother, is the letter 'R' important to you?" inquired Selina. Her mother gave her a calm yet cold stone look.
"It is our family name, why ask?"
"Just wondering." That is what they had hypothesized: the letter symbolized their family name.
Selina made her way down a flight of stairs, where she saw her blonde sister facing her back to her, crossing her arms with a lit lantern in one hand.
"Ready?" asked Selina promptly. She now stood next to her sister, looking around the dark hallways. They looked at each other.
Soon, they carefully stepped into the throne room and tip-toed to the back.
Alyssa pushed open the door.
"Took you long enough," said a young boy's voice. He had black shabby hair and wore a long coat over his sweater. He was sitting on top of the center table. The sisters stared at the boy for a few seconds as he stared back. "Regretting our life decisions, are we?"
"What are you doing here?" hissed Alyssa, trying not to make much noise. He stood up, with a small book located in his left hand. A lamp on the table focused on his face and revealed his identity. Jim. He was the same age as Selina and a good friend of Alyssa's.
"Well, let's just say you have been so interested in this whole library mystery," he pointed around at the vast hall. "That I couldn't help myself, and well," he leaned on the table with his arm. "I wanted in on the fun." He gave a cheeky little smile, looking at Selina.
Alyssa furiously dashed at him. "You-"
"Look, I can help!" he raised his arms defensively. Alyssa gave him a harsh glare that Selina couldn't see as she brushed past him. Selina approached Jim as Alyssa made the usual path to the ladder.
