The Curse of Once Upon a Time

Chapter VII: The Book

24 hours previous, Serenity had been dying to see Eryx. But things had changed. She felt as though she had more of a reason to want to hide her lungs from him. After the way he had reacted with Lani being in the hospital, she didn't think that he would take her news so well.

Her contemplation about Eryx wasn't even the worst part of the day. She had Lani to worry about. Serenity had hoped that maybe Lani would get the hint and buzz of, but whenever she could, Lani hung around her. She'd even gone out of her way to find her at lunch and sit next to her.

Serenity wasn't a fan. She got that it was nice and all, she was sure that Lani's intentions were good, but the girl had no idea how to take a hint. If nobody answers, then eventually, you stop knocking. If you get the same result over and over, then you stop testing.

She had thought of one way to avoid Lani and her family without any chance of seeing Eryx, but she wasn't ecstatic with the way she had planned it. "I'm going to the library." Serenity said, passing by the kitchen where Arrow and Calliope were talking.

"Don't be gone for too long." Calliope reminded her. "And make sure that all of your homework is done before you start getting ready for bed."

"I know." Serenity said. She had already finished her homework. She wasn't too concerned about it. She slid out of the house, double checking over her shoulder and hurrying towards the side of the house. She checked her pocket to where she had slipped the little key to the cellar.

She undid the lock, trying to keep quiet and pulled the chains off. It made more noise than she had wanted, but it worked. She pulled out her phone for a flashlight and then opened one door to the cellar. She boosted herself up, inhaling the dust as she placed herself on the top of the stairs.

She turned the flashlight on, reaching to close the cellar door. The stairs were cramped and steep. The entire place was wooden, creaky, and the air might as well have been dust. She was really considering her fear of spiders as she saw the cobwebs around the place.

She wanted to hold her breath as she walked down. At least being in there meant that nobody would be able to bother her. She went down the rest of the stairs, looking around as she was at the bottom. The walls were incomplete and the floor was covered in a thick layer of dust and dirt. It looked like nobody had been there in years.

There wasn't much in the room either. The space was cramped, but she was sure that it could fit all of her family members if they really wanted to. It was about half of the size of their dining room.

There was a shelf with three singular books on it. They looked like they hadn't been touched in years. Serenity doubted that anybody had touched them. If they had been down there, then she would guess they weren't all that important. There was an old broken chair that was on the floor and a coffee table that looked older than Serenity. She hadn't been down in the cellar for years.

She kicked around the floor and then reached to pick up the chair. There was only one leg broken. It was dusty and it looked almost like it could break if she sat on it. She picked up the coffee table, adjusting the chair so that the place where the broken leg was supposed to be rested on the coffee table. The table was a little too tall for the chair, but it was alright.

She paused and tested pressing some weight against it. She wasn't sure if it could really support her weight. She turned towards the shelf and picked out the thinnest blue covered book. She wrinkled her nose when she noticed the cloud of dust that arose as she had picked it up. It was gross how much there was. It even layered her fingers.

She moved towards the chair to sit down, being careful as she started sitting down. It creaked and she stood back up. Maybe she could just deal with sitting on the floor instead of risking sitting on the chair. It wasn't that gross.