A Miraculous Story Book 1: Verity Queen

• Rise of Truth •

Picture from cover: Verity Queen

"This is my room," Marinette said, waving a hand around.

"Wow, it's certainly a lot bigger and more decorated than mine," Qi said, following her through the trapdoor.

Marinette chuckled and opened the drawer in her dresser containing the first Miracle Box. She clicked on the spot with a horse symbol on it, causing it to open, and removed the glasses from her purse, folding them up and placing them into its proper place. Tikki flew out of her purse as well and floated over her shoulder.

Qi closed the trapdoor and plopped the bag on the rug. Kneeling, he reached inside and pulled out the newer Miracle Box and a new spellbook. It was thick and had a hard, brown cover and the guardian symbol painted on the front, very similar to the grimoire that Gabriel Agreste owned for whatever reason.

"Marinette, this spellbook has information about the Miraculous in this box," he explained, signaling to the light-colored box in front of him. "It also has the hiding spell that you need." He flipped to the back of the book to a certain page and brought it over to her.
"Just follow the instructions. It originally was in Chinese, but it has translations on the side." Qi traced the English words with his finger.

"Umm, okay. 'Step one'," Marinette read aloud, "'select something that you would want to store Miraculous Boxes inside.' I'll just use my dresser I guess." She glanced at the mirror, then back down at the book.
"'Step two, please your hand on it,'" Marinette articulated slowly and obeyed, "'and chant...'"
She stared at the page blankly. It was gibberish, how was she supposed to pronounce this? It looked like one of those unscramble the sentence challenges she'd see in the newspaper all the time. "Uhhh..."

"Chinese spell, Chinese words. Just say it best you can," Qi encouraged.

"Okay," Marinette sighed, clearing her throat. "Zhe ge dong she hui bian chen yi ge fang dong she de dee fang..?"
...
Nothing happened. She scratched the back of her head.

Qi burst out laughing.

"Whaaat?" Marinette accused, a smile slowly growing on her face.

"Nothing, nothing, your pronunciation is just rough," the man giggled, wiping a tear from his eye.

"You do it then!" she pouted, holding the book out to him.

"No, no, I can't," Qi said between breaths, gently pushing the book back to her. "It's tradition. A guardian must be the one to set the spell for their own box or boxes. Also, it's funny." He sucked in a large breath of air and let it out, effectively ending his laughing fit. "I'm okay now, try again."

Marinette playfully rolled her eyes. "Fine," she chuckled.

After trying two more times, she had chanted successfully. Her dresser began to glow white as it changed. When the light faded after a few seconds, it looked exactly the same. However, the knob on the drawer on the very right was still glowing white. Marinette checked the next step, which told her to press whatever was glowing in the order that she'd like to set her passcode. She obeyed and clicked the knob with her thumb. The drawer opened immediately, and inside it was a set of buttons, also glowing white. Those weren't there before.

Tikki hovered over her shoulder. "What're you going to do, Marinette?"

"Uhh... I'll just do this, so I don't forget it," she said, pressing the four buttons along the sides. The white faded from the buttons and they became bronze colored. The mirror then slid away to reveal a secret place behind it. That certainly wasn't there before, either.

"Okay, place the boxes and spellbook inside," Qi ordered, handing her her box.

Marinette did as she was told, then closed the drawer containing the hidden buttons. The mirror slid back into place, concealing the Miraculous items. She was about to press the knob of the drawer to fully close the setup when her phone rang.