HEY HEY AND WELCOME BACK TO WP! BEEN A WHILE, HASN'T IT? I FINALY HIT A RUT WITH THE NEW STORY, SO I'M GOING TO AT LEAST TRY TO GET THIS ONE UP TO DATE. PLEASE REVIEW AND ENJOY!

Ch.10: the Labyrinth

I sighed as I sat back and stared up at the ceiling of my room at the Clover Tower. I'm all for peace and quiet, but even I have my limits of doing absolutely nothing. Max doesn't though. She could just sit in the same d*** position and cat nap for hours if she could. Lazy blond.

Alice was busy running errands for Julius, who was working; and Gray was busy running errands for Nightmare, who was hiding from work. I had absolutely nothing to do! I rolled over to my stomach and sighed again, more dramatically. I wish I had some manga, or internet. I'm already in Facebook withdraw!

Speaking of books, now would be a good time for one. I had asked a maid if there was some kind of library nearby, and she had said that there was one right here in the tower! This place was certainly big enough for one, so I continued to inquiry about it. After asking another servant, I had been told that there WAS no library, and I had just been told a farce.

I had looked around some, and had found nothing even remotely like a library. So what do you do when you're faced with a navigation problem? You ask someone who actually lives here!

So I managed to track down Nightmare, who was hiding under a desk in a spare room, and asked him about the library. And HE told me that, and I quote, "that old library is just an old rumor. Nothing but a ghost story dear, you should put it out of your mind."

So now I'm here, bored out of my mind. I stood up and walked over to the book shelf by the wall for the umpteenth time. No matter how hard I looked, there was nothing in this case even remotely interesting! I mean really, who gets a book about making Dutch cogs, even if it's just for show?!

I gave up and pulled out a book that might not be soooo terribly bad, titled 'Medical Magic'. What a cheesy title. I don't know what I was expecting, maybe some gory pictures of incarcerations or lobotomies to pass off as a horror story.

My eyebrows shot up as I opened the book to a random page and out fell something shiny! I bent down and picked up… a key? I frowned at the golden thing. A skeleton key, by the looks of it. What's it doing here?

I looked back at the spot where I'd pulled the book from and noticed something odd about the back of the shelf. A seam? More like an indention.

I pulled out another book to see that the line continued to go in a straight line.

Curiosity killed the cat, they say, but I'm no cat. Within a few minutes, I had pulled out several rows of books and the shelves (which turned out to not be attached to the case, but set on wooden blocks) to revea by 3 foot rectangular shape.

I frowned and pulled the key out of my pocket and fit into the crevice, only for the apparent paint to split. Whatever it was, it had been painted over. I slid the key around to free it from the paint and tried to pull on it. No good. It was stuck tight.

I then noticed another indention inside the rectangle. I hummed and pushed the key past the paint and into what must have actually been a key hole. I twisted and, sure enough, there was a click.

I scooted back as the tiny door swung open slowly.

…..

God I hate it when Max is right. Especially about ridiculous things you'd think she couldn't possibly be right about. You see, I know her well enough to know exactly what she would've said about the door.

She would have said it was WAY too much like Coraline for her tastes. To those of you who haven't seen the movie, it's pretty much about a girl who gets trapped in an alternate dimension beyond a little door in her new house. Max didn't just watch the movie, she watched it about 50 times. When Max loves something, she never gets tired of it. And that extends to more than just the movie; she had read the book about 5 times. She had to read it as part of a group thing and she had re-read it that much by the time the others in her group were half-way through.

She would have told me that this was bad news, and I was a complete idiot if I so much as stuck my head in that door.

AND SHE WOULD HAVE BEEN F****** RIGHT.

At first I had been fascinated with the rumored library that I found past the door. I walked around for a few feet and examined the books. This place was amazing! The ceiling seemed to go on forever and the book shelves just as high. And then I heard the door shut and lock behind me.

So, here I am now, running and screaming through the endless maze that this place was proving to be. Dead ends, endless looking corridors, the works.

Before you say it, yes, I did try the key. But, just my luck, the f****** thing brock off in the d*** lock!

And as it turns out, this library? Yeah, everything in it is a finance account! I'VE BEEN TRAPPED IN HELL!

…

I screamed and nearly cried tears of joy when I saw a door. This one was normal sized and would surely let me out somewhere in the tower! Right?

Ran over and yanked it open, giddy that it wasn't locked…and saw the scene before me. Have any of you ever seen the movie Labyrinth? With David Bowie? Yet another dorky movie Max forced me to watch because really, despite her mature act, she's like a little kid.

This room looked like the scene where Sara and the Goblin King finally had it out in the end. If you don't know the movie, just google images the Labyrinth stairs. You'll know exactly what I'm talking about.

I was staring at that right now.

"…Nope."

…..

Now back in the maze, I was wandering around, having run out of steam to run for now. Jeez, what if there really was no way out?! Humans can't digest paper, so eating the books was out…but I would die of dehydration before I did of starvation!

This place must have one hell of a sense of humor, because just as I was thinking that, I turned a corner and BAM there it was.

I froze and let my mouth gape at the horrendous sight in front of me.

There was a skull, curled up in the corner of where two book cases met. Its bones were brittle and yellowed with age, the inside almost solid with cobwebs. And as I watched, a fat, black and hairy spider shifted in its nest inside the skeletons ribcage, right where the heart would be.

"F*********** THIS SH**************!"

…..

I stared mistrusting at the window in front of me. For God knows what reason, there was a circular, four paned window in this wall. But for some reason, I could only see darkness beyond the glass. I could see hinges, so it would open. Question is, should I? Oh, f*** it.

I walked over and opened the window, poking my head out. And then my stomach slammed into the 'wall'. I gaped as I stared down the edge of a seemingly endless abyss, my hair falling in my face as though gravity had shifted so that forwards was actually down.

I gasped and tried to pull out…only to find that my shirt was caught on something and I couldn't wriggle out of the now hole like window.

Oh my f***** God…. "S-SOMEBODY PLEASE HELP ME!"

…..

I have no idea how long I was stuck in that god forsaken window-hole, screaming for assistance. But by the powers of whatever, it did! I was grabbed around the waist by strong hands and simply lifted out of the window, only to be set gently back on my feet.

I shrieked and fell to my knees, hugging the ground. "Oh thank God I'm alive!"

"Shouldn't you be thanking me?" My eyes shot up to see…the Knight of Hearts guy! Ace, was it?

I grinned, "Ah, yes. Thank you for saving me. What are you doing here?" Ace laughed, "I use this old library as a short cut all the time. You can get to just about anywhere in Wonderland from here; you just have to know your way around!"

I frowned. I was not so new to this place that I hadn't heard about the knight's infamous directional challenge. It kinda reminded me of Max. She got lost going to my old apartment once…and I lived, like, less than a black away from her. If Rose and Belle hadn't been there, she would've ended up all the way to Louisiana!

"Umm…do you know the way around here?" Ace nodded, still grinning, "Sure! Where do you want to go?" "Hmm…how about my room? ...No, wait, just take me to Nightmare's office." I don't like the idea of this guy (or anyone) having such easy access to my room.

He gave me a thumbs up, spun around, and grabbed my wrist, "You got it Lilly! To Nightmare's it is!"

…..

My walk with Ace was mostly filled with question about the foreign world. Ace seemed absolutely fascinated by the fact that I and every other fifteen year old had to sit for eight hours a day to get bored out of our minds.

He asked all sorts of questions, but they mainly centered on daily life. What did I do for fun, did I have other friends back home, what was my family like, those sorts of things. It was kinda strange. He seemed so fascinated by every word I said, like a child listening to their first fairy tale. Maybe because I was a…foreigner. God, no matter how much I try to say it, that word seems racist.

Ace suddenly stopped in front of a bookcase. He patted it, "And here we are!" I raised my eyebrow at him, "…This is it? You're not lost? No 'adventure' spheal?" "…Ouch."

He reached out and pushed a book forward…and the entire case was pushed inwards! And beyond it was Nightmare, sitting at his desk and miserably filling out forms. I guess Gray caught him. He looked up, shocked at our entrance.

Ace waved merrily and I glared at him and ran over, slamming my hands on the desk, "The next time you have company, I suggest you give them the f****** blue prints!"

THAT'S THAT! THE NEXT ONE WILL BE BELLE'S VERY OWN CHAPTER!

SEE Y'ALL NEXT TIME!