Once Upon a Time: Ever After High (Book 14)

Ch.22 Nature couple

Doing research on her laptop at Gabi's bar, Brooke was too focused to notice that Shannon was walking up to her as she pulled up a seat at the counter and sat next to her.

"There you are," she smiled at her.

"And here you are," Brooke replied a pit puzzled "In a bar."

"So, whatcha doing?"

"Research."

"On what?"

"Why do you care?"

"Just answer the question."

Not knowing what to say to that, Brooke gave a small sigh, thinking that she should tell her the truth.

"I'm researching on Paula" she answered in a mumbled.

"You don't say," Shannon smirked.

"I'm just trying to find out what her deal is. Why is she ruining lives? Why does she despise your dad? What made her who she is now? You know."

"I get it," she suddenly grinned.

"Get what?"

"You're trying to help my dad."

Brooke let out a small groan, "I'm trying to help everyone here, okay?"

"Mm-hm," she crossed her arms while giving a sneer.

"It's the truth," Brooke declared.

"Whatever you say."

At that moment, Shannon looked around before leaning in towards Brooke.

"Can I tell you a secret?" she whispered.

"Um, sure."

"There's something beneath the garden, something that needs to be found."

"What? You think there's something buried down there?"

"There's only one way to find out."

The two made their way to the garden where they saw construction workers already there with their machines.

"Whoa," Brooke's eyes widen, "What's going on?"

"They're fixing up the garden" Shannon replied, "But that's not important. The thing is, I bet there's something magical under the garden, something Paula wants to get her hands on before we do."

"Paula? What makes you think she's behind this?"

"Every construction work is ordered by her, I know there's something underneath here that she wants to get."

"Honestly? One storyteller to another, it just seems a little..."

But before she could continue, a loud clank was heard as they turned their attention to a machine that had suddenly stopped digging as smoke began to come out.

"Stop digging!" one of the workers called out "We hit something!"

As the tractor moved away, Brooke and Shannon could see a large hole in the ground.

"What the hell?" Brooke gasped.

"Told ya," Shannon smiled as she began towards the hole.

"Hey!" Brooke called out while jogging after her as they stopped and looked down the hole to see that there was a tunnel "Look, this doesn't prove anything."

"I know. But if I get my hands on whatever's down there, it will."

And just like that, she jumped into the hole which was a few feet down and landed on her feet.