Second floor

Mary and Lucius arrived below the staircase to the second floor. Lucius glanced up the stairs and turned his sight back to Mary.

He put one of his bandaged hands on the staircase's handrails to support his weight as he climbed. He hissed in pain, softly when he used his strength on his hand.

"Lucius, seriously you need to rest. If you continued forcing yourself like this...I'm afraid your injuries will open." Mary said with concern, written across her face.

Lucius ignored her and continued slithering up the staircase. Mary felt irritation burning up in her body. She dashed up the stairs and stood in front of him, blocking his way.

"Quit acting tough and Listen to me!"Mary shouted, her voice mixed with anger and concern.

Lucius stared at her, shocked. He rubbed the back of his neck and hissed at Mary softly like an apology.

"You finally snapped out of it. Don't go hurting your body like that! You idiot!"

Lucius glanced away from Mary, still rubbing the back of his neck. Mary noticed his cheek was glowing slightly red, embarrassed.

"Come on, Let's go. We can't let you, an injured kid sit on the stairs, can we? And...do you want any help?"

He shook his head.

"Alright. Be careful with your injuries. If you're having a hard time, I can help."

He hissed, smiling and nodded as his response. He gently slithered up while Mary was at the top of the stairs, staring at him as he climbed.

After a while, he managed to reach the top.

"You did it!" Mary yelled, cheerfully. She clapped her hands, praising him.

Lucius hissed in relief when he successfully climbed up the stairs.

"Now...since we're here, we should find a safe place for you to stay in and properly patch up your wounds with medication. Where do you think we should head to?"

He put his right hand on his chin and closed his eyes, thinking carefully. Then, he suddenly indicated his finger to a room near the staircase, suggesting she stay there with him.

"Anything you like, I guess. Since you're injured."

Mary helped him open the door to the room. They were in a big space filled with books everywhere. It was like a whole library.

There were books on every shelf, floor and table. Lucius slithered to a nearby table, pushing away all the chairs surrounding the table. Then, he coiled up, peacefully, sitting on his tail.

Mary walked around the room, taking every book that caught her eye. She took the books to Lucius's table and put them on it. Then, she would repeat the process again and again.

Suddenly, she saw a book on the floor. She approached it and saw it was a notebook. She opened up the cover and flipped through its pages. It was all empty.

She excitedly dashed back to Lucius and held the book in front of him. Lucius looked at her, confused.

"It's an empty notebook!" Mary said, pointing the notebook at him, smiling.

He looked at Mary and gave her a so-what expression. Mary looked at him, her excitement slowly faded away as she noticed he didn't get what she meant.

Mary made a fake cough and said."It means you don't have to carry so many papers around and instead, you just have to carry a book. And...look at this!"

Mary flipped the page for him to see. He looked at Mary beaming with excitement. He held out both his hands, wanting Mary to give him the book. Mary gave it to him and walked away to find more books to read.

She carried another stack of books back and slammed it on the table. She sighed and wiped away the sweat from her forehead.

She threw herself onto a chair and took a book called 'Wishing Dragon'.She read it for a while and suddenly thought of something.

She pushed the book back to the table and stood up.

"Lucius, I'm going outside for a while."Mary said while facing Lucius.

Lucius stared at Mary with a shocked reaction and stood up from his tail as he hissed gently under his breath.

Mary reached her hand across the table and pushed him back. Lucius fell back on his tail from her push. He looked up at her and hissed, confused.

"Look at you!"Mary said while giving him a lecture."You can't even stand straight and you expect me to bring you with me! No! You stay here in this room. I don't want to see you slithered around anymore until your wounds are almost healed! You have done enough! So Stay!"

Lucius looked at her with a depressed expression on his face. Mary ignored him like how he ignored her and stomped out of the room. Then, she vanished behind the door.