Wicked Secrets

Chapter 29

Corine followed Riddle's instructions to get to the secret entrance. It was not that hard actually. Although the house was pretty big, it was pretty ordered so it was easy enough to find your way.

"Third door to the right," Corine muttered as she finally reached her destination.

It was quite a spartan room with a bit of decor here and there. The vase of flowers Riddle mentioned were there, she would have pulled her get away ticket if she was alone.

That to say, she was not.

Two people were facing their back towards her, so she could knock them out easy and get outta here.

"What?" Corine said as she was about to kick 'em unconscious but they turned and blocked.

"Dean and Lulu?" Corine was shocked.

"Corine?!" they said in unison.

Lulu hugged Corine and Dean just smiled.

"Can't... breathe..." Corine said, then Lulu released her.

"We've been trying to find you everywhere. Where have you been? Where's Riddle?" Lulu asked.

Corine, at first elated to see the both of them, including Dean, was now down in the dumps. It was still a bit painful thinking of what Riddle had done but they also have the right to know.

So with a heavy feeling in her stomach, Corine recounted what happened to her that turned Lulu and Dean's face from benign curiosity to total incredulity.

"I am so sorry..." Lulu said, hugging me again.

Dean just patted her back but Corine didn't swat it back and Dean took comfort in that.

"So..." Lulu said to break the silence that was used for Corine's benefit, "What are we going to do?"

"Escape, what else. Anyway, where's the gang?" Corine asked.

Dean and Lulu's faces looked mutinous and as Dean remained defiantly silent, Lulu piped up.

"The team bailed on you. They finally realised that you were more trouble than your worth and escaped hours ago. We are the only ones who decided to stay and help you."

Corine remained silent as she digested this info and then burst out with laughter.

"What's so funny?" Dean asked, startled with this reaction.

"Criminals be criminals!" Corine exclaimed, "I'm surprised they didn't bail on me earlier when all that creepy magic mojo started."

Dean continued looking startled, as with Lulu but both of them immediately shook their heads and Lulu just said, "How do we escape?"

"Easy. That vase of flowers contains different colour petunias, right? Riddle told me to pull the red petunia and pull left to reveal a secret escape route." Corine explained.

"Great! Let's go!" Lulu said.

"Wait." Dean said. Corine and Lulu looked at him, perplexed. "Are you sure we could really trust Riddle?"

"Yes." Corine said, utterly confident and utterly menacing. Scary but Dean was not backing down. 'Finally grown tough skin, huh? After all his experience, if I could guess,' thought Corine, but she wasn't backing down either.

Despite Riddle's betrayal, she couldn't help but still trust him. He was the one who understood her, who stood by her and who kissed...

'No, don't think about that!' Corine thought as she looked back at Dean's fathomless eyes.