Stuck In Paradise

Sweetheart's Castle pt9

The next stop was the lower hedge, or it was until Omori found a trapdoor and opened it. Climbing down they were greeted by a button that lowered some spikes nearby. Walking past the spikes they realized they were in the dungeon area again with Mari who was sitting peacefully on her picnic blanket.

“Hey, guys!” Mari waved hello to the group before looking at Hero, “What’s cookin 'good lookin '!”

Hero blushed and covered his face with his hands despite his face being covered by the sprout mole mask.

Aubrey felt bad for the guy. She knows that was one of Mari’s go-to phrases whenever she wanted to fluster Hero. She silently prays for his sanity.

“So, how have things been?” Mari asked the group.

“They didn’t notice I turned to toast while in battle…” Aubrey pretended to act upset just to tease everyone.

“Hey! In our defense, we were distracted!” Kel shouted.

“Toast eh? I have heard weird stories about being toast. Someone said they heard someone crying before they revived! Talk about spooky…” Mari informed the group, “I hope the person they heard crying is okay…”

…

“I deserve it.”

Aubrey shuttered, “That does sound scary…”

“Huh, when I was toast I didn’t hear anything.” Kel shrugged.

“When I was toast...I don’t think I heard anything as well, sorry to say.” Hero sighed, “What about you Aubrey?”

“I didn’t hear anything as well…” She lied. She doesn’t know why she is lying but she gets this bad feeling if she doesn’t...she rubbed her arm nervously, trying not to think about anything.

“Eh, it is probably just a rumor. I wouldn’t worry about it!” Mari smiled warmly. Aubrey lightly bit her lip as she remembered Basil’s voice in her head.

“I deserve it.”

Aubrey feels like she doesn’t want to know what he claims to deserve. Another part of her is a bit concerned.

Geez, it is probably nothing but some weird dream shit. Big whoop.

Omori walked over to Mari and sat down by her, obviously as a breather. Aubrey doesn’t blame him for this has been one hell of a long night.

Kel also sat down near Omori, also clearly tired from everything going on. Once again, not a blame to be seen.

The silence was nice for a bit with Mari humming little tunes to brighten up the mood before Omori decided to get up once again, making the motion for everyone to follow him back out of the trapdoor.

They went into the bottom right part of the hedge maze, finding yet another platform for Kel to chuck his ball at statues to break. At this point, Aubrey is pretty sure Kel enjoys doing that. She doesn’t blame him, causing property damage rules.

They found another knight standing in the hedges and Hero walked forward yet again.

“There are four passwords that must be spoken to the Sweetheart statue to unveil the secret tunnel! As one of the elites I was chosen to be given the first password.” The guard stared at Hero before smiling at him, “A wonderful day in the garden, isn’t it brothers and sisters?”

“Greetings sir…” Hero waited for the knight to introduce themselves.

“Actually it is madam Carol, though I understand! The armor can make my voice sound pretty masculine!” The knight happily informed.