Return of the Youngest Auclair

Ch. 12

Now only an empty plate with a small amount of syrup stares back at me. Who knew food could taste so good. I may work at a cafe, but that only consisted of me putting the previously made batter – made possible by one of the bakers – into the oven, and praying that it didn't burn.

"Hello Cameron," Lucien says, walking through the kitchen door in a full suit. Mylan and Mia had both left and now it was just me.

"Our family is going to be here in a few minutes. I'm sure you remember how to sneak around this house quietly." He's talking about the secret passages that lead from one room to another. We were all told about them when we were younger and were taught how to navigate through them efficiently as part of dad's training. He always said that 'if you can memorize these passages, a house would be a breeze.'

Knock, knock.

"And there is your cue," Lucien says, walking back out of the kitchen to- I'm assuming the front door. I place my plate in the dishwasher and run along the hallway to a tall wooden bookshelf that matches all of the other furniture.

One would assume you just need to find the right book, but this bookshelf is a little bit more complicated. It has three locks that need to be opened in a particular order, and that's almost impossible when there's at least 100 books on the shelf.

I first reach for the red book sitting in the top left corner. I pull the book out slightly till I hear a subtle click. Then I found the two other books- a green science book and a brown dictionary.

As I hear the final click fall into place, I grab the gray book sitting in the far right on the middle row and slide it out of the bookshelf equally to open the door.

The bookshelf swings open with ease and I waste no time walking inside and locking the door behind me.

The passages themselves are uneven to walk on and pitch black with zero light. I reach into my pocket to grab my phone, but before I could someone collides into me making my phone fly out of my hands.

Immediately adrenaline flows through me as I grab one of my knives and throw the person onto the wall.

They give out a small groan, but immediately shut up when I hold my knife to their throat.

"Who are you?" I demand, cutting off any source of warmth in my voice.

"I-I'm sorry, I didn't know anyone else would be in the passages," a small voice whispers. The smell of flowers floats around in the air and I reach for my newly scratched phone and point the phone's flashlight at the person I had already identified.

"Mia, what brings you down here?" I quickly scan her person for any weapons she may have on, but I come up empty and remove the knife from her throat. She looks composed, but for all I know it could be an act.

Her hair is in a tight ponytail, and her clothes didn't look wrinkled, and even her shoes... Oh you were so close.

There her shoes were, on the wrong feet.

"I can ask the same of you, Cameron," she replies to my question. You know, avoiding the question is the number one way to tell someone is hiding something.

I chose to ignore her, I knew all I needed to know. "I'm sorry about the whole knife thing. I just can't stand jump scares. I need to go, but I will see you at dinner," I apologize sincerely, then turn around quickly to follow the passage, almost missing Mia's sigh of relief.

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I rest my back against the stone wall as I listen to my in-laws talk about my dad and all his great accomplishments.