Chapter 185: The Room Beyond

Chapter 187: The Room Beyond

"Don’t let them take me back."

The small voice barely carried through the narrow opening.

For several seconds, nobody moved. Pale fingers curled around the edge of the metal door, trembling so violently their nails scraped against the iron.

Seana was the first to react. "There’s someone inside."

"I heard," Rowan replied quietly.

He raised one hand, stopping anyone from approaching the opening. "Nobody rushes in. We don’t know what’s beyond that door—or whether the person inside is alone."

Oren’s expression darkened. "Someone locked a child in there?"

"We don’t know it’s a child yet," Darian said, though his earlier confidence was gone.

A faint scrape came from behind the door.

"Please..."

The voice sounded closer. "Please, they’re coming."

Seana’s expression tightened. Lothe glanced at her. She understood the question in his eyes and gave a slight shake of her head.

"No clear spiritual fluctuation," she whispered. "But the air coming through that gap smells wrong."

Rowan looked at her. "Wrong how?"

"Stale. There’s something else beneath it—a faint medicinal smell. I can’t identify it from here."

"Medicinal?" Oren asked.

"Or something used in alchemy. Those aren’t always the same thing."

Lothe crouched in front of the door but didn’t touch it. He studied the gap, the exposed hinges, and the floor beneath the threshold. The amber light that had illuminated the locks was gone; only a thin line of pale light remained beneath the door.

He extended his Spatial Perception. The space beyond the door felt ordinary. The enormous empty space he’d sensed earlier was gone. He still couldn’t explain that first impression. It might have been a concealed mechanism, a spatial effect, or something else. He wouldn’t pretend to know more than he did.

"Lothe?" Rowan prompted.

"The door has moved, but I don’t know what released the locks." Lothe pointed toward the lower hinge. "The weight rests differently now. Something inside may have shifted it."

"Can we open it?" Nyren asked.

"We can try," Rowan said. "Carefully. Darian, set a defensive barrier behind us, but keep it separate from the door and its frame. We don’t want your formation interfering with whatever mechanism is operating here."

Darian nodded. "Understood."

"Caelan, monitor the space beyond the threshold. If you notice another disturbance, warn us before investigating it."

"Understood."

"Nyren, guard our rear. Oren, be ready to support the door if it shifts." Rowan looked toward Seana. "Stay with me."

Then he turned to Lothe. "And you?"

"I’ll watch the threshold."

Rowan nodded. "Open it."

Darian pressed two fingers together and drew a short line through the air. A thin barrier unfolded behind the group, its clear surface forming a narrow arc between them and the tracks.

"It should withstand a sudden impact," he said, adjusting the formation. "It isn’t connected to the chamber’s mechanisms."

"Good."

Caelan closed his eyes. His Vector Resonance awakened, pale-blue rings turning in his irises as he sensed movement through the narrow space beyond the door.

"I can feel an enclosed room," he reported. "No obvious spatial displacement. Something is moving inside, but the signal is weak."

"The person?" Seana asked.

"Probably. I can’t be sure until the door opens."

Oren raised one hand. His telekinetic force caught the metal door and began drawing it inward.

The hinges groaned. The sound seemed to fill the chamber.

The narrow gap widened to the width of two fingers, then a hand, then a foot.

The smell came first: wet stone, old iron, and the sour odor of a room that had been shut for too long.

Seana covered her nose with her sleeve. "The medicinal smell is stronger."

Lothe watched the floor as dust shifted beneath the moving door. Several scratches crossed the stone—some old and worn, others sharp enough to be recent. They didn’t form a clear pattern. They might have come from equipment, something being dragged, or someone struggling. He noted their positions without choosing an explanation.

"Keep opening it," he told Oren.

The door moved another few inches, revealing a narrow chamber about twelve feet long and eight feet wide. Dark stone walls were reinforced with iron strips. A weak lamp hung from the ceiling, illuminating a narrow cot, a cracked stool, and a metal bowl lying on its side.

There was no window. No visible second door. And no sign of the vast space Lothe had sensed earlier.

A child sat in the far corner.

He looked about six or seven years old, with tangled hair and a pale face streaked with grime. His clothes were loose and dirty, the sleeves hanging past their wrists. One knee was drawn to his chest. A thin chain connected an iron cuff around their ankle to a ring in the wall.

For a moment, nobody spoke.

Oren’s hand trembled. The door stopped moving.

"Who did this?" he demanded.

The child recoiled, hitting the wall and covering their head. "No! Please, I didn’t do anything!"

Oren lowered his hand at once. "Easy. We’re not going to hurt you."

The child didn’t seem to hear him. "Please don’t make me go back. I’ll be quiet. I promise."

Seana took one careful step forward.

The child’s eyes darted toward her. They scrambled back until the chain pulled tight.

"Don’t!"

Seana stopped and held her hands where the child could see them. "All right. I won’t come closer."

She crouched several feet away. "My name is Seana. What’s yours?"

The child stared at her. Their lips moved, but no sound came out. Seana waited without repeating the question.

At last, the child whispered something.

"What was that?" Oren asked.

The child flinched.

Seana shot Oren a warning look. He fell silent.

"You don’t have to tell us anything yet," she said gently. "Are you hurt?"

The child hesitated, then nodded and pointed to his ankle.

Rowan examined the cuff from the doorway. "Don’t touch it yet. We don’t know whether it’s connected to anything else."

Darian approached the threshold and studied the wall ring from a distance. "The chain looks ordinary. I can’t tell whether the ring connects to a mechanism inside the wall."

"Then we won’t pull it," Rowan decided.

Lothe entered slowly, stopping just inside the room. His gaze moved over the floor, cot, stool, and iron strips in the walls. The room might have been converted into a holding cell—or built for that purpose. He didn’t have enough evidence to tell.

He looked at the child. "How long have you been here?"

"I don’t know."

"How many times have you slept here?"

The child frowned. "Three. Maybe four."

"Did someone bring you here?"

The child nodded.

"Did you see their face?"

Another nod, then a shake of the head.

Lothe didn’t press. A frightened child might not remember clearly, especially after being held in a place like this.

"We should inspect the room before asking more," he said.

Rowan agreed. "Caelan, keep monitoring the chamber. Darian, examine the wall ring without touching it. Oren, see whether the chain can be released safely. Nyren, keep watch outside."

"And you?" Seana asked.

"I’ll stay here," Rowan said.

Seana remained where she was, giving the child room to watch her without feeling surrounded.

Lothe began with the floor. The room’s stonework was uneven but carefully laid. Narrow seams separated the slabs. Shallow scratches marked a few of them, and dust had gathered near the cot.

A small wooden object lay partly hidden beneath the stool.

Lothe bent and picked it up.

It was a carved rabbit with two long ears, a rounded body, and four stubby legs. One ear had broken near its base. A faded strip of blue cloth remained tied around the other.

He turned it over. Its underside had been worn smooth by handling, but there were no markings he recognized.

"Seana."

She looked up. "What is it?"

He held the toy out to her.

Her expression changed when she saw the blue cloth. For a moment, neither of them spoke. Then she carefully turned the rabbit in her hands.

"Doesn’t this look like the toy we found in Anthony’s village?"?