“She’s in the wall!” Leo’s voice screamed from the study, muffled but clear enough to terrify me.

“Stop her!”

“You have to go through me first, little brother,” Dominic’s voice boomed, followed by the heavy grunt of a physical struggle.

I heard the sound of metal hitting wood, then the heavy thud of a body slamming into the floor.

I couldn’t look back.

I forced myself down the steps, one slow, agonizing footstep at a time.

The stairs were slippery with black mold and condensation.

I kept one hand pressed against the wet stone wall to balance myself while holding the twins with my other arm.

The darkness was almost absolute, broken only by the faint light filtering down from the study above.

Then, the iron grate behind me slammed shut with a heavy, metallic clang.

The light vanished.

I was standing in complete blackness, the sound of my own ragged breathing filling the narrow space.

“Keep going,” I muttered to myself. “Just keep going.”

I remembered my mother’s notes about the path.

*Follow the slope downward, past the water pipes, to the old carriage gate at the edge of the woods.*