Page 75 of Hearts Lost

And there’s the door. The door that I was never to open, the one Archibald whipped me for touching when I was a boy. The door my parents pretended didn’t exist.

It’s open. A torch flickers somewhere deep inside, casting just enough light for me to see the beginnings of a staircase leading down into the basement my parents don’t have, the basement that doesn’t exist. The bell rings again, brighter and louder now that I’m closer.

“Master Aloserin!” Archibald cries.

His skeletal fingers wrap around my shoulder. I pull free, dive through the open door, and race down a dark flight of uneven stone stairs. They plummet into the earth in twisting, damp spirals, until I finally reach a narrow corridor. One torch rests in a sconce on the wall, casting uneven illumination across the rough stones. I hold my breath as my heart pounds in my chest. A low murmur of conversation drifts down the narrow hallway, but I can’t make out the words.

“Aloserin!”

Archibald bellows from above me, and for a moment I’m a child again, sneaking around where I’m not allowed. Cowering behind sacks of flour in the pantry, fearing the pain of punishment. Fearing death before dishonor.

Archibald’s feet thud on the stairs above me, and a jolt of alarm surges through my body. I lurch through the hallway, my body pushing ahead even as my mind stumbles to make meaning of what I’m seeing.

There are doorways leading off the hallway. They’re plain wood, reinforced with metal, with a little window at the bottom. Just like a dungeon. One of the doors is open, and I hesitate for a moment, afraid of what I’m going to find. But the small, dark room is empty, save for a tired old pile of straw and a bucket whose utility I don’t want to dwell on.

That’s six, then. Six cells in the private dungeon my parents have in their basement. My mind howls with questions; I try to shove them all down, to focus on nothing more than the sound of my breath, the beating of my heart, the click and hiss of my boots against the stone.

Because there’s another door at the end of the hallway. A much larger door.

And this one is open.