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I’d seen Mrs. Reid clean this room. Seen Alaric cross it. Sat here myself. But one corner didn’t sit flat. Barely noticeable. A slight rise beneath the weave. My heart started pounding.

I crossed toward it. Crouched. My fingers found the edge and pulled. The rug moved. Wood beneath. Old and dark… except for one narrow line.

Clean.

Too clean.

My breath stopped.

A seam.

Then another.

A rectangle set into the floor. My hands went cold.

“What the hell.”

Not denial anymore.

Fear.

I ran my fingers along the edge and found nothing. Again. Nothing. Then⁠—

Metal.

A recessed ring hidden beneath the lip of timber. I stared at it. The Clove Man hadn’t lied. There was something beneath the study. I should’ve stopped. Called Alaric. Called Ghost. Walked away. Instead… I hooked my fingers through the ring and pulled.

The floor opened and cold air breathed against my face. Darkness waited below. Steps disappeared into it and for several seconds I couldn’t move.

Facility Nine rose around me. Concrete. Locked doors. Hands. Cloves. Good girls stay still.

My grip tightened around the ring and my heart hammered.

Mine.

Still mine.

I reached for my phone and turned on the flashlight. Light cut through the darkness. One step, then another. The floorboards creaked above me. I stopped. Listened. Nothing. I kept going.

The air changed as I descended. Colder. Stale. Concrete replaced timber beneath my feet. My light moved across the wall. Cable brackets. Empty. Another step. Metal shelving. Empty. My stomach sank. I reached the bottom. Stopped. The beam moved slowly across the room. Nothing.

I frowned. “No.”

I turned and light swept wider, moving over bare concrete and empty shelving. Mounting holes punctured one wall in neat rows. Cable channels ran toward outlets with nothing attached. Pale rectangle interrupted years of grime. Places where something had hung… recently.

I moved closer and touched one. Dust surrounded the clean outline. My fingers came away grey. Except inside the rectangle… clean. My pulse begun to roar. I swung the light toward the floor. Tracks. Wide. Straight. Clean lines cut through the dust toward the stairs. Something heavy had been dragged out. More than one thing actually.

I stared at the drag marks on the concrete and followed them. Cabinet. Another. Something larger. A desk maybe.

Equipment.

Gone.

Everything.

Gone.

The room hadn’t always been empty.