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“You’ll see,” he said, pulling a small flashlight from out of his pocket.
I rolled my eyes but followed him into the extremely narrow hidden passageway. The door closed behind us and I immediately reached for Walker’s arm. It was clean inside except for some heavy gathered dust. But the walls were finished and the floor the same wood as the room we’d just come from, if less polished.
“Does Mrs. Hawthorne know about this place?” I asked, looking up and down the passageway. I couldn’t see very far in either direction since the flashlight’s beam wasn’t very strong.
“Probably. She seems to know everything.”
Walker started moving, and I didn’t let go of my fist gripping the fabric of his shirt. I gulped in the musty air, still feeling claustrophobic after my recent brush with breath-deprivation.
We walked at least the length of two bedrooms and then Walker suddenly stopped and bent over. “Hold this,” he said, handing me the flashlight. I felt better having the light source in my hand if I had to let go of him.
What on earth was he looking at on the floor? I tried to shine the flashlight around his shoulder to give him enough light. That was when I saw him pull on a little rope, and a square of wooden floor swung upwards, revealing a ladder down to the floor below.
“Holy shit,” I whispered.
“Whoever built this place wasn’t screwing around,” Walker whispered back, sitting on the floor and dropping his legs into the hole. “They wanted to be able to move around the mansion in secret.”
“What for?” I asked as Walker climbed down the ladder.
“Who knows?” Walker said. “I mean, we had theories growing up. We liked to think they built it so they could be part of the underground railroad and help folks escape. But I think that was giving them too much credit.” He finished the ladder and looked up at me from below. “Your turn.”
I nodded and sat down just like he had. The flashlight was small enough to put between my teeth as I climbed down.
“Really, I think they built it so they could spy on folks visiting the mansion,” Walker continued whispering, having to come closer to be heard above the music that was far closer now that we were on the first floor, “cause a couple years after we found the passage, we discovered little peepholes into every room.”
“What!” I shook my head in disbelief. Though really at this point I shouldn’t be surprised at anything about this place. I looked around but it looked just like the narrow passageway upstairs. Except that the hall didn’t extend as far before bending around a corner.
I stuck to Walker’s back as he headed forward confidently around the bend. Thankfully he led us away from the music. And I was only a little surprised when we came to another rope in the floor and Walker led us down yet another ladder.
The temperature of the basement level was immediately cooler, and chill bumps rose all over my arms.
Walker was just turning, about to start moving again when suddenly he froze. Then he snatched the flashlight out of my hands and turned it off. I was about to ask him what he was doing when his hand suddenly came to cover my mouth.
That was when I heard it too.
A noise, and not just any noise.
Footsteps.
They sounded close.
They sounded like they were in the passageway… with us.
Oh shit!
When Walker’s hands were suddenly urgently on my waist, hefting me back towards the ladder, I got the message.
I flew back up it, glad I was wearing ballet flats that were silent on the steel ladder. Walker was right on my heels. I crawled out onto the floor of the passage above, completely blind without any light. I kept crawling forwards anyway. I couldn’t remember if I was going the right way or not.
But then Walker was there, and his hand grasped mine firmly. He pulled me back the other direction. Frantically we fled back the way we’d come, then up the other ladder. Retracing each of our steps until we were bursting back out into the light of the music room, and back down the outer hallway, and then finally, finally back in our room, the door shut behind us.
I laughed giddily and threw my arms around Walker’s neck. He pulled me close to him and held me there.
Neither of us spoke. We just clutched one another, chest to chest, our racing heartbeats in sync.
Overwhelming emotion swept me. I wanted to say ridiculous things to him. I wanted to beg him to make ridiculous promises to me. I wanted to kiss him and never stop. I wanted his babies in my belly.
He withdrew before I was ready for him to, clearing his throat. “It’s been a long night. We should get some sleep. We’ll figure out our next steps tomorrow.”
