The walked into the passage and it closed behind them with a quiet, final click. And just like that, the noise of the mansion was cut off though not completely but now reduced and distant, muted into something less immediate, yet somehow more dangerous… like a storm you could no longer see, only feel.
The air inside the passage was different. It felt cooler and heavier… even worse, unfamiliar.
Isabella felt he walls pressed closer here, the ceiling lower and the path narrower than anything they had moved through before. Every step echoed just enough to remind her of how confined they were, how little room there was for any mistakes..
She adjusted her grip on the children, her arms already beginning to burn from the strain. They clung to her in silence now, their fear no longer loud but
