Cora stared as Leonardo cautiously approached the wardrobe. He raised his stick, nudging the door open with the care of someone who had learned to be ready for what might happen next.
The door creaked wider, and for a tense moment, nothing happened. Then, a muted clatter as a few more marbles rolled forward, stopping just at the edge.
Leonardo exhaled slowly, lowering the stick just a little. "It's just the marbles," he murmured, his tone carrying more uncertainty than relief.
He pushed the wardrobe door a little wider so Cora could see the inside for herself, and her brows furrowed.
"But how did they roll out?" she asked, her voice hushed. Then she wrinkled her nose. "Wait, do you smell that?"
Leonardo caught it too– a faint, cloying stench, sickly sweet at first, but then sour and metallic, like something rotten from within the wardrobe. The inside was really empty, completely empty, aside from the handful of marbles that were scattered across the wooden base. Yet the smell grew stronger here, seeping from somewhere unseen. They hadn't caught the whiff at first, which meant it'd take even longer for an ordinary person to even sense it.
"A dead rat?" She muttered, covering her nose.
Leonardo didn't respond. His focus stayed fixed on the wardrobe as he leaned in, running his hand along the inner panels. It was very much attached to the wall, and the woods felt uneven, like something wasn't quite right.
In the process of studying the wardrobe, he heard a short click! Like he had accidentally pressed something. He braced himself as the wood groaned in protest before shifting an inch.
With a sudden sharp creak, it turned, pivoting on hidden hinges.
Cora's eyes widened.
Behind it was a narrow door built into the wall, its lock long since broken, its metal rusted, and warped. The unmistakable smell of decay that spilled out hit them like a physical force, thick and putrid.
Leonardo immediately took a step back. "Yeah, let's just get out of here."
"What? No," Cora pushed off the bed and hobbled forward, ignoring the dull ache in her leg. "We're here on a mission, remember?"
"I remember. I also remember we're not exactly getting any special treatment to open that door. Let's leave it."
She ignored him, stepping closer to the hidden door. The air around it was nearly unbearable now. She gagged slightly and pressed her sleeve over her nose. "How are we supposed to be sure of what's inside?" She asked, her voice muffled. "Something had to be hidden behind here for a reason. Come on."
She crouched slightly, studying the broken lock. The edges of the wood were splintered inward, as if something had tried to force its way out.
Her stomach turned.
Goddess let it be a dead rat.
Reaching for the lock, she hesitated before carefully prying it loose. The corroded metal came off with a soft clink, and she pushed the narrow door open just enough to peek inside.
The faint creak of old wood echoed beyond the darkness, and the narrow passage was barely wide enough for one person, swallowed in pitch black.
Cora's pulse quickened.
She leaned forward and froze when something small skittered out from the shadows. A cockroach darted over her feet and disappeared beneath her bed, earning a startled gasp from Cora who stumbled back from sheer fright.
"Ugh– no, no, I'm done!"
Leonardo, who had been lingering by the doorway with one hand on his stick, their stuff packed into the satchel and on his shoulder, arched a brow at her.
"Still want to check?"
Cora turned to him, pressing a hand to her chest to steady her heartbeat. "Not that badly," she muttered in response, feeling defeated. Whatever was down there, it could stay there. Her curiosity wasn't worth dying or screaming over.
Without another word, she limped past him, her injured ankle forgotten in her haste to leave. Leonardo followed, glancing once more toward the gaping hole behind the wardrobe before pulling the door shut.
They hurried downstairs. The flickering lantern by the counter still burned low, but the innkeeper was nowhere to be seen. His chair sat empty, slightly turned, as if he'd left the place in a hurry.
Using his absence as the perfect opportunity, they moved quickly toward the main door. But when Leonardo gripped the handle and gave it a firm pull, it didn't budge. He frowned, twisting harder, but it rattled uselessly.
"Of course it's locked," he muttered under his breath as he stepped back, a grim look settling on his face.
His eyes flicked to the heavy padlock fastened through the latch, and it didn't make sense. No matter how late it was, an inn never locked its doors from the inside. He wondered if it was related to what Mira had said about the woods, or if this was something else entirely… like someone was trying to trap them here on purpose? If he knew one thing for sure, they needed to be gone from this place before tomorrow night reaches them first.
"Let me handle this one," Cora said, stepping past him. She pulled a slender hairpin from her hair and knelt by the lock, her movement deft and practiced. "When I worked for the late Alpha," she added quietly. "This was one of the few tricks we learned to escape… inconvenient situations like this one."
Leonardo kept watch, his senses at alert, whilst Cora worked the pin inside the keyhole. The faint metallic clicks echoed in the silence of the lobby. After a few tense seconds, there was a soft snap.
"Got it!"
She removed the padlock and pushed the door open, but the moment the gap widened, both of them froze.
What should have been a threshold leading to the outside, was now another dark corridor. Instead of the cool breath of the night air, a heavy, stagnant stillness poured out. The passageway was nearly identical to the one they had seen upstairs in the room, leading down another seemingly endless tunnel.
"This isn't possible," Leonardo muttered, unable to believe what he was seeing.