Chapter 188: The Other Door

"Don’t take a sample here," Rowan said. "We still don’t know what else is operating nearby."

Seana nodded.

Lothe turned to the broken wall. Behind the outer layer of stone was a narrow cavity, not a room or a passage wide enough to walk through. Dark metal brackets ran along one side, some bent out of shape. A thin track disappeared into the cavity.

"Rowan, look at this."

The elder joined him. "What did you find?"

"There’s a track behind the wall."

Darian leaned closer, careful not to cross the broken edge. "It doesn’t look like a natural crack."

"No. But we still need to establish what it’s for."

The track disappeared into darkness in both directions. Lothe studied the brackets. They were regularly spaced; some had been bent outward, while others remained intact.

He compared them with the crooked iron strip inside the room.

"That strip wasn’t just reinforcement," he said. "At least part of it was installed to cover the track."

Nyren glanced toward the child. "Can we tell where it leads?"

"Not yet," Lothe replied. "It could guide a moving panel, support equipment, or serve another purpose. We need more evidence."

Darian examined the exposed metal. "What about the recording glitch?"

"That’s still unexplained. We should compare the original recording with the damage here before connecting the two."

Caelan stepped closer, keeping a careful distance from the cavity. "The spatial disturbance is strongest near the opening."

"Stronger than before?" Lothe asked.

"Yes. But I can’t tell whether we’ve exposed its source or simply made it easier to detect."

Rowan raised a hand. "No one reaches inside. We’ll document the brackets, track, and damage, then decide what to do."

Darian took out his recording talisman and scanned the opening from several angles. This time, it didn’t flicker.

"Recording is stable."

"Keep both versions," Lothe said. "The original and the new one."

Darian nodded.

Lothe examined the track again. Several parallel scratches ran along its surface. Some were shallow; others cut deep enough to expose the metal beneath. All pointed toward the far end of the cavity.

Beneath one bracket, he spotted a thin, dark fragment.

He didn’t touch it.

"Seana, can you identify this?"

She leaned closer, examining it with her Herbal Sight. "Not from here. It could be part of the creature’s clothing, or it could have come from the mechanism."

"Then we won’t assume where it came from," Rowan said. "Preserve it separately."

Using a clean tool, Lothe lifted the fragment and sealed it in an evidence pouch.

It was a small find, but it mattered. They now had a concealed track, a damaged opening, and an unidentified fragment. The room was connected to the underground facility somehow—but they still didn’t know how.

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Rowan returned to the boy.

"Can you remember whether the people with covered faces came through this wall?" he asked gently.

The boy hesitated, then shook his head. "I don’t know."

"Did you ever see the wall move?"

"Sometimes it made sounds."

"Like the sounds we heard today?"

The boy nodded.

"Did the stone break?"

"No."

"Did you see anything come through?"

The boy looked at the creature’s body. His face went pale.

"Not that."

Seana knelt beside him. "Had you seen that creature before?"

He shook his head.

"No."

"Did you hear anything else behind the wall?"

"Sometimes I heard scratching."

"From behind the wall?"

He nodded.

"Did the people with covered faces seem afraid of it?" Seana asked.

The boy thought for a moment. "Sometimes they shouted."

"Were they shouting at the creature?"

"I don’t know."

Seana didn’t press him. His answers gave them something to consider, but they weren’t enough to establish what had been moving behind the wall.

Lothe looked at the exposed track. The boy’s account suggested something had been there before. But it didn’t prove that the creature had used the track—or that it had been kept there.

"Rowan," he said, "we should leave with the boy and report what we found."

Oren looked at him. "Already? We just found the track."

"We found part of it," Lothe replied. "We don’t know where it leads, what caused the spatial disturbances, or whether another creature is nearby."

He glanced toward the corridor.

"We also don’t know if the clicking is a normal operating sequence or a warning that something else is about to happen."

Rowan examined the opening. "He’s right. We have enough evidence to justify a wider investigation, but not enough to keep searching with a child beside us."

Darian secured his recording talismans.

"We can report the track, the concealed brackets, the creature, and the spatial disturbance."

"Include what we know—and what we don’t," Rowan instructed. "Keep observations separate from theories."

Caelan nodded. "I’ll record the timing of the fluctuations as well. Even if we can’t explain them, the sequence may matter."

Nyren glanced toward the corridor. "And if something approaches while we’re leaving?"

"Then we deal with it together," Rowan said. "But we won’t stay just because we want another answer."

Oren crouched beside the boy. "Can you stand?"

The boy tried, but his legs shook. He leaned against the wall.

"That’s all right," Oren said. "I’ll carry you."

The boy stiffened.

"I won’t hurt you," Oren added, keeping his voice calm. "You can hold on to Seana if that makes you more comfortable."

Seana offered her hand. After a moment, the boy took it. Then Oren carefully lifted him.

Rowan looked over the group. "Nyren, lead the way. Caelan, watch the corridor. Darian, keep the recordings secured. Seana, stay with the boy. Lothe, monitor the disturbance as we withdraw."

"I can try," Lothe said. "But if the signal disappears, I won’t be able to track it."

"Good," Rowan replied. "Tell us exactly what you can sense. Nothing more."

The group started toward the doorway.

They had entered the chamber looking for a missing child. They were leaving with a living witness, a possible link to other children, and evidence of a concealed mechanism behind the wall.

They still didn’t know who had taken the children, where they were being held, or how the strange spatial disturbances fit into the operation.

But they had a direction for their next investigation.

As they reached the threshold, the boy lifted his head. His gaze was fixed on the track behind the broken wall.

"Wait."

Oren stopped. "What is it?"

The boy pointed toward the dark opening.

"That sound..."

Lothe turned back. "What sound?"

The boy swallowed. "Clack. Clack. Clack. Chunk."

Rowan stepped closer. "What happens when you hear it?"

"Sometimes they come."

"And when they don’t?"

The boy looked at the exposed track.

"Sometimes they open the other one."

Lothe’s eyes narrowed. "The other one?"

The boy nodded and pointed deeper into the cavity.

"Not this door," he whispered. "The one where they take the children."?