THE DOWNWARD MOMENTUM EASED. The pressure fell and the car slowed. And with a faint and final hiss, the elevator came to a complete and dead stop.
Quinn exhaled as though it was all over. She smiled faintly. Then she saw what Kara saw—what lay beyond the metal cage—and the smile slid from her lips.
The elevator had come to rest in darkness—a darkness so thick, so complete, that even the soft yellow glow of the elevator lamp could not illuminate more than a few inches.
“Wh-where are we?” asked Kara. She let go of Quinn, walked to the metal bars, and stared into icy silence. There was no door to the elevator shaft here. Just the metal bars that separated them from the emptiness that lay beyond.
“I-I dunno,” said Quinn. Her breath was hot and the air frigid. Vapor puffed from each word. “Some kind of basement.”
Quinn’s voice echoed outward like sonar, giving her a sense of the vastness beyond. It was like they’d dropped into some giant pit. It made her think of Adam. And Joe. She hoped Joe was all right. She hoped the upper floors of the hotel were way nicer than the basement.
“Let’s get outta here,” muttered Kara, her voice magnified into a hoarse whisper by the echoing walls.
Quinn nodded and Kara stepped back from the gate. Quinn grasped the brass lever and tried to push it upward, but it was stuck. “Help me.”
Kara grabbed the lever with both hands. Together they heaved and pushed and pulled, but it wouldn’t budge. Not an inch.
“It’s … broken…” Quinn grunted. They tried again and again, and then finally gave up.
Quinn left the lever and moved toward the metal gate. “What is this place?” she said in a breathy whisper. “A dungeon?”
Quinn slid open the creaky gate and poked her head deeper into the soupy darkness. The air was stagnant, like swamp water. The skin on her arms prickled. She hugged her chest.
“Hey!” she shouted at the ceiling of the elevator. “We’re down here! Bring the elevator up!” She pounded at the side panels.
Kara joined in and together they screamed as loud as they could, hoping Persephone and the elevator operator could hear, hoping perhaps they were already trying to bring the car up. But nothing stirred.
“What are we going to do?” asked Kara.
Quinn tried the lever one more time. She kicked at it, but it wouldn’t move. The thought of heading through a dark cave without even a little light was a horror all its own.
“Do you think there’s a way out?” asked Kara.
“Hush,” said Quinn suddenly.
“What?”
Quinn clamped a hand to Kara’s mouth. “Listen.”
Kara stared at the ceiling of the elevator. But the sound wasn’t coming from above. It was coming from the darkness.
Quinn’s body tensed as she strained to hear. Soft dripping, like a trickle of water falling on damp rocks. And then footsteps, lightly stepping on the wet, hard ground.
She was sure her mind was playing tricks again, but then she saw it—the faint flickering glow pushing its way through the cold gloom. Something was approaching.
Quinn grabbed Kara and yanked the metal gate shut. They backed into the elevator until they were pressed against the rear paneling. Quinn snatched the pillowcase with the water bottles, and though it wasn’t much of a weapon, she prepared to swing. They both stared, eyes wide, jaws limp.
As the flickering yellow light drew nearer, Quinn’s imagination ran wild. What could possibly live in such a horrible place? A monster? A demon?
Something emerged from the black—something so completely unexpected it startled Quinn all the more.
Out of the shadows, lit only by the soft glow of the candle it held, was the small, delicate hand of a child. It grasped a brass saucer candleholder with the stub of a white twisted candle on top.
The girl was no older than six, wearing a long white nightie that draped to her dainty bare feet. Her yellow hair was matted and fell in scraggly waves over her shoulders. Her face was gaunt, her skin a ghostly white.
She stared at Quinn with gray expressionless eyes. Then she looked at Kara.
Her thin lips parted and she spoke in a tiny voice that was flat and watery, like the calm surface of a muddy pond.
“We weren’t expecting you.”