“A little more. Sorry—I should have checked them before now.”
“Can’t imagine you’ve had too many opportunities to use them,” he said.
“A few, but not regularly.”
“Good?”
“Perfect.”
He nodded. “Let’s move to the door.”
“Fifteen seconds.”
He slowly turned the door handle and eased the door open so it barely touched the frame.
She shouldered her rifle at a low ready, closed her eyes, and took a deep breath.
“Go.”
The door swung open silently, and he checked the corridor before slipping out. Addison followed and spotted Graham and Paige a few steps ahead of them down the hall.
The castle was silent, the occasional jangle of equipment the only sounds. That and the blood rushing in her ears as adrenaline increased her heart rate.
Graham paused at the base of the stairs, checking left and right before raising his hand and signaling them forward. They crossed the foyer and sitting room to the back corner and hidden staircase.
Paige pushed on the release mechanism next to the door. The click of the latch echoed like a shotgun blast in the silence. Addison turned and scanned the room behind them. Everything was still. And creepy, seen through a green glow.
Maybe her post-retirement plan should be to open a haunted house where everything was silent and dark. Nothing would pop out at people to scare them. Maybe the occasional gust of air, a creak or moan, a light brush as they passed something. Their imaginations would do the rest of the work.
“Addison,” Devon whispered.
He waited beside the door and tilted his head, indicating she should go through. The stone stairs were much easier to traverse in her boots than the heels she’d been in the previous time. She hit the bottom and crossed over to Paige and Graham, standing in front of the cells.
The doors to the cells were still closed. Braedon was asleep, or drugged, on the cot in his cell. It didn’t matter that it was glass and carpet instead of shackles and dirt. They were cells, and they were in a dungeon.
“What’s wrong?” she asked.
“The locks should have released when the power went out as a safety precaution,” Paige said.
“Ange, you there?” Graham asked.
“I’m here.”
“The cell doors aren’t open.”
“Hang on, let me check.”
Addison glanced over at Devon, keeping watch at the base of the stairs.
“They aren’t locked,” Angie said. “Did you try the handle?”
Paige turned the metal handle on the door, and it swung open. Everyone stared at Graham.
“What? I expected the doors to pop open. That’s what happens in the movies,” he said.
“Did he just—?” Angie asked.
“Yes. Yes, he did,” Paige said.
