“Maybe she went to get London,” Ink suggested. “Want me and Presley to go down and check?”
“I’ll go with you,” Dice said. “Walter, you and Buck stay here in case she comes back.”
Walter snorted. “Let’s see you wait for London to come back if she ever goes missing. Not happening.”
“We can wait here,” Mom offered.
“Thank you,” Dice said and rushed out of the room. He came to a sliding stop halfway down the hall, in front of an open door—one that wasn’t on the castle map. “What the fuck?” Dice said before he disappeared through the door.
“Go check and see if she’s with your mom and London. We’ll go with him,” Walter said to Ink as he and Buck followed Dice.
“Come on,” I said and grabbed Ink’s hand, pulling him toward the elevator.
“Dice?” Daphne yelled, her voice muffled by distance. We stopped abruptly, listening for more.
“Daphne!” Dice called. “Are you okay? Where are you? Daphne?”
With his hand gripping mine, Ink wordlessly turned and hurried to the hallway door. It led to a small room with a table along one wall and cabinets on another. The door on the far wall opened to stairs and walls made of stone.
Dice, Walter, and Buck continued to shout Daphne’s name as we descended the stairs, but their voices seemed to come from different directions.
“Dice?” Ink shouted, startling me. “Sorry,” he whispered and squeezed my hand.
“Ink! Where are you?”
“The hidden stairway. Where are you?” he asked, sounding confused.
“Keep going. At the bottom, pick a closed door and leave it open,” Dice yelled.
“What?”
“Keeping going,” Dice replied, sounding farther away.
“I don’t know about this,” I said as we continued moving forward.
The stairs led to a small room with four doors along the far wall—two closed, two open.
“That’s what he meant.” Ink nodded once and opened the third door. He paused and turned around to face me. “I think you should wait with your parents while we look for Daphne.”
“I’m a nurse,” I reminded him. “I’m going.”
“Stay with me,” he said and tightened his fingers around my hand.
“How far down do you think those go?” I asked when the third door opened to another set of stairs.
“It couldn’t be more than?—”
A door opened behind us. Ink whirled around and moved in front of me before I could see anything.
“Presley!” Mom shouted. “Oh, thank goodness!”
“Mom?” I asked and stepped around Ink. “What are y’all doing down here?”
“We thought we heard Daphne’s voice in the hallway. Your dad saw the open door, and we heard your voice,” Mom rushedout and threw her arms around me. “Sorry, I got scared for a second.”
“I’m okay, but we need to help them find Daphne. Can you and Dad take that door while we take this one?” I asked and pointed to the remaining closed door.
“Yes, of course,” she promised and kissed my cheek. “Be careful and stay together.”
