The last time I used the passage, I left the door open behind me. This time, I shut the door, and now I don't know how to find it again. I stumble along, peering through every set of spy holes I manage to spot in the darkness, but I don't know the house well enough to get my bearings from the rooms I see on the other side. At regular intervals I spot the palely-painted door handles, but I'm not reckless enough to open any of them without knowing where they lead—or where Calder is.
I keep walking. Right now my priority is to get as far away from Calder as possible, but I keep my head up and my eyes on the walls, looking for the next door or set of spy holes.
I'm so focused on finding my escape route that I nearly trip down the flight of stairs that suddenly appears in front of me. I gasp and reach out for the wall, and I manage to catch myself on a railing before I fall and break my neck. My phone clatters to the ground and tumbles down several steps. The sound echoes down the length of the passageway.
I stand frozen for a long, breathless minute. Was Calder still in the passage? Did he hear that? I strain my ears, but I don't hear any approaching footsteps. Still, I have a bad feeling in my gut. I need to get out of here—and fast.
I hurry down the next few steps and crouch, fumbling around in the darkness for my phone. As soon as I find it, I take off down the stairs, moving as quickly as I can without risking another fall. The stairs go on much longer than I expect, far more than a flight, but at this point there's nowhere else to go but down.
How deep does this place go? I wonder.
It's not until the steps finally stop—and I notice the sudden coolness—that I remember Calder's earlier comments about the dungeons.
I assumed at the time he was joking, but now that I'm here, I'm not so sure. The glow from my cell phone reveals the edges of a door ahead of me. I take a deep breath and push it open.
The hallway on the other side is as dark as the passageway—far darker than most of the rooms and corridors upstairs, where the windows let in light even on rainy days like today. I edge my way along the closest wall, a hand out for support, and my fingers brush against stone.
Looks like he definitely wasn't kidding about that dungeon bit.
I don't know what I'll find down here, but there's no way I'm giving up the chance to explore a little. What do eccentric billionaires keep in their sub-basements? Vaults of jewels? Stashes of the latest designer drugs? Dead bodies of people who defied them?
My hand brushes against a door, and I fumble for the handle in the dark. It's locked. About ten steps later, I find another door, but this one's locked, too. And then another, and another—this entire basement is stone walls and locked doors. I'm screwed if Calder catches me down here. There's nowhere to hide.
My body is tense, my skin alive with nerves. The thought that Calder is somewhere above me, hunting me down, incites a feral excitement in me. If he catches me down here, what will he do?
My heart almost leaps out of my chest when I find the next door unlocked. I slowly push it open then raise my cell phone to try and light the darkness beyond.
There's nothing here. No storage boxes, no cases of jewels, no dead bodies. I wander around the room, inspecting every corner, but I'm in an empty stone cube. A small one, at that. It really does feel like a dungeon cell—all that's missing are a few chains on the walls.
I flip my cell phone closed and sit down in one of the corners, trying to catch my breath. I'm not sure why this place flusters me so much, but I'm already too far gone to fight the fluttering in my stomach. There's no point in denying that a part of me wants him to catch me, but I won't willingly lose this contest. After the time is up, however, then all bets are off.
I glance down at the time on my phone. Twenty-eight minutes left. Halfway done. I can do this.
The minutes tick by slowly, all the more because I can’t see anything around me. I can only focus on the excitement running beneath my skin. When I close my eyes, I can only imagine the things Calder has planned for me upon my capture.
I should feel bad for indulging my imagination, but I don't. I'm not ashamed of the fantasies playing in my mind, nor am I ashamed of the anticipation coursing through me. I feel alive and wild and free. I feel like this place, this mansion, is entirely removed from my old reality. My normal life and all its stress and responsibilities are far away. In here I can be reckless. In here I can be shameless and unrestrained. In here I can explore every dark, wicked corner of myself.
When I finally grow impatient and look down at my phone again, there are only seven minutes left.
I draw my knees up to my chest and rock gently. I don't want to admit it, but I'm a little disappointed Calder hasn't come for me yet. After our close encounter in the passageway upstairs, I thought I'd spend the entire game on my toes, just steps ahead of him, breathlessly out of reach.
Just when I’m about to resign myself to the letdown, I hear a sound out in the hallway.
I hold my breath. For a moment, I hear nothing but silence. I’m beginning to think I might have imagined the noise when suddenly it comes again.
There, down the hall—is that the sound of a door closing? Has Calder stumbled down here at last?
For a solid minute I don't hear anything more, and then there's a footstep, light but distinct. Yes, there's no denying it—someone's walking down the hallway. Toward the room where I wait.
I press myself further against the wall and flip my cell phone open for one last look. Three minutes until the alarm goes off. Three minutes, and I'll have the money the Center needs to survive.
I hear the jiggle of a door handle. Not mine, no—three doors down, maybe four. This level is so quiet that I can practically hear my heart pumping.
Outside my cell, Calder moves a few more steps and tries the next door. I shouldn't have chosen the first room I found unlocked, I realize suddenly. He'll move on from the locked doors quickly, but he'll stop and search this room, and there's nowhere in here I can hide.
I'm tempted to pull out my phone and check the time again, but it's too risky. Instead I remain curled up on the floor, afraid to move, and I wait.
Calder tries the handle of the room next to mine. One jiggle, two. And then his footsteps approach my door.
I'm lightheaded. There can't be more than two minutes left. If I can escape him for just two minutes…
The handle of my cell turns, and the door opens with a click that seems to echo throughout the room. I stay perfectly still. A single breath or the tiniest shift of my foot might alert him to my presence.
He steps into the room. He moves slowly, as if he's unaware that his time is about to expire. Or maybe he does know—maybe he already knows I'm in here, and it's all part of his game.