Nora closed her eyes for a second, steadying herself. When she opened them again, her voice was tight but firm. “You go first.” They dragged the small table from the earlier room into place beneath the hatch. It scraped loudly against the stone, the sound echoing far longer than it should have.
Ethan climbed onto it, stretching upward. His fingers brushed the edge of the hatch, then found a recessed handle. He hesitated. Above them, nothing moved. He pulled. The hatch creaked open slowly, releasing a rush of colder air from above—and plunging the tunnel beneath it into a deeper, more unsettling silence.