The Phantom's Spy

Chapter Two

I waited until nightfall to search for clues about this mystery.

Staying in the shadows in case there was anybody out, I roamed the hallways searching for anything. It took me about an hour or searching till I saw something suspicious... A wall, that seemed to be open barely a crack. Only someone who was looking very hard, harder than a detective, would notice it. I only noticed it because I was running my hand across the wall for direction.

I pulled on the side lightly, and to my amazement, it moved! I pulled harder, opening the whole thing, and rushed inside, closing the fake wall behind me.

Great, just my luck. No torches! I stumbled through, holding the wall to keep my balance and sense of direction. I could feel the hall going downwards.

Sewers? Catacombs? Tomb?  I was listing off possibilities in my head to where I was headed. Suddenly, BAM, I walked straight into a wall. "Ow!" I said, just catching myself from shouting, in case anyone else was here.

Maybe it's another door? I thought. I pushed and pulled every stone in that wall, and nothing moved. A dead end? There's no way this would be left here.

So I started feeling around, finding some candles that felt like they hadn't been used in a long time. But out of the candles I found only two were loose, so I grabbed them and pulled them out of the holder, looking for a button, lever, anything! There was a button!

I pressed it and the door opened, flooding me in light. I blinked a few times, taking in the scene.

There was a curtain that must have hidden a bed, or a coffin for all I knew. An organ, a boat, and maybe a thousand candles, all surrounded by a shallow lake. It was so... beautiful! How could all this be here? And did someone live here?

"Hello? Anyone home?" I wandered around, taking in everything. "This place, it's amazing!" I breathed out. "Whoever lives here must have it pretty good, you know, to be able to get all this stuff down here, or get it at all."

I stared at the organ, oblivious to the person approaching from behind.

Suddenly, I felt something slip around my neck and tighten. "You shouldn't be here," the voice behind me said. I saw black spots, trying to get the rope off my neck, but it just got tighter, till I fell to the floor.

The last thing I saw was a man in all black staring down at me before I passed out.