"I'm going back out to… uh… I'll just be going." declared Zelos as he walked out the door with a devious look on his face. Genis and Colette watched Zelos as he exited the room. Presea, standing on the balcony, looked off into the distance and ignored him.
"Well, I'm starting to get tired now." Genis said, "I'm going to bed… Presea, are you alright?" Genis looked at Presea as she stared at the starry sky. She had a sorrowful expression on her face and seemed to be in a sort of trance.
"Presea?" Colette asked. Presea looked toward Genis and Colette.
"OH! I-I'm sorry. I zoned out a little there." Presea stuttered.
"Are you alright?" Genis repeated.
"Uh… yes. Yes I am." Presea answered.
"What is it? Were you thinking about someone?" Colette guessed.
"No… not exactly." Presea uttered.
"You don't have to tell us what you were thinking about if you don't want to." Genis proclaimed.
"That's ok, Genis. I… think that I'll take a walk in the hotel for a while." Presea said with a tone of unease in her voice. She advanced toward the doorway.
"Are you sure you don't want me… err, one of us to go with you?" Genis questioned.
"No. I'll be fine." Presea said. She left the room and shut the door behind her. There was a moment of silence.
"She'll be fine." Colette assured. She had gone off on her own like that many times herself.
"I hope so." Genis stated. He ran to the balcony and stopped to look at the stars. Genis wondered what had made Presea so apprehensive.
Presea went outside the hotel and saw Zelos talking to two women in bunny girl costumes out front."You're such a tease!" one of the girls bellowed. The three of them laughed.
"Don't worry, girls! There's enough of me to go around!" Zelos remarked. Presea looked away from the sight and sighed. She walked past Zelos and the giggling girls to go to the monument where the group had met George.
Actually, Colette was right. She was thinking about someone… but for now she would try to think of something other than that particular person. She looked at the monument before her and remembered something. There was a question that was bothering her for quite a long time, and Presea decided to investigate it right then and there.
Presea thought that there was something strange about the monument. Ever since the first time she laid eyes on it the thing seemed suspicious. She kneeled beside it and tapped the front of it with her finger. Suddenly the monument moved backwards and fell over.
'Maybe I tapped it a little too hard. Sometimes I don't know my own strength.' Presea thought. She looked at the pedestal that the monument had sat on and was shocked to see a stairway leading into the ground.
'So the monument is some type of doorway.' Presea pondered. The doorway seemed so inviting, and everyone else was either asleep or 'busy'. Not thinking too long on it, Presea decided to go inside and investigate alone. For reasons unknown, Presea felt that she must enter the secret passageway. She descended into the darkness below with her axe in hand.
A long hallway stretched forward at the bottom of the stairs. The walls of the hall were lined with torches. Presea could hear the sound of dripping water coming from further down the hall. The stuffy passage smelled of charred wood and smoke… a smell that reminded Presea of her childhood home in Ozette.
'The lit torches must mean that someone has been here recently or that they are still here.' Presea concluded as she carefully tiptoed down the corridor. At the end of the hallway was a metal door.
'Maybe I should go back.' Presea considered. It did feel awkward exploring a secret cavern alone in the middle of the night. She turned around and saw a wall blocking her path back. At first she theorized as to how the wall got there, but soon became fearful.
'That is definitely not a good thing.' Presea worried. She bashed at the wall with her axe.
'No good. It appears that I am trapped here for now. However, there may be a way out further in.' Presea turned toward the brass door and reached for the handle.