The phone's torch played over the damp stone walls of the roughly carved corridor below Anubis House. What is this place? wondered Willow as her footsteps echoed around her. Something scurried away from her feet, a rat probably, and she held back a squeal. For the first time she began to feel a little afraid, but she bit her lower lip and told herself to get it together. It was adventure she'd wanted, and it was adventure she was going to get.
The tunnel sloped gradually downwards, clearly extending beyond the perimeter of the house. She kept her ears pricked for anyone coming the other way, ready to turn and flee should her trespass be discovered.
Finally she saw the end of the tunnel, where a solid looking wooden door blocked further progress. It had no handle, only a elaborate swirling symbol carved into the wood. The symbol seemed familiar, as if she had seen it somewhere years before. She racked her brains, trying to remember, but nothing came to her.
'Is that it?' she said aloud, jumping slightly as her voice bounced around the tunnel. She pushed at the door, but it didn't budge. She ran her fingers around the swirls of the symbol, perhaps hoping to find a hidden catch to open the door - nothing.
Then she noticed a small recess in the stone beside her, a circular hole around six inches in diameter and three inches deep. Again she poked and prodded to no avail. Frustrated and out of options, she headed back up the tunnel and back to bed.
The only thing Willow failed to notice was the tiny unblinking eye of a camera set into the stone above the door, recording her every move and relaying it to a screen some thirty feet below.
'Is it her?' asked one of the men watching. He waited anxiously for the response.
'It's her.'