CHAPTER 4 — The Secret Beneath the Ashes
The headlines exploded across the country.
"The Haunted House Was Hiding Something Far Worse Than Ghosts."
Television crews crowded outside the ruins of Blackwood Mansion.
Police arrested Sheriff Brooks along with twelve influential officials.
The tunnels were sealed.
The case was officially closed.
At least...
That's what everyone believed.
Three weeks later, Ethan received a package with no return address.
Inside was an old brass key.
A faded map.
And a handwritten note.
"They found the house... but not the real door."
No signature.
Only a strange symbol burned into the paper.
A black raven inside a circle.
The same symbol Ethan had seen painted on one wall deep inside the bunker.
One wall the police insisted had never existed.
That night Ethan returned alone.
The mansion had already been demolished.
Only broken foundations remained beneath yellow police tape.
Rain poured across the empty hill.
His flashlight caught something glittering beneath the rubble.
The brass key fit perfectly into a rusted lock hidden beneath shattered bricks.
A section of concrete slowly shifted aside.
Another staircase.
Even deeper than the first.
Unlike the bunker above...
This place looked untouched.
Fresh air flowed through spotless hallways.
Electric lights suddenly flickered on by themselves.
Every wall displayed portraits of children.
Hundreds of them.
Each portrait carried a name.
Each child had disappeared over the last forty years.
But one frame was empty.
Only a silver plate remained.
It read:
ETHAN CARTER
His own name.
Before he could react...
A calm voice echoed through hidden speakers.
May you like
"Welcome home."
Every door slammed shut.
