Chapter 1 - The Hidden Trapdoor
The grand glass greenhouse was usually a place of quiet beauty, filled with rows of lush green plants and warm sunlight streaming through the panes. Inside, a family sat around a long wooden dining table, enjoying a leisurely midday meal. At the other end of the stone floor, ten-year-old Lily played near an old wheelbarrow, her eyes catching sight of something unusual half-hidden beneath a pile of gardening tools.
It was a heavy wooden trapdoor, fitted with rusted iron hinges and a massive locked padlock. Lily had lived on the estate for years, yet she had never noticed this hidden hatch before. A strange, inexplicable chill ran down her spine as she stared at the dark wood, sensing that something was deeply wrong right beneath their feet.
