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By now, Hector was getting the distinct impression that he still wasn’t even close to the end of this self-guided tour. He supposed that could be a good thing, but on the other hand, even if he only counted everything he’d seen so far, Warrenhold already seemed way too big for four people. And hell, he wasn’t sure if Jamal and Amelia were going to live here. The thought of having all this space for only him and his mother was even more daunting. Were all castles this gigantic?

‘At least there doesn’t seem to be a vermin problem,’ said Garovel.

“So far.”

‘I don’t think I’ve even seen any cobwebs anywhere. Curious.’

“Watch the next room we find be a fucking den of spiders.”

‘Are you arachnophobic?’

“No. Er... at least, I don’t think I am...”

‘Oh, that’s right. You’re not afraid of anything, are you?’

“Uh--I don’t know about that. When I saw Harper use pan-rozum, I almost shat myself...”

Garovel laughed. ‘Oh yeah? I didn’t realize. I suppose I can see why, though.’

He looked around again. “Agh. I wish I at least knew how many floors there are in this place.” He’d asked Madame Carthrace for a map or floor plan of the building, but she explained that she’d been unable to procure such a thing despite searching for the past several days.

‘Just think of it as an adventure.’

“I feel like I’m gonna get lost down here forever...”

‘Don’t worry. I can probably guide you back.’

“...Probably?”

‘If not, you can become the Darksteel Mole Man.’

“Fantastic.”

Eyeing all eight doors another time, Hector eventually just shrugged and chose the closest one. It led to another hallway. A very long hallway. There had to be at least another ten rooms to investigate, but he decided to keep going instead. At length, the corridor ended very abruptly, as if the rest of it were missing, replaced by a hole leading to pitch blackness. Hector stepped closer to the edge and shined his light through the hole.

This time, it really was a cave.