She remained crouched near the edge of the opening, her gaze fixed on the darkness below, letting her senses reach downward before committing to the descent.
There was nothing. No sign that anything within had noticed a piece of roof disappearing.
There were only the people outside and seemingly nothing inside.
She adjusted her grip on the edge and lowered herself through.
She let herself hang for a moment before dropping the last short distance, and her boots met the floor without a sound.
Above, she moved the barrier holding the piece of roof and set it back into place, locking it in place, giving it enough strength to last about an hour.
Any longer, and the barrier would become too visible, even in the darkness.
Even though the window slits were always open, the air felt stale, almost sickly.
It didn't smell like a place people lived.
There wasn't the smell of food or fabric. No sense of life in the ordinary sense.
Her eyes adjusted to the darkness, though there was little to adjust to as the darkness inside almost mirrored that outside.
She stood in a wide space. The walls in the room she was in were close enough to be defined clearly. The room stretched out farther than she had expected. Its layout was simple, functional, but barren.
There was no furniture or decoration.
As if the room had been made simply to exist.
It was clean, even though the window slits couldn't be closed, that much could be said.
As if whatever purpose this place served had no need for comfort, no tolerance for clutter, no allowance for anything that wasn't necessary.
Sonder turned slowly, stretching out her hand to brush lightly against one of the walls.
There was one door, and she moved toward it.
Each step was quiet, keeping her presence as minimal as possible.
She opened the door and stepped through it, into another room, identical to the last.
They didn't seem like living quarters or even storage.
She continued on.
The next door led to a short passage.
The passage ended abruptly. Not in a wall but in space.
There were open pathways to her left and right, leading to other short passages, likely leading to other rooms.
Before her was something like a balcony, an interior one, with a guardrail running around the entire space.
She stepped forward and looked down.
The lower floor stretched out beneath her, its scale far greater than the exterior had suggested.
It was even darker below.
She could see the blue thread clearly.
Not to any room on this floor, or even the one below.
It led down, even further, through the ground, almost straight down.
There was another level, underground and hidden from sight.