Later that night, the four of you gathered again in the first hidden Slytherin chamber beneath the castle.
Green serpentine symbols glowed along the walls.
Ancient books covered every shelf.
The Naomi Mansion book sat open on the stone table.
Julian leaned over the diagrams.
"If Kieran's telling the truth," he said, "there's more hidden here."
Lake tapped one of the pages.
"Look at this."
He pointed to a strange symbol drawn near the edge of the blueprint.
A spiral rune.
Noah tilted the page.
"That's not a structure marking."
Oliver raised an eyebrow.
"Then what is it?"
Noah looked toward the back wall of the chamber.
"An entrance."
They searched for nearly an hour.
Finally, Lake discovered something.
A cracked serpent carving near the floor.
He pressed it.
Stone shifted.
The entire back wall slid open with a deep grinding sound.
Behind it was another staircase.
But this one was far older.
The air flowing from it smelled like ancient stone and forgotten time.
Julian lifted a torch.
"Guess we're going down again."