Elena didn't go back to the Briarwood the next day.
Not because she was afraid.
She would've denied that immediately if asked.
But because the forest wasn't the part of Hollowthorn that kept pulling at her thoughts anymore. It was what came after. The way the creature reacted. The way she reacted back.
That still didn't sit comfortably in her mind.
So instead, she walked the castle.
Not with purpose at first. Just movement. Corridor after corridor, letting the place decide where she ended up.
It worked, in its own strange way.
Hollowthorn always seemed willing to guide her somewhere, even if it never explained why.
At some point, she noticed the change.
The air shifted.
Subtle. Easy to miss if she hadn't already been paying attention to everything else.
The light dimmed slightly. Not darker exactly, just more contained, as if the castle was narrowing its focus.
Elena slowed.
"This feels familiar," she muttered.
She turned a corner.
And stopped.
The corridor ahead was different.
Not dramatically. That would've been too obvious for this place.
The walls were the same stone. The same dull, worn surface. But the doors along this stretch were heavier. Reinforced. Each one marked with iron bands that looked less decorative and more like restraint.
And there were no servants here.
None at all.
That, more than anything, told her she wasn't supposed to be here.
Elena stepped forward anyway.
Of course she did.
As she walked, the silence deepened. Not just absence of sound, but absence of movement. Even the faint background presence she had grown used to in the castle—the distant footsteps, the low shifting of life—was gone.
She reached the first door.
It was locked.
Not just closed. Locked in a way that felt deliberate. The handle didn't move when she tried it. No give. No hesitation.
Elena frowned.
"Of course," she said under her breath.
She tried the next one.
Same result.
And the next.
And the next.
By the fourth, she stopped trying politely.
"What is this?" she muttered.
A voice answered from behind her.
"You shouldn't be here."
Elena turned slowly.
Osric Venn stood at the far end of the corridor.
She hadn't heard him approach.
Again.
He looked the same as always—composed, thin, slightly too calm for someone who kept appearing in places without warning.
"I've noticed," Elena said, "that people keep saying that to me in different parts of this castle."
Osric didn't smile.
"That's because it keeps being true," he replied.
She crossed her arms. "Then maybe the castle should be clearer about where I'm allowed."
Osric stepped forward, glancing at the locked doors.
"You're near the restricted wing," he said.
"I noticed."
"You shouldn't have been able to find it."
"That's also becoming a theme."
A pause.
Then Osric looked at her directly.
"Are you looking for something?" he asked.
Elena hesitated.
That was the problem.
She wasn't sure anymore.
"I'm trying to understand things," she said carefully.
"That is not the same answer," Osric replied.
She exhaled slightly. "Then maybe I am looking for answers."
"Dangerous habit," he said.
"Everything here is a dangerous habit."
That earned the faintest shift in his expression. Not amusement. Something closer to acknowledgment.
He moved past her, stopping in front of the nearest door.
"This section of the castle is sealed," he said.
"I gathered that much."
"It is not for guests."
"I'm not a guest," Elena said quietly.
Osric paused.
That landed differently.
He didn't respond immediately.
Instead, he looked at her for a long moment, as if reassessing something he thought he already understood.
Then he said, "No. You're not."
A silence settled.
Elena glanced at the door again.
"What's behind it?" she asked.
Osric didn't answer right away.
When he did, his voice was lower.
"Things that were not meant to continue existing," he said.
That was… unhelpful in the way only truth could sometimes be.
Elena stepped closer to the door.
The iron bands were older here. Scratched. Some parts looked repaired more than once.
"Sounds dramatic," she said.
"It is not meant to be dramatic," Osric replied. "It is meant to be contained."
She studied the lock.
"Contained what, exactly?"
Osric didn't answer.
That silence was answer enough.
Elena tried the handle again, more out of curiosity than expectation.
Nothing.
Then—
a faint sound.
Not from the door.
From inside it.
She froze.
Osric noticed immediately.
"Did you hear that?" he asked.
Elena nodded slowly.
A second sound followed.
Not loud.
Not clear.
But enough.
Like something shifting behind stone.
Elena stepped back slightly.
"…That's not normal," she said.
Osric's expression tightened just a fraction.
"No," he agreed.
A long pause.
Then Elena turned to him.
"Why is it sealed?" she asked again.
Osric hesitated.
Longer this time.
Then—
"Because the last time it was open," he said quietly, "something got out."
The corridor suddenly felt colder.
Elena looked at the doors again.
"And it's still in there?" she asked.
Osric didn't answer immediately.
That was worse than a yes.
Finally, he said, "Not all of it."
Elena frowned. "That's not reassuring."
"It is accurate."
She let out a short breath.
Of course it was.
Another faint sound came from behind the door.
Closer this time.
Elena stepped back fully now.
"What exactly am I hearing?" she asked.
Osric's gaze stayed on the door.
"I don't know," he said.
That was the first honest uncertainty she'd heard from him.
It didn't help.
Elena looked between him and the sealed entrance.
"You all live above this?" she asked.
Osric nodded once.
"Yes."
"And no one talks about it."
"They do not need to."
"That's not how problems work," Elena said quietly.
Osric finally looked at her again.
"Here it is," he said. "Because speaking of it does not change its containment."
Elena shook her head slightly.
"That's a very dangerous way to think," she said.
"Perhaps," Osric replied.
The silence returned.
Thicker now.
The door didn't move again.
But Elena could still feel it.
Something inside had noticed her.
Or maybe it always had.
She turned away slowly.
"I'm going to assume," she said, "that I'm not supposed to mention this to the king."
Osric didn't deny it.
"That would be wise," he said.
Elena gave a faint, humorless breath.
"Everything here requires silence," she said.
Osric watched her carefully.
"Silence is not always avoidance," he said.
Elena paused.
Then glanced back at him.
"What is it here?" she asked.
Osric considered that.
Then simply said, "Containment."
Elena didn't respond.
She just started walking back down the corridor.
But as she left, she couldn't shake the feeling that whatever was behind that door—
had already heard her.