The morning light barely touched Avalon Resort. Fog clung to the ground like it was trying to keep secrets buried. Karen stood at the edge of the courtyard, dressed in a simple long-sleeve top and jeans, her sneakers laced tightly. She didn't say much, she didn't need to.
Her eyes, still shadowed from the night's restless sleep, held enough resolve for all three of them.
Alex led the way to the cellar entrance behind the kitchen building...a narrow stone stairwell partially covered by ivy and overgrown bushes. Luca had spotted it on the hand-drawn map the day before. And now, standing before it, the ground beneath Karen's feet felt... different, thicker, as if the air itself was warning them to turn back.
"Ready?" Alex asked, glancing between the two of them.
"No," Karen replied honestly, gripping the flashlight in her hand. "But let's go anyway."
Luca pulled the heavy door open. It groaned on its hinges, revealing a set of steep, winding stairs that disappeared into darkness. A blast of cold, damp air hit them immediately and Karen tried not to shiver.
One step, then another, they descended in silence, their flashlights cutting narrow paths through the pitch-black tunnel. The walls were stone, wet with condensation.
Strange carvings, barely noticeable at first, began to appear along the sides. Circles. Xs. A symbol that looked eerily like an eye.
Karen reached out, running her hand over one of them. "This wasn't just for storing wine."
Alex nodded grimly. "It's some kind of passage, maybe ceremonial."
After several minutes of walking, they reached a large chamber. It was circular, lined with empty wooden racks and collapsed barrels. But at the center stood something none of them expected:
A stone altar.
Cracked, weather-worn but unmistakably an altar. Burn marks surrounded it on the floor, as if candles or torches had once encircled it in ritual. Beside it, half-buried under an old tarp, were ropes, the same kind that had been used to bind Karen.
Karen's breath hitched. She stepped back instinctively, bumping into Alex.
"Is this where they kept you?" he asked, his voice tight.
Karen shook her head. "No, but it feels the same. Like whatever was done to me... started here."
Luca knelt near the wall, picking up a piece of parchment sealed in a plastic sleeve. His eyes scanned it quickly.
"It's a ledger," he murmured. "Dates, times, names. Most of them crossed out, but look at this Karen's name is here." He looked up, eyes wide. "So is mine and Alex's."
Karen moved closer, heart pounding. "Why?"
Before Luca could answer, the ground trembled soft at first, then stronger, like a pulse running through the earth.
A loud crack echoed from the stairwell behind them.
They spun around only to see the entrance collapse in a spray of dust and debris.
They were trapped.
Karen's flashlight flickered. Alex immediately took her hand and pulled her close, his other hand reaching for his phone but there was no signal. "Dammit" he cursed.The temperature dropped even further.
"We're not alone," Luca whispered.
A soft sound echoed from deeper within the chamber...a faint, melodic humming. Female, beautiful and eerie.
Karen gripped Alex's arm. "That voice…"
Alex looked toward a second passage that had gone unnoticed until now, half-hidden behind a fallen shelf of wine crates.
The humming grew louder.
Karen turned toward the dark tunnel, and for a heartbeat, she swore she saw a figure at the end...a woman in a long dress, standing still, her face covered by her hair.
Then she was gone.