Marissa’s still sleeping when I return, so I gently shake her awake. “How do you feel? Are you hungry?” I ask. “Better. Starved.” She smiles, looking more like her old self than she has since I poisoned her. We eat the peaches and bread with our hands and then drink the water that’s left. “Here.” I hand her the lantern and gather our things. “Where are we going?” she asks nervously. I bend and open the small door that leads down into the tunnels. The dank smells of mold and sewage hit us and Marissa sighs. “Down.” “I was afraid you were going to say that.” We walk down the stairs, the odor of sewage getting stronger. “What is this place?” she asks, her voice daunted. “An ancient escape route for the royals in case of an uprising. We need to find our way out.” She stops. “You don’t know the way out?” “Well, not exactly. I do know that the door we are looking for has an X on it and it leads to another tunnel, not a room.” “So what if we open a door and find Kaiser Wilhelm taking a bath?”
