Shadows Book 1 in the World of Shadows by Cheree Alsop

sweet,
cloying scent. I ate a roll slowly, enjoying the darkness; then a
wisp of stale air tickled past my ear. Curious, I turned on my
knees and studied the wall. Another brush of air, as faint as the
smallest breath, whispered against my face.
    I set down my food and ran a hand over the
wooden panel against the back wall. A seam, fit as tightly as the
rock under which my leaf had been hidden at the Caves, ran up one
side of the panel. I pushed against it and it gave slightly. I
followed the seam to the top of the panel just level with my head
when I knelt, and put pressure on the top corner. It gave a small
click and the corner opened, but the bottom still stuck. I put my
fingers in the gap and pulled. A slight crack sounded and the
bottom swung free to reveal a small passageway. Cobwebs and dust
lined the darkness beyond; it looked as though the tunnel hadn’t
been cleaned or walked through in years.
    I studied the passage and debated whether it
would be proper to explore a bit. I had been left to my own devices
and the food, as good as it was, could only keep me occupied for so
long. Besides, I had never found a passageway I had left
unexplored, even when I had chains attached.
    I wrapped a couple of soft, buttery rolls,
some slices of juicy, honeyed meat, and a couple of hard fruits
from my plate in a napkin and crouched to enter the tunnel. I
hesitated and looked around for a way to secure the door behind me.
As slim as the chance would be, it wouldn’t do for someone to look
in my closet and find the passage open, whether or not they already
knew about it.
    A small rope had been attached to the inside
of the door. I pulled it shut, then found a small piece of wood
that tipped to close the door from the inside, shutting the light
out and me in the very empty tunnel. I took a breath of musty air
and walked slowly along the narrow walkway. Wooden beams lined two
solid walls of red rock bricks as tall as I was. The passage
wouldn’t have accommodated anyone much wider than I without great
difficulty. I guessed it was made for Luminos by Luminos, because
Nathos were thicker and would have avoided such narrow passes, thus
their fondness for blasting and chipping away at the inside of the
Caves.
    I stepped gingerly over a few small, decayed
mouse bodies of which barely more than bones remained. I could feel
the cold stone beneath the dust with my bare feet. The passageway
would have been difficult to create. I wondered how long ago they
had forgotten about it, or if it was just my small section that was
unused.
    A few paces down I reached the next room
which was Marken’s. Cool air from a tiny board nailed between beams
brushed past my face. I leaned close to it and smelled desert sand
with a hint of sage. The scent brought a smile to my lips. I
twisted the wood and it pivoted on a center nail to reveal a tiny
eyehole positioned to give practically a full view of the room.
Bothered, I straightened back up and closed the hole. The fact that
anyone who knew of the passage could spy on the inhabitants of the
rooms made me uncomfortable. I backed away and continued down the
tunnel.
    The passageway followed the walls, twisting
and turning between every room with spy holes covered by small
boards nailed to the wall. I ate the rolls and fruit while I walked
slowly onward. It was strangely comforting to be in such a tight
space again, like I was safe in my element. I could see ash marks
on the ceiling beneath the spider webs where Luminos had used
torches to make their way along safely. I was grateful for the
eyesight of a Duskie which allowed me to see in the dark. Torches
and hiding the light must have been a great inconvenience for the
Luminos when it came to spying in the holes. One would have to
snuff out the torch in order to look through the holes to avoid
being seen, then light the torches again when finished spying to
get back to the beginning of the passage.
    I rounded the next corner and made my way
down the tunnel;