A Mystery To Be Solved

The Hidden Passage

The four examined what lay before them. It was a huge hall, equal to the size of all rooms in their city houses combined together!

The walls were painted in a light-yellow shade, but the paint was scraped off in places to reveal the white plaster inside. The sides of this hall were adorned with animal heads mounted on the higher parts of the wall—these included two tigers, a pair of bears and a couple of deer-heads. When the children's eyes fell on them, they were mostly disgusted but a little fascinated, too.

On both sides at the far end were a flight of stairs leading up to the first floor, and between them on the ground floor itself was a raised platform, which could have been used as a stage at an earlier time. The floor consisted of black and white chequered tiles.

There were two locked doors on their left side, and one locked room on their right. There was another, albeit smaller, locked door adjacent to the stage on its right with a look suggesting that it had not been locked long, because on closer inspection, they found no layer of dust on the lock!

The children wondered who had come in here, with all the legends about it circulating in the village! Perhaps some thieves again? They thought. Behind the stage-like structure was a small door, maybe a store, or a bathroom, or a kitchen. The house was covered with cobwebs and a few pieces of furniture were kept in front of the stage, covered with white sheets. It was a typical haunted house—like a scene directly out of a horror film!

Following the footprints, they realized that Aisha had gone on to the first floor. They moved further and while ascending the staircase, kept looking over their shoulders, to see if anyone (or anything!) was watching them, or if a ghost had jumped out of one of the furniture or rooms!

The staircase ended in a corridor that stretched along the entire inner perimeter of the walls, connecting the numerous doors that were placed adjacent to each other­—with certain intervals of space, which could only mean they were separate rooms—along the length of the corridor. Rohit shone the beam of his flashlight all around them to check if everything was okay. As they all climbed up the stairs and reached the top, they were greeted with a life-size portrait of an old man dressed like a King, with a sword hanging at his belt.

At first, they were terrified, and Pooja, on coming across it all of a sudden, screamed out so loud that no one was sure if it was Pooja indeed, or a spirit that had entered her! They looked at her, frightened, and she thought a ghost was hovering behind her! "What is it? Don't tell me there's a ghost just behind me!" She shut her eyes waiting for it to appear.

"Thank god it's really you, Pooja. I know it's you because that scream is proof of your being a scaredy-cat! Otherwise, I would have already fainted if it was a blood-curdling scream of the ghost roaming this mansion!" Kartike said, clearly relieved. At this, all four burst out laughing. It helped ease the situation, even if only a little.

But now there was another problem. Aisha's footprints had vanished! They looked at each other, confused. Pooja read their minds and said, "It may be simply because the soles of her shoes were now already covered with so much dust that they did not leave any prints on this thick layer of dust on the floor, or it may be because..." but she was stopped in between by Rohit, "Now, don't say that a ghost picked her up from here!" Pooja defended herself, jokingly, "But what can I do? I am not used to surveying haunted houses on my own!". Rohit retaliated, "So are you trying to say that we all have lived in such houses all our lives?".

"Come on, now—don't start your war here. Even the ghosts will run away hearing you fight!" Avantika grinned, adding, "Now, get serious. My instinct tells me that she's on this floor only. So, let's get divided. Me and Rohit will check the left wing, while Pooja and Kartike, you'll search the right wing. Even if you find anything suspicious, shout over from wherever you are. Is that fine with you all?"

"Yes, ma'am!" they all chorused. But they had to admit—Avantika was a good leader.

They all spread around the mansion, checking every nook and cranny of the wide corridors carefully. Suddenly, Kartike shouted, "I've found it! I've got it! Come over here, guys!" The others rushed up to him, and gasped when they saw what he had found.

It was Aisha's 'lucky brooch', the one she never forgot to wear, and boast about!

The tiny golden star studded with small crystals clearly indicated that its owner was somewhere nearby, and gave rise to a new hope in the children's hearts!

Excited, the friends started searching for a door, window, or anything else near it through which Aisha could have disappeared. But no, all the rooms were locked with rusting iron locks which mustn't have been touched in decades! Windows were scarce on this side of the house, and those present were shuttered and barred. Their tiny ray of hope died as quickly as it had come.

"Maybe there's a secret entrance or a hidden panel on the wall, or the ground?" Avantika said, thinking about all the mystery stories she'd read. She regretted it instantly. After all, it was such a childish idea, and to think that such things really existed in the 21st century was foolish, she thought.

But Rohit said, "Let's see if there's any kind of lever or something. Maybe the walls are hollow, too! Detective stories have those kinds of things, don't they?" He echoed her thoughts. The four again spread out, knocking and tapping the walls to check if they were hollow. All of a sudden, Pooja yelled, "Hey, look here! The wall's hollow!" she tapped it loudly for the others to hear.

Sure enough, the tapping sound on the wall was a little different from the other parts of the same wall! "Let's push it hard, maybe it'll move in!" Pooja said, thrilled. Together, they all started to push the wall, which felt as if made of the same brick as the other parts of the wall. They pushed and pushed, harder and harder, but in vain. The wall didn't move an inch. Exhausted, they sat down on the floor.

But then what happened surprised everyone. Kartike's back was resting on the wall, and accidentally pushed a protruding brick—and lo and behold! The brick slid in and a great section of the wall noiselessly slid open, moving inward first and then slowly sliding up!

The friends were shocked beyond words! They looked at each other, barely able to control their awe, and then looked into the new entrance.

From where the wall had moved, there was a narrow, sloping passage leading downward.

There was no need for any more words. Avantika gulped and started to lead the way down. The others followed behind without a word, their flashlights scanning the secret entrance.