CHAPTER SIX HUNDRED and THIRTY-FIVE

(part three)

“Carry on,” Abi said.

Tanesha took a sleeping child from Abi. Jacob neared the wall. He pressed hard on the corner where the wall met the adjacent wall and a door opened on a spring.

“That’s cool,” Tanesha said.

“It was here when we moved in,” Jacob said. “Now, listen carefully — you can get in this way but you cannot get out. The door swings closed automatically. If it’s blocked there’s a siren that I haven’t figured out how to turn off.”

“Got it,” Jeraine said. “We can get to the ballroom from here but not go out from here.”

“Right,” Jacob said.

They went along a narrow hallway with doors on one side.

“What’s in there?” Tanesha asked.

“I’m not sure,” Jacob said. “I wasn’t ever able to get the doors open. We haven’t needed the space, so I have just left them for another time.”

Jacob patted the wall on his left hand.

“This is Abi and Fin’s apartment,” Jacob said. “It’s pretty large — larger than most of the second floor apartments.”

“We like it,” Abi said.

“I’m glad,” Jacob said.

They continued down the hallway until they reached a cross hallway.

“This is mostly for maintenance,” Jacob said. “It runs under the second floor hallway.”

“And the doors there?” Tanesha asked.

“No idea,” Jacob said.

“I always wondered what was under the second floor wing,” Jeraine said. “Why didn’t you develop this first?”

“We didn’t find it until recently,” Jacob said. “Val loves to find new rooms and clean them out. Now that she’s had her baby, she’ll probably start that project again.”

“I thought she had a film,” Tanesha said.

“Right,” Jacob said with a shrug. “Let’s see how she is.”

Jacob gave a sincere nod. Tanesha stopped on the hallway below the second floor.

“Oh,” Tanesha said.

Jacob came back to where she was standing.

“I get it,” Tanesha said. “This was a two story apartment building. What’s that?”

Tanesha pointed to the end of the hallway.

“The kitchen,” Jacob said. “Before you ask, on the other side of the kitchen is likely one of the original buildings. It’s more like a mansion or a very big house. On the other side is another two story apartment building. That’s Honey’s apartment and what’s our basement. The building was built against the hill.”

“So the basement is actually just at the bottom of the hill,” Jeraine said.

“Right,” Jacob said. “Our basement is at the level of where our cars are parked now.”

“Huh,” Jeraine said with a nod.

“And the living room?” Abi asked. “Where we first came from?”

“It was built to combine the buildings,” Jacob said. “When Mom bought the building, the hallway with Honey and Dad’s rooms was closed off. The only thing open was what was built to combine them. Delphie says that the buildings were combined more than a hundred years ago. There’s at least another building here. We haven’t found them yet.”

Tanesha gave him a long look.

“What?” Jacob asked.

Denver Cereal continues tomorrow...