For a moment, he just stands in the hall. On the one hand, this search has been exhilarating, exciting, opening each door and finding some bewildering piece of another world behind it. On the other hand, it's also overwhelming. None of these things are what he wants to find. The idea of that yawning chasm existing just beneath the mansion, right under their feet, opens a vein of anxiety in him that wells up and spills out. He has to think carefully about the next door. He has to be careful.

Careful, he says, fingers fluttering.