“Because,” I said. “Look through Riley’s camera.”

George did, squinting. She looked back at me and shook her head. “I don’t get it,” she said.

“This is how whoever is behind all this was taking photographs of the people visiting the exhibit,” I said. “They were taking them through here. Except whoever they are messed my photograph up. Do you remember that vertical line running down my torso in my picture? Whoever took the picture must have accidentally caught a piece of this vent in the shot.”

Bess knelt down next to us. She asked to take a look as well, and I passed the camera over to her. “Yeah, that’s exactly what this looks like!” she said, with the camera pressed to her face.

“That’s partly why I needed to borrow Riley’s camera tonight,” I said. “To see if I could find anything that looked similar to that line.”

I took the camera back from Bess and snapped a quick photograph through the vent. I made sure to catch one of the vent’s vertical lines in the image, so I could compare it to the picture of myself later.

I walked over to each of the doorways and looked through them. The one that had been directly in front of us was just as messy as the room we were standing in, filled with more crates and statues and white sheets. The doorway off to the left, on the other hand, was nearly empty.

“Let’s try this one first,” I said, pointing at the more cluttered hallway. I knew it would be more difficult to walk quietly if we went this way, but if I wanted to keep something or someone hidden, I would put as many obstacles in the way as possible. Maybe the kidnapper was thinking along those same lines.

As we walked, I began taking photographs of anything that looked interesting, just in case I needed evidence of this place later on. I didn’t want to miss a thing. It was nearly impossible for us to make no noise at all. Every once in a while, one of us bumped into a crate or statue, and once George tripped over one of the sheets.

After a while, the hallway turned off to the left. As we rounded the corner, I looked as far down as I could see in the low light. It looked as through the hallway would eventually turn again, and I wondered if it just ended or if it made one large circle, connecting back to the first room we’d seen.

Closer to us, and on the right side of the hallway, I could also see the outline of a doorway. There were noises and what looked like the lights of flashlights or lanterns coming from within it. I could hear something that sounded like hushed voices. I gestured for Bess and George to stay very quiet.

We started walking forward slowly. Anyone could be in that room. It could just be Grace and Jacob, talking to each other or trying to find a way to escape. Or it could be Grace, Jacob, and their kidnapper. Or it could be multiple kidnappers. I braced myself for any possibility. Bess held her pepper spray up higher.