## **Chapter 2: The Woman Who Knew Too Much**

The house stood at the end of a road that didn't appear on any map—at least not on any map Jacob knew. Legend said it had long since vanished from cartography, swallowed by a mystery or something even older. Yet each night, a single window glowed faintly, as if someone inside refused to admit to the world that he had been forgotten.

Jakub arrived here just after dark, Argo at his side, nose pointed warily into the darkness. He hadn't planned to return—not after what they'd seen here years ago—but a letter he'd found in an old library left him with no choice.

A single sentence, written in a distinctive, cursive script:

**You are the only one who can stop this. Come. —M.**

Mara never used names. She didn't need them.

The house smelled of dust and damp. Every lamp flickered before Jacob touched the switch. Shadows gathered in corners that shouldn't have been there, twisting and rippling as he took each step.

Mara stood in the kitchen, slender and stiff, as if time were clawing at her in a way it hadn't clawed at others.

"You came," she said quietly.

"I came because you asked."

"I warned you once. This house… it remembers everything."

Jakub glanced at the table. Piles of old photographs were scattered across the wood—black-and-white photos of the same house, but in different decades. Sometimes intact, sometimes burned down, sometimes partially collapsed.

In each photo, a woman stood in the doorway.

But never the same woman.

"What's going on?" Jakub asked.

Mara swallowed. "I found the basement."

Jakub tensed. "There's no basement here. Not in this house."

"That's what I thought," Mara whispered. "But last week, a door appeared behind the pantry. A door I'd never seen before. And last night it opened by itself."

A soft thump came from deep within the house.

Jacob and Argo froze.

"That's why I summoned you," Mara said.

Jacob started down the hall, Argo walking beside him. He felt the house watching them, the walls breathing with them.

"Mara," he said carefully, "what do you mean? What's going on again?"

Mara hesitated. Then, in a barely audible voice:

"Someone came to my door two nights ago. Someone who looked exactly like you."

The light bulb above them flickered violently, then shattered.

Darkness engulfed the house.

---

If you want, I can write **Chapter 3: Jacob and Argo Discover the Cellar's Secret** right away, where the action begins with the full adventure and gripping pace typical of their story.

Would you like me to do that?