"Squeak-"
When the closed side door of the church was pushed open, the slightly rusty hinges made a harsh sound, which made people's skin crawl.
And then, before everyone could take a few more glances at the dark and gloomy space behind the door, a series of muffled sounds of "Duo Duo" suddenly came from the darkness deep in the church and penetrated into everyone's ears. .
It was as if... someone was banging on a piece of damp, rotten wood.
"This is the foyer," Neville said softly after pausing for a few seconds while listening to the strange movement. "It was almost like this when we came here last time - because Maka and the others don't seem to go this way. , usually you enter and exit directly from the main entrance at the next corner, so there is no lighting here.”
"Well," Hermione nodded, "Since it's the same no matter where you go, let's go in!"
"Okay... Oh, you can go directly to the church nave by taking the side corridor on the right," Neville pointed to the right, "Maka and the others should be over there... Um, I mean, probably."
Hearing this, Hermione stepped inside the door and looked around, then took the lead and turned towards the doorway Neville had mentioned.
This church should be considered a relatively large one among all the churches in the UK, and in today's fog, the larger and empty the building, the darker it becomes. Fortunately, Hermione and the others, who have been used to night walks in Hogwarts Castle since childhood, obviously won't feel too much discomfort.
The sound of everyone's footsteps continued to echo in the room, mixed with the inexplicable tapping sounds that had not stopped until now and were still coming one after another, making it difficult to distinguish them for a while.
And soon, they passed through the side corridors and came to the entrance of the church's nave.
"Is Maka in there?"
Standing at the door and looking inside, Hermione looked a little confused, because the middle hall in front of her was even darker than the foyer and corridor outside. At first glance, except for the prayer bench near the door, almost nothing can be seen, everything is submerged in the dark mist.
"Shouldn't it be?" Neville and other people who had been here looked inside with puzzled expressions, "The last time we came here, there was a magic ball of light floating on the ceiling of the middle hall. It illuminates the entire hall as if it were daytime. Not to mention dispersing the fog, but at least it’s okay to see the whole thing at a glance.”
Hermione listened and was silent for a moment, then frowned slightly and said:
"Could it be... maybe Maka isn't here anymore."
This guess was actually what she wanted to say when she saw those figures outside just now, but if Maka wasn't here, then who would be here to turn this ancient city into this...
Since we were in England, where there were enemies on all sides, everyone couldn't help but look at each other in confusion when they heard Hermione's doubts.
But then, Hermione didn't know what she suddenly thought of, and she suddenly raised her eyebrows.
"Whether Maka is here or not, at least... I think I may know who made those... those 'things' outside!"
Before she finished speaking, she waved to everyone to follow her without looking back. Then, she suddenly quickened her pace and followed the knocking sound towards the depths of the church's nave.
Everyone didn't know what she was thinking of, but seeing that she was like this, they had no choice but to follow her in a hurry.
Not long after, the group headed by Hermione quickly passed through the deserted and dark middle hall, entered a place similar to a lounge through a half-open door at the far end, and then entered a deeper room. In the dark corridor.
The corridor was somewhat winding, with many doors on both sides - most of them were open and contained nothing but old furniture.
Occasionally, she would come across one or two closed doors. Hermione didn't seem to want to open them and take a look, and went straight to the direction where the knocking sound came from.
"Click."
Until, Hermione gently opened a door that stood between her and the sound, and a ray of light finally passed through the gap between the two door leaves and fell into everyone's eyes.
Perhaps because they had been in the dark for too long, the light still made everyone feel a bit dazzling, so they couldn't help but raise their hands to block it.
Immediately afterwards, they finally understood the scene hidden behind the door.
It was a petite figure, sitting on a relatively large wooden rocking chair facing the door. While she was slowly rocking back and forth with the rocking chair, she was holding a small hammer up and down, tapping... a spine that was resting on her thigh
And just around the rocking chair, there were piles of various human skeletons, all scattered on the floor in a very messy manner.
Ron, who was looking forward, could have sworn that he just took a glance and saw more than one skull among those terrifying piles of bones. The empty eye holes made him quickly retract his head, and he was not even interested in seeing who was sitting in the rocking chair.
"Sarah."
Hermione stood at the door and called softly in a very subtle tone.
"Shh," Sarah on the rocking chair stopped what she was doing and pointed her index finger at the door, "I still have a lot of 'babies' who need to sleep here, be careful not to wake them up."
After lowering her voice and saying this, she raised her hand again. When Hermione and the others heard this, they subconsciously turned their heads and looked in the direction she pointed.
But at the other end of this rather large room, there were actually several rows of rectangular stone jars shaped like coffins neatly placed, with dark green liquid rippling slightly inside. Looking from the doorway, only the outermost stone jars could be vaguely seen, and what appeared to be humanoid objects lying in the liquid were lying inside.
Hermione looked at it a few more times, unable to accept it for a while, and couldn't help but stand there in silence for a moment. Then, she shook her head slightly and put this weird scene aside.
"Sarah, where's Maka?" she asked in a softer voice than before.
"Maka has something to do and has left temporarily." Sarah held up the spine she was tapping just now and admired it from side to side without raising her head. "Oh, by the way, it's with Miss Blois and Miss Blois." Her father left together. If you want to find Maka, just wait here!"
"How long?" Neville couldn't help asking.
"How long?" Sarah thought for a moment, then shook her head, "I don't know, Maka didn't say."
After finishing her words, Hermione hesitated again, and then finally asked a question that everyone cared about very much.
"Then... what are you doing here?"