Lucía leaned forward to examine the drawing.
"And what happened to that key?"
Teodora sighed.
"My father always talked about it, but no one knows where it is. If Méndez or someone else finds it before us, they might try to undo the seal."
Leo frowned.
"And how do we find something that's been lost for decades?"
Teodora closed the book with a click and stood up.
"Searching where others wouldn't."
The siblings and Teodora descended into the basement once more, this time with renewed purpose. While Lucía held a flashlight and Leo carried a toolbox, Teodora carefully searched the walls.
"My father always said the basement hid more secrets than we could imagine," she said, inspecting a section of the wall that looked older than the rest.
Lucía pointed to a crack in the corner.
"Do you think it could be here?"
Teodora nodded.
"It's possible." These walls were reinforced when the building was renovated years ago. If the key was hidden here, it would be in a hidden compartment.
Leo took out a screwdriver and began gently scraping around the crack.
"This feels... hollow."
Teodora approached, placing her hand on the wall.
"Knock lightly."
Leo complied, and the sound it made confirmed his suspicions.
"There's definitely something behind it."
Lucia shifted the flashlight around to better illuminate it while Teodora took a small crowbar from her bag.
"Stand back a little."
With a calculated effort, she inserted the crowbar into the crack and began to apply pressure. After a few seconds, a hidden panel slid away, revealing a narrow, dusty compartment.
Inside was an object wrapped in a dark cloth, similar to the one that had covered the artifact.
"Is that the key?" Leo asked excitedly.
Teodora carefully took the package and opened it. Inside was a locket larger than the previous ones, with complex inscriptions that glowed faintly in the lantern's light.
"Yes," Teodora whispered, her tone reverent. "This is the lost key."
Lucía looked at the object, feeling a chill run down her spine.
"Why do I have the feeling that finding it was only the beginning of the problem?"
Teodora closed her eyes, holding the locket.
"Because you're right. Now we have to protect it... at all costs."
The locket glowed faintly in the light of Lucía's lantern, as if responding to its discovery. Teodora held it in her hands with a mixture of relief and concern, her eyes scanning the intricate inscriptions carved on its surface.
"It's more beautiful than I imagined," she murmured, though her tone was tinged with gravity.
Leo, still staring at the compartment from which the key had been removed, frowned.
"If this key was so well hidden, why do I feel like someone else already knew about its existence?"
Teodora nodded, wrapping the medallion back in the dark fabric.
"That's a possibility we can't rule out. If Méndez or someone from his foundation knows about this key, our job just got a lot more complicated."
Lucía looked around uneasily.
"So what do we do now? Do we hide it again?"
"We can't leave it here," Teodora responded immediately. "Now that we know where it is, they could find it too."
Leo crossed his arms thoughtfully.
"What if we keep it with the artifact in the attic vault?"
Teodora shook her head.
"That would put them in the same place, which would be a strategic mistake. If someone accesses the vault, they would have both objects within reach. We need to divide them."
Lucía sighed, placing her hands on her hips.
"So where do we take it then?" This building isn't exactly a labyrinth.
Teodora was silent for a moment, staring at the wrapped medallion as if calculating something.
"There's another place. A place that hasn't been used in years and that no one would associate with something so valuable."
Leo raised an eyebrow.
"Where?"
Teodora looked toward the stairs, as if her mind was already mapping out the path.
"The rooftop storage room."
The cold night wind blew sharply as the three climbed the last few steps to the rooftop. The city spread out below them, its lights twinkling like artificial stars in an inverted sky.
"Is there a storage room here?" Lucia asked, looking around.
Teodora pointed to a small structure at the far end of the rooftop, an old, rusty metal shed that seemed to have been forgotten by time.