They slowly pulled the heavy cover aside, revealing a glass box beneath, coated in a thick, undisturbed layer of dust.
Arabella stepped forward first, her fingers trembling slightly as she reached out to touch the glass. She tried to rationalize what they might find, it's probably not a person, she told herself. Perhaps just an old corpse. Forgotten. Sealed away. Something to scare grave robbers or protect ancient tomes.
But as she wiped away the soot and grime, her breath hitched.
Beneath the cleared patch of glass, a face emerged.
Startled, she paused for a moment, then continued, her hand moving slowly, reverently, over the glass as Karnala stepped in to help clear the rest of it. Renard, who had been scanning the chamber for clues, only turned when he heard Arabella gasp.
"It's really a person," she whispered.
