The heavy metal gate groaned open with a long, drawn-out sound, like the pained moan of a wounded creature.
The first thing that hit them was the smell of sweetness. Not the gentle sweetness of candy or honey, but something harsh and overpowering—so cloying that it seemed to claw straight down the throat, making one want to retch. Beneath that sugary stench, however, another smell was seeping through—the reek of rotting flesh, dried blood, the unmistakable odor of something that had once been alive but had now been reduced to mere matter.
Lulu froze at the threshold.
It could sense that the air inside the room was far denser than outside, as though the smell itself had become visible, suspended beneath the sickly yellow lights.
