"Fair point," Balthazar takes the stairs down to the basement in a series of bounds, two at a time. Which he really shouldn't do, because his knees aren't that great.

At the bottom, he flicks a few switches, revealing the layout of the place. A couple crickets scatter at the sudden glow. There's patches of old carpet, and some side rooms are curtained off, and it smells like mildew and sandalwood (odd combination, that), but compared to the shop, it looks very prosaic. There are wine bottles, several file boxes on high shelves, and what looks like some out-of-date Christmas decorations. Also a battered rolltop desk along one wall, and a broken rocking chair.

In the center of the room, engraved into the floor, is the Merlin circle. The grooves around the outermost ring seem to be set with metal.