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You shiver at the thought, then you press your ear hard against the lock, desperate to hear nothing on the other side. What you do hear is blood rustling in your ears, maybe some more noise, a little closer now ... but you don't think you hear anything. You are not sure - you are simply so wound up that you are ready to jump at any sound, and the more intently you focus, the harder it seems to identify any sense of direction on anything that you are hearing. A particularly loud creak is enough to make you physically recoil, and once you have regained some semblance of composure, you come to the conclusion that at this point, you probably listening for something that doesn't exist. And in the worst case scenario - where there actually is someone on the other side of this door, for them to be this quiet, they would have to be asleep, surely.
That doesn't make you feel any better, and when you try to see through the lock, only for the cut of the keyway to be against you, just as it was upstairs, you feel worse about the prospects here, if anything. But you simply cannot justify tarrying here any longer. Looking to get this over with, you pack some salt under your tongue, just in case you do need to use your wand, then with your right arm - the one without the Socketing Needle in its crook - you heft the bucket as best you can, pressing it against the door, in a somewhat successful bid to keep your purloined pail steady as you get your left ring finger into position, pushed into the keyhole. You do what you can to clear your mind, and focus on the finger. Ready as you will ever be, you tip the bucket as gingerly as you can, starting the cast as soon as tepid rainwater makes contact. Right away, you can tell that the cast is strong and stable, and you let out a quiet sigh of relief, muffled in part by the salt in your mouth. Still, you don't take anything for granted, and you watch the keyway fill with freezing water like a hawk as it becomes lit brighter and brighter by the light from your eyes.
With eight seconds remaining of the twenty second duration of the cast, you determine that you have gotten enough water in there to turn the tumblers, and you start to turn the 'key', slowly enough that any weak spots and breaks can be refrozen over. Finally, illuminated by a glow from your eyes intense enough to warm your entire face, the lock is picked open. Committed at this point, you squint your eyes shut, hoping to hide as much of the light as possible, then you swing open the door - to find a blessedly empty room. Oh, Maker! Oh, Merciful Maker! Careful not to lose yourself in elation, you get the bucket inside, followed by the cart, pulling it as slowly as you can bear, to not risk anything falling off at what would be the most inopportune of times. Once it is inside the threshold, you close the door behind you.
