Trial By Fire (Going Down in Flames #3)(46)

“Good idea.” Bryn smiled back. Huh, Valmont had been right. Ivy just wanted to be included. Having friends on her “adventures” would probably make things easier on her, too, as long as she could keep them out of danger. “There have to be doors to the vaults on the first floor somewhere.

Valmont looked left and then right. “This place is huge. How do we know where to start?”

“We could start with the blueprints.” Bryn headed toward the file cabinets. She knew where they were kept since she’d tried to find the plans for her grandparents’ mansion.

“Sounds like a boring place to start,” Clint said. “I’d rather skulk around like we’re in a spy movie.”

“Fine. You and Ivy can skulk, while Valmont and I check the blueprints. We’ll meet at the entrance to the library in half an hour.”



The blueprints showed vaults underneath the corners of the building, but no entrance points. No stairs and no outside doors. Bryn turned the paper over, thinking maybe she’d missed something. “There have to be doors somewhere.”

“I’m guessing they don’t want to advertise the entrance.” Valmont took the blueprint from her, folded it back up into a neat rectangle, and re-filed it in the appropriate slot. “Let’s head for the corner of the building and see what we find.”

They ended up in the far back right corner of the building and stopped at a mahogany door with huge iron hinges and a plaque, which read, Maintenance.

“Do you think this could lead down to the vaults?” Bryn asked.

Valmont ran his fingers along the edge of the door. “These hinges look like they predate the modern architecture of the building.”

“So they built the library around something that was already here?” That was an interesting thought. “I don’t suppose we can just turn the knob and walk in?” Bryn placed her hand on the knob and turned to the right. Something clicked.

“It can’t be that easy,” Valmont said. “And if it is, there is probably someone or something on the other side of the door waiting to jump out at us.”

Applying light pressure, Bryn tugged on the door testing to see if turning the knob had opened it. It didn’t move. What had she expected? “Yeah, that would have been too easy.”

The sound of Valmont unsheathing his sword had Bryn spinning around with a fireball in her hand. All she saw was her knight staring at the door in awe. “What’s wrong?”

Valmont pointed at the door with his sword. “The words. You don’t see them?”

The dark wood of the door shone in the light, but its surface appeared as blank as it had always been. “No. What do you see?”

“Only those who have given their all may enter. Those who have taken everything must give to see,” Valmont recited.

“Well that’s not creepy or ominous at all.” Bryn stared at the door until her eyes watered. Nothing. “What does the writing look like?”

“It’s calligraphy, like in the books.” Valmont held the sword in his left hand and reached for the doorknob with his right. He gripped the doorknob and turned it to the right. A click sounded, but when he tugged on the door nothing happened.

“Maybe there’s a clue in one of the tales we haven’t read,” Bryn said.

“We finished the first book. I guess we need to read the other four.” Valmont checked his watch. “We better go. We don’t want to be caught out after curfew.”

The giant wall clock behind the front desk displayed the time. “Crap, we have fifteen minutes to get back to our dorms.”

They should have watched the time more closely. Where were Clint and Ivy? “Should we wait for them?” Bryn asked.

“We don’t have time.” Valmont glanced around. “I don’t see them. They probably headed back already.”

Bryn didn’t feel right about abandoning her friends but it wasn’t like she could yell in the library at closing time without causing a scene. If cell phones weren’t banned on campus, she’d be able to find her friends right away.

“We better go.” Valmont grabbed her hand.

“Wait.” Bryn snatched a piece of paper off Miss Enid’s desk and wrote. “C&I We left. Call me.” And set it up like a tent. “They’ll know what it means. Hopefully, no one else will.”

They darted for the front doors and exited the building. Bryn shifted, Valmont climbed on her back, and then she shot into the air, flapping her wings with powerful downward strokes, flying faster than she’d ever flown while carrying a passenger.

“No one else is out,” Valmont said.

“We’ll make it.” Being incarcerated without food or water for twenty-four hours wouldn’t kill either of them, but it would infuriate her grandfather. She knew, without a doubt, his reaction would be far scarier than the punishment.

Wind buffeted Bryn’s wings as she came in for a landing on her terrace, knocking over both chairs.

Valmont hopped off her back and opened the window while Bryn shifted. As they climbed inside, Bryn could hear her heart beating in her ears.

“Why does it feel like I’m waiting for someone to jump out and yell, ‘Gotcha’?” Valmont asked.

Goose bumps broke out on Bryn’s arms. “I know what you mean.” She grabbed his hand and led him to the living room. “I’m going to call Clint and Ivy.”