Kane slid inside and swung the door closed. It made an audible click as it shut, and my heart sank.
“I think he heard that,” Harutaka whispered.
We stood in the narrow space, our bodies inches from each other. I felt Kane’s heavy breathing on my skin and realized I was clutching his left hand. Was I doing it to quiet him, or to calm myself? I wasn’t sure, but I didn’t let go. Very carefully, I turned my head and peered through the tiny crack in the door. I could spot slow, careful movement. The guard, as he crept toward us.
I couldn’t really see his face; the crack was too narrow. Was he curious? Suspicious? Wary? Impossible to tell. But he was definitely coming our way. He had heard the door shut, and was investigating.
“He has his gun raised,” Harutaka whispered.
Would I be able to disarm him with my chain before he shot? No chance. And even if I miraculously managed to, he could shout for help.
Very carefully, I lifted my left leg, leaning it against the opposite wall. Kane stared at me in confusion, his body wedged between my thighs, my leg touching his waist. I put a finger to my lips, and then gently leaned forward, my head brushing against his chin, and eased the Glock from my ankle holster.
Understanding blossomed on his face, mingled with worry. Needless to say, using a gun right now would alert everyone to our presence. I wasn’t thrilled about it either. I peered through the crack and saw the guard almost at the door. My hands became hot, the fire threatening to burst free again.
The lights outside the bathroom suddenly flickered strangely. The guard paused. Another flicker. The light was turning on and off sporadically in a different room, somewhere behind the guard. I could glimpse movement as he turned around, saw his hand holding the submachine gun, fingers tensing at the grip.
The light kept flickering. On. Off. On. Off.
The guard moved away from the door, toward the light.
“I don’t know how long I can distract him like this,” Harutaka whispered in my ear. “Better get out now.”
I signaled Kane, and he gently opened the door. He slid out the doorway, and I followed close behind. The guard was only ten feet away, creeping in the direction of the flickering light. It looked like someone was playing with the light switch. Which, in a sense, was exactly what was going on. Except the person toggling the light was almost a mile away, sitting by a computer.
Isabel materialized by my side. She had been hiding in the shadows, not far from the stairway. We crept downstairs, reached the lobby, and half ran to the hallway that led to the northern part of the mansion.
“That was fucking close,” Kane whispered.
We found the stairway to the basement without any trouble. At the bottom waited a solid metal door, runes etched above it, a metal keypad by its side. It was the door to the vault.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
I watched the door for a long moment, mentally cataloging the security measures I knew would be there. The keycard slot was to its right, and easy enough to deal with. Below the slot was a 10-digit pad for the combination. Several runes were inscribed above the door, intended to kill any intruder who opened the door. “Okay. The door is locked with a combination lock and a keycard. I have the keycard that Sinead took from Maximillian, but we have only half the combination. Isabel will figure the other half.”
“How?” Kane asked.
“Lou thinks I can read it in the tea leaves,” Isabel said.
Kane looked incredulous. “Can you?”
She hesitated. “Maybe. I have to be close to it. And I’ve never done something like this before.”
“We have three tries,” I pointed out. “And we just need two digits.”
“It doesn’t work like that, Lou. The psychic signs—”
I raised one finger. “Less talky-talky, more drinky-drinky.”
Isabel rolled her eyes and unslung her backpack. She retrieved from it a metal cup, a thermos, and a bag of tea leaves.
“I don’t believe this,” Kane muttered.
“If you can counter the runes protecting the door while you’re complaining, that would be great,” I said. “Harutaka? Anything we should know about?”
“The patrol is on the third floor.” Harutaka’s voice was tense and excited. “The guard in the security room looks drunk. And they just rolled the desserts into the banquet.”
“They’re good desserts, too,” I said, recalling the menu. My stomach rumbled.
Kane approached the door and examined the runes above the door. He traced his finger over them slowly, deep in thought. Isabel had put some tea leaves in the cup and added hot water. While she waited for the leaves to settle, she drew her tarot pack from her bag, and began to shuffle the cards.
“You think the cards will help?” I asked.
“I don’t know, but I’ll take any help I can get.”
“Okay,” Kane said. “This spell is a bit tricky and, uh… I need blood from a maid with a pure heart. Which one of you has a purer heart?”
“Isabel,” I said, just as she said, “I do.”
“Well, no arguments there, apparently.” Kane grinned. He withdrew his pin. “Give me your palm.”
She held out her hand and he took it gently. I glanced away, annoyed at myself for being annoyed. I checked my Glock. “Harutaka, what about Sinead?”
“I’m here,” Sinead’s voice interrupted. “Still in the greenhouse. I’ll be happy to get out of this place.”
“How are you feeling?”
“Like someone drank two pints of my blood.”
“You’re a champ,” I muttered distractedly, looking back at Kane and Isabel. She sipped from her cup while frowning at her cards. Kane dabbed at the runes with Isabel’s blood.
“Kane,” Harutaka said. “That rune is the Eihwaz. You need more blood on it.”
“I knew that,” Kane grumbled.
Isabel upended the cup on the floor and studied the messy tea leaves.
“That one looks a bit like a three,” I said.
“Lou, be quiet.” She stared at the cup in concentration. “Maybe… seven. I need more tea.” She began to prepare another cup.
I wanted to do something. To pick a lock, to creep through a room, to climb a wall. Waiting like this felt useless, and wrong.
Time went by. My stomach rumbled again. Kane chanted and the runes pulsed in an orange light. Isabel upended another cup, and studied the tea leaves for a long time.
“Guys?” Harutaka said. “I don’t want to rush you, but the banquet is ending. People are starting to leave.”
“Already?” I felt a wave of anxiety. “Don’t these people know how to party?”
“These people definitely do not know how to party,” Harutaka answered. “Once they leave, Ddraig Goch will probably go to sleep.”
I swallowed, saying nothing. Ddraig Goch’s bed was inside the vault, just beyond the door.
“There’s so much here.” Isabel’s voice was faraway, her eyes half glazed as if in a trance. “Darkness, and misery. It’s hard to see the numbers within this cloud of torment.”
“The first two numbers are six and three,” I said, quoting Maximillian’s words.
“I know that, Lou. Try… six, three, seven, one.”
I keyed in the four digits. A red LED blinked.
“Nope.”