Drowning Utopia

Chapter 23: Rising Waters

For a moment, Tessa was afraid that it meant that the twins were up to no good, but looking out the windows, she could see that the rest of the city was losing power as well. Shadows encompassed the streets and buildings as subsequent blocks of the city went dark, leaving the moon and stars between the intermediate clouds as the only source of light.

"Damn! Of all times." Meriwether fumbled about a moment before saying, annoyed, "And of course, I left my lamp out in the ballroom."

But even as he said it, Tessa pulled out the battery-powered hand light she took earlier and turned it on.

"Oh, thank you," he said before his face grew cross. "Wait! Where did you get that?"

"Where do you think?" Tessa asked, making her way to the door. "I would imagine that you have bigger things to deal with now since your precious city is having technical difficulties." Tessa made to open the door, but she was disappointed to discover that it was locked. Taking a closer look, Tessa noted that the sophisticated lock was electrically automated. Annoyed, she asked, "Gray, why did you lock the door?"

"I didn't want to be interrupted," he said.

"Well, now we are locked in here," she said, gesturing to the mechanism.

"Nonsense, we just...oh."

"Oh, what?" Tessa crossed her arms over her chest.

"I guess we are locked in." He scratched his head peering at the lock, puzzled. "I patented this new electric lock last year. It's a clever little design that uses..." but he stopped himself when he noted how impatient Tessa was becoming. "The point is, it's impossible to pick." He looked a bit sheepish as he admitted, "I didn't think to account for power outages when I made it."

"You seriously didn't bother to incorporate a manual override?" Tessa asked, perturbed.

"It did not cross my mind." He sighed, "But don't worry, I think I can figure this out." He got down on his knees and began to fiddle with one of the panels, trying to remove the cover.

There was a knock at the door as someone called through it. "Gray? Are you in there?"

Meriwether perked up. "Diana? Are you okay?"

"I am fine. What's going on? No one can get the lights working," she said, through the door.

"There's been some kind of critical failure with the power grid. I need to get out of here to investigate it as soon as possible. Can you run and get my tools? We are locked in here. I can talk you through how to get us out."

"Okay. I'll be right back," Diana said.

This is going to take forever, Tessa thought with a sigh. Stepping beside Meriwether as he worked, the resourceful woman tapped the door with a knuckle while listening.

"Tessa, do you mind?" Meriwether tried to nudge her out of the way, but Tessa ignored him.

After confirming her suspicions, she stepped behind Meriwether, telling him briskly, "Move over." She took off a pin and her hair pick, causing her red locks to trail down over her shoulders.

"Tess, you can't pick it," Meriwether said flatly.

"Now why would you say that?" Tessa asked, wedging the hairpin between the lock and the door jamb.

"Well, for one, we are on the wrong side for you to pick it. And more importantly, there is no keyhole to—"

Tessa finished putting the hairpin into place before sliding the hair pick just above the pin. Standing, she hiked her skirts and gave a swift kick to the pick. There was a sharp crack as the shaft disappeared.