The Second Layer

Chapter 25: Lily

Chapter 25: Lily

They'd been stuck in the vault for nearly two hours, and had pretty much given up on trying to find a way out. The only decent idea they'd managed to come up with, since the light bulbs were set deep into the ceiling and couldn't be reached, was for Evan to try to strike the steel surrounding the holes the light came out of and bend it inwards to block the holes in order to create shadows. Unfortunately it was positioned in such a way that when Evan made his little hops to reach the roof, the angle of his blows didn't allow him to strike with anywhere near his full strength. He'd been able to dent and bend the metal a little here and there, but nowhere near enough to block the holes. They'd kept trying to come up with other ways to get out, not wanting to give up, but they still hadn't had any other ideas worth trying yet.

They'd already tested and discovered that though the rest of the room might be freak-proof, the glass case protecting the larikin was not. It had been firmly attached to the stand, but Kade had managed to pull it free in only a few seconds. The case was now resting in a corner of the room, though the larikin still lay on the stand.

It had turned out to be a necklace. A platinum chain with a rather large ruby set at the end. Only this was no ordinary ruby. Even an average human would've been able to tell there was something wrong with it. Amidst the redness of the ruby there were bright orange swirls of color that were constantly moving and shifting within the stone itself. It almost gave the impression that the stone was alive in some way. Kade had tried picking the necklace up, but had immediately dropped it back onto the stand, reporting that it was burning hot to the touch. So the rest of them had just left it there, deciding that they would come up with a way of carrying the thing when and if they found a way out of there.

Kade had just been in the midst of complaining once more about how Alaine didn't check the security system thoroughly enough, with Evan looking close to the point of coming to blows over it, when the voice drifted out to them from one of the air vents. "Actually, it wouldn't have mattered. You had no chance of getting the necklace without triggering the lockdown. Once enabled, these particular security measures can't be disabled until after a lockdown occurs. The only way to retrieve the necklace from that vault is to trigger that lockdown. After that, no one can open the vault, even from the outside, for a minimum of two hours, which is how long it takes for the lockdown to end. Then the vault gets opened from the outside and you can walk right out with the necklace before the security measures are re-enabled. Now, if we're the ones to trigger the lockdown, it's no problem, all we have to do is wait it out. But if thieves like yourselves want to take the necklace, it ensures that we have at least two hours to get down here before anyone can get away with it," the voice informed them.

There was a short pause as the five of them glanced back and forth between themselves, before Evan finally took the lead, facing the vent the voice seemed to be coming from as he spoke. "This is... An interesting vault, you have."

"Isn't it, though? You freaks never seem to expect anyone to be able to stop you, do you? Surprise," the voice said, amusement in its tone.

"Freaks? I... Don't know what you're talking about," Evan replied, even though it was clear from the way this place had been built that whoever had done it had a very good idea of what a freak was.

"Don't even bother with that. Even if we didn't already know more about your kind than you do, which I can assure you we do, every single word the five of you has said since the lockdown was initiated has been recorded. And you've said plenty, so lying about what you are now will just be the start of a bad working relationship," the voice told them.

"Alright, let's say that we are what you say we are. You must want something from us," Evan stated.

"You mean, because I'm sitting here talking to you, and we haven't started trying to kill you yet?" the voice asked.