“So what happened?” asked Laila.
“I think the guards must’ve gotten a whiff of the fumes, and so they bolted to raise the alarm,” said Enrique. “Two guards ended up unconscious and blistered, so we switched out our clothes and have been hiding until an hour ago.”
Laila touched his face. “I’m glad you’re both safe. Now let’s get to the vault. It’s nearly midnight. Did you find the door?”
“Yes,” said Enrique. “Except we couldn’t come in until the fumes had gone down enough that we could walk inside with only the towels. I wasn’t going to take a chance with the masks after Tristan got hurt.”
Tristan swept aside the plant detritus, revealing a flat, metal door.
“Everyone ready?” asked Enrique. “Minus Tristan, of course.”
Tristan was usually fine with playing lookout when it came to acquisitions, but as he opened the flat door, his hands trembled.
“Be careful,” said Tristan.
“Just think about what we’ll do when we finish,” said Laila lightly. “Hot cocoa?”
“Oooh… and cake,” added Enrique.
Even Zofia smiled.
“Can Goliath join too?” asked Tristan.
The three of them groaned.
As the door opened, a lightless staircase spiraled out below, yawning into the darkness.
“Honestly,” muttered Enrique as he hoisted himself down. “Why can’t Goliath be on a leash? He’s nearly the size of a cat.”
“I can hear you,” scolded Tristan.
“Good. Start thinking about tarantula leashes.”
The staircase twisted off to the side and seemed to stretch out for nearly a kilometer. After a while Enrique looked up to see how far they’d gone and whether they could still see Tristan. It was too dark. And it didn’t help that the staircase was wet. As he walked, his shoes slipped out from underneath him.
Laila shivered. “It’sfreezinghere!”
Enrique agreed through chattering teeth.
They were approaching the bottom of the staircase. Enrique had expected the staircase to lead down to the grand library, but this place looked more like a gigantic atrium. Wet cave walls glistened in a rough, oval shape. Roots dangled above them. When he breathed, a slick, mineral scent coated his throat. At the center of the atrium, a round pedestal protruded like a boulder. Three metal sticks poked out of it. They reminded him of levers, though he couldn’t imagine why they would be there. He couldn’t even tell if that’s what they were. There was no light, save for the small flare Zofia held out, which barely cast more than a puddle of light around them.
“Where’s the library?” asked Laila.
Zofia waved the flare. It spread across the cave walls, then disappeared.
“A tunnel,” breathed Enrique. “Maybe it’s down there?”
He was still looking down the tunnel when he took his foot off the staircase and touched the ground. Hardly a second had passedbefore he felt it… a tremor in the earth. Enrique took a step back, until both feet were firmly planted on the last step.
“Do you feel that?” he asked, his voice suddenly high.
“Do youseethat?” retorted Zofia.
She pointed up ahead. In the tunnel, a torch flared. The light of its fire caught on the outlines of an amber door.
“That must be the entrance to the library,” breathed Laila. A huge grin broke out on her face, and she leapt down the last two steps.
“Wait, Laila—”
