Jack typed the numbers in with shaky hands and the safe gave a shrill beep followed with a punishing red flash.
Fuck.
The year on the diploma. 1-9-7-2.
Beep. Red light. A longer tone warning.
Jack’s palms slicked as he breathed heavily. How many attempts before it locked him out? He wiped his hands on his trousers and blinked to clear the sweat from his eyes.
Rusty smears blurred the buttons on the safe.
The house number. 4-5-4-7.
Three beeps. Three warning tones!
“Come on,” Jack hissed. “Come on, come on, come on?—”
Footsteps passed in the corridor, and Jack pressed himself against the wall, heart slamming against his ribs as the beeping faded.
He was running out of time. One more wrong attempt could lock him out and trigger the alarm.
“Fuck!” He needed to think like the chancellor.
Aurin saw himself as an imperial force. Number one. Master of his domain.
0-0-0-1.
Beeeeeeeeeep. Red. Three flickers.
1-3-1-3. Unlucky for everyone else, but rules don’t apply to him—“Damnit! Fuck!”
A yellow light now accompanied the red light, warning that no longer went off. Was it a silent alarm? What did it mean?
Jack’s hands shook violently. Sweat burned his eyes, further blurring the smeared buttons. He wiped his face, smearing the chancellor’s blood.
Stop. Breathe. Think.
Mr. Carrow’s voice drifted through his memory. “The mind sharpens under pressure, Jack. But only if you stay in control of your emotions. Wise men know how to stay calm in a crisis.”
He closed his eyes. Forced his breathing to slow. And in the darkness behind his eyelids, he heard it.
The tune the safe made when Aurin opened it. Beep-beep. Beep. Beep-beep. Beep. Click.
Double digit. Single digit. Double digit. Single digit. Unlock.
Four numbers. Six digits.
But what if they weren’t just numbers? What if it was a word?
Jack scrambled to the desk, scratching out the alphabet, numbering each letter. He sectioned off the single digits, A through I. Everything after that point was double-digits.
What would he pick?
Aurin believed himself invincible. A god among men. He surrounded himself with gold and power and…
“Bingo,” Jack breathed.
He rushed back to the safe. “Eleven, nine, fourteen, seven.” Double. Single. Double. Single. The beeps were familiar, but he had to be sure. His finger hovered over the ENTER key. One more wrong attempt would surely trigger the alarm.
