Page 176 of The Fifth Heir

Unused sections returned after installation. Crate W-14.

I returned the ledger and relocked the cabinet.

Crate W-14 sat beneath a stack of damaged control pillars.

I moved them carefully, using wind to reduce their weight without allowing the metal to strike the floor. The lowest crate had been nailed shut.

No official return seal covered it.

I lifted the lid.

Eight black channel sections lay inside.

Each bore an outward directional mark.

I held one beneath the nearest lamp.

A clean inventory code appeared along its edge. It matched the number listed in the ledger.

The correct pieces had been delivered.

They had also been returned unused after someone installed unmarked inward channels around Talia.

That was no repair error.

I wrapped one outward channel in cloth and placed it inside my coat. Then I took the storage note from the ledger and replaced it with a blank slip cut to the same size.

The missing note would eventually be noticed.

By then, I intended to know who signed for the crate.

A sound came from the outer door.

The lock turned.

I closed the crate and sent wind beneath the control pillars, guiding them back into place.

The door opened before I reached the ventilation shaft.

One of the guards entered carrying a lamp.

I stepped behind the nearest shelf.

He walked farther into the room.

The air changed with him, pushing into the aisle and returning around the obstacles. Every shelf, crate, and piece of equipment altered the current.

So did I.

The guard stopped.

“Who’s there?”

If he found me, the headmaster could suspend me from the inquiry. Worse, the note and channel would return to the same evidence system I no longer trusted, while Talia’s attackers learned exactly which trail we had found.

I lowered my breathing.

He raised the lamp.