6. Stalwart Vault Services

27th of Nima

Nimkoruguithu didn't operate under the same social cues as the Provinces. The vaultier was a short, fussily dressed middle-aged woman who seemed only mildly surprised to see another woman coming into her office alone. She blinked at me from behind a pair of round yellow-glassed spectacles, then gave me a small smile. "What can I do for you?"

I drew the claims-ticket box out of my cloak pocket. "I would like to open my personal vault, please," I croaked, swallowing to ease the ache in my throat. My voice was low, almost as low as a man's, and raw, but at least I could make sounds. 

She took the box and opened it with an ease born of practice. "Name?"

"Sarri Jannes," I whispered. "I'm sorry... I've had a bit of a cold lately." I smiled apologetically when she looked at me. "Sarri Jannes. Box 2458."

The woman turned and went flipping through a rollafile set up on her desk. She found what she was looking for and double checked the information on it. "Finish this line for me," she said. "My favorite pie is..."

I swallowed again, instantly seeing my father's face as he lovingly demolished a slice of Mrs. Bett's homemade pie, relishing every last crumb and leaving a spotless plate. "Apricot raspberry."

The woman smiled, got up, and unlocked a cabinet behind her desk. She found the key to 2458, then came around her desk, beckoning for me to follow her. "Right this way."

I was in, and NaVarre had been right. There wasn't any way anyone else would have known that answer. Betts only ever made that pie for my father. We would have gotten this far, and then lost everything. 

I followed the vaultier as she unlocked the first metal door that Arramy had mentioned, then locked it behind us, calling a cheery, "Hello, Kanosh," when we passed a guard station recessed into the wall. One of the guards glanced up and nodded as we continued on down a narrow, windowless hallway to another metal door at the far end, our footsteps echoing off white-glass tiled walls. 

"This is Miss Jannes, here for box 2458," the vaultier informed the guards stationed in the vault room, then she turned to me. "If you have any questions, just use the green sonulator." She gave me a bright grin as she left and shut the hallway door behind her. 

One of the guards – a large, heavily muscled man with a tattoo of a fish on his left arm – manipulated a bunch of levers and pushed several buttons on a gigantic, welded-metal door set into the far wall. The thing sprang open with a hiss of hydraulics, and he pulled it wide, gesturing me inside with a flourish. 

I offered them both a thin smile and stepped into the vault, trying not to jump as the door chunked closed, six massive carbonic steel bolts sliding into place with a whir of gears.

The walls of the vault were actually a gigantic hexagon, not a square, with a catacomb of smaller hexagonal columns inside it. In each facet of every wall and column there were personal lockboxes. Every wall looked exactly the same with the exception of the one with the door in it. 

Once you're in, count two wall panels to the right. 

I set off to the right. One. Two. 

Turn to face the opposite side. 

Opposite side. Got it. 

There will be three columns in front of you, you want the one in the middle...

And there it was: box 2458. 

I took a breath. My fingers trembled. I fit the key into the lock plate and rotated it all the way until the catch popped apart with a little mechanical snick, and then the lockbox slid out of the wall on spring-loaded runners.

So far, so good.

I pried up the clasp on the edge of the box and lifted the lid. 

A horribly familiar green office binder full of papers lay in the bottom of the box. On top of the binder sat a small leather-bound seaman's journal, the two items held together by a length of twine tied in a neat little bow. I didn't take the time to read either of them. Moving quickly, I tucked it all into the secret pocket hidden in the lining of my cloak hood and checked to make sure there wasn't anything else in there. Then I closed the lockbox, shut it back in its slot, found the door, and pushed the green sonulator button marked 'Out.'

Cool fingers of foreboding slithered down my spine in the seconds it took the guard to open the vault.

"Find everything alright, Miss?" Fish Tattoo asked, his face creasing into a grin as I stepped past him into the guard room. 

I nodded, smiling back at him, trying desperately not to take off running as he led the way to the exit and unlocked it for me. 

"One coming out," he shouted down to the guard at the other end.

His merry, "Have a good day, Miss," was lost as I walked swiftly back down the glass-tiled hallway, approaching the door to the vaultier's office.

Kanosh the Guard came out and around the half wall of his station, his keys rattling as he unlocked the other door. It seemed to take forever, each sound echoing off the walls. My heart was pounding. I barely managed a nod as Kanosh opened the door and stepped out of the way. 

I started forward. 

The vaultier was sitting at her desk. She wasn't looking at me, her attention drawn to something in the lobby.

I turned to see what she was seeing, and my stomach promptly hollowed itself out.