The Doomsday Vault

“What was that?” Gavin asked through the door.

“A minor problem,” Alice replied. “I suggest you gather any possessions you want to bring, Mr. Ennock. Our exit is likely to be hasty.”

She set back to work on the lock. A always led to B always led to C. She could do this.

“You are trespassing on my property. You have thirty seconds to vacate my tower, or face the consequences.”

Sweat trickled down Alice’s neck and into her corset, but she ignored it and selected another tool. Click held the light steady, though she had to force her fingers not to shake.

“You are trespassing on my property,” boomed Aunt Edwina. “You have fifteen seconds to vacate my tower, or face the consequences.”

The lock gave. Alice stuffed her tools into her handbag and shoved the door open. Gavin was waiting on the other side, hands empty and violin case strapped to his back. He had striking white-blond hair-no hat-eyes the color of a summer sky, and a startlingly handsome face. He also looked slightly younger than Alice had originally thought-seventeen or eighteen.

“I’m ready,” he said. “And you’re amazing.”

“Oh!” Alice said. “Thank-”

“You are trespassing on my property,” boomed Aunt Edwina. “You have five seconds to vacate my tower, or face the consequences.”

“Run!” Alice grabbed Gavin’s hand and fled down the stairs. Click followed.

“What do you think will happen?” Gavin asked as they made the first turn.

A crash vibrated the steps and made them both glance over their shoulders. A vat that was painted to look like part of the wall at the top of the stairs tipped over, spilling an evil-looking liquid that gushed down the steps toward them at a dreadful speed. Even as Alice watched, it began to dissolve the wood it passed over. The low rim that ran around the edge of the stairs kept the liquid-acid? — from dripping over.

“I had to ask,” Gavin shouted.

“Hurry!” Alice shrieked. She flung her handbag over the side, grabbed her skirts in both hands, and bolted as fast as she dared. Gavin and Click kept pace with her, though the acid was gaining on them like a hungry sea creature.

“We’ll never make it!” Gavin yelled.

“Just run!” Alice yelled back.

They made the second turn, and the third. The acid gushed around the curves, losing a little speed, but it was plain it would sweep over them long before they reached the bottom. It filled the entire stairwell behind them in an area too large to consider jumping over, and there was no space on the stairs to let it go by. The smell was sickening. Alice’s lungs burned and her shins ached. Gavin’s face became grim.

“I’m sorry I brought you into this!” he shouted as they made the fourth turn, the one with the lever on it. “If I had known-”

Alice shoved the lever to EXPEL. Instantly, the stairs flattened into the giant slide. “Go!” Alice ordered.

Gavin didn’t hesitate. He flung himself headfirst onto the smooth wood like a boy on a sled hill. Alice snatched up Click and followed just as acid flooded the landing. They rushed around the turns, much faster now and gaining speed. Alice’s stomach lurched, she lost her hat, and her hair came loose. Gavin reached the bottom and slid across the stone floor. He regained his feet with incredible dexterity, and the moment Alice reached the bottom herself, he swept her up and moved her aside. The acid river gushed past them and swept through the door Alice had broken down. Panting, Gavin carefully set Alice on her feet.

“That was… was…” He swallowed. “Do all your first meetings with strange men go like that?”

Hoping nothing was broken, Alice retrieved her handbag from the spot where it had hit the ground, then looked about in vain for her hat. “No, thank heavens. I think our next step should be to-”

A terrible shuddering noise and creaking of wood made Alice look up. Her face blanched. The damaged staircase-slide-was coming away from the tower walls. Even as she watched, a beam snapped and plunged toward them.

“Move!”

She wasn’t entirely sure who had spoken-she herself or Gavin. Both of them leapt for the broken doorway. They touched down briefly in the thin film of acid left on the stones just outside the tower, then flung themselves sideways to safer ground, where they landed in an ignominious heap. They lay there a moment, trying to catch their breaths. Click strolled over and nosed at Alice, who began to realize she was huddled against Gavin in an extremely inappropriate manner. She rolled away, tangling her skirts, and scrambled to her feet. When she managed to get her breath, she found Gavin opening his violin case, a worried look on his face.

“Has something important happened?” she demanded, feeling a bit put out that he hadn’t offered her a hand up.

“Checking for damage,” Gavin explained, removing the instrument. “It belonged to my grandfather. So far it’s survived smacking a man on the chin, playing Hyde Park in the mist, and, apparently, sliding down a madwoman’s tower staircase. It’s a miracle it isn’t broken.” He skimmed the bow across the strings.

“I’m sure I’ll want to hear all the details,” Alice said, surprised at how much she meant it, “but for now, I think we need to find our way back out.”

He stopped playing. “Don’t you know how to get out?”

“The way in was rather sticky, in more ways than one.”

“Why exactly are you here? Do you know why I’m here?”

“Oh!” Alice put a hand to her mouth. “In all the excitement, I didn’t have a chance to say, did I?” She gave a quick explanation about the strange conditions of Aunt Edwina’s will, Alice’s own meeting with the solicitor, and of how she’d tracked Gavin through the house.

“I wonder if your aunt Edwina is the woman who got me captured, the Red Velvet Lady,” Gavin said when she finished. He ran his bow over the strings again in a merry lilt. “I saw her when I was brought here. Not that it matters much if we’re leaving. And have you noticed that the gargoyles seem to like my playing?”

The knee-high metal gargoyles that crouched on the wall surrounding the courtyard were staring at Gavin, and their eyes glowed red.

“Why are they doing that?” Alice breathed.

“I don’t know. They didn’t do it when I was in the tower.”

He stopped playing. The gargoyles continued to stare. Gavin took several steps toward the house, and the gargoyles’ heads rotated to follow. “How did you get into the courtyard?” he asked.

“That way.” Alice pointed to the double doors at the top of the balcony. “But the room beyond is filled with traps.” She turned to look at the rest of the courtyard, fists on hips. Several other doors led into the main house, and a gateway had once provided a larger exit. Unfortunately, the gateway had been bricked over, and all the doors to the main house but the one Alice herself had used seemed to have iron gratings welded over them. Alice pursed her lips.

“I don’t like being herded,” she said. “And certainly not by a dead relative.”

“Did you bring anything to cut bars or climb walls with?”

“No.”

“Then we’ll have to put up with being herded.” He strode toward the stairs leading up to the balcony. “Are you coming?”

“Mr. Ennock!” She hurried to catch up. “We haven’t properly assessed all the-”

“Look,” he said without breaking his stride, “we can stand in the courtyard debating the obvious all night, or we can do something about it. I’ve been sitting in that tower for days, so I’m ready to act. You can act stupid and stay, if you want.”

She caught his elbow. “That’s no way to talk to a lady.”

“I wouldn’t know,” Gavin said. “We’ve assessed there’s no other way out, so let’s go. Would you like my arm?”

Alice noticed she still had his elbow. “Please!” she said huffily.

“Though I sort of wonder,” he added thoughtfully, “if they object to our leaving.”