By Sun and Saltwater by Kate Avery Ellison

Author:Kate Avery Ellison [Ellison, Kate Avery]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kate Avery Ellison
Published: 2014-04-16T04:00:00+00:00

~ ~ ~

The corridor was empty when we returned, and the woman in the gray bodysuit with the belligerent attitude was nowhere in sight.

“Look,” I said. “What does it say on the side of that crate?”

The text was faded, but still readable.

AZURE INSTITUTE.

Beside the words was a symbol—a blue circle overlaid with a silver triangle.

I exchanged a glance with Tallyn. “Azure, like she said. That at least is true, then.”

“What exactly is your plan here?” Tallyn demanded in a whisper. “This seems singularly foolish.”

“The people behind that door—this Azure Institute—are acting secretive, and according to the woman we met earlier, they are the ones who had my father framed for treason and killed,” I argued. “I need more information, and this seems to be the only way to get it. Are you coming with us?”

“Killed,” he repeated. “Framed for treason. Listen to yourself.”

“I’ve come all this way. I’m not going to turn around now out of fear.”

“And what are your intentions now?” he asked.

“I want to get inside.”

Lyssia’s eyes lit up. She reached into her pocket and produced her lock picks. “I was hoping you’d say that. I didn’t come empty-handed.”

Tallyn sighed.

Lyssia and I crept forward, keeping to the wall and scanning the corridor for any sign of people. The hall was empty.

“This is the wall where the door was,” I told Lyssia in a whisper. “It was here. I watched him walk through it.” I stepped back to examine the slab of metal, running my fingers across the rusty surface. “She pushed some kind of button. Ah, here it is.”

A brass panel affixed to the wall contained a pair of buttons and a scanner of some sort. It was overlaid with a metal cage. I couldn’t reach it.

“We need a key,” I said, tapping the keyhole that would unlock the cage and allow us to press the buttons to work the door.

Lyssia produced her lock picks and steered me aside. “Watch and be in awe.”

She inserted both picks in the lock and began working with the delicacy of a surgeon, humming under her breath as she adjusted and readjusted her tools with careful precision. She put her ear to the lock and was silent, listening as she moved the tools.

A smile split her face.

She pulled back as the lock clicked and the cage sprang open. “There.”

“You’re brilliant,” I said.

She flushed and pocketed her tools. “Thank you.”

From the corner of the hallway, Tallyn hissed something about haste, and I redirected my attention to the panel we’d freed. There were two buttons. If I pushed the wrong one, would something terrible happen, like an alarm sounding? Which was the correct one?

I had no other means by which to make a choice other than sheer chance, so I took a deep breath and picked the top one.

The button sank into the wall with a click.

Silence.

My heart felt weighted with rocks.

“Listen,” Lyssia said, touching my arm.

A grind of machinery rang out. The panel slid aside, revealing a narrow corridor with brass walls and a tiled floor.

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