𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕋𝕨𝕠 ℂ𝕒𝕣𝕥𝕠𝕘𝕣𝕒𝕡𝕙𝕖𝕣𝕤 (ASOUE)

⇗ Chapter 10

"Okay," Klaus said quietly.

"Come," Sabine urged, pulling herself up into the flame diversion. Quigley followed behind her, then Klaus, then Violet.

They climbed and climbed for a long time, the smoke from the Snow Scouts fire filling their lungs even though the masks filtered most of it out. Sabine had to hold her breath to refrain from coughing, since, as Quigley explained earlier, the Vertical Flame Diversion was very echoey and any noise would have alerted Bruce and the Snow Scouts that they had left.

Finally, they reached the top and Sabine found herself in the same position she was in a few days ago, standing in front of the Vernacularly Fastened Door next to Quigley, holding his hand. But, this time, she was not excited to enter the headquarters. It was not because the exhilaration of being part of a secret organization had worn off, but because she had an uneasy feeling in her stomach. The smoke from the cave had followed them up the flame diversion, but there seemed to be much more smoke than a small campfire was able to produce.

"Is..." she started to say, but broke into a coughing fit and waved the smoke out of her face. The fencing mask wasn't doing much to filter it out at this point. Quigley patted her back gently and she finally managed to catch her breath. "Is it just me, or is it extra smoky up here?"

"The smoke certainly is stronger," Klaus agreed. Violet said nothing, just stepped closer to the intricate door. She reached her hand out as if to touch it, but Quigley stopped her.

"Wait," he said. "This is a coded lock. If we don't operate it properly, we won't be able to get into the headquarters."

"How does it work?" Violet asked. Sabine could practically see the levers and gears turning in the mind of her inventive friend and she smiled softly.

"It's called the Vernacularly Fastened Door, so–" Sabine started to explain.

"So it operates on language," Klaus finished. "Vernacular is a word for 'a local language or dialect.'"

"Of course," Violet said. "See how the wires are curled around the hinges of the door? They're locked in place, unless you type in the right sequence of letters on that keyboard. There are more letters than numbers, so it would be more difficult for someone to guess the combination of the lock."

"That's what we learned," Quigley confirmed. "You're supposed to type in three specific phrases in a row. The phrases change every season, so volunteers need to have a lot of information at their fingertips to use this door. The first is the name of the scientist most widely credited with the discovery of gravity."

"That's easy," Violet said, and typed in the name, Sir Issac Newton. When she was finished, there was a muted clicking sound from the typewriter keyboard, as if the device was warming up.

"The second is the Latin name for the Volunteer Feline Detectives," Sabine said. "I found the answer in a copy of Remarkable Phenomena of the Mortmain Mountains. It's Panthera leo." She leaned forward and typed it in. There was a very quiet buzzing and the children saw that the wires near the hinges were shaking very slightly.

"It's beginning to unlock," Violet said. "I hope I get a chance to study this invention."

"Let's get to the headquarters first," Klaus said. "What's the third phrase?"

Quigley sighed, and turned to a page in his commonplace book. "I'm not sure," he admitted. "Another volunteer told me that it's the central theme of Leo Tolstoy's novel Anna Karenina, but I haven't had a chance to read it yet."

Sabine could practically see Klaus's smile from behind his mask. She knew that he was an avid reader, and had been absolutely positive that he would know the answer to this one even before Quigley had mentioned it. "The central theme of Anna Karenina," he said, "is that a rural life of moral simplicity, despite its monotony, is the preferable personal narrative to a daring life of impulsive passion, which only leads to tragedy."