Alkimiya - A Fantasy Mystery Series

SIX - A Cold Room

"They called themselves the Second Purge. There were twenty main conspirators, including the head of Goldwell Bank, the headmaster of Yarrow Academy, a health director at Core Clinic, and several high court justices. Mimi took them all down, as well as about a hundred others in the lower ranks."

Zenetra was impressed. "That's amazing."

"I think it would be alright if you called everyone on the team by their first names. Not Onnan, though, because he's a jerk." Tilde grimaced, and added, "Or Inspector Hatwig. That woman is a stickler for propriety."

They skipped down the last stretch of stairs to the basement and came face-to-face with a reinforced concrete wall. In the center was an enormous metal wheel locked in place with seven steel spokes. A small room that resembled a cage for an animal was off to one side. There were no windows, as they were now underground, and the constable guarding the archival room from behind black iron bars was a genderless, beige palette of sagging skin.

The Blob, it turned out, was a person.

Zenetra was horrified by that revelation. If Tilde could call someone by such a derogatory nickname, then what sort of sobriquet would she call the members of Team Yellowbird?

The constable behind iron bars barely moved as they spoke. "Back again, Constable Thorpe? Didn't expect to see you again after last year."

Tilde tilted her head to Zenetra, whispered, "I basically lived down here," and then proceeded to give the guard a fulsome compliment. "You're looking as lovely as always, Constable Avery."

With eyes watery from lack of natural light, Constable Avery blinked back dreamily. 

As the false flattery dissolved, Tilde cleared her throat and leaned into the bars. "We need files from the vault per Inspector Hatwig's request."

"Which area?"

Tilde spoke with confidence. "All accidents related to Windrider airships."

"Sign here."

Tilde autographed the chart, her handwriting messy and illegible, and then slid it back under the small opening in the bars.

"Block Fifty-Three." Constable Avery pulled a lever from behind the desk. "You know the rules."

The spokes on the door retracted and turned, unlatching the vault with a heavy click. Tilde led them through to the other side where it was dim and quiet. Behind them, the metal door groaned like drawn out thunder as it amalgamated back in place.

It was chilly in the basement. Vast and unoccupied, the archival department was like a morgue and library merged together. The ceilings were vaulted. Black evidence boxes stacked tall shelves, with ladders clinging to the highest ones. Massive drum lights flickered in and out above desks, some of which were covered in dust, others recently wiped clean. The place smelled of wet concrete and stale air.

Goosebumps erupted on Zenetra's forearms. She did not care for the dungeons.

"This way," beckoned Tilde. Her jacket, a pleated concoction of brown fabric, swished as she walked. The rustling noise magnified in volume the deeper they journeyed into the basement.

Zenetra followed her out of the main room and down a wide hallway. On either side were open archways that led to different passageways. Heavy metal signs with numbers hung above each new entryway from sturdy screws. Block One to Five jutted off into a dark hallway. Zenetra peered down the long and empty antechamber, certain something or someone was about to jump out of the darkness.

Though she resolved to pick up her pace, she slowed at each sign. Ahead, Tilde made a sharp left into another antechamber and disappeared from sight. The rustling noise faded and the sound of her footsteps all but vanished.

At the corner where Tilde had turned, Zenetra stopped altogether and read the sign above the arch. Tilde had turned into Block Sixteen to Twenty, despite Constable Avery specifically saying Block Fifty-Three.

Zenetra did not see nor hear Tilde in Block Sixteen, Block Seventeen, or any of the following, but at the final archway, Zenetra halted. The sign hanging above the entryway of Block Twenty was different from the rest. In bold lettering above the numbers were two chilling words:

COLD ROOM

Goosebumps emerged again on Zenetra's arms and spread across the back of her neck. Having purposely avoided the Cold Room since the start of cadet training, she wanted to return to Constable Avery and leave the eerie archival basement immediately. She could hear Tilde walking around inside, however, and it sent a chill down her spine. Constable Thorpe had not seemed disingenuous, but things had happened to the Noire family that made Zenetra distrustful.

She placed one foot inside. The room was cast in dull light and filled to the brim with black boxes. Skirting the edges, she headed down a narrow path between a wall and several inner shelving units. When she rounded a corner, she came face to face with a frazzled Tilde.

Zenetra's sudden appearance frightened the young constable, who jumped back and exclaimed "Ah!" at an ear-piercing level. She crashed into a heavy metal shelving unit. Teetering from the impact of Tilde's body, the shelf tipped forward and sent evidence boxes sliding off. Tilde swiveled just in time to block a box from landing on her head but the shelving unit continued to pitch forward.

"Oh, no," said Tilde. "Catch it!"

Several boxes slid from the shelves, landing in piles on the hard concrete floor with their corners severely damaged. Zenetra ran forward and pushed the unit back onto its legs before it could crush them both. 

"Goodness," said Tilde, placing the box in her arms back on the shelf. Her cheeks were tinged red. "You're light on your feet! I thought I'd lost you for a second there."

Zenetra was hardly listening. Over Tilde's shoulder, resting on a shelving unit against the far wall, was something that made her ears ring. Though they looked no different than the others, tucked unassumingly between identical evidence boxes were two that wrenched at her heart. Both had her family name stamped on them.

Scooping up the fallen boxes, Tilde set them back in place on the shelves and pointed to the wall of black boxes Zenetra was already staring at. "Over here."

A red mist filled Zenetra's vision. She knew exactly where Tilde had led her. Never in her life had she sounded so commanding, but when she asked, "What is going on?" with such intense authority, she could have passed for the commissioner himself.

"Oh," said Tilde with a jolt. "I lied. Inspector Hatwig never asked for any file."

***********

Preview for next chapter:

Zenetra faces her biggest obstacle. Tilde offers some sound advice.

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