Page 45 of Playing With My Heart Strings

“Okay, wait what if we matched the minus signs together and the plus signs together?” I do it mentally in my head. Five and four were the minus signs and one, three, two, and five had plus signs.

Five minus four is one… the box said “area.”

Then it hits me. The padlock needs a code to unlock it, and the box says area. “It’s an area code! Add the numbers up, and it’s an area code.”

“Val! Put in six, one, five! That’s the area code for Nashville.” Sage’s words rattle out in a frantic tone, and I can hear Valerie trying to put the numbers in as quickly as possible.

“It worked! There’s a flashlight in here. And…magnets? But there’s no key,” she explains the contents of her toolbox.

“Can you shine the flashlight into the window of my door? Maybe there’s something in here that I need to find.”

A few moments later, a light beam shines through the window, providing the little bit of light that I’ve been needing.

“There’s a small sliver under the door. I think these magnets might fit under it. Do you think that’s what we need to do next?” Valerie asks.

I shrug. “It’s worth a shot. I’ll try to scoot my chair over to the door and see if I can grab them.” I clumsily make my way over to the door, the legs of the chair painfully scraping the ground with every movement. “Okay, I’m here. Slide them under.”

The light disappears and the clink of metal on concrete fills the room. Valerie pops back up and shines the light inside again.

“I don’t think I can pick them up so I’m going to have to try to lean my chair back to grab them,” I grumble, once again trying to maneuver my chair to a favorable position. God, I hope I don’t fall over. That would be embarrassing. Not to mention, the last thing I need is a concussion.

I plant one leg on the ground to steady myself and lean my chair back as far as possible. I can’t quite grab the magnets, but I don’t need to. The attraction between the magnet and my cuffs is strong enough that one latches on. The cuff also clicks, releasing my arm.

“The cuffs were magnetic! Give me one second, and then I’ll be free.” I give the girls an update before grabbing the second magnet and attaching it to my other cuff. The metal slides off my wrist, and it’s sweet, sweet bliss. I didn’t realize how sore I was getting, even though the cuffs weren’t heavy duty ones that police officers use, just prop handcuffs.

I stand, and Valerie just about blinds me with her flashlight. I grimace, but give her a wave. “Can you shine the flashlight around the room? Just so I can see if there’s anything in here that might help me?”

She complies, shining the light along the walls and every corner. At first, there’s nothing—to my dismay—but then a glint catches my eye.

“Wait! Go back to the corner you were just at.”

Bingo.

Hanging from the ceiling is a key. I carry my chair over to the corner, because I already know I’m too short to grab it without a little bit of help, and then I stand on it.

“I have a key!” I exclaim, and I’m met with cheers from Sage and Valerie. I run over to the door to see if it unlocks my door, but no luck. “It’s not for this door. It must be for Sage’s room. Here, Valerie.” I slide the key under the door, and she picks it up.

“Be right back!” she reassures me.

“Talk to me, girls. Maybe I can still help,” I offer.

“The key worked for Sage’s door!” Valerie hollers right before a metal door opens. “Holy shit, you weren’t joking, Sage. There’s a ton of shit in here.” There’s a few banging noises and what Iassume is things being thrown around as Valerie looks through the room.

“What are you seeing in there?” I ask, just trying to get a feel for what they’re working with.

“There are a shit ton of keys on the wall with letters on them, a big cabinet, and the weird cage thing that Sage is in. I’m going to open the cabinet and see what’s inside, because it doesn’t look like there’s a lock on it.”

Metal rattles for a few seconds, and then Sage asks Valerie what’s in the cabinet.

“There’s a pair of wire cutters and a piece of paper with a bunch of letters on it… Ugh. Notanothermath puzzle,” she groans.

“Hey, at least getting Sage out should be easy. Just need to use the wire cutters, right?” I say, hoping to reassure her.

“That’s true. Okay, hold on, I’m going to get her out.”

A few minutes later, something—wires, I assume—clatters to the ground.

“I’m out, Baylor!” Sage updates me. “So, this piece of paper has letters on it, but the keys all have numbers on them. So we’re just trying to figure out which one gets you out.”

---