Page 54 of Dark Shaman: Eternal Hope
"There are no recording devices in here," Areana said, noticing Tamira's scan. "Navuh values our privacy."
Tamira nodded and smiled, but she wasn't convinced. Navuh could have easily installed devices without telling Areana, turning them off only when he visited. But she kept that thought to herself.
Areana walked to the bookshelf and ran her fingers along the spines. "The sequence is important," she said, positioning herself so that her body partially blocked Tamira's view, or at least it appeared to do so. "I must do it exactly right, or the alarms will be triggered."
As Areana moved through the disarming sequence, her positioning was carelessly ineffective. Tamira could see everything clearly, as if Areana were only pretending to conceal it.
"First," Areana said, pressing down on a specific spot on the floor with her heel. A soft click sounded. "The pressure plate beneath the rug."
Her foot hovered over the spot long enough for Tamira to memorize the exact location. It was the third pink rose from the left in the pattern, about one-third of a meter from the wall.
She moved to the bookshelf. "After the plate comes the books." She reached for a leather-bound volume on the second shelf and as she pulled it out halfway, another click sounded.
Herodotus's Histories, Tamira memorized, wishing she could write it down. Areana repeated the same process withPlato's Republicon the third shelf, thenMarcus Aurelius's Meditationson the first, and finally,Ovid's Metamorphoseson the very top shelf that required her to stretch on her tiptoes. But this one she pushed rather than pulled out.
A deeper click resonated through the wall, and a section of the bookshelf swung inward on silent hinges, revealing darkness beyond.
"The pressure plate resets after thirty seconds," Areana continued, still making a show of blocking Tamira's view while actually demonstrating everything perfectly. "So, the book sequence must be completed quickly. On the way back, it needs to be done in reverse. The books first and the pressure plate last."
Tamira committed it all to memory: the third rose, a third of a meter out. Herodotus, Plato, Marcus Aurelius, Ovid. Pull, pull, pull, push. It wasn't difficult to memorize the classics, but the sequence was a little trickier. She would have to devise a mnemonic. H, P, M, O. Three pulls and then one push. Heroes Plot Military Overthrows. That needed work, but it would do for now.
"What if you make a mistake?" Tamira asked.
"The alarm sounds throughout the complex. Guards converge from every direction." Areana's expression was serious. "Navuhwould assume an intruder, and because it's in my quarters, the response will be fast and forceful."
Tamira peered into the darkness beyond the opening. "How far does it go?"
"All the way to the mansion. Navuh told me that it's wide enough for a compact vehicle. The tunnel has emergency lighting that activates with motion, and in an emergency, I'm supposed to just run and get as far away from the harem as I can."
Tamira peered into the darkness but saw nothing, even with her enhanced immortal vision. "Haven't you ever been tempted to explore it?"
Areana shrugged. "Not really. I'm not a fan of spiders and other creepy-crawlies that I have no doubt this tunnel is full of. And speaking of those unsightly creatures, I'd better close this door before any get in." She went through the sequence in reverse. Ovid pulled out, then Marcus Aurelius pushed back in, Plato, and then Herodotus. Finally, she stepped on the pressure plate again—not the same spot, but a different rose in the pattern, the fifth from the left, same distance from the wall.
"That locks it again," she explained. "Without that final step, the door remains accessible to anyone who pushes on it."
Tamira nodded, her mind running through the sequence again. When the time came, she could get herself and Eluheed through, but the guilt of abandoning her sisters sat heavily in her stomach.
"Thank you for showing me," she said. "This could save lives one day."
"Indeed." Areana smoothed her dress. "We should get to the library before the others send a search party for us."
As they left the suite, Tamira wondered if Areana knew exactly what she'd done. The goddess was far too smart and cautious to accidentally reveal such crucial information. But whether it was a gift, a test, or a trap, Tamira couldn't say.
22
ELUHEED
The morning sun beat down on Eluheed's back as he knelt in his herb garden, but he didn't mind. There was something so soothing about being surrounded by rows of fragrant herbs, the scent of fertile earth, the buzz of insects, the distant sound of waves, and about dipping his hands in the rich soil. Tony worked beside him, less enthusiastic about the dirt under his fingernails but surprisingly still eager to learn about growing things in general and medicinal plants in particular.
"Is this the one you gave me for my headaches?" Tony held up a sprig of feverfew.
"It was one of the herbs." Eluheed patted soil around a newly transplanted sage plant. "It's good for other things as well, but the preparation matters as much as the plant itself. Too strong and you'll cause more problems than you solve."
They'd been working for a couple of hours already, taking advantage of the cooler morning hours, but they would need to call it a day soon, wash up, and join their ladies.
It wasn't a bad life, and if Eluheed didn't have a vow to fulfill and Tamira didn't have a son she wanted to find, there would have been no urgency to find a way to escape this island. It would take many years before people started noticing that he didn't age. His charges could wait as well, and yet Eluheed felt in his bones that time was running out and that he needed to hurry up with the escape plans.
The sound of approaching footsteps made him look up, and he saw a guard striding toward them with purpose.
