The walls narrow, and the air thickens. Lost in thought, I miss a turn. Now I’m in an older section of the Vault with no recollection of how I got here. I pass the Sphinx of Hatshepsut, an Egyptian statue with a lion’s body and a female human head. According to the plaque at its base, it was stolen from the Met in 1960 by Barrett McLaughlin, a Keystone alum and art historian. When he was working on the restoration of Gallery 131, he made casts of the statue, re-assembling the forgery at the Met and later reconstructing the original here. Beyond the Sphinx are the gates to the Pyramid, a replica of Cairo’s Grand Egyptian Museum that houses the Vault’s ancient treasures. Made of iron and stone, the gates are nearly flush with the ceiling, impossible to scale. Breaking the lock that holds them shut is the only way in.

This isn’t what I planned on doing tonight, but I’m up for the challenge and happy to put off reliving my past for another night. Kneeling in front of the gates, I get to work. The lock is an ancient pin tumbler with a trick element that opens successive keyholes and is surprisingly difficult to pick. It takes me hours to crack it. By the time I’m finished, I’m too exhausted to explore the treasures on the other side, and I sit on the floor resting my eyes before hiking back to the dorms.

Footsteps echo down the hall. Sensing Stewart is coming, my eyes flutter open as he appears around a corner.

“There you are,” he says. “Just who I’ve been looking for. You weren’t at dinner.”

“You missed me?”

“Absolutely.” He grins. “How’s Quest training going?”

“You placed a bet, didn’t you?” I frown.

He sits next to me. “I did. And I’d like to protect my investment, Scarlet Spy, but I also want to see you win.”

Hating the nickname, I cringe. It makes me feel like an outcast who should be wearing a scarlet letter, even though I know it’s probably a reference to how easily I blush. Either way. Ugh.

“Why?” I ask. “Other than your love of underdogs.”

“I do enjoy a come-from-behind victory.” He laughs. “But I also feel like you’re one of us.”

“And who is ‘us’?”

“Listen, a lot of thinking at Keystone is old-school, but some of us don’t want to live off the grid forever. Personally, I don’t think all technology is bad, and someday I’d like to rejoin society as long as it’s not ‘Super Brain’ society. I get the feeling you would, too.”

“I don’t know what I want.” I lean my head back against the gates. “And you shouldn’t get your hopes up. Garrett knows this place inside and out. Don’t you think his parents will make sure he wins?”

Stewart shrugs. “I don’t know. They seem fair. If anything, they’re harder on him… Neither of his brothers nor his sister won Quests. I don’t think they even competed in them.”