Page 89 of In Prey We Trust

“Yes. They went from small farms to Agro-giant over the decades. But I don’t see what we need to do to get in,” Chess replies as he bends down to examine the bottom edges. “It doesn’t have a puzzle that I can see, just some indents.”

“What would the rich farmers use to keep their treasures hidden?” The question is rhetorical, but we all need to think in order to figure this out. “Crops need water.”

“And light,” the Captain adds, holding up his flashlight. “Perhaps ye need to make something grow?”

Brilliant.

“Chess, start shining that light into all the places that have depressions. I’m going to check in since it’s time.” Turning, I press my button and call out. “Check-in teams! We’ve found the Charles vault and are trying to open it. Chess seems okay still.”

The silence freaks me out for a moment, but then my grump’s voice comes over the line. “East of the library, we’ve run into a door we believe may belong to the Barringtons. We’re also working on a puzzle. Cori and I are doing okay for the moment.”

“Team Badass ain’t found shit,” Fitz snickers. “But we are getting pretty far into the west tunnel, and that might be where the treasure is hidden. The punk is fine and I’m dandy.”

It takes another moment before the last response, and I want to throttle Felix. “Team Alpha…hole… is fine. We’re almost under the lake now and we’ve run into a large chamber with a ton of art on the walls, another altar, and some crazy shit. Princess is documenting and the crew are gathering anything they carry in a big sack. We saw a door on the way in, but ignored it to follow the sliver of light to this. We’ll look at the door on our way out.”

“Felix, you don’t sound good,” I respond. “That room must have more magic in it than other places. Get what you can, try the room, and get out. I’m not arguing with you.”

“He’s grumbling, but I have it under control, big guy.” Dolly’s voice echoes into the speaker, and I realize the chamber must be quite large. “See you suckers in a half hour.”

“I’ve got it!”

Blinking, I turn around, flicking my mic off and looking at Chess in surprise. He’s beaming as a vine crawls through grooves in the door, then disappears into a hole and the sound of a lock clicking fills the silence.

I’ll be damned. Looks like we’re going to get the dirt on the farmers after all.

The door swings open, and I hold my hand out to keep the other two from entering. My amulet stays at a level hum, so I walk inside the oddly cozy room kept by the Charles family. There are dozens of blueprints on the wall depicting molecular structures and pots filled with dirt, but no plants. An archive of ledgers fill one bookcase and a table full of what appears to be a chemistry lab sit in another corner. My eyes catch on a hanging tapestry and I walk over to it, squinting as I examine it.

It’s not that old and doesn’t look valuable. Pulling it aside, I grin as I uncover a walk-in wall vault. I grip the handle, betting that something hidden this well probably doesn’t have a high tech safe. It’s protected by all the secrecy, so they probably didn’t bother to get anything reinforced against shifter strength. Yanking hard, I tear the door off the hinge to look inside.

“Uh, thanks?” Chess says as he joins me. The Captain follows, but heads over to the trunks in the last corner.

I shrug. “No problem. Does it feel colder to you now?”

He shivers. “They’ve got something cooling this hidden thing. Let’s go in and see what is so important.”

Nodding, I walk in, looking at the neatly organized and labeled shelves running from floor to ceiling. It’s obvious this is being used as a seed vault—where they store their branded, modified seeds for their farms to keep the genetic codes secret. “Lot of seeds and probably half of them were hijacked from small prey farmers. But I don’t think that helps us.”

“It’s good info if we need a public campaign, but it’s not going to get the killers or hoods off our backs.” Chess pauses and picks up one of the sealed tubes. “Do you recognize this plant? You’re the botany guy, right?”

It can’t be.

I swallow a curse before I answer. “I do. These plants haven’t existed here since the Treaty. Chess, they’ve got Faerie plant seeds in here. That’s how they’ve grown their business over the years. They’re splicing regular shit with Faerie shit.”

“You said the Fae are all but gone, right?”

“Perhaps, but flora from their lands would call to them. Hell, it might even reactivate the fucking gateways. No one’s ever studied it. We didn’t have the tech back then and everyone thinks that it’s extinct, like magic now.” Hundreds of thoughts fly through my head, making possibilities race through my mind like dogs on the track. The smell, the plants, the magic, the timing… something is definitely coming. Fae never forgive and they never forget—and they live to ages even shifters look upon as immortal like gargoyles and dragons. Turning to my friend, I ask despite not wanting the answer. “Have you heard about any spikes in the more reclusive mythical shifters recently?”

“Nope. But Fitz can run checks, man. He’s the best at really digging into the dark nets for both species.” The cheetah frowns and tilts his head. “Why?”

“I don’t enjoy finding this. It’s dangerous and we have no idea how widespread those Council idiots have let it get. If magic is coming out of the dark, Fae plant hybrids are growing, and two sides seem to be in a battle over shit no one knows about? There’s a war brewing, and it’s been headed in this direction for over a decade at least. The first sprouts of those plants would have taken at least twelve years to flower so they could be modified and spliced.”

“Ren? You know an awful fucking lot about this shit. My angel is right; we need you to deal with your past so you can talk about whatever it is.” Chess reaches out and squeezes my shoulder. “We’ll all be here for you, but we’re out of our depth on this topic. If a shifter/magic war has been in the making for a decade or two, we’re not ready because no one but these Council twats knows.”

“And they’re hiding it,” I sigh. “I get it. Let’s get whatever paperwork and samples we can. We’ll fill the others in when we get home. This, combined with whatever Felix’s team found, is enough for tonight.”

“We’ll come back—it seems like we will never quite get away from Apex.”

“That’s what I’m afraid of.”

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