Page 128 of The Girl Who Inherits the Dead

After a breakfastof power bars and lukewarm energy drinks, Maison corrals Gurlien and Chloe in to look at the safe. Or, rather, for Chloe to look at it and sketch out the types of the runes for Gurlien to identify, and the cat batting against Chloe’s pencil at every motion.

“It’s definitely a biotrap,” Gurlien says, when Chloe finishes working with him on the runes, and Maison rolls his eyes. “Doesn’t say for whom, so we can’t confirm it’s for you.”

“I gathered that, what is it a trap for?” Maison asks, shifting to peer at it. “It’s not like the other one.”

Gurlien props his elbows up on his knees, because of course they’re both sitting on the carpet next to the safe, and gives Maison one of his expertly bored expressions. “However do you mean, Maison?”

Maison crosses his arms at him.

“Details are helpful,” Gurlien continues.

“It doesn’t…feel like the other one,” Maison says, begrudging, and Chloe cracks a smile, like this is some long running joke. “The other one, completely obvious what it’s for. This one, not so much.”

“If I had to guess, it’s to destroy or transform anything inside,” Chloe says, peering at it with something approaching eagerness. “So only certain people can get inside, a lot of people do them with safe boxes, so if other people get access to them, they’re useless. I saw one guy who made a safe that transformed everything into useless teeth if anyone but him opened it.”

Delina blinks down at her. “So this sort of thing is your jam, right?”

“Right,” Chloe says, before her grin fades. “We probably don’t have time for me to properly break it, do we?”

“Not with the biotrap,” Gurlien says, still narrowing his eyes at Maison. “Think Delina would be biologically similar to Frisse to get it off?”

The question is directly to Maison, who scowls.

“That’s all about how good of a spell caster they are,” Chloe says clinically, peering at the box. “Most people don’t have that level of control in their biological markers, but Frisse probably did, but also Frisse might’ve wanted her daughter to have access, so it’s really a toss up.” She taps the floor next to the safe, and it glows a bit stronger.

“I mean, I could try,” Delina says, and Chloe at least looks like she’s considering it. “It probably wouldn’t harm me, right?”

“Probably isn’t good enough,” Maison replies.

“If I had time and some lead gloves, I’d do it,” Chloe volunteers, before she smiles, impish, at Delina. “She left this place to you in the will?”

“Yes,” Gurlien replies for her, because he’s the one who has the entire will memorized. “So it would go to reason that it’d be safe in theory, but—”

Before Maison can stop her, Delina steps up and presses her palm against the top of the safe.

There’s a pop, close to the sound of a jar being opened, and a sizzle against Delina’s skin, barely there before a plume of smoke puffs from the cracks of the safe and the door swings open.

“Aww I couldn’t even unlock it,” Chloe says, as Maison grabs Delina’s hand, peering at it.

“I’m not hurt,” she says, though her skin tingles a bit, completely unmarked.

“No, she just put a tracker on you,” Maison grumbles. “So she’d be able to track anyone who tried to open her safe. Insane.”

“It’s not the most insane thing she’s done,” Chloe says, before gingerly creaking the door open.

Inside is a six-shot revolver, three cases of bullets, and some paperwork.

“Why’d she need guns?” Maison breathes, rubbing his face. “She was super powerful, why the hell would she ever keep guns?”

The revolver shines as if new, the pristine mother of pearl handle all but shimmering in the late afternoon light.

“I take it I’m gonna just find these at all of her properties?” Delina asks, and all three nod, even as Gurlien and Chloe piece through the paperwork. “I didn’t even keep a gun in Arizona.”

Gurlien sets half of the paperwork aside, then hands some to Chloe. “Can you transform an already fake passport?”

“Psh, easy,” Chloe says, before flipping through it and showing it to Delina.

“Good, cause there’s about a dozen in here,” Gurlien says, and Delina cranes her neck to look at all of them.

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