Contents
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Overview
Holland reaches the vault and opens her late father’s safety deposit box under a tight deadline. Instead of the Alchemical Heart, she finds Benjamin J. Tierney’s missing screenplay, Alchemy of Secrets. The discovery redirects her quest from the artifact to her father’s legacy, deepening the mystery tying her family to the Bank.
Summary
Riding a silent elevator, Holland counts down her remaining twelve minutes, clutching her charm and wrestling with fear and conflicted feelings about Gabe. She is angry at herself for trusting him, yet grief and sadness intrude, complicating her focus as time slips away.
The elevator opens into an older, marble-floored vault room. A green velvet sofa faces a brass table holding a large metal box—her father’s. Holland hesitates, overwhelmed by memories of her parents and the wonder they tried to create in her brief childhood, and by the weight of her father’s public tragedy.
Steeling herself, Holland opens the box to find a slim leather satchel. Testing for magic as Gabe taught her yields nothing. Inside is only a plain manila folder, which deepens her dread that the Alchemical Heart isn’t here and time is running out.
When Holland opens the folder, everything shifts: she recognizes her father’s handwriting over the title page—Alchemy of Secrets, a Price of Magic film by Benjamin J. Tierney. It’s the missing screenplay. The discovery offers a new, unexpected lead tied to her father’s legacy but leaves the Alchemical Heart unfound as the minutes continue to tick away.
Who Appears
- HollandProtagonist; enters the vault, opens her father’s box, and discovers his missing screenplay instead of the Alchemical Heart.
- Benjamin J. TierneyHolland’s late father; appears through memories and authorship of the newly found screenplay, redirecting Holland’s search.