“Because it does.”
“So does that tree,” I said, pointing at a vaguely human-shaped sapling in the near distance.
“I’m not saying that it’s a replacement for modern scientific study. I’m just saying it’s hubris to think that just because we have more knowledge now that we should obliterate all past thought.”
“Well, if I get pneumonia, I’ll come straight for your dianthus.”
She stared down at the flower and then smiled back up at me, a sly twist to her lips. “I think it’s time that we stopped fucking around, don’t you?”
“What?” The word came out garbled and strange. This was not what I was expecting. “Stop fucking around how?”
With a cold smile, she climbed up to sit on the edge of one of the planters, her face suddenly shifting, looking much older and more dangerous than the person I’d thought she was. The woman sitting before me wasn’t the same person I’d first encountered in the apothecary garden, all friendly smiles andjust call me Aspen. She was calculating and cold.
I could barely move, but I tried to smile, my lips quivering as I managed a poor simulacrum of the real thing. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t you?” she asked, leaning back again, crossing her legs like a university lecturer congratulating herself on a job well done. “You’re telling me you really have no idea what’s actually going on?”
“I’m sorry, but I don’t.”
She laughed. “Let me ask you this, Robin. What exactly do you think we do here?”
“Well, Hildegard College is obviously a college. It’s in the name.”
“Tell me the truth. What do you really think?”
I exhaled, my breath shaking as I thought back to the darkened building in the woods and to the plans I’d found in the conference room, to the state of disarray I’d found the rooms in, to the blood on the island.
“Is this some kind of cult?”
“What makes you say that?”
“Apparently you all grew up here. That doesn’t make any sense.”
“Tell me more. I’d love to follow your thought process.”
“I’m sorry, but why play games? If you’re just going to tell me some big secret, then just tell me. There’s no reason to be coy.”
“Testy!” she said with approval. “It’s nice to see this feisty side of you start to come out. But I’m not being coy. I’m genuinely interested to see how much of the puzzle you’ve pieced together.”
Tingles traced my spine as she said that. This was what I needed.Just play it cool, Robin. Don’t scare her off.
“Okay, I’ll play,” I said carefully. “What have I pieced together? I think you’re up to something here, something covert. Hildegard College is a cover of some kind. I think you do research, but I’m not sure it’s what you say it is. Maybe you work for the government.”
“Ah, but which one?” She raised her eyebrows.
“So I’m right, then?”
“I didn’t say that. Tell me more. Do you suspect espionage? Do you think we’re in the Company?”
“I can tell you’re making fun of me, but I don’t think my suspicions are completely unfounded. I mean, the remoteness, the secrecy, all the tech. This place could easily be some kind of government-run enclave where you do testing. And Isabelle, she was your best research scientist. I think she discovered somethingshe wasn’t supposed to. Or maybe she saw something she wasn’t supposed to see.”
Aspen scratched her chin. “Is that really honestly what you think?”
I thought for a moment. Deep down, that was pretty much exactly what I thought. “Am I close?”
The edges of her lips crept up into a hint of a smile. “Not even remotely,” she said, fighting back obvious laughter.
“I give up, then,” I said, unable to hide how annoyed I felt.
