“What did you just call me?” Donovan snaps, as I say, “So what’s the deal,Coop?Did you trail me here? Are you going to arrest me again? Or are you here in an…unofficial capacity?”
Cooper is staring at the ley lines. With what looks like considerable effort, he drags his gaze away from them to glare at me. “I did follow you,” he says. “But not like you think.”
“How many ways to stalk someone can there be? Itoldyou I had to come up here. And I told you why. I’m here for work, damn it.”
“You told him?” Donovan says, eyebrows lowering. “So you two are in touch?”
“I ran into him outside the historical society meeting. Where he’d showed up to badger me into staying away from you. Something I don’t need reminding about.”
“Apparently youdo,” Cooper said. “I mean, look at you.” He points at me—specifically, at my ruined shirt—and I can feel myself blushing.
“Look at her like that some more,” Donovan says evenly, “and it’ll be the last thing you ever do.” He steps in front of me, blocking me from view, and my heart lurches. Even angry and suspicious, his first instinct is to protect me.
“Are you threatening me? Now that’s a joke.” Cooper unfolds his arms and strides forward, until he’s standing right in front of Donovan. “What are you going to do? Data-entry me to death?”
I edge out from behind Donovan, not wanting to be in the middle of things if their altercation comes to blows. The two of them are about the same height—Donovan is maybe an inch taller—but Cooper is broader. And he’s a cop, for God’s sake.Just because I can’t see a gun right now doesn’t mean he’s not carrying one.
I should stop this before it gets out of hand. But I can still feel the blue light coursing through my veins, hungry and avid. Itwantsto see them fight. It wants to devour, to consume.
“You think you know Rune?” Cooper hisses. “You don’t understand the first thing about her.”
“And you do?” They’re nose to nose now, Donovan’s fists clenching and unclenching.
“I understand a hell of a lot more than you do. Like why she’s really here. I told you we would get to the bottom of this for you,” he snarls at me over Donovan’s shoulder. “That we would get justice. But you wouldn’t listen. And that’s why I’m here.Shesent me, to stop you before you kill us all.”
“You’re such a freaking liar!” The heck with staying out of it. I shove my way between the two of them, pushing them apart. “I saw what you did, Cooper. I know you’re really the one who?—”
He claps a hand over my mouth before I can finish speaking. I pry at his fingers, trying to loosen them, but it’s pointless. “They’re coming,” he whispers, eyes wide with alarm. “We have to get out of here—we can’t let them see?—”
His panic bemuses me. It must bemuse Donovan too, because he lets Cooper shove him out of the room and slam the door behind us, without asking a single question.Ihave a lot of questions, though, and the moment the door shuts, I turn on him, ready to ask every single one of them. But before I can get a word out, a craving sweeps me, so intense it takes my breath. I want to go back into that room, where the light is. No, Ineedto. It’s calling to me, urging me on?—
“Rune!” Cooper snaps. Somehow, though I don’t remember moving, my hand is on the doorknob, turning it. He pulls me back, his fingers trembling. “No,” he says, his voice hoarse. “It’s too dangerous. You?—”
“You made it!” It’s Ethan’s voice, cheery as ever. “A little the worse for wear, I see, but that’s what the escape room challenge is all about. Surmounting obstacles together. Cooper, I see you found our final competitors. Nicely done.”
So hedoesknow Cooper. No matter how much Donovan’s brother insists he’s on the side of the angels, I know better—and this proves it.
“Cooper here works security for the retreat center,” Ethan says as I turn to face him. “A little moonlighting gig. We asked him to make sure you two…well,escapedsafely.”
Donovan suppresses a snort. “No thanks to you,” he says, and opens his mouth to deliver a rant about safety, OSHA standards, and workers’ compensation. But I stop listening about five words in. Because there’s a tear in Ethan’s shirtsleeve, as if he’s caught it on something. The sleeve itself is speckled with tiny red dots. And through the rent in the fabric, I can see a tattoo, fading even as I stare at it but visible nonetheless.
A scroll and dagger.
Chapter
Forty-Six
I swearthe world stands still.
It’s a cliché, I know. Like saying “my life flashed before my eyes” when describing a car accident. But clichés exist for a reason, and the moment I see that tattoo on Ethan’s arm, everything else ceases to matter. Donovan’s probably still ranting, but I can’t hear a word he says. I can’t hear anything but my own heartbeat, thumping in triple time.
I’ve known Ethan for two years. Never in all that time, other than his obsession with punctuality, has he been so much as grumpy. If a surfer dude had a baby with a tech bro, it would grow up to be like him. The man collects Funko Pop dolls, for God’s sake.
And yet…
The flecks on his sleeve are blood. When I zero in on them, I can see that well enough. The tattoo is fading even as I watch, but it’s definitely there.
Which means he’s one of them.
