Ethan. My boss. The one whose salary made it possible for me to buy my cottage. The one whose job offer ensured I would stay in Sapphire Springs.
Has he been watching me, this whole time? Did hekeepme here, for his own ends?
A sick feeling swirls in my stomach as I think about Ethan’s insistence that Donovan and I collaborate on this project…a project whose nature he’s been oddly secretive about. One whose intricacies I still don’t understand. About how, the first time I saw the scroll-and-dagger symbol, Ethan was standing right next to me. About how he demanded Donovan and I attend this retreat.
Something is badly wrong here. And he’s at the epicenter of it.
He’s probably somewhere in his early fifties. Which means he could’ve been there when my parents died. Maybe, he even could’ve been the one who killed my father. The one who gave the command to kill Donovan in my premonition. Surely I would’ve recognized his voice—but maybe Blood Witches can disguise how they sound.
I know one thing for sure. I have to get away from him. Fromthem.And I have to take Donovan with me, before they do something terrible to him.
Forcing my gaze away from Ethan’s arm, I paste a smile on my face. “This was a wild experience,” I babble. “I’m glad I did it. Really. And I’m relieved Cooper came to find us, because otherwise we might’ve been stuck in there forever. But as you can see, I need a new shirt. And Donovan and I have a lot to discuss. Issues that came up when we were, um, working through our differences. Excuse us, please.”
Ignoring Cooper’s protests, I grab hold of Donovan’s arm and tow him away, back up the stone steps that we descended to reach the escape room. I half-expect Ethan to chase after us, but he doesn’t move. Nor does Cooper, his good little lapdog.
I have no idea why they’re letting us leave. But I’m going to make the most of it.
Donovan twists in my grip, trying to get free. “What are you doing? I was right in the middle of?—”
“I don’t care what you were in the middle of. Trust me, none of it matters.”
“Oh, it matters. This was a fucking lawsuit waiting to happen. He needs to understand that.” Donovan sounds so indignant, I’d laugh if I wasn’t afraid for my life—and his.
The stairs are steep, and by the time we reach the top, I’m breathing hard. Donovan, damn him, is unscathed. “Where are we going?” he says.
I look desperately to the left and right. Where can we go that we won’t be overheard? Where will we be safe?
Through the trees, I see a flash of blue. A lake, maybe. Which means there might be a boat.
It’s a crazy idea, but it’s the best one I have. “This way,” I say, and take off through the trees. There’s a trail, but it’s narrow, and my shoes aren’t meant for hiking. Branches slap at my face as I plow through the woods, heading for the slice of blue in the distance.
“Have you lost it?” Donovan says behind me. “There are probably ticks in here!”
Wow. There are Blood Witches on the loose, our boss is probably a homicidal maniac, his brother is hell-bent on killing him, and there’s raw power bubbling up out of the ground—power that the two of us triggered, because our attraction to each other is strong enough to destroy the world. But heaven forbid we be bitten by atick.A giggle escapes me, then another. “They don’t matter, either,” I manage to get out.
“Tell that to the three hundred thousand new cases of Lyme disease that are diagnosed in this country each year,” he huffs as we crash through the trees that border the end of the path and spill out onto a small, sandy beach.
I was right—it is a lake. A large one, with a rowboat moored at the foot of an oak tree. I make straight for it, with Donovan behind me. “Help me push this toward the water,” I say, shoving the boat out of the grass and onto the sand.
Donovan gives a disbelieving snort, but he doesn’t protest. Maybe he’s given up. Instead he mutters, “Fine,” and grabs hold of the boat. Together, with me pushing and him pulling, we get it to the water’s edge. I climb in, and Donovan regards me, eyebrows raised. At last, he gives the boat one final shove, pushing it into the water, and steps in after me.
“Do you know how to row?” I say as the boat drifts away from the shore, guided by the wind.
“It’s a little late to ask that. But yeah. I told you, I was a Scout.” He peers at me. “I’ll make you a deal. I’ll row, and you talk. Whatever the hell’s going on here, you know a lot more about it than you’re letting on.”
“Okay,” I say, glancing back nervously at the trees. No one is following us—yet. But I don’t know how much time we have.
Sighing, he grabs the oars and dips them into the water. The boat snags on something—a rock? a branch?—and for a terrifying moment I think we’re going to get stuck. But then Donovan digs the oars in harder, his muscles flexing, and with a horrible scraping sound, the rowboat judders free. I grip my seat, the wood hot under my palms, as he pilots us deeper. “Now,” he says. “Your turn. How do you really know my brother? And what’s the deal between the two of you? This time, I want the truth.”
“And I want to give it to you. But I don’t think you’ll believe me.” I take a deep breath. “I wasn’t lying when I said I met Cooper for the first time when I tackled him out of the path of that bus. He is a cop, yes. But he’s also involved with something else. Something…bad.”
A wary look flickers in his beautiful irises. “You mean, something illegal? Like, corruption?”
Inspiration strikes. There’s no freaking way Donovan will believe that his brother and our boss are witches. But if I go with something more mundane, maybe I’ll have a chance of pulling this off. “Yes. I think he’s in it up to his eyeballs with Ethan. Cooper doesn’t want me anywhere near you, because he knows I’m onto him, and he thinks if the two of us spend enough time together, I’ll tell you what I suspect. The way I’m doing right now.”
Donovan’s shoulders bunch as he digs the oars into the water again. Droplets fly from them, sparkling in the sunlight, and I watch them scatter, feeling strangely hypnotized. It occurs to me that the further I’ve gotten from the ley lines, the less crazed I feel, and the better I can think. Theydidsomething to me, made me lose control of myself, just like Cooper warned me they would. And maybe some of the things he did and said were because he’d lost control of himself, too.
Why would he warn us to get out of the room with the exposed ley lines before Ethan arrived? Why wouldn’t he want to show them to Ethan? Now that my mind is actually working again, none of this makes sense to me. What kind of game is Cooper playing?
