Much as I hate to admit it, he’s right. Rosa can just wait us out. Worse, if she’s on Ethan’s side, she could bring him running. Better to feign cooperation. “Fine,” I mumble. “Go ahead.”
The moment he cracks the door, she starts talking. “Hey there, you two! Here you are. I thought y’all got lost or something.”
“Here we are,” I agree. “Um, Rosa, Donovan’s car won’t start. Do you happen to have jumper cables? I’d get them out of my own car, but you still have my purse, and?—”
“Oh!” Rosa chirps. “I almost forgot.” She bends, scooping something up from the ground. “Here,” she says, reaching across Donovan to hand my purse to me.
Donovan shoots me a look that sayssee, not an evil witch, after all.But I’m too busy digging in my purse for my phone and yanking it out.
It’s dead. Which makes no sense at all, because I charged it in the car all the way up to the retreat this morning.
“Oh, and Donovan, here’s your phone,” she says, pulling it out of her belt bag. I catch a glimpse of the lock screen as she drops the phone into his palm, and relief shoots through me. His phone is on, which means maybe mine just died, after all. All we need to do is to get rid of Rosa, and then we can call Charlotte, and?—
“That’s totally weird about your car,” Rosa says. “Good thing you’re here overnight anyway. Were you and Rune going somewhere?”
Her tone is cheery, but the words sound foreboding, all the same—like what she really means is,You thought you were going somewhere, didn’t you? Well, too bad…and also, what exactly did you have in mind and how can I put a stop to it? And byit,I meanyou.
“I, um, wanted a chai latte.” I give her a bright smile. “That escape room was pretty challenging, huh? All that melting ice made me thirsty. And as awesome as this retreat center is, I don’t think it has a coffee bar anywhere!”
“No,” Rosa agrees. “It doesn’t. But you know what itdoeshave?”
I run through possible responses, discarding them as I go:A lake that tried to drown me? A murderous boss? A coven of Blood Witches tracking genetic data that they have no right to access?I glance at Donovan, but he’s no help. One hand is poking at his phone. The other’s tight on the wheel, likehe expects the car to start up any moment and drive away,Christine-style.“Nope,” I say at last. “What?”
“A fancy dinner, with live musicians!” Rosa claps her hands, bouncing up and down. “It’s a reward for all of you, for being such good sports. Of course”—she spares me a glance, her smile slipping—“you can’t go looking likethat,Rune. What happened to your clothes?”
Oh, Jesus. “I, um—the lake?—”
“Did you go swimming?” She gives us a sly glance. “Or did the two of you cooperate so well that you decided to continue your collaboration elsewhere?”
She didnotjust say that. “Excuse me?” I say as Donovan blushes so hard, I can feel it in my own cheeks.
“Those are his clothes. Right?” Her smile cranks up a few notches. “That’s okay! You don’t have to tell me. It’s your business, after all. The point of the escape room was for the two of you to figure out a way to work together, and obviously, you have.”
“We almost drowned,” Donovan snaps. “Was that part of the point, too?”
For the first time, Rosa’s smile falters. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Really? Do you have any idea why my phone won’t dial out, then?” He brandishes it at her. “Why my laptop’s dead? Or why my car won’t start?”
Rosa’s lower lip trembles. “We’re isolated up here at the retreat. Maybe it’s an electrical issue. Or a problem with cell service. I promise, after dinner, we’ll get jumper cables. If you really need to go anywhere and your car still won’t start, I’ll drive you there myself.”
She looks so bemused and pathetic, I want to believe her. But maybe she’s just a really good actor. Could it be that she doesn’tknow what the Blood Witches are up to? That if we go along with her, she’ll really get us out of here?
I’ve got my keys, after all. Maybe my car will start. Maybe we won’t even need her.
“Come on,” Rosa wheedles. “Please? We’ve got everything set up all special. You two are the only ones who’re missing. Rune can go get changed, we’ll have dinner, and then we’ll figure out whatever you need.”
Maybe this is a trap. But I can’t figure a way out of it, not without tipping off Ethan. “Okay,” I say, opening the passenger-side door. “Fine. Donovan, would you come with me?” There’s no way I’m leaving him alone with her. For all I know, Ethan plans to snatch him and do terrible things to him the moment my back is turned.
“Sure,” he says, eyeing Rosa warily as he gets out and comes around to my side of the car. The two of them trail me to my cabin, Rosa chattering a mile a minute. I was hoping to speak with Donovan privately, but she follows us inside and waits while I change into a clean pair of linen pants and a blue silk tank top. I put on flats, just in case I have to run for my life.
I desperately want to try to start up my car, but there’s no chance, not with Rosa on my heels as I lock the cabin and start walking down the hill. She leads us past the main lodge and toward a meadow that I noticed when I drove in earlier. “Almost there!” she says. “Oh, we’re going to have so much fun!”
“I seriously doubt that,” Donovan mutters, and I let out a snort.
But my laughter dies in my throat the moment we get close enough to hear the music emanating from the meadow. It’s a live string quartet, playing the haunting strains of Pachelbel’s Canon.
The music from my visions of our wedding.
