“Great questions!” Ethan says, slapping Donovan on the back. “And I intend to give you answers. But for now…friends, can you please escort our guests to the dais?”
The clapping dies away as, from amidst the seated guests, familiar figures rise. Jill. Dean from IT. Georgia. Jack, who’s got a thing for Mallomars. Board game-obsessed Catelyn. Gia.Thatcher ‘Hold My Beer’ Cruz. Ellen, Ethan’s assistant. Cooper. They stride toward us with purpose, their faces clear and focused, obeying Ethan’s command.
Whatever’s going on here, they’re not under the influence of it. Which means that they must be willing participants. And it probably also confirms that every single Smashbox employee on the retreat…is also a Blood Witch.
With a sinking feeling, I try to twist out of Rosa’s grip, but it’s become a vise. “I don’t think so, Rune,” she says in her cheery voice. “The party’s just starting, after all.”
“Let me go!” I say, struggling to get away from her. To reach Donovan and flee. But it’s too late. Dean, Cooper, and Ethan grab him, pulling him toward the arbor. He fights, but it’s no use: there are three of them and one of him, and they have no intention of letting go.
I scream his name as Catelyn and Jill take hold of my arms, their nails digging into my skin. “Get your hands off him. Charlotte! Mrs. Fontaine! Help me!”
But none of them move. None of them so much as look my way.
Rosa shoves me forward, her high giggle ringing in my ears. “They can’t hear you, silly. Besides, we put this whole thing together just for you. You and Donovan are so cute together. True, your time is limited, but quality over quantity, that’s what I always say!”
I make a concerted effort to dig out her eyeballs with my bare hands. But Catelyn and Jill drag me onward, depositing me in a folding chair in front of the arbor. Out of the corner of my eye, I can see Dean, Cooper, and Ethan doing the same to Donovan, who’s thrashing in their grip. “Rune!” he shouts, breaking free of them only to have them grab hold of him again. “Let her go, you bastards. Just let her go, and I won’t say a word about what I found. I’ll?—”
His voice cuts off as Cooper stuffs a gag into his mouth. “That’s right, you won’t say a word,” Ethan says pleasantly, ignoring his muffled screams. “Because that’s how I want it. And I’m in charge here. Right, Rune?”
I may not be able to get away. But right now, at least, I can still speak. “You evil, disgusting excuse for a human being,” I hiss at him. “I know what you did to my parents. What you did tome.And make no mistake, you’ll fucking pay.”
“I don’t think so,” Ethan says, smoothing a hand over his beard. “No, today you’re the one who will pay, Rune. You and our little sacrificial lamb.” He jerks his chin at Donovan. “You’ll pay again and again and again, until we have what we want. What weneed.Just like they will.” His gaze travels to all of the residents of Sapphire Springs who are sitting silently, obediently in their chairs, observing what’s happening without so much as a peep. Charlotte, who’s been my best friend since we were tiny, who’s devoted her life to fighting injustice, is just watching me get assaulted and threatened.
“What have youdoneto her?” I snarl at Ethan, pulling against Catelyn and Jill’s implacable hold. “To all of them?”
Ethan smiles at me, the same friendly, open smile I’ve seen a hundred times. “Nothing you need to worry about, Rune…or, should I say, Iris? Now,” he says to Georgia, “tie her up.”
I’ve known Georgia ever since I started working at Smashbox. We give each other holiday gifts and remember each other’s birthdays. But none of that stops her from stepping forward, rope in hand.
Chapter
Fifty-Three
The musicians’bows bite into the strings, the notes shivering through the floral-scented air. Humming along to the melody, Georgia begins binding me as efficiently as she organizes her marketing campaigns. The rough strands of the rope bite into my skin, and I howl in pain, bucking against them. “Georgia, youknowme! We’re…I thought we were friends,” I say, hating how pathetic I sound. “You don’t want to do this. Please, please let me go.”
“Hold her,” Georgia snaps at Jill. “She’s going to knock the chair over and bang her head if we’re not careful. Stupid cow,” she says to me, knotting my hands behind my back. “You havenoidea how exhausting it’s been to be nice to you all these years. ‘I can’t decide if he’s hot or just terrifying,’” she simpers, dropping back into the sweet, soccer-mom voice she’s used as long as I’ve known her. Straightening, she smirks at Donovan, who’s struggling against his bonds, his eyes telegraphing pure fury. “Not so terrifying now, are you, Donovan Frost?”
I gape at her in shock. She sounds like a different person entirely—like she’s peeled off her mom-of-two, bring-you-soup-when-you’re-sick Georgia-mask to reveal the Blood Witch bitchwho lurks beneath. When she turns back to me, that smirk still on her face, I see something sly and avid in her eyes, swimming just below the surface…a shark, eager to devour its prey.
You’d think that after all the years of being shunted from one place to the next, of having to suss out threats on the fly, my judgment would be better. But no—I’d wanted to believe that plump, kind Georgia, with her butterscotch-chocolate-chip-cookie recipe and her epic hugs, was the real thing. Some part of me had thought of her almost like a big sister. And all along, she’dhatedme. She’d been in on this. Pain stabs my stomach, and I clench my jaw, vowing revenge.
“Stop looking at me like that,” she snarls, stepping back. “It’s not my fault you’re a gullible fool. Ethan, can we get on with it?”
“My pleasure.” Ethan slices his hand through the air, and the musicians lift their bows from the strings. “Donovan, you must be wondering why you’re here. Why you’re one of our guests of honor. My guess is that Rune has tried to tell you, but you haven’t believed a word she said. That pesky little curse can be so problematic, can’t it?”
I suck in my breath. “Did…did you do this to me?”
“All in good time, little Rune. I know that’s not your real name, but itisthe one I gave you. Indulge me, won’t you, as I use it?”
Ethannamed me? What the?—
“I know you saw the tattoo on my arm, Rune. That wasn’t my intention.” He sighs, glancing sideways at Cooper, who is looming over Donovan. “When you exposed those ley lines, you…well, let’s just say you interrupted a little ritual. But that’s not a big deal. We just had to speed up our timeline. Honestly, it’s a good thing. The two of you are more powerful than I’d dared to hope. I’m impressed.”
Donovan is making furious noises behind his gag. I don’t know why Ethan hasn’t muzzled me, but I plan to make the mostof it. “What do you mean, you named me? And what did you do to my parents? You’re the one who killed them, aren’t you?”
“Of course I am.” He paces back and forth between me and Donovan, and the seated crowd’s gaze follows him, their heads turning left and right in that eerie unison. “Taking your father’s life was the most delicious meal I’ve had in decades. His blood sacrifice fueled me. Enlivened me, you could say.”
He gestures at his unlined face, and a sick revelation breaks over me. Killing my father was some kind of freaking fountain of youth for him. The thought makes my stomach churn.
