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Sienna let out a long breath, immediately rubbing the bridge of her nose. ‘Okay. Okay, we can handle this. Look, there’s a quiet café two streets over. Good coffee, low ambient noise so the audio stays clean.’ She started walking without waiting for an answer.

Robin snorted, falling into step beside her. ‘A café? So you can cross-examine me about my likes and dislikes?’

‘We’re just gonna talk,’ Sienna said, her tone defensive.

‘I bet you have some list of questions on your phone, don’t you?’ Robin asked.

‘I… have some talking points. Is it so wrong to be prepared?’

‘It’s not wrong, Sienna, it’s just boring,’ Robin drawled. Seeing how tightly wound Sienna already was only made Robin want to press her buttons further. In fact…

‘Fine. If you want to talk, we can go to a place I know,’ Robin said.

Sienna side-eyed her as they walked. ‘A place you know? What place?’

‘Like you said. Coffee place,’ Robin said, striding ahead. ‘Unless you don’t trust me?’

‘I don’t trust you,’ Sienna muttered under her breath, but her heels clicked sharply against the cobblestones as she hurried to keep up.

Robin led her down the narrow lane, turning past a florist, taking a quick right, and stopping dead in front of a dark door set into an old brick facade. Above the entrance hung a wooden sign depicting a glowing bronze padlock and a dripping hourglass.

Sienna stopped short, looking at the sign, then at the neon display in the window, and finally at Robin.

‘Robin... this isn’t a café.’

‘Nope,’ Robin beamed, stepping up to press the doorbell. ‘Welcome to The Alchemist’s Dungeon. Sixty minutes to solve the mystery, break the hex and escape.’

‘An escape room?’ Sienna exclaimed. ‘Are you serious? We’re supposed to be… This is not a good first date. You can’t get to know someone hunting for fake clues in a locked basement!’

‘I disagree,’ Robin said, leaning against the door with a wide, dimpled smile. ‘I think we can learn about each other in a way we never could with a bunch of rehearsed answers.’ She leaned closer to Sienna, dropping her voice so only Sienna’s lapel mic would pick it up. ‘What’s the matter? Worried you can’t control the outcome? Or are you just scared I’m going to beat you at puzzle solving?’

Sienna’s mouth opened, then closed. A flash of pure, competitive fire lit up her eyes. ‘I am not scared of a room full of cheap props,’ Sienna said tightly. ‘And I am exceptional at puzzles.’

Robin let out a delighted laugh, stepping aside as the door buzzed open. ‘After you, then.’

Sienna shot her one final glare before stepping past her into the dark entryway.

Eleven

The door behind them slammed shut, and a crackly recording of organ music boomed from invisible ceiling speakers. On the far wall, framed in faux-gilded wrought iron, a digital clock immediately began to count down from 60:00.

The room stank of horrible theatrical fog. Sconces covered in fake cobwebs flickered, casting shadows over bookshelves full of fake books and vials of murky, neon liquid.

A stagey voice crackled through hidden speakers: ‘The Alchemist’s curse is upon you. In one hour, the hex shall consume your mortal souls forever. Escape the room to escape the curse…’

Sienna was, to put it mildly, unimpressed.

‘Christ,’ she muttered. ‘It had to be fantasy, didn’t it?’

‘What would you prefer? An escape room set in HMRC?’ Robin scoffed, jerking at a chain that connected her left wrist to Sienna’s right wrist, placed on them by a morose teen. ‘Quick, Robin! Get your VAT returns in order before we’re trapped in audit hell forever!’

Sienna gave her a look that could turn milk sour.

‘Look, it beats sitting in a café over oat milk lattes while you cross-examine me,’ Robin said.

‘I was not going to cross-examine you,’ Sienna insisted.

Robin slapped her hands together. ‘Right, let’s have a poke about.’