Chapter 45
Chapter
Forty-Five
Donovan grabs me before I can reach Cooper. He wraps his arms around me from behind and pulls me back, his muscles flexing as I twist and fight to get away from him.
“What is wrong with the two of you?” he growls. “Cooper, I’m going to ask you one more time. What the fuck are you doing here?”
“What am I doing here?” Above the collar of his shirt, Cooper’s pulse throbs. “I’m here to help you, you stupid asshole. Not that you’ll ever believe me.”
Despite everything, I have to stifle a laugh. Apparently Cooper and I have something in common. Except in this case, I don’t believe him, either.
“Your definition of help is extraordinarily fucked up,” I snap at him.
Cooper glares right back at me. “You have no idea what you’re talking about. And this…this…” He points beyond me, at the blue light bubbling up between the cracks. “You’ve done something that can’t be undone, Rune. Now we’re all going to pay.”
The words send a shiver through me. Earlier, I’d heard his voice echoing in my head: Like calls to like. What is done can’t be undone. I thought I’d imagined it, along with the sensation that he’d calmed me when I was sliding into a premonition, but now…
“Did you…were you…” I’m not sure how to articulate what I want to know. It’s one thing for him to help me head off a premonition when we’re in person, when I have the ability to back off or say no. But for him to invade my privacy, to get inside my mind and talk to me without my consent…it’s a terrible violation.
“Projecting inside your head? Unfortunately.” He sneers at me, baring his teeth again. “Not that it did any good. You’re the most stubborn person I’ve ever met. Might as well try to stop the tide…if you know what I mean.”
Oh my God. How much does he know? How much has he seen? And, given the revelation in my latest premonition, how does he plan to use it against me? “How dare you!” I say, making a renewed attempt to put an end to him. But Donovan holds me fast.
“I have no idea what the two of you are talking about,” he says, “but I would really like to get the fuck out of here. Maybe we could continue this discussion elsewhere. Or—” He lets go of me, then spins me to face him. “Maybe you just want to discuss things with Cooper. Maybe I’m not the one you want to be talking with at all.”
You’ve got to be kidding me. “Seriously?” My voice rises to a squeak. “You still think I might be into him, Donovan? That this is—what, some kind of elaborate prank? Sure, that’s it. I arranged for your brother to show up in town. Then I conspired with Ethan to have you and me work together, and I funded this shitshow of a corporate retreat. Next, I applied my design skills to create an escape room scenario that almost killed us both, because that sounded like fun . I broke the earth all by myself and made blue crap spill out of it, because I’m just that powerful. And for the capper, I decided it would be an awesome idea for Officer Asshat here to show up and rescue me, because it was a great way for him to see me with my shirt off and humiliate you at the same time. Two birds with one stone, am I right?”
By the time I’m finished, my voice is so high that probably only dogs can hear it, my throat hurts from screaming, and Donovan’s regarding me like I’m a feral beast that might sink my teeth into him at any moment. Gingerly, he removes his hands from my shoulders.
“Well, when you put it that way…” he says.
“I don’t want anything to do with him!” I stamp my foot. “And neither should you.” Bending to scoop up the tattered remains of my shirt, I slide it back on. It doesn’t cover much of me, but it’s better than nothing.
“I already didn’t want anything to do with him.” Donovan looks over my shoulder at Cooper, who’s still lingering in the doorway, arms folded across his broad chest. “But none of this explains why he’s here, why he’s so determined to keep us apart, or what the hell that”—he points at the sapphire-lit crevices—“is.”
Together, the three of us stare at the bubbling blue light. I want to roll around in it. To luxuriate in it. To?—
Hold on just one freaking moment. “You told me you were drawn to power,” I say to Cooper. “And that’s what those are, aren’t they? Pure power.”
“Those are ley lines, ” Cooper says, confirming my suspicion. “Like I fucking warned you.”
“Jesus H. Christ on a goddamn bicycle.” Donovan’s gaze is ping-ponging between the two of us, like we’ve both lost our minds. “Ley lines? Power? What are the two of you babbling about? Is this another one of Rosa’s damn riddles? Because I swear?—”
Cooper heaves a massive sigh. He runs a hand through his hair again, then squares his shoulders. “You’re a null, Donovan. We shouldn’t even be talking about this in front of you.”
“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? I told you 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 you do ,” 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. It wants to 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. She sent 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. I have 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, I need to. 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 he does know 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, escaped safely.”
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.