“She saw it. She saw everything. What do you think she’s doing?” Zoe pulled back to look at me, incredulous. “She’s not writing, Alex. This whole retreat was just a scheme to trap you all here and steal your books.”
Horror ignited in my chest. The sentences broke apart and the words zinged around like a pinball machine: Scheme. Trap. Steal.
A creaking sound came from the door to the control room. Zoe and I both stiffened and clutched at each other as the door swung open.
But there was nowhere to hide.
Chapter 29
“What the hell.” Keira came through first and hurried to the bars. “Are you guys okay?” Her voice was high and strangled sounding.
Taylor followed, eyes wide, taking in every detail. Behind her trailed Wren. With flushed cheeks and glassy eyes, Wren looked seriously ill.
“Guys.” Zoe jumped up, her voice a desperate hiss. “You need to go get help. Like, right now.” We pressed ourselves against the bars. I had the sudden image of us as puppies in a pet store, straining to be seen. Pick me!
“How?” Taylor joined Keira. She touched her chin with both hands, uncertainly, as if her head might tumble off at any second. “The radio’s dead.”
“Alex said there’s a snowmobile.” Zoe looked at me. “You need to take it and go get help.”
Behind Keira, a stunned Wren muttered: “What the actual fuck?”
“What is this place?” Taylor backed up, looking up at the ceiling.
“Okay. Okay, okay, okay.” Keira straightened her glasses with trembling hands. “I’ll take the snowmobile. And if I can’t find the keys, I’ll walk.”
“It’s too far to walk,” I said. “I think it was like fifteen or twenty miles to the convent.”
Taylor backed up all the way to the door. Her confused expression was melting into something else. For a second I couldn’t process it because it didn’t make sense.
It was an undeniable look of contempt.
“Taylor,” I said in warning. The others whipped towards her.
It happened so quickly. Taylor swiftly stepped backwards through the door and closed it. A click echoed.
“No.” Keira ran to the door and twisted the knob. “It’s locked! Taylor, open the door!”
Wren scrambled up to stand. Next to me, Zoe exhaled. I could smell the metallic tang of her breath. My heart thundered in my ears as I sank into a crouch.
The sound of static filled the air. Then came Taylor’s voice from the speaker on the wall.
“Holy shit.” She sounded gleeful. “Your faces! I wish you could see them.”
“Taylor?” Keira turned towards the white box. “What are you doing?”
“I’ve got to say, I’m impressed, Poppy.” Taylor’s voice was casual. “Zoe. Whoever you are. You’re an even better actor than me.”
Wren moaned, hands pressed to her mouth. Keira stared at Zoe and me, her dark eyes blank, her mouth gaping in astonishment. It was sinking in. I felt a flash of vertigo, another wall of reality crumbling.
“Taylor,” Zoe called out, her voice now filled with her old friendliness. “Hey, girl, why don’t you come back in here and we can talk about this?”
“Talk about what?” Taylor’s voice lowered into a snarl. “How all of you are fucking cunts?”
That shut us up.
“You know,” Taylor went on, her tone thoughtful. “I can’t even tell who’s the most annoying. Wren, you are so full of yourself, it’s unbelievable. You truly think you’re better than everyone else. Guess what? You’re actually just a pointless influencer who’s going to fade into obscurity the second you get a wrinkle. K, let’s move on to you. You complain all the time. Like, all the time. You think everyone’s out to get you because you’re Black, even though you basically had way more opportunities than I did. It’s ridiculous.”
Keira was frozen, expressionless, staring at the speaker. I felt a flush of shock and indignation on her behalf just as Taylor said my own name.
“And, Alex… ugh. You’re a mess.” Her tone went high. “I’m Alex, feel sorry for me. Everyone is so so mean to me! And I might be queer but I’m too much of a fucking baby to accept it. Or maybe I’m just pretending to be so I can play with people’s minds.”
The words pounded at me like physical blows.
“It was really shitty what you did,” Taylor went on. “Flirting with me one minute, running away from me the next. Throwing yourself at me in the basement, and then pretending like it never happened. Holy shit, dude. Get a fucking grip.”
I remained mute, my hands clamped on the bars.
“But I’m not Wren, right?” Taylor sighed. “And honestly, I don’t want to go anywhere near the fucking sadomasochistic mind games you two are playing with each other. No thanks. If that’s what happens after you hook up with someone, Al, then I’ll consider myself lucky.”
Taylor knew about me and Wren. When I’d only told Roza.
“Anyway,” she said and chuckled. “Oh my god! It’s such a relief not to have to pretend anymore. Y’all are just too fucking much.”
“This is Roza’s plan?” Keira asked. “For you to trap us in here like this?”
A snort. “Roza’s plan was to kill you. It’s not like this changes anything.”
Wren gasped.
“Taylor.” Keira cleared her throat. “What are you talking about?”
No response.
“No. You cannot disappear right now.” Keira’s voice rose to a shout. “Taylor!”
I sank to the ground. Keira’s yells became distant and far-off.
No matter how many times Keira called her name, Taylor didn’t respond.
* * *
Keira’s initial reaction was to try to jimmy open the door. Wren stood behind her, pale and watchful.
“It won’t work,” Zoe said. She’d dragged the pallet over near the door and we both were sitting on it, watching. “It’s a dead bolt.”
I’d returned from whatever shocked, numbed place I’d fallen into. Now I was attempting to manage the desperate jolts of helplessness that sizzled in my chest.
“Okay.” Keira exhaled with a huff and turned towards us. “Poppy or Zoe or whoever you are, you need to tell me exactly what is going on.”
Wren and Keira settled on the floor as Zoe spoke. I found myself tuning out, drifting back to the revelation about Taylor. I was starting to match the images of the electric-orange demoness with Taylor’s compact body. It hadn’t been Lamia; instead, it had been Taylor’s lips I’d kissed, Taylor’s nipples I’d teased, Taylor’s clit I’d tongued and sucked.
In another world, it could have been a momentous experience. Because I had connected with Taylor during our one-on-one conversations. There had been a true spark of attraction between us, even if I’d been too scared to handle it at the time. And if Roza hadn’t drugged us, our basement hookup could’ve been a life-changing sexual experience. It could’ve showed me the truth, that it was time to admit to—to celebrate—the fact that I was attracted to certain women.