“Maybe he’s playing with you.” Justin slides in next to Maeve and hooks a finger around one of the drinks. “I mean, all’s fair in love and war. Wouldn’t you say, Anna?” The question seems harmless, an innocuous bit of teasing, but Anna’s face changes, hardens.

Justin lifts the glass.

“Bottoms up.”

There’s a sarcasm, an edge to the two of them together that Maeve can’t figure out. But she’s the newcomer here; maybe it’s no surprise that she doesn’t get the inside jokes. She shrugs, and then they’re interrupted by Karo, anyway. Ready—Maeve assumes—to usher them down to the spa.

Instead, she speaks only to Maeve.

“Sadie says you were out on the trail by yourself.”

Maeve glances around for Sadie but finds her standing back, watching from a few feet away. Karo’s tone is oddly stern.

“I was in sight of the center the whole time. Do I need to be worried?”

“No, of course not. Not at all. But in the past, we’ve had residents who were a bit too complacent.”

Dan’s voice cuts across the room. “It’s not the city here, Maeve. Not even close.”

Maeve turns back to Karo, troubled. “I’m—” she begins, but then stumbles. What to say? I’m sorry?

It was still daylight. She’s an athlete. Unlikely to fall off the trail.

Sim hands his dirty plate to Sadie, then catches Karo’s arm.

“What are we waiting for?” Glancing to Maeve as he says it. He raises an eyebrow and then a subtle shoulder—more a signal than a shrug, a This place is crazy look. He hooks his arm around Karo’s elbow. “Come on, Karo. Let’s get these people in hot water.”

Maeve feels something at her shoulder and realizes that Dan has come to stand beside her. She steps back to give herself some space, but Justin is already lunging over the bar, a bottle of wine in one hand and two in the other. “Wait up there!” Then, looking coquettishly over his shoulder: “Hey, Dan—my hands are full. Why don’t you slip that corkscrew in my back pocket?”

But Dan is still watching Sim as he steers Karo away from Maeve and out the door.

The baths, according to a plaque on the wall, used to be an enclave for men only. When the center was first built.

Now, of course, there’s no place women can’t go. Deep underground, the spa is more of a hall than a room, and the steam from the baths makes it feel like some kind of luxe grotto. Maeve sinks a little deeper, the water naturally dark with iodine. There are three pools at three different temperatures. Those art deco details again: each pool is edged in smooth, carved stone.