But he hadn’t. He’d dismissed her or assumed she was making excuses, trying to get out of an awkward situation.

Sim seizes on it.

“What did you see?”

“I didn’t actually see it. But—”

Dan’s jaw clenches: “I didn’t see anything, and it’s literally my job.” At this, Karo gives him a sharp look.

She’s embarrassed him, Maeve realizes suddenly. He feels like she’s called him out. He rises to his feet.

“That’s why I came to get you,” he says. “Figured you’d be scared out there. And you were. Not safe for a woman all alone.”

Maeve blinks.

“The woods are only scary when someone’s following you. If you’re alone, it’s fine.”

Dan stops and cocks his head, looking at her. He wasn’t expecting an answer, and Maeve’s tone was sharper than she’d meant it to be. There’s a taut silence before Justin cuts in—he’s still on his knees on the floor.

“Folks, I’m serious. Who took my camera?” He waggles a finger at Maeve. “This is an amazing fight and I’m missing out on recording it for posterity.”

Dan goes to leave, then turns back.

“And no one is going to be out just walking around,” he says, talking to Maeve. “We already covered that.”

Maeve is about to argue when a noise distracts her. The banging has resumed, a little more subtly this time. She looks behind her.

Sim is gone. The long argument gave him what he wanted: the opportunity to slip back into the gallery and keep working. No one else seems to have noticed. Across the room, Dan is still staring her down, waiting for a response.

She reaches forward into her fold again.

“Okay,” she says.

When it’s night, Karo sends Dan out to set off a few flares. The rest of the group gathers around the window like they’re watching fireworks, but it’s not like that at all. He fires them off from a flare gun, high into the night sky, the wind ripping at his jacket, and each bright spark just climbs and falls and that’s it.

When he pauses to reload the gun, Sim swings the door open and Dan spins to meet him.

“Get back inside.”

“Shh—”

“I need everyone to stay indoors while I’m operating the flare gun.” Dan cocks his wrist as if he’s holding a pistol, not an emergency beacon. “I said get back inside.”

“Just give me a second—” Sim raises a hand, then puts a finger to his lips. He’s braced himself in the doorway. Maeve can feel the cold of outside whipping into the room and she moves closer to Anna, the two women huddling together against the chill.

There’s a moment of silence before Dan moves toward Sim.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Dan says.