The Rose Code

The next morning, Mab and Osla say goodbye to Beth, who fails to mention the upcoming air raid. Arriving in Coventry, Osla, Mab, and Lucy are greeted by Francis, who shows them around the village and his home. Lucy is wary of Francis at first, but he wins her over when he gives her a pair of riding boots and promises to enlist her at a nearby riding school.

Sometime after midnight, the air-raid sirens go off. Osla picks up Lucy out of her bed, and the four of them head for a nearby shelter. As the crowd thickens, Osla and Lucy are separated from Mab and Francis. In the confusion, Osla missteps and falls to the ground, waking Lucy. In a moment of shock following an explosion, Lucy breaks free of Osla and runs away.

Mab and Osla search the street for Lucy, while Francis backtracks toward the house. After the raid ends, they wander back to the house, where Mab is relieved to see Francis and Lucy; Francis explains that Lucy went to get her boots. Just as Francis and Lucy come forward to meet them, the house and wall next to Francis’s house, which were damaged during the raid, collapse on top of them, killing them both.