Page 48 of Into the Mist

Stella’s hands stilled as she reached for oven mitts. “What?”

“Yeah, she dropped off a letter to Gemma while she was still sleeping. Gave it to Imani, who is mad as fuck all.”

“Of course she is! Imani just lost her kids, and now Sadie abandoned her daughter? I’m mad as fuck all and I’m not even a mom.” She shook her head in disgust and took the casserole from the oven. “How’s the kid taking it?”

“Like someone a lot older than sixteen. She hasn’t cried. At all. Imani and I promised her we wouldn’t abandon her.” Mercury grabbed enough forks for everyone.

“Of course we won’t abandon her. When we leave, she comes with us.”

“Wait.When we leave?”

Stella spooned the steaming egg casserole as she spoke. “We’re not going to stay here. Not forever.”

Mercury touched her arm, and Stella put the spoon down and met her gaze. “You’ve always had great intuition. You’ve always listened to it.”

Stella snorted. “Not always. Just in the decade or so you’ve known me. I had to live awhile first and screw up several times—hence my two marriages—before I learned to trust my gut.”

“’Kay, yeah, but since I’ve known you, it’s been a thing. Wait… I want you to think about your intuition. Has it gotten clearer, or however you’d describe it, since the bombs?” Mercury held up a hand to stop Stella as she began to answer. “No, really think about it.”

“I don’t need to. I know the answer. It’s hell yes. My intuition has been pretty clear for the past decade or so, but since yesterday it’sloud. I don’t mean literally. I don’t hear voices or anything like that. But the feeling is crazy strong. I knew from the moment Karen said something last night that we are going to leave.” She picked up three of the five plates, balanced them expertly and then jerked her chin at the other two. “Can you handle those and the forks?”

“Got ’em.” Mercury picked up the plates with the forks and as they retraced their steps to the main room, she asked, “Hey, where’s Jenny? I thought she was out here with you.”

“She was, but she and Tyler are going around with the housekeepers, boarding up broken windows, collecting supplies from the rooms, etcetera—basically making this place into as much of a fortress against whatever is out there as possible.”

“Sounds smart,” said Mercury.

“Definitely.”

“But we’re not staying?” Mercury asked with a sideways glance at Stella.

“Absolutely not. We won’t be here very much longer. That came to me this morning when I went out to the truck. By the by, there’s a camper shell from a wrecked Chevy in the parking lot that just might fit on the bed of our truck. We should check it out as soon as possible.”

Mercury stopped in the hallway just outside the foyer. “And you’re not scared about going out there?”

“I’m fucking terrified, but we gotta go. Don’t know when yet, but soon. Don’t know why yet, but I do know it’s the right thing for us to do.”

“Us?” Mercury said. “As in you, me, Imani, Gemma, Jenny, and Karen?”

“Us as in any one of those you just mentioned who want to leave with us. Mercury, you should be ready for somenotto want to leave—and if that happens, we don’t argue. We go and let them stay.”

“You know that for sure?”

“My gut does.”

“That’s good enough for me. Let’s eat and then fill the doc in on the blood stuff,” said Mercury, and they headed for their table, where Imani and Gemma, joined by Karen, waited with steaming mugs of coffee.

They ate mostly in silence, appreciating Stella’s delicious casserole and enjoying the sound of giggles that came from the wounded, who were happily filling the space with their own harmless version of green fog.

As they finished breakfast, Dr. Hilary joined them with several sheets of the lodge’s stationery, on which she’d written recipes.

“Stella, I have to tell you again how much I appreciate your skill in the kitchen,” said the doc. She was wearing another floor-length boho skirt that billowed around her long legs. She’d pulled her hair back, but little tendrils had escaped to halo her head. “These recipes are pretty simple. I’ll have Tyler bring you some of the mason jars of bud. If you have any questions, though, please do not hesitate to come to me.”

Stella took the pages, glanced through them, and then nodded to the doctor. “This is doable. I’m pretty sure we have all of these supplies in the kitchen.”

Hilary smiled. “You should.I’mpretty sure the staff has been making edibles for years. Amanda, the young woman who was hostess for the Cascade, had a real gift for cannabis truffles. I wish she’d been in the restaurant and not out by the pool when the earthquake hit.” The doctor shook her head sadly. “I’ll miss her sweet smile.”

“Dr. Hilary,” Mercury began, “could you spare a few minutes to speak with us? In private, in the kitchen.”