Page 63 of Into the Mist

“Oh, Jenny! Come here.” Mercury pulled the young teacher into her arms and held her tightly. “You be careful. Listen to your gut. And don’t take shit from anyone.”

“Okay.” Jenny stepped out of her arms. “Please don’t get dead.”

“I’ll do my best.” Mercury repeated Stella’s words. “I love you, Jenny Kimpton.”

“I love you too, Mercury Rhodes. And I’m going to go inside and not stand here and blubber while you drive away.” Without another word, Jenny turned and jogged back to the lodge.

Stella walked beside her as Mercury wiped at her cheeks and dug a tissue from her jean’s pocket to blow her nose. “I fucking hate goodbyes.”

“I know you do,” said Stella. “But it’s really just ‘see ya later.’”

“Yeah, well, that’s the only reason I’m not a snotty mess right now,” Mercury said.

Stella snorted. “You are a snotty mess, but I still love you.”

“Like Sam would say—ditto.” Mercury shivered as they picked their way down to the parking lot and their truck, which Stella had moved from its hiding spot up as close to the lodge as possible. “Goddess, it’s freezing!”

Karen looked up at the lightening sky. “Snow. Those clouds look heavy with it.”

Stella nodded. “Yeah, and I hope the snow keeps the green crap from floating around.”

Mercury gave the sky a suspicious glance. “I hope the snow doesn’t have the green crap in it.”

“I don’t think it does,” said Imani. “I’ve watched it and it’s heavy. Remember how it acted with Sim? It didn’t lift to him. It wafted around him sluggishly with the breeze. It was in the ditch and then around his knees and only covered him when he fell. It’s denser than the air, so it’s not going to float easily, and instead it’ll settle into low spots.”

“Are you saying that because your intuition is telling you to?” asked Mercury. “Like Stella?”

“No. I’m saying that because—science.”

“I wish we knew whether it was dangerous to touch or whether that green crap has to be breathed in to kill,” said Mercury.

“Zero clue,” said Imani.

Everyone looked at Stella, who shrugged her shoulders. “I got nothin’.”

“Well, either way the lodge really should be safe. It sits up pretty high,” said Mercury. “The initial blasts forced it up here, but like Imani said, it’s heavier than air, so it’s probably less of a threat the higher the elevation.”

“Itold youthey’d be safe,” repeated Stella. “Though I do agree with science-checking things. I may be an art teacher, and now some kind of weird seer or whatever, but only the willfully ignorant ignore science.”

“Preaching to the choir, sis,” said Imani.

Karen cleared her throat as they reached the truck. “Ladies, how are five of us fitting in that cab? It was already crowded on the way here, and there were only four of us.”

“Well, I thought y’all could take turns riding back here. I made a fairly comfy nest-like area in the middle of the truck bed.” Stella put down the tailgate and lifted the hatchback of the camper shell they’d managed to attach to the old pickup. The inside was carefully packed with supplies—everything from food to clothes, to camping equipment the housekeepers had found in one of the suites—and, of course, a more than decent supply of wine. In the center of the strapped-in piles of supplies was a mound of blankets and pillows.

“Ooh, I’ll go first!” said Gemma. “This is seriously too early for me. I’ll be out like a light as soon as you start driving.”

“Sounds good,” Stella said.

“Gemma, would you mind if I took a turn with you?” Imani asked. “Long car rides makes me sleepy. Always have. And you’re right about it being too early.”

“Don’t mind at all!” Gemma grinned over her shoulder at Imani as she crawled into the bed of the truck.

“If you need anything—like you have to stop to pee,” Mercury said, “just rap on the window.”

“Okay,” Imani said as she followed Gemma into the truck bed.

Stella closed the hatch behind Imani and headed to the driver side of the cab. As she carefully steered the truck around the obstacles that still littered the broken parking lot, Mercury swiveled and peered out the back window, through the camper shell, and out its cloudy rear window at the sleepy lodge.