Page 90 of Into the Mist

Stella touched her friend’s shoulder. “You’re stillyou. Remember that. We all have to remember that. But you have changed.”

“The green fog,” Mercury whispered. “I got a second dose.”

Stella nodded. “Yeah, but you were already strong before that. I watched you leap down the bank to save the kids. You werefast. And I noticed it again when you lifted Gemma onto the bank. She’s gotta be a hundred and twenty-ish pounds. You grabbed her under her elbow and hefted her up like she weighed nothing. The only reason she fell back was because she slipped.”

Mercury stopped and turned to face Stella. “Tell me the truth and don’t fucking sugarcoat it. These new abilities—are they a good or a bad thing?”

Stella paused and tilted her head to the side in what was becoming her familiar listening pose. “Good and bad. That’s all I get right now.”

“That’s not very comforting.”

“If it helps, I don’t feel any danger warnings about you—or Gemma,” Stella added.

Mercury wiped her sweaty forehead with a shaky hand. “Gemma! Does she have super strength too?”

Stella snorted. “Not hardly. Imani had to help her get Ford back to the truck. Speaking of, come on. We really do have to get out of here.”

The two women walked in silence for a little way before Mercury cleared her throat. “Um, did everyone see what happened?”

“Yep. When that first board broke, it sounded like a gunshot,” said Stella.

“Even the guy?”

“Absolutely.” Stella glanced at her. “Unless you’re prepared to leave him by the side of the road with a concussion, we’re going to have to take him with us, which means we’re going to have to trust him.”

“And is he trustworthy?”

“Acorn, if he wasn’t, I wouldn’t have stopped here. Nor would I have given him the conditions for traveling with us. Like I told the kids.There are no bad men in the area.” She paused and added. “I think I was compelled to stop because we were destined to meet him. And the green fog redo was important too.”

“Okay, so I’ll trust him. Feels kinda weird, though. Men have been awful since this thing happened.”

“Oh, Mercury, don’t blame it on the apocalypse. You haven’t trusted men for many years.” Stella wrapped her arm through Mercury’s. “Not that I disagree with you. I just like to play with them more often than you do.”

Mercury arched one brow up. “Stella Carver, are you going toplay with him?”

Stella bumped her shoulder and waggled her eyebrows at her best friend. “No,I’mnot.”

A small boyish tornado sprinted the distance left between the two women and the truck, and Cayden ran to Mercury. He skidded to a stop in front of her and stared up at her with big fawn eyes as his chin quivered.

“Cayden! Thank you for coming out to meet me.” Mercury smiled at the little boy.

Stella released her friend’s arm. “Now that you’re in Cayden’s capable hands, I’m going to be sure everyone’s situated so that as soon as Gemma’s done taking care of your cuts, we can get out of here. We have about an hour until dusk. Ford says if nothing crazy happens, we’ll make it to Madras by then, but crazy isallthat’s been happening these days. We need to get going.” Stella gave her a quick hug. “Stop almost getting dead,” she whispered before she let go ofMercury, ruffled Cayden’s hair, and then hurried the rest of the way to the truck.

Cayden was staring at Mercury’s hands. The stinging in her palms and fingers had faded to an ache. So had the bleeding, but scarlet had pooled in her palms and as she turned them so that the boy couldn’t see the lacerations, little drops of blood spattered onto the cracked asphalt.

“Hey,” Mercury said, and Cayden’s gaze lifted to her eyes. “I’m okay. Really.”

Cayden closed the last few feet to her, and with a sigh too ancient for his six years, he wrapped his arms around her waist and hugged her while he cried softly.

“Oh, sweetie. I know this is all really scary and hard, but we’re going to be okay. I mean it. I’m not just saying it because that’s what people say to kids. I promise you Stella and Imani and Karen and I are going to find a place—find a way—for all of us to be safe again.” With the back of her hand she caressed his soft hair. “Hey, you want to know something?”

Cayden pulled back, wiped his cheeks with the back of his sleeve and nodded.

“I’m really,reallyglad we found you and Jayden and Georgie.”

Then, for the first time since she and Stella had found the kids on the porch of the cabin with their dead parents in the driveway, Cayden smiled. The grin lit his face and his eyes, and the puzzle piece that had been missing in Mercury’s life slid firmly, irrevocably into place in her heart.

“I’llalwaysbe glad you’re with us—with me,” she told the little boy. “I’m going to keep you safe. I promise.”