Page 100 of Into the Mist (Into the Mist 1)

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 is all that’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 of Mercury, 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, really glad 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’ll always be glad you’re with us—with me,” she told the little boy. “I’m going to keep you safe. I promise.”

“Of course you will.” Georgie was standing just a little way from them. “You’re our protector.”

Still grinning, Cayden nodded like a little bobblehead doll and hugged her again. Mercury looked down at him to see that all around them, everywhere her blood had spattered against the broken road, wildflowers pushed up as if they, too, were looking to her for safety and love.