“It doesn’t,” Jasper said, rolling his eyes.
I’m probably going to miss Jasper the most when we get out…
Don’t think about that.
“Have you guys noticed how foggy it is out there?” Levi asked. Asher squeezed his hand and he forced himself to ignore the tinge of guilt growing in him over it.
”Iwastelling everyone about meteorological data for this region, but Tyler said that was boring,“ Owen said. “Fog events average three to four days during this season, which means this is entirely within normal parameters. I looked it up.” He held up his book as if it contained meteorological data, which it almost certainly didn’t.
“If the roads are this fucked in the morning, how will the bus come pick us up?” Tyler asked, turning away from the window with his arms crossed.
“What, did you schedule a hot date for when you get back from a company trip?” Maddie laughed from the unattended bar.
“He most certainly did,” Zoe said without looking up from a notebook she appeared to be doodling in.
“Don’t slutshame me, Zoe,” Tyler said.
Maddie appeared at Levi’s elbow with a glass of dark liquid and ice. “Oh good, you’re back. I made too many of these. Drink this.”
“I’m not really —”
“Drink it.” She pressed the glass into his hand, eyeing his throat, then winked. “It’ll help. I’ll get you one too, Asher.”
The evening settled into something that felt almost normal. Conversation. Drinks. Owen reading passages from his book to anyone who wandered close enough to be trapped. Maddie refilling glasses. Tyler at the windows.
“Has anyone else noticed the cell signal died?” Jasper held up his phone, the screen glowing in the warm room, the signal indicator empty. “Not even roaming. Just gone.”
Zoe checked hers. “Same. Must be the fog.”
“Fog doesn’t kill cell signals,” Owen said, then paused. “Usually.”
There it is. It’s starting.
Levi was on a loveseat near the fire with Asher’s arm draped over his shoulders. Every few minutes he’d press his lips to Levi’s temple or the top of his head, casual, unhurried. Once, during a lull, he turned his head and said “I love you” against Levi’s hair, quiet enough that nobody else heard, and Levi leaned into his side a fraction more.
He let the conversation move around him, his body sinking into the couch, the fire warm on his face, the bourbon doing what bourbon did while he tried to pick up little details that might give him more information.
The game always has rules.What will this one have?
The fog. The shapes. The retreat. Eight people in a lodge. He watched Ethan play a ton of games about people isolated in foggy villages or towns—those were always so scary Levi had nightmares. But he had lived and died more than a dozen nightmares at this point…there wasn’t much more the system could create that would surpass what happened on the ship.
He was staring at the fire, resting his head on Asher’s shoulder, the bourbon glass warm in his hand, when Owen went silent mid-sentence — he’d been explaining the geological formation of the mountain range, the type of granite — and he stopped. His mouth was still open, but his eyes became unfocused and wide. Levi followed his line of sight to the bar, but Maddie was just talking to Tyler.
Owen looked at his hands, then blinked a few times. “I just had the strangest...” He shook his head. “Sorry. Lost my train of thought. Anyway. As I was saying, the granite —”
Nobody else seemed to have noticed.
It could be a clue. A red herring. The game ran out of facts for Owen to spout…Levi was more than ready to let it drop, especially after Maddie brought more drinks over, declaring they were Manhattans. Levi had never had a Manhattan, but he was certain they weren’t made with cherry Jolly Ranchers.
Fifteen minutes later, Maddie had been laughing when she just stopped. She was standing near a far window, drink in hand, elbowing Elliot over something Levi couldn’t make out, and suddenly her laugh cut off mid-inhale. Her eyes fell to her glass and stayed there.
“Maddie?” Elliot tapped her shoulder, his brow furrowed. “Is everything alright?”
“Yeah…” Her voice was distant and wrong. “I just... do you ever feel like nobody would notice if you weren’t here?”
The quiet murmurs of the room paused. Jasper looked up. Owen’s book lowered. Asher’s thumb stopped on Levi’s shoulder.
That isn’t a thing Maddie says.