Gemma nodded.
“On three, start scrambling up there,” Mercury said. “One, two, three!”
Gemma’s hands clawed at the vertical wall of dirt and rock and exposed roots while Mercury tried to boost her up without bending down for leverage because the pernicious green had risen with their movements and wisps of it were twisting up their chests. Gemma lifted one hand from its clawlike hold on the bank to reach for Stella, and the root where she’d wedged the toe of her shoe snapped. Stella tried to snag her hand, but Gemma couldn’t reach her, and the teen toppled backward, taking Mercury with her to the ground.
Mercury was too shocked to hold her breath. As the fog closed over their heads and they fell to the rocky shore, she breathed in the green. Even as Mercury reached out for Gemma and tried to struggle to her feet and lift the girl with her, the scent of pine and earth, grass and wildflowers filled her nose. The fog sizzled through her body and with a strange detachment Mercury thought, Gemma was right—it feels like bee stings under my skin. Then her vision tunneled as someone’s hands touched her shoulders and then grabbed onto her arm before her emerald world went black.
“Mercury Elizabeth Rhodes, don’t you dare fucking die on me!”
Stella’s voice penetrated the blackness. Mercury drew in a deep breath and sat up as she coughed and coughed. Her eyes began to frantically scan her surroundings even before her vision had cleared.
“Gemma!” she croaked. “The kids!”
Stella was on her knees beside her. “The kids are safe. Gemma is right there next to you. She’s breathing.”
“Bleeding?!” Mercury’s insides heaved.
“No! Breathing. Jesus Christ, relax. Just breathe in and out. I will kill you if you die.”
Mercury didn’t lie back down. Instead, she slowed her breathing and blinked her vision clear. Just as everything stopped looking like she was peering at it through a blurry fishbowl, beside her Gemma moaned and her eyelids fluttered. Karen put her hand on Gemma’s shoulder. “You’re okay. Just take it easy.”
Gemma rubbed at her eyes, and then her gaze found Mercury sitting beside her. “We aren’t dead?”
“I don’t think so,” said Mercury.
Gemma started to struggle up. “Georgie? The boys?”
“They’re fine. Everyone is fine,” Stella said. “Look.” She pointed up behind them. Mercury, Gemma, Karen, and Stella were just below the incline, above which was the road and their truck. Mercury’s gaze followed her finger to see the two boys sitting on the open tailgate of the truck with their sister, wrapped in a blanket, between them. Imani was cleaning a bleeding wound on the forehead of the guy who had jumped in the river after Georgie.
“He’s hurt,” said Gemma. “I need to look at his head. He may need stitches.” She started to get to her feet, but Stella jumped up from between them and pressed her shoulders down so that she had to sit.
“How about we be sure you’re okay before you go doctor someone else?”
Gemma smoothed her long, tangled hair back from her face and looked at Stella. “I’m fine. Let me stand up and I’ll show you.”
Stella took her hands off the girl’s shoulders, and Gemma stood without even a wobble. She looked down at Mercury and said, “Do you feel like anything is broken inside?”
Mercury did a quick internal check before she answered. “Nope. I feel pretty good actually.”
“Well then, come on. If I’m fine, you’re fine.” Gemma paused at the incline. “Who got us out of that green stuff?”
“All three of us,” Stella said. “Imani, Karen, and me. I got on my belly and reached down into that mess to grab each of you, and Imani and Karen anchored me, then pulled me up.”
“Did you breathe any of it in?” asked Gemma.
“Nope. It stopped drifting up, and I could reach y’all without sticking my face into it.” She jerked her chin down at the riverbank. “Then it spread out and kinda floated around down there.”
Mercury looked at the riverbank that was blanketed with green. It had spread out all along the water, but it looked like it was only a few inches deep.
“Well, thanks for grabbing us,” said Gemma before she scrambled up the incline and headed to the truck.
“I’m going to stand up now.” Mercury eyeballed Stella. “You going to let me?”
Stella held her hands up, palms out. “Absolutely. You’re alive, so I’m fine with you falling on your ass.”
“Well, at least now we know that crap has to be breathed in to affect us.”
“You didn’t feel anything when it was lapping around you?”