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“Tate,” Callan says, giving him a look of his own.

Tate just looks back and then shrugs.

“This is just fucking great,” Ares says. “As if this day isn’t going bad enough. Now I have to deal with this.”

“You don’t have to deal with anything,” I snap back. “You can mind your own business and never think about it again.”

He barks out a sharp laugh. “Yeah, right. Just go on back to Hope Falls where you and your family will be everywhere.”

“Oh, poor baby. As if it’s any easier for me.”

“It should be. You’re the one who started all this.”

“You keep telling yourself that.”

“Ares,” Callan says, cutting in. He puts a hand on Ares’ shoulder, but Ares shrugs him off. “This isn’t the place.”

“This is so fucking typical,” Ares grumbles.

“Excuse me?” I step closer to him, keeping some distance, but glaring up at him all the same. “If you have something you want to say⁠—”

“Listen, you two,” Tate says. “Can we just⁠—”

I curl my hands into fists. Tate’s voice and demeanor were so soothing earlier, but now it just pisses me off to hear him talking like that. Like he can de-escalate the situation somehow, when he apparently doesn’t even know what the situation really is. He’s been buying into the story Ares has been telling people, and now he probably regrets what we did on the plane.

Well, that makes two of us then.

I round on him, ready to tell him off, when the woman behind the desk clears her throat. That stops us all, and we look around to realize that we’re currently the only people still standing here, waiting to helped.

“Um,” she says. “Did you want to try to find a place to stay for tonight?”

That’s like a cold splash of water, reminding us that we do have bigger problems right now than this. Like not ending up stranded at an airport in the middle of nowhere.

Tate turns to go to the desk, and we follow behind him.

He smiles at the woman, who looks exhausted.

“Sorry for just dropping in on you like this,” he says. “And for… all of that.”

She just smiles back and shrugs. “So, like the announcement said, there aren’t any flights going out soon. It’ll be a couple days before we’re able to get you guys rebooked to your final destination. And unfortunately now most of the hotels and lodgings are full up.”

I groan. “Is there nothing left? Motels, Airbnb?”

“You can try your luck at the inn down the road,” she says. “I think most everyone else went for the chain hotels off the highway, so you might be able to get a room there if you hurry.”

That perks me right up. I say a brief thank you to the woman and hurry for the exit, hauling my bag.

6

BRYNN

I rush outside to find a cab, and stop a bit short when I realize that unlike every other airport I’ve ever been to, there’s no line of people waiting for ride shares and no cabs parked along the curb waiting for passengers.

There’s a man in a janitor’s jumpsuit smoking a cigarette a few feet away, and I turn to him. “Where can I go to get a cab?” I ask him.

He snorts. “You must be from out of town. Cab services don’t post up here. If you wanna ride, you’ll need to call one yourself.”

Of course. This just keeps getting better and better.