My eyes adjust, finally picking up the line of his right arm where it rests on the table. His hand looks gnarled and twisted and I hope it’s a trick of the light, but when I tilt my head it’s clearly not. It’s scarred. Burned, maybe. My chest winces in sympathy, but maybe it’s not necessary. The breadth of his shoulders tells me his hand hasn’t kept him from hard work.

He looks strong. Capable.

But…something about him being here feels wrong. Why would anyone sit here in the dark, not moving or speaking? Is he sick?

“Are you okay?” I ask softly.

Nothing. The soda machine kicks on, the soft purr of the chiller interrupting the silence. I hear the shuffle of footsteps from the restroom. Harper or Kayla, probably. My eyes don’t move from his yellow hat, from the dark smear beneath where his face hides.

“Sir?”

Nothing still. Why the hell isn’t he saying something?

“Mira?”

I jump, hand flying to my throat as my eyes search the room.

Josh. He’s in the doorway, leaning heavily on his crutches. I was so engrossed in my thoughts, I didn’t even hear him.

“Are you coming?” he asks.

“Y-yes. Sorry.”

I give yellow hat guy a single backward glance as I slip out of the alcove. The doors to the rest stop are already shutting behind Harper and Brecken, so I guess it’s just us. I hurry to push them open, a blast of icy wind hitting me square in the face.

Outside the snow is worse, blowing in a spray that slithers into the collar of my coat and creeps up my sleeves. I duck into the wind and pick up speed for the car. When I get there, everyone is shivering and bitching about the cold. Brecken has crouched down again by the chains, but Harper and Kayla are leaning against the open trunk, covered by the small shelter of the open hatchback door.

“This place is a ghost town,” Harper says.

I open my mouth to tell them about the guy, but then I see the parking lot is empty. The two trucks I saw earlier are gone, leaving the smell of diesel and nothing more. I twist around, searching. There aren’t even recent tire tracks, unless you count the ones leading directly to our car.

We’re the only ones here. Which means I don’t know where that man came from.

“We can head out,” Brecken says.

“Chains didn’t work out, huh?” Josh asks.

“They’re busted. All four of them if you can believe that,” Brecken says, gesturing at the chains on the ground.

“There really isn’t enough snow,” Harper says absently. Her gaze is fixed to her phone and from her grave expression, I don’t think she’s reading anything good.

“How could you even tell?” Kayla asks Brecken, sounding like she doesn’t much care.