Mona shook her head. “It’s okay. Stay back. The signal is strong. Oh, so strong!”

Another clap of thunder rocked the air.

“Mona, stop it now!” Cole cried.

“It’s coming. I can feel it!”

“Goddamnit, I said stop!”

A purple mist rolled in on the wind, creeping low over the river’s surface. It swirled in tight circles at midstream, like a whirlpool, and the water began to glow bright orange.

“Yes, yes! Rise!” Mona intoned. “Rise!”

She walked toward the water. The circle of light spread wider. Steam rose off the surface as it began to boil. Mona walked straight into it.

“Mona, don’t!” Cole yelled.

“Please, no!” Savannah cried, peering between her fingers.

Mona stepped forward again, reciting over and over the same nonsensical chant. She was ankle deep, then knee deep. Soon she floated at midstream near the center of the bubbling swirl. Thunder boomed again. Lightning streaked through the clouds. Rain poured in sheets as the river boiled even higher.

“Can you see it?” Mona called. “It’s so beautiful!”

Cole ran to the water’s edge. “Jesus Christ, Mona, get out of there!”

There was a loud burp as the top of the bus broke the surface.

“Oh, my god!” Savannah ran to Cole’s side and tried to pull him back, but his legs wouldn’t move.

The bus rose higher. The windows appeared, then the lettering printed below them.

Mona swam for shore, then turned back and extended her arms. “Come, my darlings! Come! Come!” The bus yawed until its front end faced the shore. Mona waved her arms toward her chest. “Come! It is safe!”

The bus’s engine fired up with a liquid roar. Water shot from the exhaust pipes. The headlights switched on, glowing like yellow eyes in the rain. The vehicle crept forward until its wheels met the sand. With one more monstrous rev of the engine, it was free of the river. It rolled thirty feet across the shore before creaking to a stop near the fire.

Cole pivoted back around and watched the orange hue of the water fade to a dull pink, then disappear completely. The bubbles died. The steam drifted away with the wind.

The rain stopped as though a faucet had been shut off.

The bus engine coughed twice, then went silent.

Then the sound of a heavy thud turned Cole again.

He found Mona lying prone on the sand, unmoving.

CHAPTER 22

COLE rolled Mona onto her back and pressed two fingers to her neck. There was a pulse, but it was faint and slow. He wrapped his jacket around her and gently slid her closer to the fire.

Savannah stood in front of the bus, motionless and unblinking. Cole retrieved the flashlight and went to her side.

Streams of moss concealed all but scant patches of the vehicle’s yellow paint. Grime covered what few windows remained intact. Through the open windows, Cole saw only blackness.

“You okay?” he whispered.