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The foggy air was suffocating Cat when she stopped to breathe. She couldn’t see past the eerie grey mist. She looked around in a panic trying to figure out which way to go when everything looked the same. She was already directionally challenged even without adding an additional layer of confusion to the mix.
Knowing that she wouldn’t be able to do anything with a panicked mind, Cat took in a deep breath, attempting to force herself to relax. She knew that the town was east of her current location, and the warehouse was northeast, slightly more east than north. The real question was which was east? She had never been particularly good at what was typically considered survival skills. She had no map, and had somehow lost her phone, so Google Maps was out of the question.
Cat sat down, leaning against a tree for a moment, trying to think. How exactly had she ended up out in the woods full of an extremely thick fog? There was a missing kid, so the police station was obviously going to be involved in the search effort, and Cat had out coordinated. Technically speaking, she wasn’t supposed to leave the table, but an old woman had approached her claiming to have found the missing child. Always the optimist, Cat had blindly followed her out to the middle of the woods only to discover the woman had no knowledge of the child’s whereabouts and was simply trying to lure her away from the table. After Cat had managed to get away, still unsure of what the woman actually wanted to accomplish, she found herself lost in the fog.
A little ways in the distance, Cat saw the outline of a figure. She immediately jumped up from her sitting position, body tense. She wasn’t cut out for this, and she certainly did not want to be caught out in the middle of nowhere by some unknown figure. As soon as she was certain the figure was moving in her direction, she took off running, hoping she was headed in a somewhat easterly direction.
It wasn’t very long before the figure caught up with her, and she felt arms wrapping around her waist. Something about the touch felt familiar to her, but she was freaked out enough to continue trying to fight out of the hold. She quickly realized her fighting was futile just before realizing that it was unwarranted.
“Calm down, Sweetheart.”
“Mason?” Cat asked hopefully as she ceased her efforts to pull away.
He held her by her arms just far enough away to look her in the eye. “How did you end up here?”
“There was a woman who claimed to have some information about the missing kid. I followed her out here and got lost. How exactly did you find me?”
“Areylia called us once you disappeared. She thought our hypersenses would be useful to helping locate you.”
“Well that was smart,” Cat remarked, glancing down at the ground, and brushing a lock of hair out of her face. “Do you know how to get back? The fog is creeping me out.”
“Come on, Sweetheart. It’s that way.” He slung an arm over her shoulder and pointed left of where they were standing.
Cat absentmindedly leaned up against him, feeling much safer with him there than all by herself. She felt the arm around her tighten, and glanced up at Mason who was looking away from her, seemingly not noticing the change in his own hold. Confused, Cat stopped moving to look up at him. His strength dragged her a couple steps before he realized she had stopped moving.
“Something wrong, Sweetheart?”
“Nothing,” She replied quickly, shifting her gaze away.
“Then why are you stopping?” He protested grumpily.
“I was just thinking.”
“About me?” He asked, leaning closer with a smirk.
“Well, I mean... yes,” She mumbled, repushing that stubborn lock of hair out of her face.
“I wonder what you were thinking to make you get so red land flustered?”
The suggestion in his voice was enough to make Cat turn even more red. “Th-that wasn’t what I meant,” she protested, voice slightly cracking. “I was just wondering why you were being so nice?”
“Nice?” Mason asked, scrunching up his nose. “I don’t really do nice,”
“But you were being nice to me?” Cat protested. “You asked me if I was okay, and wrapped your arm around me while we were walking back.”
“That wasn’t being nice,” Mason disagreed. Cat couldn’t help the hope that swelled in her shect that this was an admission that she was special even if the actual likelihood of that was small.
“Then what was it?” She held her breath after asking the question.
“Concern. You are a member of the team after all.”
“Ohh. I guess that makes sense,” Cat agreed, failing to hide the disappointment in her voice, and given the confused look he was giving her, he had noticed. “Sorry for stopping. Let’s keep going.”
Cat was determined to go the rest of the way without touching or even walking too close to him. She was never certain as to what exactly their relationship was, but she was pretty sure it wasn’t going to end well. After they started walking again, the fog thickened again, and Cat felt the tension returning to her body and she became deeply unsettled. Without thinking, Cat reached over and grabbed Mason’s hand. Amazingly, he didn’t say a word or even pull away, so the two walked the rest of the way back like that.