By half past one, the storm had begun to ease. Rain continued falling, but the wind no longer drove it sideways. Somebody produced a camp stove from a truck, and somebody else found coffee in a thermos large enough for a work crew. Folding chairs appeared beneath a portable awning. It was not an organized celebration. It was what people did when they had survived something and could not yet bear to separate.
Eli accepted a paper cup of hot chocolate from a man whose name he did not know. The man pressed it into his hands with the unceremonious kindness of somebody who had decided a cold child needed warmth more than praise. Eli thanked him, took a careful sip, and discovered that the drink was far too sweet. He drank it anyway.
Cutter sat on the edge of a pickup tailgate beside him. For several minutes, they watched the firefighters work without speaking. Then Cutter looked over.
"You said you panic later," he told Eli.
"I think later is starting."
Cutter nodded as though he had expected the answer. "That happens. Don't try to make yourself stop feeling it just because the dangerous part's over."
Eli swallowed another sip of hot chocolate. "Does it happen to you?"
"Sometimes. I've had days when I felt fine through the hard part and fell apart over breakfast afterward."
"What did you do?"
"I talked to somebody I trusted. Stayed close to people who knew me. Let it be what it was."
Eli considered that. "My mom doesn't know where I am."
Cutter turned toward him fully. "We should fix that right now."
He offered his phone. The network signal was stronger outside, though calls still failed intermittently. Eli found his mother's number by memory and held the phone with both hands as it rang. He was watching the clock on the screen without meaning to. It was 2:14 in the morning.
Megan answered on the first ring.
"Mom," Eli said quickly. "I'm okay."
The silence on the other end lasted only a couple of seconds, but Eli felt every one of them. He could hear his mother's breathing. He could hear some faint sound in the background, maybe the kitchen clock or Jonah speaking from another room. Then she asked where he was, her voice controlled by effort rather than calm.
"I'm at the Iron Hollow property," Eli said. "There was an emergency. Everybody's safe now. I'm with the fire department and the club people. Rascal's here."
"Eli." She said his name as though she needed to confirm that she still could. "Are you hurt?"
"Just a scratch. They checked me. I'm okay."
"Stay exactly where you are. I'm coming to get you."
"The road's flooded."
"I know. Jonah's with me. We're coming."