The cold arrived first.
It came through the metal of the car, through the glass, the temperature dropping so fast that our breath went white in front of us.
Outside, the street began to disappear.
Fog rolled in from both ends of the road at once, low and white and moving with intent, swallowing the street lights one at a time until each of them was just a pale circle floating in nothing.
It came up over the bonnet and around the doors and folded the car into itself. The windscreen went opaque. The side mirrors held nothing but white.
"What the fuck is happening?" Mercury's hands came off the wheel.
"She's here."
I opened my door.
The fog took the opening and poured in around my legs. I stepped out through it and the white closed behind me. Visibility dropped to the length of my own arm. The asphalt under my boots was the only solid information left.
I stepped out through the fog.
It broke around me and drew back, and Celestine was standing in the middle of the road.
