The siren went off at six, too early to be awake, too early to do anything, at least inside, so Lissa sat and stared out the window at the mist crawling over the compound wall and spilling onto the ground. It wasn't dense enough for classes to be cancelled, she thought, and sighed, pulling the blankets around herself. Sometimes the whole compound shut down for mist, but most times it wasn't bad enough to call for more than sealing off the windows and the outside doors.
When five minutes passed and she didn't see anything except vague shadows of buildings, she gave up and flopped down in bed again. She grabbed the remote to see if anything was on TV, but the only thing that wasn't obscured by static was Channel Zero, which only had a level 1 mist warning.
Do not attempt to open windows or external doors, do not attempt to go outside, do not attempt to break mist seals. Classes will run at Level 1. DO NOT skip classes. Skipping classes will result in severe penalties. Updates will be issued as necessary. If there is a problem with a seal, please exit the area and alert Compound Security immediately. If you observe any abnormalities outside, please alert Compound Security immediately with your location and any pertinent information.
She sighed and shut off the TV again, turning on her back to stare at the ceiling. With one hand she traced the edge of the window seal, listening as the girls above and below her woke up and moved around their rooms. She could hear Emma and Becky in the room next to hers talking, and wished she had a roommate.
Maybe she would go talk to Claire. Claire lived in a solitary room, like her, and she was probably just as bored.
Lissa rolled to her feet and grabbed her jacket from the door as she stepped into her shoes. She knew it would be even colder in the stairwell, and probably colder still in Claire's room. Lord only knew why Claire kept her ducts closed, but it was always freezing up there when the mist came in.
She grabbed her ID and put it around her neck before stepping out into the hallway. It was very quiet—silent except for the faint whoosh of the heat and the hum of the generator vibrating in the floor. She barely noticed them except on misty days; somehow the way the mist muffled the outside world made everything inside seem louder.
“You better be awake,” she muttered, glancing up at the ceiling in the direction of Claire's room. It didn't happen often, but there had been a few times when she'd climbed the three flights of stairs to say hello and Claire had been asleep.
This time, fortunately, Claire opened the door the second she knocked. “Hi, Lissa,” she said, like she'd been expecting it, and stepped aside so Lissa could come in.
Claire was tiny: barely five-two and about a hundred pounds, with a frame so slender that she didn't even look skeletal, just stretched out. She didn't look like a girl who should be in a solitary room, but Lissa knew her well enough to know why her former roommate—a girl named Tania who lived a few rooms down from Lissa now—had asked to get away from her.
A sweet girl and a good friend Claire might be, but she wasn't someone Lissa would want to live with twenty-four hours a day.
“Did you sleep last night?” Lissa asked, sitting down on the edge of Claire's bed.
Claire shook her head. “I was waiting for the mist,” she said. “I didn't want to miss it coming in.”
“You knew last night it was going to come?” Lissa asked.
Claire nodded and turned to stand at the window, looking out at the white wall of mist. “I thought it might be heavier,” she mused, pressing her nose to the glass. “I'm a little disappointed. I was hoping for the compound to shut down.”
“Don't we all,” Lissa said, laughing, but Claire didn't smile. She was too intent on watching the mist.
“Joline Patel wants to go out in the mist,” she said after a moment. “She asked me to tell her next time it was coming, so she could get outside before they sealed the exits.”
“You didn't, did you?” Lissa asked quickly, staring.
“No,” Claire said. “She changed her mind when I reminded her about the mist-breathers.”
Lissa breathed a sigh of relief. “Is she immune, then? If she thought she could go out and live?”
Claire shrugged her thin shoulders. “Her window seal was broken for a while, so she thinks she might be. I think it's hard to say.”
Lissa sighed. “Why does it matter, anyways? No one survives out in the mist. Even if she can breathe in it—you remember last time there were monsters in the compound, don't you? If one of those got to her she'd be dead in seconds.”
“Well,” Claire began, and turned away from the window to sit next to Lissa and whisper to her. “They've been taking the ones who can survive in it.”
“Oh my God,” Lissa said, covering her mouth with one hand. “She's not trying to get taken?”
Claire nodded solemnly. “She never said as much, but I think she is.”
“She's crazy,” Lissa replied, biting her lip.
“Maybe,” Claire said. “But she's also a genius.”
Lissa nodded. “Tell me about it. You should ask her about it, in your higher mathematics class. What she wants to do that for.”
Claire blinked at her slowly. “I'm not asking her about it in class,” she said sternly. “That would be a disaster. But I will ask her.”
She turned to the window again and pressed her face against the glass, looking out at the mist. Lissa watched her for a minute, then got to her feet, shivering. “I'm gonna go get ready for class,” she said. “Unless you think the mist is gonna get worse. Or there's gonna be monsters.”
“I don't think it will get worse,” Claire said. “And I can't tell whether mist-breathers will show up or not.”
“Okay,” Lissa said, walking towards the door. “I'll see you later.”
