Whyborne
“Oh, of all the damnable luck,” Creigh said.
I stared in horror at the white chunks lying on the ground, which had been a part of Marian’s head. She’d healed so quickly—and she hadn’t even fallen when the bullet spread her head everywhere.
How in the world were we to kill her?
The train lurched into motion. Smoke belched from the stack, and the whistle howled into the night.
The cinereous were moving now, with purpose. The lantern light gleamed off the slick, sickly gray of their skins. The stench of mildew now fought with the stink of the train. They’d be on us at any moment, and our flimsy hiding spot would be discovered.
Everything was going wrong. I was nowhere near the head of the train, and though it was moving slowly now, it would soon overcome the inertia of tons of corn and reach a speed I couldn’t hope to match.
“We need to get to the train!” I said. “Before it leaves us behind!”
“If we’d set fire to the elevators as I suggested,” Creigh began.
“No,” I said. “Not fire. Ice. Can you cast a spell in tandem with me?”
She looked startled—then nodded. “Yes.”
I rose to my feet and stepped out from behind the cart. The nearest of the cinereous immediately shifted their attention to me.
Good.
Creigh followed me. “Now,” she said, and began to chant.
I didn’t take her hand, as I had Persephone’s when we’d cast a spell together. But I joined my voice to Creigh’s. Even though I didn’t need to speak the Aklo words, I hoped doing so would more completely blend our power.
I felt the world stir. The temperature around us plummeted, and frost began to spread over the ground. My body hummed like a tuning fork, my voice modulating and harmonizing with Creigh’s.
The fingers of the cinereous brushed against me, just as our chant reached its crescendo.
Cold snapped out from us, and the cinereous froze in place. Quite literally.
Creigh slumped, gasping—the spell had taken a great deal from her, it seemed. But then she laughed, reached out, and snapped off the crumbling hand of the nearest cinereous. “Well done, Dr. Whyborne.”
The train whistle screamed.
Her eyes widened. “Go!” she barked. The few remaining cinereous were coming up on us now, and she turned to face them. “I’ll hold them off. Get on the train. If Marian reaches Widdershins and feeds on the vortex, we’re all doomed.”
I broke and ran for the train, even as the last of the cinereous descended on her. The train rapidly picked up speed, so I put my head down and raced alongside as fast as I could. Boxcars rolled past, faster and faster, and I caught a glimpse of the caboose coming up behind me. Within moments, it would be alongside, and I’d either miss the train altogether or find myself fighting Vernon.
I leapt for the rungs welded to the side of the last boxcar.
One hand closed securely on the iron rung—but the fingers of the other slipped, and neither foot found purchase. For a terrifying moment, I swung free. The rail ties flashed past beneath my dangling feet. The iron wheels would surely crush me if I fell beneath them.
Then my scrabbling fingers found purchase, taking some of the strain from my shoulder. A moment later, my feet rested on the lowest rung. I clung to the side of the boxcar, my face pressed against the metal, my lungs gasping for breath.
I couldn’t waste time. I needed to move, before someone realized I’d boarded the train.
Once my limbs had stopped trembling too badly, I pulled myself up the ladder to the roof of the boxcar. The wind caught my hair and screamed past my ears. Swallowing hard, I scrambled across the roof and stared at the gap to the next car.
Then I lifted my gaze. There were a great many cars between me and the engine.
I looked back at the gap. It wasn’t that big, surely. Men working on the trains made the jump with ease all the time.
Gathering the rags of my courage, I backed up a few steps, then dashed forward and leapt.