by Terry Spear
The doctor was staring at Alana, slack-jawed.
“Half-witch. Is everyone ready?” Alana said.
“Just a second. Doctor, can you pull Celeste out? The rest of us guys will try to lift the car while Alana tries to levitate it. Alana, let us know if it’s not going to work,” Hunter said.
“You’ll know if I can’t do it.”
The doctor took hold of Celeste’s shoulders. “Ready.”
Samson and Wendell were on one side of her, holding the edge of the train. Hunter stood on the other side. He swore Wendell was still afraid of him.
Then Alana held up her good arm, and furrowed her brow, trying to concentrate.
Hunter heard the car groan a little, and he felt it lift slightly. “Pull,” he shouted to the doctor. Even if they had to inch Celeste out, that was better than nothing.
He knew Alana was struggling to levitate the heavy car, and the guys were all trying to lift it, but it seemed they weren’t making any progress. The doctor was straining to pull Celeste out, when suddenly a couple of more men joined them. One helped with Celeste. The other helped Hunter.
He knew his scent right away. Bentos. His father.
“You always seem to be in a bind, but you never call on me. Why is that?” Bentos asked.
“Seems you are in the same mess we’re in.”
“Alana’s uncle said she was on the train heading to East End. I happened to be at the hall of records, checking on him.”
“Checking on Alana, you mean.”
“We’ve got her!” the doctor and other man shouted.
Alana said, “Release your hold on the car!”
Everyone scrambled away, and she dropped it. Then she sat down hard on the snow. Hunter joined her and wrapped his arm around her.
“Celeste,” she whispered.
“You can look after her as soon as you have your wind back. The doctor is seeing to her.”
Alana squeezed Hunter’s hand. “Check on Jared.”
He kissed her cheek. “You’ll be all right?”
“Yes, but I worry about him and Celeste.”
“I’ll see to Jared.” Hunter glanced at Samson, hating to ask, but Samson immediately moved over to watch over Alana. “Don’t get any ideas,” Hunter said to his dad.
He shrugged. “Pappalios said you have your rings already. I’m too late.” He gave him an evil smile.
Hunter just had to make sure his dad didn’t see that they weren’t wearing the rings yet.
Wendell was eyeing Bentos with suspicion, but he moved over to help his uncle with Celeste.
Hunter trudged through the snow and climbed into the train again, crawling through to their room. The door was open, and a woman was sleeping with her daughter, her arm around Jared too, as if he were family.
“Jared!” Hunter said, climbing down into the room. The woman and her daughter screamed.
Jared opened his eyes. He looked groggy, but hell, he was glad to see his friend was conscious.
“I have the worst headache. What happened?”
The woman and her daughter looked so terrified, Hunter said, “Tell them I’m half human and your best friend, and my girlfriend saved them.”
The woman didn’t look reassured.
“What Hunter said. Where is everyone?”
“Train wreck. Celeste was pinned beneath the car. We got her out, and Wendell’s uncle is a doctor, and he’s seeing to her. But I had to learn if you were all right.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Jared started to stand, but clutched his ribs.
“Broken? Bruised?”
“They hurt like hell.”
“Okay, as long as you’re okay, I mean, you’re going to live, I’ll leave you here. We’ll bring Celeste inside out of the cold as soon as we can move her. You take care of the lady and little one in the meantime.”
“All right. What…what about everyone else?”
“Samson’s fine. Alana wants to heal everyone she can, but she has a broken arm.” Hunter explained all the rest.
“Okay.” Jared sank down next to the woman and her child. They were all shivering.
“Do have some more clothes?” Hunter asked the woman.
“Yeah. Four rooms down, and up above.”
“All right, I’ll get your things and toss them down.” As soon as Hunter climbed out of the room and found her statement room, he grabbed a kid’s bag, a couple of blankets, pillows, winter jackets, gloves, hats, and her bag. He began moving the items and then dropping them down into their room.
The woman dressed her daughter warmly first, and then herself. She wrapped the blankets around her and her daughter and Jared. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome. Did Alana see to your ribs, Jared?” Hunter asked.
“She probably didn’t know they were injured.”
“Okay, it’s too difficult for her to climb in and out of the car, so she’ll take care of it as soon as she can.”
“No worries. Take care of Celeste.”
“Will do.”
The woman took one of the blankets and offered it to Hunter. “For Celeste.”
He smiled. “Thank you.” He didn’t mind other demons fearing him for what he was, but when he needed to help them, he wanted them to realize that was his only intention.
Then he made his way back outside with the blanket. Alana was hunched over Celeste, casting one of her healing chants. Samson was with her, but Wendell, the doctor, and Bentos were gone.
“Has she come to?” Hunter asked, covering Celeste with the blanket.
Alana let out her breath and stopped the chant. “No, but we don’t want her to. Both her legs are broken, the doctor said. He set them, but we have nothing to use to keep them immobile.”
“Where’s my dad?”
“Barking orders over that way. He’s making people look for supplies, including something we can use for Celeste. Everyone has to grab their warm clothes and get dressed, but many are in shock and so cold, they’re not thinking straight. They weren’t like us, and knowing to dress warmly before the train wreck happened.”
“If you don’t need me here, I’ll go help find clothes and something for Celeste,” Samson said.
“Yeah, thanks, Samson,” Hunter said, appreciating that he looked after Alana for him. Even if Samson thought it was his duty. “Jared’s ribs are broken or bruised.”
“Great,” Alana said.
“He said just take care of Celeste.”
“He’s okay, then?” Alana asked.
“Yeah, he’s staying with the woman and her daughter. He can’t really climb out, and it’s too difficult for you to climb back in. We’ll need to move everyone back into the train for protection until a rescue effort is underway.”
“I would think they’d be here by now.” She motioned with her good hand toward the mountains. “Until I saw how difficult the terrain is. We’re just lucky it derailed before it crossed that chasm. That’s what Wendell said. He’s traveled this way a few times to see his Uncle Clyne.”
“Did it derail before we reached the chasm?”
She peered in that direction. “I don’t know. We can’t see anything for the snow. Do you want to check it out?”
“Yeah, I do, but I’m not leaving you alone, in case either you or Celeste need me.”
They waited. Though he wanted to do something, anything. Still, he didn’t want to leave her alone either.
She finally put her hand on his arm. “Go, help the others.”
“But…”
She tugged at his hand. “I’m fine. I don’t need your protection. But everyone needs your help.”
He leaned down and kissed her. “I won’t be too far away.” Then he headed to where his father was issuing orders. “Dad, did you find something to bind Celeste wounds.”
“Yeah, check over there.”
Hunter grabbed the gear and hurried back to Alana and Celeste. When he reached them, he said, “My dad neglected to tell me they’d gathered something already that
would work.”
“He’s helping, though, right?”
“Yeah. They’ve gathered a lot of items. Everyone’s being looked after.” Hunter began to work on Celeste’s right leg.
“I wish I could help you bind her legs.” Alana began to numb them so they didn’t hurt so much.
“You did just what needed to be done.” He finished binding Celeste’s legs.
Celeste groaned.
“Celeste, are you okay?” Alana asked, taking her hand.
“Cold. My legs…”
“Uhm, they’re…”
“Just say it. I’m a demon.”
“Broken. But the doctor said he thinks that’s all there is to it. I mean, not that that’s not bad, but nothing’s crushed. And that’s what he was worried about. We need to get you inside the train so you’ll be warmer,” Alana said.
“As long as the train isn’t moving. How long has it been?”
“A couple of hours.”
Celeste frowned. “And nobody’s come for us?”
“We’re in the mountains.”
Celeste glanced around and groaned. “Great. I guess we didn’t do what we should have to prevent this from happening.”
Alana shook her head. “The train stopped before we went off a bridge.”
“Oh, that would have hurt.”
“After we get Celeste inside, I want to see what’s ahead. Depending on how far we are from East End, maybe we could walk out of here,” Hunter said.
“We could return to Earth world.” Alana had been thinking about it as an option.
“It would depend on where we’d end up. And Jared had his heart set on learning where his parents are.”
“Like that’s happening any time soon,” Alana said.
Hunter lifted Celeste in his arms. “Come. We’ll see if there’s a way to get you down to Jared so you can heal his ribs.”
Several of the demons helped them to lift Celeste into the train. And then Hunter and Samson helped Alana inside. She finally reached their room and peered down below. “Jared, I’ve come to help you.”
Hunter was waiting for her and took hold of her as carefully as he could, Jared reaching up for her. He grabbed hold of her, and they both groaned. Then she began to work on Jared’s ribs. “I need you healed so you can help everyone else.”
“I need to also,” the Elantus mother said.
“You need to stay with your daughter.”
Samson peered down at them. “Everyone’s inside now, so they can stay as warm as possible. There was another healer and he and the doctor are taking care of the injured. Bentos is ready to kill whoever hasn’t come to rescue us. I’m sorry about not getting the supplies for Celeste’s legs, but I was forced to help carry the injured inside.”
“It was done,” Celeste said. “No worries.”
“If you’ll be all right,” Hunter said to Alana, “I’m going to check out the bridge.”
“I’m coming with you,” Jared said. “I feel fine, thanks to you, Alana. Thank you for being on the team.”
“Thank you for all your gadgets.”
“I’ll stay with Alana,” Samson said.
Then Jared and Hunter left the train. The snow was letting up.
“Where are you going?” Bentos asked.
“To see what became of the rest of the train,” Hunter said.
Bentos joined them. “And to see if the bridge is still there. Why don’t you just take us to Earth world.”
“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” Hunter asked. His dad was always devious.
“It was only an idea.”
“Alana already suggested it. But I say no. There might be some dangerous demons on the train who would cause humans real trouble.”
“You mean like me?” Bentos laughed.
“Tell me about my brother.”
“Half brother. He’s not ready to know what he is.”
“I knew before this! And I had to deal with it on my own! You want him to have to do the same thing? Wait, you think…you think he’ll be like me if I speak with him. And you want him loyal to you so that he lets you into Earth world whenever you want to.”
“His mother does that.”
Hunter still didn’t trust his father’s motives.
Then they saw the bridge, some of it had collapsed, and a train car was hanging off the edge.
“Don’t tell me you want to save anyone on the car,” Bentos said. “You are hurting our kind’s reputation. The lesser demons will no longer fear us if you become their…hero.”
“That’s what I do, Dad.”
Bentos smiled at him.
Hunter scowled. He rarely called him dad. He didn’t know what came over him to do so now. Maybe because, when push came to shove, he really had helped the rest of the demons in their time of need.
“Jared, you coming?”
“Uh, yeah, you know I am. I just wish now that Alana was with us.”
Hunter began making his way across the train bridge that was still intact. “To do what?”
“What if she could levitate people out of the car?”
“She’s been injured.”
“Yeah, but still…”
“I could go back and get her,” Bentos said.
“No.”
“I will,” Jared said. “Be back soon. Don’t go rescuing everyone before I get back with her.” Then Jared ran through the snow as fast as he could.
Hunter wasn’t waiting. He inched toward the car. The cables were holding it, but the car was swaying in the wind.
“This is foolhardy,” Bentos said, following him along the bridge.
Hunter shouted, “Is anyone alive down there?”
There was no response.
“Don’t you dare climb down there to find out,” Bentos ordered.
Hunter shouted again, “We’ve come to save you! Is there anyone alive there?”
“Yes!” Came a chorus of shouts.
“I’m coming.” If nothing else, if the car began to fall, he would pull everyone he could through a portal in Earth world and hope that they landed somewhere safely.
“You cannot be my son,” Bentos said, waiting at the cable, watching to see that Hunter made it to the car.
“No, I’m too heroic.”
Hunter kept climbing down, until he was able to reach the opening, and slid in to the aisle, grabbing a door handle to stop himself from falling all the way to the end of the car.
Demons began opening doors to their rooms, then looked shocked to see a Matusa coming for them.
“I’m here to rescue you,” Hunter said.
13
Hunter couldn’t believe how many passengers were on the train. “I want to help those who are uninjured first. We’ll have to figure out a way to get everyone else out safely.”
He was surprised to see a Matusa making his way past the other demons, who were hanging onto parts of the train to keep from falling.
“I go first,” the Matusa said to Hunter as if they were part of a Matusa brotherhood.
“Be my guest.” Hunter motioned to the way he’d climbed in. He had no intention of helping an able-bodied Matusa who could do what Hunter did on his own. He should have already left the train. Hunter figured he hadn’t thought he could manage, or that someone would come to their rescue before long. Fat chance that.
“I thought you had come to rescue us!” the Matusa said.
“Yes, for everyone who needs rescuing.”
“Take my baby, please,” a woman begged Hunter, and handed the baby in some kind of body bag to a man holding onto the doorjamb ahead of her.
He passed the baby along until Hunter had ahold of him. “How many children are onboard?” Hunter asked, trying to keep from falling, and fastening the baby around his shoulders and waist, while another man held onto Hunter with his free hand.
A head count was made.
“Seven, including the lady’s baby,” a man called out. He looked like he was wearing the uniform of a train c
onductor.
“How many of those can fit into a carrier like this?” Hunter figured he could return with the carrier, once the baby was safe up above, and carry more babies out. If there were more.
“Three of them,” a woman said. “But you can only take one at a time.”
“All right. I’ll be back for the other two after I give the baby to another passenger waiting above for me.” Hunter knew his dad would love to hear that. Just as much as the mother would love to hear Hunter was handing her baby over to another Matusa.
Ensuring the baby was properly secured, he began the climb up, the whole time the train was creaking and groaning. He didn’t like the sound of it. He hoped that if they could take some of the weight out of the car, the strain on the cable wouldn’t be so great. But the wind through the chasm was pushing the car also, making it sway.
Once he made it to the top, he climbed up the cable, and Bentos helped him onto the bridge.
“This is it? One baby?” Bentos asked incredulously.
“I’m bringing up the children first.” Hunter took the baby out of the carrier and handed him to his father.
“What do you want me to do with it?”
“Take care of him until I bring up the mother.” Then Hunter climbed down the cable. He sure was going to get a workout today and this was supposed to be spring break for him too.
He’d entered the car when he heard Alana yell, “Hunter!”
He knew she would want to kill him for not waiting for her, but what if the train crashed before she’d arrived?
Someone had already passed the second baby up to the first cabin, and Hunter didn’t have as far to climb down into the car. That was much better. He needed his strength to make it up the cable each time. He secured the second baby and made his way back up to the cable. He wasn’t sure how many trips he could make before he was totally worn out. Then again, as a Matusa, he was the strongest of the demons.
When he reached for the cable, Alana was standing on the train bridge, scowling at him, holding her arm in the sling.
Bentos was standing beside her. No baby.
“What did you do with the baby?” Hunter growled.
Bentos helped him to the bridge. “Jared’s got the baby. Or…at least he had.”
A grandmotherly type was standing on the snow bank with the baby wrapped in her arms.
