The first car of the train, the engine room, seemed to be the kitchen—that was where the smell was coming from at any rate. Timidly, I opened the door and stepped inside. It was surprisingly homey in a threadbare, modified sort of way. Desert plants grew in tin cans along the slim windows. In the front of the train, behind the windshield, an array of jars and bags and canisters were spread like they might have been on a kitchen counter in a house. There was an old table with no chairs (they probably ate standing up, like Mama had always discouraged) set with eight rag-covered plates. The firebox had been modified into a stove, it looked like, and on it a frying pan simmered on a rack, smelling so good that my stomach growled loudly.
The girl I had healed, Susanah, was making breakfast. She had sliced some homemade bread and was putting it into an odd woven wire contraption. Then she put the bread in its wire cage and hung it from a hook in the oven, close to the pan. She gave the pan a good stirring with a hand-carved wooden spoon and wiped her forehead. The little girl, Mowse, was in a nightgown—no, a man’s shirt that fit her like a nightgown—and was putting a bunch of rocks on the floor in a circle. Beside her was a tattered, well-worn book called Ways of the Comanche.
“What is ‘black’ in Comanche?” Susanah asked the little girl.
“Tuhubitu,” the girl said dutifully.
“What about ‘sun’?”
“Taabe.”
“And ‘water’?” Susanah opened the oven and checked the food again.
“Uhhhhh…”
“Paa,” said Susanah. “Paa is water. Remember that.”
Mowse saw me then, and said, “The girl is here! The girl who saved you!” Susanah looked up at me, pushing her glasses up.
“Hello,” said Susanah. Mowse stared at me from the floor.
“Don’t be rude, Mowse,” said Susanah. “Say hello to her—in Comanche.”
“Maruawe,” said Mowse with a little wave.
“Mar-ua…?” I attempted. Then I gave up and just said, “Hello,” back.
“A good try,” said Susanah. “Come in. It’s going to be dried beef gravy over toast.”
“When’s it going to be ready?” asked Mowse.
“When I say so.”
Susanah took the kettle from the flames with a rag around her hand and poured a cup of coffee.
“I hope you like it black, because we don’t have any milk or sugar.”
“That’s fine,” I said, and drank a scalding-hot mouthful, trying not to make a face at how bitter and gritty it was.
“Thank you for healing me, by the way,” she said. “I would have thanked you then, but… Mowse! Stop it!” On the floor, Mowse had pulled a lizard from the pocket of her shirt and was somehow making it walk on its hind legs, in a weaving line in between the rocks. She snapped her head in Susanah’s direction.
“You know what I told you about that stuff,” said Susanah. The lizard shook its head and wriggled away.
“Sorry,” said Susanah, taking a sip of her own coffee. “She likes to make things do what she wants. Fall asleep, walk in circles. But what do I tell you about that?” she asked Mowse.
“That it’s rude and we’re better than that,” said Mowse begrudgingly.
Susanah took the toast out of the oven, put it on a plate, and covered it with a rag. Then she gave the pan one more scraping stir, took it out of the oven, and placed it on the table. “Wait for it, Mowse,” she said. “Give it about five minutes, then you can have some.”
Mowse pouted, but said nothing. She picked up a corn-husk doll and began playing with it instead.
“Is she the one who made the soldiers fall asleep whenever y’all…?” I said.
“When we robbed Elysium?” Susanah said. “Yeah. She was excited to finally get the chance to use her powers for something.”
“Do most of you have powers, or…?”
“No. Just Mowse, Cassandra, and Olivia—sometimes. She doesn’t use magic unless she has to. The rest of us are pretty normal. Judith is the muscle. Zo is a sharpshooter. Those two drive each other crazy, but they’re inseparable.”
“So you’re the mechanic?” I asked.
“I build things,” she said. “I modified the train, make all the weapons, fix what gets broken. That kind of thing. All the inventions everywhere? Those are mine.”
“Wow,” I said. “It must have been a lot of work.”
Susanah shrugged. “I always hoped that if I ever got out of here maybe I could be an inventor. I still hope that, though it’s looking less likely these days.”
“Can I have some now?” said Mowse with her plate in hand. “Or are y’all gonna talk forever?”
“Sure,” said Susanah. “Eat up, kid.” She looked at me and said, “You too. The rest of them can have some when they get up.”
The food was surprisingly good, for being made on the firebox of a train, and when our plates were clean and stacked, Mowse went out to find more lizards (“I won’t make them do stuff, I promise!” she assured Susanah), and I leaned against the wall beside Susanah, pleasantly full for the first time in days.
“I heard that guy you were with beat Olivia,” Susanah said. “That doesn’t happen much. I think she’s a little shaken up by it. She won’t stop mentioning him.”
“I bet,” I said. I remembered the look in Olivia’s eyes when Asa had held his claw to her throat. She wasn’t used to losing. But there was something else there too, and it definitely wasn’t horror.
“Do you know where your friend is now?” Susanah asked.
Your friend. A pang of guilt rippled through me. Were Asa and I friends now? Of course we were. He’d saved my life twice. And once you got past the annoyance of him learning humanity, he really wasn’t all that bad. For a daemon. Should I have gone back out into the desert with him?
Suddenly, I became aware of how quiet it was.
“Where is everyone?” I asked.
“Zo’s out on patrol with Cassandra. The others should be up any minute. They’re heavy sleepers, usually. How about you?” she asked. “Did you sleep well last night?”
“Can’t complain,” I said. “It was better than in a ditch in the desert, even if I was lying there in all those springs and gears and things.”
“She’s in the machine room?” asked Mowse, slipping back inside. “Now how are we gonna get our parts?”
“I’m sorry,” I said. “I didn’t know I was intruding.”
“It’s all right. Mowse just has a one-track mind when it comes to our project.”
“Project?” I asked.
There was a gasp from Mowse. “Can we show her, Susanah? She’s one of us now, right?”
Susanah looked at me for a moment, then said, “I guess it wouldn’t hurt. Do you want to see our project?”
“Sure,” I said. “What else do I have to do?”
“Come on, then,” Susanah said. “I’ll show you.”
I followed her outside, along the back of the train to the place where Olivia and Asa had fought. But she led me beyond it, to the cliffside. She stood with her boot on an odd white rock, and said, “Puuku.” Then the side of the cliff was just gone and in its place was the mouth of a high, broad cave. She led me into it, and we walked a little ways into the cliffside, Mowse lighting the torches as we passed them with a pinch of something and a whispered word. A tingle of familiarity went through me. Was this the fire spell I knew? And if so, how had Mowse learned it? Had Cassandra taught her?
But before I could think too much about this, they stopped in front of an alcove that smelled of motor oil, and Susanah said, “There they are: our pride and joy.”
I moved forward until Mowse lit a torch nearby, throwing the alcove into light. At first, I wasn’t sure what I was looking at. Then, when my brain pieced it all together, I couldn’t help but move forward to get a better look.
They were horses. Four life-size horses put together from pieces of metal, springs, gears. Robotic horses, with lightbulbs from old headlights for eyes, rusty licens
e plates and pieces of sheet metal for skin, actual bones covered in metal for jaws, and ropes for manes. Their long, lean legs were pistons. Their backs were broad and strong and plainly well put together.
“You built these?” I gasped.
“Yep,” Susanah said. “With my own two hands.”
“I helped!” said Mowse. “Mostly with that one.” She pointed to the one on the end.
“Two people can ride on each one,” Susanah said. “Theoretically, I mean. I’ve never been able to get them to work long enough. Anytime I try to build anything that runs off electricity, the desert just drains it. So they’re a work in progress, I guess, until I find another power source. But once they’re finished, nobody in the desert will want to mess with us.”
“But why horses?” I asked. “Why not cars or something?”
“I’m Comanche,” she said. “Numunuu, Kotsoteka. We were horse riders from right here on the Plains. And even if I didn’t get to learn much about my people before they sent me off to Chilacco, I’m back home now. I can at least have my own horses if I can’t have anything else, you know?” Susanah stared at the horses for a moment more, then shrugged. “Anyway, hooves are more maneuverable on sand and dust than wheels are.”
We stood, staring at the horses for a few more minutes, Mowse telling me about this thing and that; then we left the horses slumping in the darkness and went back to the train. There, Olivia and Judith were gathered around the table, Judith with toast in her mouth and Olivia finishing a cup of coffee. There were two plates left, carefully saved for Zo and Cassandra.
“Well, there they are,” said Judith. “’Bout time we saw you this morning.”
“Good thing I came back too,” laughed Susanah. “Or you’d have eaten all of it yourself.”
“It’s not my fault you cook so much better than Olivia,” said Judith. “Hey, maybe we should find that Harold Lloyd guy. Maybe y’all can have a cooking contest and settle it once and for all!”
“Shut up, Judith!” Olivia flicked Judith with her bandanna.
“What is he, anyway?” Judith asked me. “’Cause he sure ain’t normal.”
I took a deep breath. Might as well just tell them, I thought. “He’s a daemon, given form by the Goddess of Life and sent to help Life win the Game. He was here on a mission to return a cricket in amber to its owner, and somehow that was supposed to help tip the Game in Life’s favor, but we got exiled, so now we’re out here together.”
Judith and Olivia blinked at me, bewildered.
“What’s the difference between a daemon and a demon?” Judith asked.
I sighed. “It’s like a… like a… It’s some ancient Greek thing. But not evil! More neutral to… be a sort of go-between between people and gods.”
Judith and Olivia exchanged dubious glances.
“He’s a really nice guy, though,” I finished lamely.
Judith shrugged and nodded. “If you say so.”
But Olivia wasn’t finished. “Whatever he is, why did he have my picture?”
“Look,” I said. “I know it looks bad, but if he says he just thought it was a nice picture, that’s all there is to it. He’s never been a person before, so he’s just doing his best.” I sighed. “I gave him a hard time at first, but the truth is, he’s the most innocent pers—most innocent being—I’ve ever met.”
“What, do you want to go find him or something?” Olivia asked.
I wasn’t sure. Asa had seemed so shaken, so ready to leave. But we had agreed to fix this together, however we could… hadn’t we?
“Olivia! Judith!” Zo scrambled to the door with Cassandra close behind her, draped with odd gunlike and bowlike weapons that could only be Susanah’s inventions. “Come on, we need everybody today.”
“What are you talking about, Zo?” Olivia said.
“There’s a big lode of metal out there,” said Cassandra. “Two trucks, buried almost completely. We found them this morning on the north side. There are dry goods with them, in the passenger side of each one. Dried beef and pork, and maybe venison. I think there’s even some old bottles of cider. And, better yet, the Laredo Boys haven’t found it yet. No footprints all around.”
“But what’s the hurry?” I asked. “Don’t you have all those supplies you stole from Elysium? Aren’t they fine to eat now that I broke the spell?”
“I guess they would be, but we burned what was left,” said Judith. “Someone decided we couldn’t be too careful.” (“Hey!” said Zo. “We’re still alive!”) “Besides, being low on supplies was the only reason we robbed Elysium in the first place. And we were only low because the Laredo Boys robbed us.”
“The Laredo Boys have been really aggressive lately,” Olivia said. “Running us away from every stash, robbing us of almost every kill—even grasshoppers. They’re trying to starve us out so we’ll join them. And if we know about a stash they don’t, we need to get to it before they do.”
“Well, we’re gonna need everybody to haul this,” said Zo.
“All right,” said Olivia. “Let’s go, everyone.” Then she pointed at me and said, “You too.”
“Me?” I gulped. “But I’ve never done anything like this before. I just got here!”
“Yes, and you’re another witch,” said Olivia, “with a loaded components belt. I saw a little of that duel. You’re raw, but you’ve got it. Now hurry up. Time’s ticking.”
Nervous, kind of insulted, and flattered at the same time, I followed them as they went from car to car until they reached the last one of the train. There, on the floor, an array of weapons was laid out. Olivia took what looked like a modified six-gun. Judith took an old Louisville Slugger. Susanah took a backpack loaded with tools and a long, sharpened chain.
“If the Laredo Boys get any more of the metal out here, they’ll have the advantage,” Olivia was saying. “And if they get the advantage, we can kiss what security we have goodbye, so we gotta get this while we can.” She looked at me. “But you, you’ve got all you need.” She glanced down at my components belt. “Just stay close to me, all right?”
I nodded, feeling my pulse tic in my neck, hoping I was as ready as Olivia seemed to think I was. I shoved the Booke deep into my pocket and checked my spell components pouch, and when everyone was ready, they swept me out the door and we headed into the desert.
In the cave he had slept in, Asa rolled over and yawned a too-wide, sharp-toothed yawn. His clothes were folded neatly with his hat and shoes and glasses on top of them. Taking the human part off, he expected to feel the way Atlas felt handing the sky to Hercules for a moment’s relief. He’d expected to feel sad, of course, taking off the illusion, but as he stretched his limbs in the light, he found that being just him felt strange too. Like his daemon form also wasn’t the real him.
He sighed. Though this human body wasn’t rightfully his, having it, being at home in it for so long had taken a toll on him. He had been changed, irreparably changed, and he knew it. Even if a miracle happened and he was allowed back into Her service, would he ever be the same? Would he ever be himself again? And what was he now? Daemon or human? Ugh, he wasn’t sure. But he was sure that he didn’t like the emotion that he was experiencing. It felt as though it was dragging him down, spreading from him like blood in water.
He thought of Sal, what she could be doing now. Sal had been nice to him. No, not nice. She had been kind to him, and she hadn’t had to be. He’d had a hand in burning the Sacrifice building too, after all. And what about their search for whatever it was out here that could save everything? The search that had led them toward the train, toward the girls. He couldn’t leave it all to Sal. He had to fix things too, not just hide out here in a cave, waiting.
Olivia’s face rose in his mind then, beautiful and dangerous. She could disarm his plan. But wasn’t his plan already disarmed? And what if he was able to disarm her, neutralize her Cardness with his own Cardness? Level the playing field?
The sound of human voices out in the ravine interru
pted his thoughts.
He threw on his human form and human clothes and looked out through his cracked glasses.
It was the Laredo Boys, the same ones from before, ragged and tattered, their sunburned white skins painted with those disconcerting black designs. They reminded him of the designs the Picts had painted on themselves before they went to war a thousand years ago. The men had a dangerous coarseness to them, even worse now that he could watch them, their bodies slung with rifles, machetes, axes, clubs. They were far away, but even with his human ears, he could hear words like “metal,” and “trucks,” and “before they do.”
Asa could tell that whatever they were doing, they were up to no good. He started out of the cave after them, then thought better of it. He let his fingers extend into claws, let his back grow arched, let his eyes go daemonic. He tapped his teeth and they went back to the long black needles that they usually were.
If they catch me, he thought, they’re not going home without a nightmare.
Then, moving as silently as the shadow he so closely resembled, Asa slipped out of the cave and followed them.
CHAPTER 17
Zo led everyone through the craggy pass. Olivia followed her, and the rest of them followed Olivia. I drifted along behind my new associates, expecting any and every terrible thing in the desert to throw itself down on us from the cliffs. The others didn’t seem upset in the slightest. If anything, they seemed almost excited, talking about all the things they could use the metal for (a shower system, Susanah suggested, and everyone seemed in agreement). But their hands were never far from their weapons.
“I’m about ready to pay those Laredo Boys back,” said Judith, her big arms taut with muscle as she dragged a makeshift sheet-metal sleigh behind her to carry the haul. “I hope they show up. In fact, I dare them to.”
“They’ve stolen from you before,” I said. “Aren’t you worried they’ll go and attack the train? Burn it to the ground when you’re not there?”
“Unlikely,” said Judith. “When they stole the stuff from Elysium, we’d hidden it in a cave and they just got lucky. As for the camp, Cassandra has a mean illusion set up around it. They couldn’t find the train if they tried. Unless you’re brought to camp, or you’re carrying something that belongs to somebody at the camp, all you see is cliffsides, no matter where you look.”
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