On the Train Read online

  “She’s not our sister,” laughed Willin.

  “Oh. I’m sorry,” he said sincerely. “Here now, which are your seats?”

  Eli gulped. “Actually, we’re just on our way to the lavatory car,” she improvised, slinging her rucksack across her shoulders. “Hurry up guys, let’s go.”

  “But I don’t hafta go!” exclaimed Rinatta.

  “Well, I do. Now.” Eli hustled them to the door.

  Laughing, the conductor started to turn away. Then he stopped. “Hey! Wait a minute! You’re that nanny, aren’t you? The nanny from first-class?”

  Eli scooped up Willin into the crook of her arm. “Run!” she yelled to Rinatta.

  The girl didn’t need to be told twice. She took off down the aisle ahead of Eli.

  “Come back!” shouted the conductor. “Stop right there!” He paused in confusion, then dashed after them.

  Eli forgot her aching arms and legs and that Willin was getting too big to be carried for long. She ran, and nothing else mattered.

  They burst through doors, dashing through the cars. Back, up through second-class. The carriage doors were open, and a group of passengers were coming up the steps to return to their seats, jabbering in mixtures of Traintalk and other languages.

  Eli caught the sound of other conductors shouting from the station: “All aboard!”

  She gave Rinatta a quick shove, hurrying her past just as The Train riders started to come in. They crowded up the aisle, having to go down to single file to get their seats.

  “Keep going,” Eli panted to Rinatta.

  The conductor rushed up, but he was caught in the surge of people. “Out of the way. Out of the way!” Eli could hear him yelling and then cursing their clumsiness.

  She didn’t stop to look back. She ran on, making her way up to the other second-class car, the one she had been riding in that morning.

  Passengers were taking their seats here too. She had to slow down—there wasn’t room—she couldn’t run any more. They needed a place to hide before he caught up. There wasn’t even a full car-length between them.

  By the carriage doors, she noticed a man in black, with tan ankle boots. Trying to look as if he were not waiting around, but not wandering off either, it was Lucca the slinker.

  She grabbed Rinatta’s hand and they rushed up to him.

  “Lucca!” She tried to catch her breath. “We need to hide. Help us!”

  He started, taking in her flushed face and the scared children. “Er, I think you are mistaking me for someone else, miss,” he said, smiling crookedly while he started to sidle away.

  Eli wouldn’t let him weasel out. She blocked his path. “I know what you are.” He hesitated, so she pressed on: “The conductors are after us. I know you can get around them. That’s what you do, right?”

  He twisted his lips, but didn’t reply.

  A whistle blew behind them. The conductor was at the back of the car now.

  “Make way. Train business! Make way!”

  Lucca grinned. “Follow me, kiddos,” he said.

  Where was there to go? Nowhere, but into the next car. They hurried forward, back in first-class, but a conductor already stood there, guiding passengers to their seats.

  Lucca had other ideas, though. He marched them over to the carriage doors and down the steps.

  “Wait!” gasped Eli. “We need to stay on The Train!”

  “Don’t worry!” he called over his shoulder. “I never miss a ride.”

  They darted along the platform, passing the cars they had already run through. The rain had stopped and the last few passengers were hurrying toward The Train, ready to board.

  Lucca stopped at the first boxcar. On the side, a steel ladder was mounted.

  “Hop on up,” he said.

  Willin stared. “Where does it go?”

  “On top. Great view from up there.” He started to climb up. “Here, I’ll help you. Have a go.”

  “You’re crazy!” exclaimed Eli.

  “You were crazy enough to ask me for help,” he returned. “Don’t worry, come up and see!”

  Eli watched Willin and Rinatta clamber up the ladder and Lucca helped pull them up onto the roof of the car. Then she climbed up herself. It was high.

  On top of the car, someone had secured planks to act as a little fence, surrounding half the roof. It was only a few feet high, but enough to rest against one’s back, if he was sitting down. Looking about, Eli saw that there were little metal handholds around the sides. A few bags and a trunk were tied down with twine.

  “Welcome aboard, my new friends!” laughed Lucca and The Train began to move.

  The Train sounds came louder and sharper than ever. The whistle blared, the wheels surged forward. She could feel the boxcar swaying to and fro much more than she had ever noticed from inside.

  “Is this dangerous?” she yelped.

  “Sure, but you’ll get used to it,” replied Lucca. “Use the handles if you’re worried.”

  Rinatta and Willin were sitting toward the middle, their bodies rocking unsteadily. Eli beckoned for them to crawl over to her and got each one to grab a handle in the fence. Ahead, she could see they were leaving the island. The bridge that ran over the sea continued on. The wind whipped in their faces, burning cold and sharp against their skin.

  Lucca crawled over to the trunk with a well-practiced air. He thumbed the combination to the lock and began unfolding a large tarp and screwing together plastic tubes into a pole. He set the pole in the middle of the car and clipped the sides of tarp to each corner of the fence. With everyone sitting down, it just covered the adults’ heads, like a little tent.

  “It will still be cold, but this keeps the spray out. It’s not my favorite time to ride up here, not when we’re crossing the ocean.”

  Lucca also produced some large sheets of silver foil. “These will keep you warm.” He shoved them over to Eli; she realized they were blankets.

  “I’ve never seen anything like this,” she said, helping Rinatta and Willin get wrapped up.

  “They’re not pretty, but they work. Especially at night.” Lucca handed Eli the last blanket and sat back comfortably.

  “Don’t you need one?” asked Rinatta.

  “Nah,” said the slinker.

  They were rolling onto the sea-bridge now. Eli could hear the waves crashing below, and water splashed the tarp. It slid off the tent.

  Willin regarded Lucca with great respect. “What this place?” he wanted to know.

  “We call it the blindman’s nest. You said you needed a safe spot, and this is one of the best. Conductors never know of it, and Train folk never see it.”

  “Safe being a relative term, I expect,” mutter Eli. “What if you fall off?”

  “I wouldn’t recommend staying in the nest when you go through a tunnel. I’ve heard that even if slinkers lie flat, they might not come out the other side. And you don’t want to be up here when we pull into a station; it’s too special a place to risk. But as long as you have a sure foot and keep your wits about you, it’s a fine way to travel. You can spend the day staring up at the sky and you feel like a cloud just sailing along.”

  Eli shuddered and wrapped the blanket closer. But she thought she should remember her manners. “Thank you for bringing us up here. I’m pretty sure you saved us,” she said.

  “It turns out I have a soft spot for a damsel in distress. Not to mention a couple of ragamuffins.” He tweaked Rinatta’s nose and she giggled. “But I sure wonder what you could be up to that would set a conductor’s ass on fire.”

  “It’s not just him,” sighed Eli. “They’re all looking for us by now.”

  “Problem with your tickets?” guessed Lucca.

  “No.” Eli wasn’t sure how much to tell him. Maybe it would be better, the less he knew.

  “It’s our mama,” Rinatta piped up. “She wasn’t supposed to ride The Train. So they caught her and they’re taking her to jail. We have to keep away or they’ll lock us right
up too.”

  Eli’s mouth fell open, but Lucca was nodding seriously. “That’s quite a problem. So now Miss—er, Eli, wasn’t it?—is working hard to protect you. Do you have a plan?”

  “Just, um, Sela, their mother’s servant, said we need to keep going until we reach a station called Dongor. I hope someone will meet us there who can help.”

  “Did the servant tell you anything else?”

  “Not really. She just gave us some supplies. I guess she knew this might happen. One of our compartment-mates said the Baroness’s family had been Exiled because they lost a business war with another old Train family.”

  Lucca scratched his head, looking thoughtful. “I’ve been on the line for a couple years now, but I’m still a Road Kid to most of the other slinkers. I can’t say I pay much attention to Train politics, but there’s some of us that keep an eye on it for those that don’t. Cerci might know more, if anyone would.” He sighed. “There’s a potluck tomorrow morning. I’ll have to bring you along.”

  “Why is the pot lucky?” Rinatta wanted to know.

  He chuckled. “Not that kind of pot. It’s a party of sorts. We mostly slink on our own, but sometimes we like a little get-together. That way, we can share news and warnings. I’ve never seen anyone bring an outsider, but I get the feeling this is important.” He scooted closer. “Got anything good in your backpack? Everyone throws in food or something.”

  “Not much.” Eli was loathe to give away any of her supplies. But he was helping them…

  She opened the rucksack. “I have a jar of fruit and some leftover noodles. And I think Sela gave us some food bars.” She opened the pouch from the servant. There were a dozen food bars, each sealed in its own wrapper. She also saw smaller canvas bags tied with gold twine. Sela had given her what was left of the precious salt crystals.

  At the bottom of the pouch were several rolled pieces of paper and two tiny bottles made of green glass.

  Eli unrolled one of the papers. It was some sort of form, with boxes filled out in the Baroness’ handwriting. But it was written in a script she couldn’t recognize. Another paper had an illustration of the bottles at the top. The rest of the paper held no words, but a series of bars with numbers at the bottom. Some sort of graph? The bars were crossed at seemingly random points with little lines, some very thin, others thicker.

  “Can you read any of this?” she asked Lucca. “I wonder if these are important.”

  Lucca reached for the first form. “I don’t read very well,” he admitted. “There’s some numbers here. Three, five, eighteen. A lot of zeros…”

  “That’s Rinatta’s birthday!” exclaimed Eli. “Maybe it’s some sort of birth certificate?” One of the other papers had a matching form, filled out with Willin’s birthday.

  “How about these?” She showed Lucca the green bottles. They were empty, but each had a label stuck on the front.

  Lucca shrugged. “Bring it tomorrow. You can show Cerci. She knows a lot. Not just about The Train, about the whole world.”

  Hours passed before Lucca deemed it time to go inside. They folded the blankets and took down the tent, making sure everything was stowed neatly. For the next slinker to use, Lucca explained.

  They’d come to land again; the sun was starting to sink low. Lucca opened a trapdoor that lay just beyond the fenced-in part of the roof. Eli went down the rope ladder first. He helped the children along after her.

  Willin stared at the crowded interior of the baggage car. “Look at all this stuff!”

  “Don’t touch any of it,” said Lucca. “We’re slinkers. Not thieves.”

  “But we’re not slinkers!” responded Willin, shocked.

  The young man laughed. “You are now. Riding around the Railroad, trying not to get caught. That’s just like a slinker. Now, how would you like a real challenge? Let’s find ourselves a good sleeping spot for the night.”

  Eli balked when he led them right back into first-class. “No way! Everyone will recognize us here. Plus, there’s all kinds of warnings against slinkers. They put up signs in the dining car.”

  “Slinkers collect those signs,” Lucca said airily. “Trust me, first-class is the best for slinking. All those lazy, rich passengers, going off to their beds, leaving all those soft chairs empty. It would be a crime not to sleep in them.”

  Once the night-lighting came on, the compartments emptied as people left for the night. Eli and her companions slipped back in.

  Lucca explained the subtitles of slinking to them in a dramatic whisper: “We are night-creatures. Like shadows. Like wind. Like lightning striking before anyone knows.”

  Rinatta and Willin followed along easily, doing their best to mimic his panther-quiet steps.

  Lucca found an empty compartment and they made themselves at home. A few leather suitcases on the racks. Other than that, little to identify whose seats they were taking. Eli wondered if they belonged to someone she’d recognize from the dining car.

  Lucca jammed a bit of metal under the base of the door. “It won’t hold off one of the crooks, but we’ll wake up while he’s rattling the door about,” he said.

  “Crooks?” repeated Rinatta.

  “Conductors who chase slinkers. They’ll Ditch you without a second thought. Throw you right off The Train—while it’s still moving, mind you.”

  That sounded as bad as being jailed up like the Baroness and Sela!

  But, oh, it certainly was nice to sink into those moss-green seats again! After their night in second-class and their cold day riding the roof, Eli couldn’t stay awake any longer.

  She opened her eyes some hours later, feeling surprisingly well rested. It was still night, but Lucca was sitting up. He looked at her, a deep, cool glance across the darkness.

  “Is someone coming?” she whispered.

  He shook his head. “No. But it’s an hour until sunup. We should probably go.”

  Eli moved over to Willin and Rinatta’s sleeping forms. How often had she given thanks for their nap times or when they fell asleep at the end of a chaotic day of Willin whining and Rinatta trying to boss everyone around? How they had surprised her these last few days, tiny powerhouses of courage and resilience! Gently, she brushed Willin’s curls from his forehead. They were amazing.

  “Amazing,” murmured Lucca. She turned around. He was still looking at her. “I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone on The Train like you.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Completely unselfish. You never even thought once about dumping this job, did you?”

  “It’s not a job. These are real people!” Did he think she was being brave? Well, maybe she was. Or maybe just stupid.

  Making sure everything was as they had found it, they got the kids up and slipped out into the hall.

  The slinkers’ meeting was in the laundry car. That seemed an odd choice to Eli, but Lucca explained that the services staff only used the facilities on certain days. When they didn’t, the car was supposed to be kept closed, and well, what was a simple lock to a slinker?

  The slinkers were already gathering when Eli’s group arrived. There were half a dozen of them, men and women of all ages. There was little similarity in their dress, either; it was clear they had come to slinking from as many different places as all the regular Train riders.

  “Lucca!” hissed a middle-aged woman with auburn hair twisted in elaborate braids around her head. “How dare you bring normies here?”

  Lucca squared his shoulders, and when he spoke, Eli guessed it was with more confidence than he actually felt. “They’re not normies, Majenta. They’re some new Kids.”

  “Really?” Majenta’s tone was scornful, as if she didn’t believe him. “How can children be slinkers? They’re too noisy. No stealth. No style.”

  “They’ve already proved they have plenty of style,” Lucca promised.

  A swarthy man with an enormous mustache grinned at them. “Shove off, Majenta. Nothing says Road Kids can’t be real kids.” He squatted down
in front of Willin and stuck out his massive hand. “I’m Durros. How old are you, sonny?”

  Willin did not shake the hand that was offered to him, but obligingly held up three fingers. “I’m this many.”

  “And I’m four,” Rinatta announced, not waiting her turn. “You’re very hairy to be a slinker, I think,” she added.

  The man gave a great guffaw. “Indeed I am. Luckily, it’s the boots that make the slinker.” He tapped his foot on the ground, and Eli noticed he was wearing boots like Lucca’s. Rinatta looked unsure if he was joking or not. Eli wasn’t sure, either, but she introduced them all.

  “They’re mixed up in a bit of trouble,” Lucca explained. “It’s got the crooks all snorting and farting up a storm.”

  “Yes, I overheard some of them talking last night.” Another woman came forward, dressed entirely in black, like Lucca. She was the most beautiful woman Eli had ever seen. Her skin was pale, but her lips were painted red. The hair that fell to her waist was coppery-gold. She wore a black cap on her head with a black lace veil that covered her eyes and nose. Eli could not guess her age.

  The other slinkers made room for her, almost respectfully. “One of the conductors was talking about how he chased the missing nanny across The Train, when she vanished. Apparently, it was the second time they’d failed to catch her.”

  She looked curiously at Eli and the children, then drew a piece of paper out of a pouch on her belt. Unfolding it, she passed it to Eli. “They were posting these. It sounded so interesting, I thought I’d bring one to the meeting.”

  It was a flyer, like the one about slinkers Eli had seen. This one had three silhouettes stamped on it—a young woman, a girl, and a boy.

  “That must be us!” gasped Eli.

  “I’m sure it is.”

  Lucca frowned. “What does it say?”

  The red-haired slinker read out loud: “Associates of the Exiled Vashani House. Wanted for suspicious activities and acts against The Train.”

  Eli felt her mouth drop open in despair. “How can we stay hidden if the whole Train knows about us?”

  Through the veil, Eli could see the woman raise an eyebrow. “It seems to me you’re already doing pretty well. And you have made a useful ally.” She glanced at Lucca, who put his hands in his pockets and looked noncommittal.