“This would be a bad time to suddenly be clumsy.” Nervousness rushed through Law as she scrambled up onto the roof of the SUV. Normally she enjoyed rushing into trouble to play knight in shining armor. This was different. This wasn’t some muscle-bound idiot who would underestimate her until she landed her first hit. This was several tons of brute mechanical force. It wouldn’t even notice her as it rolled over her body.
Think of the kids. Moon Rabbit and the others. Trixie. Usagi. Ellen. Tiffani.
Law steeled herself against the fear rushing through her. She took a deep breath. She charged down the windshield, across the hood and leapt.
There was a terrifying moment where she was sure that she wouldn’t make it. The train seemed to suddenly lurch forward, out of her reach. And then Bare Snow had her by the wrist, hauling her onto the train.
Law scrambled wildly, hissing curses in fear. Wind blasted over her, trying to shove her from the flatcar. She found her balance, splayed out on the tent like a scared starfish.
“This is fun!” Bare Snow said.
“Fun as a barrelful of monkeys,” Law grumbled.
“I’m not sure being in packed into a barrel would be fun for monkeys.”
There was a dead body beside Law; the last “marine” that Bare Snow shot. The arrow had pierced his eye, killing him instantly. His blood stained the white canvas of the tents. Law pulled the spell paper out of her pocket. She took a photo of it with her phone and then used it on the body. She wanted to be sure these were actually oni before she tried killing them all.
It was a weird thing. Nothing seemed to change, and yet he appeared completely different. His hair stayed red and the general outline of his face remained square. His skin took on a reddish hue. His nose was flatter. He had nubs of horns.
“Oni,” Bare Snow stated quietly.
It meant that Law was right about Station Square being the oni’s target.
“Come on.” Law picked her way across the bloodied tents.
The passenger cars had a windowed door at either end. They were hooked together with flexible gangway connections. It meant that once she and Bare Snow were on the roof, they could travel the whole way to the front of the train without jumping. Getting past the first window while they scaled the door was going to be tricky.
Law explained the problem to Bare Snow. “There’s a bathroom at the back of the car, so there’s a buffer between the chairs and the door. If the chairs are all faced to the front, then no one should see us. See me.”
“I’ll check.” It seemed like eternity before Bare Snow called simply, “Go.”
Law leapt on pure faith that Bare Snow had moved out of the way and that the oni wouldn’t see her. It was a fairly easy leap but the landing was a narrow sill. She gripped tightly to the gangway material. She ducked down when she landed. She rose slightly to peek through the window.
The seats faced forward. Most of the oni sat, seemingly bored after the long train ride from wherever they killed the marines. The few stood watching the passing landscape intently, as if waiting to see familiar landmarks. None were looking in her direction.
She stood up and caught hold of the upper sill of the gangway connection. She scrambled up to the roof as quickly as she could.
The train stretched out in front of her like a quarter-mile-long silvery snake.
She and Bare Snow had been moving at top speed since chasing after the train. The high span of the Elizabeth Bridge, though, was already in sight. It leapt from the ridges that lined both sides of the Monongahela River. Miles were disappearing faster than Law wanted. She wanted to run to the head of the snake and chop it off, but that courted disaster. Unlike freight trains, the passenger car roofs were rounded and smooth. No one was supposed to actually walk across the top. The wind buffeted her, trying to shove her off. If she fell, it would be like being hit by a car moving at high speeds. There would be no getting up.
She started forward, keeping an eye out for low overpasses.
It was the hardest quarter-mile Law ever walked. There was only a narrow invisible path down the exact center of the cars where the roof was flat enough not to start her sliding toward the edge. The train lurched and swayed unpredictably. Every eighty feet, she needed to scramble across the gangway connection. Three times she needed to duck down as they passed under roads.
They were rounding the corner to Duquesne when she finally reached the engine. Across the wide Monongahela River valley was Turtle Creek with the black tower of the spaceship standing on end, covered with the odd runes of dragon magic.
“I’m here.” Bare Snow kept Law from bumping into her. “There’s no guard on the door.”
The gangway connection hadn’t been extended between the engine and the first passenger car. When the oni killed the marines, it would have been a way to keep the engineer safe from any survivors long enough for him to stop and pick up oni warriors.
“I tried to open it, I could not,” Bare Snow said.
What had the Skin Clan done to the door?
Law’s grandfather ranted often about the lack of security on the Elfhome railroad. The reasoning was that if the humans returned to Earth without warning—like they almost did when the orbital gate failed—the elves didn’t want the humans taking all the keys with them. Law had been able to easily take the hi-rail because the keys had been left in the ignition.
The locomotives didn’t have lockable doors. The Skin Clan must have added a lock of some type.
Law crouched at the edge of the roof. She couldn’t see anything that would keep Bare Snow from opening the door. It must have been bolted on the inside. There were four other doors on the engine; they were flush with the sides to reduce wind resistance. Inset ladders gave access from the ground, but there would be nothing to hold onto from the roof down.
That left the windshield.
The engine’s hatchet nose ended just short of its high narrow windshield. The thick glass was designed to take the impact of a cinderblock. Bare Snow’s knives, however, were magically sharp and could cut through almost anything.
Law glanced at the passing countryside. They were almost to Rankin Bridge. Homestead was around the next corner and beyond it was South Side Flats. “Alton, if you screwed this up, I’m going to kill you. You’d better have gotten hold of someone by now. We’re coming in hot.”
“Law?” Bare Snow was learning English, but she hadn’t followed what Law had said.
“Nothing. Come on.” Law backed up and leapt across to the engine. At least its roof was wider and flatter. The huge diesel engine throbbed under their feet, a sound felt deep inside as well as heard. Once inside it would be a simple thing to sabotage the motor. It would stop the train, though, within a few miles of Station Square. The oni could reach Oktoberfest within an hour at a brisk walk. If Alton hadn’t gathered a force that could stop the oni, then it would be a slaughter.
They needed to crash the train.
There were countless safety measures in place to keep just that from happening. Law needed to override them all. It was going to take time.
They were running out of time.
Law crouched down near the leading edge of the engine. From the vantage point, they could see the entire locomotive. She tapped her lips, wanting Bare Snow to lean close. Many engineers like riding with the side windows open; there was a chance they’d be overheard.
She felt Bare Snow’s warmth beside her and then felt her soft hair against her lips. “Cut the right window in a cross with your knife. I will kick it.”
“Kick it?” Bare Snow’s doubt was clear even at a whisper.
“My boots will protect my feet from the glass.”
“Are you sure this is wise?”