Chapter 31 #2
“Caw!”
Lucas shook his head. “No delays, no exceptions. You made a bargain with us. It’s time to complete it.”
Rachel stared at Lucas. Transition? New life? Faulkner was leaving?
“Remember to save your poem,” Lucas said. “We’ll print out a copy for each of you.” He stepped back into his office.
Rachel sidled over to Faulkner until her wing touched his. The warmth of a friend. Why hadn’t anyone warned them sooner that this would be their last day to spend time together?
What was she supposed to do on her own?
31
Acid stepped off the train and hurried behind a nearby tree in case anyone bothered to look at who was getting off that nightmare.
How had he ever thought it was an ordinary train that had pulled into the station on Wyrd?
It had an unearthly sheen, like fog shrouding metal, softening the shape without making it disappear.
Or would it disappear when the train left the station?
This station. After all, he was on an island, so every station had to be a Wyrd station.
The train pulled out. Acid watched it go. He remembered two passenger cars behind the engine when he’d boarded to look for Colin Forrester. Now there were three cars. Did that matter? Couldn’t matter.
The train disappeared. Once he was sure that no one on the train could see him, Acid stepped away from the tree and looked around. He didn’t see a station, a platform, a sign telling him where he was. He didn’t see any fucking thing. Except gravestones.
He saw rows and rows and rows of gravestones.
Why were train tracks going through a cemetery?
Wait. Hadn’t the conductor said something about cemeteries? He’d been pissed off about being trapped on the train and hadn’t paid attention.
Turning in a slow circle, Acid finally spotted a man digging near one of the stones. Maybe that guy knew where they were and how he could get back to Destiny Park.
He walked fast and didn’t seem to get any closer to the man with the spade. Did people still dig graves? Didn’t they use machines and shit like that to dig a hole?
“Hey!” Acid shouted.
The man turned and raised a hand in greeting before focusing on making neat cuts in the sod. When Acid got close enough, the man said, “Did you get off the train too?”
“Yeah,” Acid replied. “Had enough of that ride. Decided to skip the rest.”
The man gave him an odd look. “How long were you supposed to ride?”
“That joke of a conductor said ninety-nine years. Can you believe that?”
“How long had you been riding?”
“A few days.” Acid was sure it wasn’t more than that. Pretty sure it wasn’t. Although it had felt a lot longer.
The man was quiet. Then he said, “You’re going to have a long journey if you want to get home.”
“I need to get to Destiny Park. I’ll catch the ferry home from there.”
Another hesitation. “Destiny Park? Where were you when you boarded the train?”
Something wasn’t right about the way the man looked at him. “On Wyrd.”
The man sighed. “A very long journey.”
“It’s a fucking island. If there’s a cemetery, there has to be a town around here, right?”
The man shook his head. “The train only lets passengers off at the graveyards—and your grave is your only destination.” He pointed to the big stone with the family name and the smaller stones on either side with individual names.
“I’m almost home,” he said softly. “Don’t have to dig down far.
Just enough to reach the ground that is meant to hold my bones. ”
The guy was spooking him. “Destiny Park?”
“Pick a direction.” The man gave him a sad smile.
“You got off too soon. You have to locate the cemetery where you belong if you want your family to find you.” He waved a hand.
“In this place, every cemetery that is and was in this world is connected. When you get off the train, there is nothing else. Just graveyards. One flowing into the next and into the next and on and on. Some have monuments, some have simple crosses, some have stones set flat in the ground. All the cities of the dead.” A puzzled look.
“Your ticket should have told you when it was time to depart.”
“Didn’t buy a ticket.”
“Ah. That explains the length of your ride.” The man sighed.
“There will be signs when you pass from one cemetery to another. If you don’t recognize the language, you’ve strayed too far from your home and need to choose another direction.
” He set the edge of the spade into the sod.
“Now, if you will excuse me, I want to finish this task and go home.”
“That’s it?” Acid demanded. “That’s all you’ll tell me?”
“What else is there to say? You left the train too soon. Now you must search for your home or someplace close enough that you will be found.”
Acid stared at the man. “But you got on the train at Wyrd too.”
“No. A place like it, I think, but not there. The places that are a convergence of the uncanny…Those places abide by different rules.” The man resumed digging.
Acid watched the man for a minute, then walked back to the tracks. He’d follow those because they had to lead somewhere.
They had to.