The slips to the future and past were getting worse, so every time I fell asleep, I lost my hold on the present. At the very least, I was recovering more quickly. This time not even Leif noticed something was wrong.

It was getting harder to keep information to myself as we traveled. Everyone deserved more from me, including Nash. It was just so hard to make myself share it. I told them pieces of the truth that wouldn't endanger them. I'd been recruited by the Prophet in my homeland on the other side of the world to train at the Sacred School when I was ten, but I'd run away before becoming one. Nash had asked if the gods gave their powers to me. I'd said I didn't make it that far, even though the truth was that I'd been born with the power. But now they all knew that I had a friend on the mountain who stayed and would be as powerful as the rest of the Prophets by now.

Nash had been the most persistent in asking me questions, but I'd been persistent in ignoring him.

It hadn't worked any favors in regard to the tension between us. I couldn't stop thinking about how he worked with Flare, which only made me angry again about him serving the Prophet. I understood his reasons, but I couldn't respect it. I would have found another way.

At least, I wanted to believe I would.

The anger would churn with my worries about whether Leif was right and I'd made a mistake, until Nash met my eyes. That instinctive pull to trust him would overwhelm my senses, and I couldn't decide whether that meant I absolutely should not have been listening to myself, or whether I should. I'd always followed my gut in the past.

The next time Nash had pressed me for information, I glanced at the narrow space between us. "You should be careful."

He raised his brows, confused.

"Leif is watching you and he already described to me in detail how he will brutally murder you if you get too close to me."

A grin climbed up one side of Nash's face. "Really?" Nash glanced behind us and I did as well. Leif stared directly at him with his hand resting on his sword, walking close enough that he could reach him with one swift lunge.

"You made your point," Wren whispered to Leif.

But the man would not be swayed and kept his glare on Nash.

I was surprised when Nash smiled in response and turned so that he could see everyone as he walked backward. "I grew up with a sister." Then, he tapped his left shoulder. "I had a bad wound a few years ago. It's slight, but my flexibility is not quite as good on this side. If you get just the right angle behind me, it can be a problem in battle."

"Are you mocking me, boy?" Leif asked.

"Just giving you reassurances. I can't fault you for protecting Max. If I got to see my sister again, I'd do the same."

Wren's expression melted. "That's sweet."

"No. You think you can charm people." Leif shook his head. "It doesn't matter to me what your intentions are. I won't trust you."

Nash shrugged. "Fair enough." He took a large step away from me to the side, but it only made Leif grumble.

The encounter had distracted Nash from interrogating me, at least. I had to focus on strategizing on how to make it up the mountain and to get my power back. Perhaps, if I killed the instructors, it would unlock my abilities.

And what if the gods decided to prevent me from even stepping foot on the mountain?

I rubbed my sore neck as we walked.

After another day of traveling, I finally had to break it to the group that to make it to the Mountain of the Gods we would have to cross forbidden lands, and that our method of transportation also happened to be forbidden.

"I don't understand." Leif crossed his arms and eyed me. "It's a beast?"

I held back my sigh. "It's called a train. It transports resources from the mines to factories where things like our weapons are made, and then to the edge of the forbidden land, where the Prophet's people move everything on the highways."

Nash scratched his nose with his thumb and scoffed. "You soften it with your made up words. Forbidden and holy are the only descriptions that matter. The Prophet ensures death for anyone who tampers with those lands."

Leif waved a hand in the air. "Max survived the Mountain of the Gods. She'll teach us to survive the Prophet's forbidden lands. What I want to know is whether the Prophet keeps such a powerful beast under his control all the time? That must exhaust him. Perhaps, it's a weakness."

Nash glanced at Leif. "Exceptional point."

"No," I said. "It's not a beast. It's not alive. It has no mind. It's made of metal, like our swords, and powered by energy, kind of like the electricity in the Prophet's village."

"The closest villagers say it roars like a beast," Nash said. "So loud that it shakes the ground."

Wren nodded. "I've heard of something like this. The Prophet can use the souls of the dead to animate nonliving things and use them for his will."

Leif gave a skeptical look. "That's some made up shit, Wren."

Her brows furrowed in frustration. "How is it any less made up than some mindless train beast?"

I snorted and coughed to cover the reaction. "You'll understand when you see it."

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"I'm not sure I want to understand," Leif mumbled.

The others nodded in agreement.

I chuckled. "So none of you want to ride the train?"

"No," all three said at once.

"Well, then you really won't like the Mountain of the Gods." I walked backward so I could see everyone. "You could turn back and let me go alone."

"No," Leif said, eyes narrowed.

I shrugged. "It was worth a try."

As we drew closer to the route the train took, the scenery changed. Beside me, Nash's face looked shadowed as he shifted toward the foothills of the Mountain of the Gods where the industrial zone was hidden away. No one dared venture there, not even the most fearless of scavengers and looters. What the Prophet called forbidden was taken seriously, especially when with the shadow of the mountain looming over it. Might and reputation were far better deterrents than the best defense. Even the demons feared stepping too close to the forbidden foothills.

Really, it was an area filled with mines and factories run mostly by machines and the disciples of the creators, Prophets who were gifted inventors. Unfortunately, they tended to not be as gifted in warfare, which meant that most creators in the world fell to the control of ferocious Prophets, like Eskel the Ruthless.

The potential of neural implants had been wasted and abused in so many ways, but this was perhaps the worst. An industrialized area hidden from the people and controlled entirely by one cruel man. Although, the palaces on the coast almost infuriated me as much. The most powerful people in the peninsula vacationed to these high-tech retreats, where they could indulge in the most luxurious of pleasures, and the nastiest to think about. I'd heard of awful virtual reality rooms where the most faithful lived out their most depraved fantasies.

Perhaps we could have cured diseases that could wipe out entire villages, but no, we had to focus on weapons for controlling and pleasures for the pampered. The forbidden lands were cursed in my mind, but not for the reasons that others feared it. Our world wasn't ready for this power, and we didn't deserve it.

I sped up, wishing I could flee my thoughts. The guilt pawed at me, and with it the burning of the eclipse that had always haunted me. I could feel the flames burning my hands. See the Prophet's inky eyes staring at me. Sense death closing in around me.

A shudder squeezed my spine, trying to ring the life from me.

I pressed on with the others, until we rounded a bend, and saw the first large factory building looming over us. Train tracks cut across the ground before it.

Nash was the first to slow. Leif continued further toward the building, and Wren came to my side.

"Do they have things like this on the mountain?" she asked.

I nodded. "Something like it."

Ahead of us, Nash's hands tightened into fists. "The bastard keeps this all for himself. What storm could tear down such a structure? Children could have better homes if the Prophet is capable of this."

The words settled over us, resonating the same way a voice echoed in the mountains. Trains arrived and departed constantly to keep up with the Prophet's expanding reach. One would come soon and we would have to be ready.

"Forbidden," Leif said. "Forbidden to all but a few."

A faint roar swelled behind us and then the rumbling of the ground began in weak vibrations. Leif twisted, as if ready to face off against an enemy, while Wren studied the possible threat from her war painted eyes. I watched Nash and how his expression changed so subtly as the massive train charged toward us. For the first time, it occurred to me that having to serve the Prophet and live in his shadow meant Nash had seen things Leif and Wren hadn't. And that, perhaps, shock did not come as easily to him as I expected.

There was no need for defense this far away from any villagers and so deep in the forbidden lands. The train pulled to a stop right before a massive door that opened to the factory, where large crates traveled by overhead rails. Then, the train would creep forward, so the next car lined up with the door.

I motioned for my friends to follow as I climbed up the side of a car and hefted myself on top.

Leif clung to the edge when the train rolled forward, eyes wide. "I still do not understand."

I had to turn my face away to keep from laughing.

Once the last car had been loaded, I rolled onto my stomach and held the edge like Leif had. "Don't let go."

The train moved forward, gaining speed every moment, until it broke that of a horse, and soared beyond how fast anyone except for me would have ever traveled.

Leif screamed at the top of his lungs with his hair ripping back in the wind. "I don't fucking understand."

But Nash lifted onto his forearms, eyes bright as he looked over the side. My stomach tightened and I grabbed the back of his shirt, terrified he'd fall.

"Careful," I said.

He looked into my eyes, laughing that exhilarated kind of laugh while the curls flew back from his face. "No land will be forbidden to me again."

My heart caught. I gripped his shirt still, unable to let go with how close to the edge he rode. "You're having fun?"

He scooted to the middle of the car and carefully crawled onto his knees, letting his head fall back, his arms raised, his tunic whipping in the wind. Exposed cliffs flashed around us as the train rushed ahead at full speed. Leif screamed in horror again while Nash laughed and unleashed a very different kind of roar.

Wren nudged me with her foot. She'd been so quiet and still, I hadn't even looked at her. "Stop worrying so much."

I bit my lip and looked back to Nash. It did look fun. Sighing, I crawled beside him and closed my eyes against the power of the wind. His arm slid around me, and Leif was too busy clinging for dear life to the edge of the car to notice.

"Does it go faster, Sharpshooter?"

"I think this is fast enough." I laughed.

With the danger we were barreling for, I couldn't believe I was feeling anything close to fun, but I couldn't keep Nash's infectious grin from spreading to me.

So I took the excuse to hold onto him, to let the wind take away my suspicion and fear, and enjoy the exhilaration of how each curve made us slide. Nash and I held onto each other tightly, laughing as we kept each other from toppling over. I could let myself have a short time with my guard down. It felt good to let go of all of my anxiety. It seemed to be something Nash had no trouble doing.

I couldn't decide if he just didn't have the good sense to be afraid. Or, if maybe he had the sense not to be.‎