A loud horn sounded in the distance. Crassus raised the bathtub above his head as if it were made of paper. The horn grew ever louder, the source was coming toward them and fast. The sound echoed and made it difficult to pinpoint but Isaac thought he could hear it louder from above. He looked up. Yes it definitely was louder now. What kind of horn was that? A boat horn… or, no… it was a—

  Crassus looked up as well just in time to see the large red metallic wedge shape jut out of the fog as if a titan had decided to reach down from the heavens to squash them all beneath his finger. Crassus’s hand blurred and the bathtub connected with the side of the train before it reached him.

  The locomotive hurtled away from Crassus and crashed into the ground well clear of Crassus. But the rest of the carriages dumped into the ground in a straight line away from the train engine and right over Crassus, burying him beneath the sleek metal. The carriages continued to rain down for several seconds. The tail end of the train disappeared into the fog and out of sight. They still heard the crash of each individual carriage as they met the ground in turn, one after the other.

  Isaac could only look on dumbstruck as the train’s last few carriages fell and the train settled to a halt. Nothing moved for a time, even Aster seemed lost for words. Then a window shattered on top of a carriage and a hand reached out followed by a torso.

  Aster shook Isaac. “We should go,” Aster said, “There’s too many people.”

  Isaac looked to the carriage that now had people climbing all over it. Some carriages further down the line began to show signs of activity as well. No movement came from the train engine. “Shouldn’t we help them?” He could hear some screams coming from inside the train now. How had they survived that impact? How fast had that train been falling? Isaac shuddered as he imagined how many dead people the metal tube now contained.

  “The whirlwind,” Aster said.

  “What?”

  “Look at the whirlwind.”

  Isaac looked at the swirling mists around them carried by the eerie wind. “What about it?”

  “It hasn’t stopped.”

  Some realization hid away in Isaac’s mind a hands breadth away, just beyond reach. “What do you mean?”

  She looked out over the newcomers. Some of them had huddled in a group on the ground, having dropped down from the upended carriage, but most were stranded on top, either too hurt or shell-shocked to climb down.

  “Aster, what do you mean?” Isaac pressed.

  “Crassus.”

  The realization hit. It should’ve been obvious but the insanity of the last few hours had pushed Isaac’s spirit to the brink. It was hard to connect any of the dots, much less these new supernatural realites he had to contend with. Everything he knew and took for granted had been turned on its head in a matter of seconds. But now that he had it pointed out to him, it was easy to see the connection. Every time Crassus had neared, the smoke had done something strange. No, it was more than that, the smoke did something to Crassus as well, it made him more coherent somehow.

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  “Ah fuck me,” he said. He also realized that Aster wasn’t looking at the newcomers at all, but rather the carriage that Crassus lay under.

  As if on queue the carriage lurched. The train shivered from the force but gravity fought it back down and it didn’t move again. Several people attempting the climb down despite injuries or broken limbs lost their footing and fell. Screams rose above the rumble of the wind.

  Isaac again found himself moving away even before his brain had caught up. He felt so drained he found it difficult to be surprised or to even care anymore. But he still ran. He had to live, if not for himself then at the very least for Finn.

  Aster in tow, Isaac reached the wall of wind. Neither of them hesitated for a second but burst through the barrier and into the whirling mists. The noise raised to a deafening cacophony again and either Isaac misremembered the loudness or the torrent of objects had intensified. Gravel, sand and larger stones pelted him from the right side where the wind forced the debris in front of it with ceaseless abandon.

  Isaac couldn’t see further than a couple paces in front of him, but the booming sounds of crash after crash reverberated in every direction. He felt a tugging on his coat and turned to see Aster pointing. She spared no time to explain further and set off the way she had pointed. Her right leg dragged behind her and she supported most of her weight on her left. Isaac followed.

  He didn’t know where she was taking him or where she could’ve possibly gotten a heading from in this mess. But they took just a couple steps before the turbulent winds grew a considerable amount more noticeable, so at least something was different about her route. Aster did not halter. She soldiered on, and for lack of a better plan, Isaac struggled to fall in line behind her.

  Soon the wind got intermixed with sand, and it tore at Isaac’s skin like files. Stones, twigs and other larger objects pelted him and threatened to knock him to the ground. The visibility shrank to zero in three strides and Isaac had to lurch forward and grab Aster’s clothing before she disappeared from sight.

  Shielding his face with one arm Isaac stumbled after the tugging in his hands, too exhausted to make another decision for himself. Every breath contained a small piece of hell. Every sound cowered before the overpowering roar of the storm. Every movement quivered in the promise that the next would be the last. But somehow, Isaac did not let go and he did not falter.

  The pressure lifted. The deafening noise sounded from behind rather than around him. Light peered through the edges of his arm and painted the backs of his eyelids in a muddy yellow hue. Isaac hesitated a moment in bringing his arm away from his face, the change had been so sudden that he didn’t believe it at first. But then Aster stopped and he was forced to look.

  Brilliant sunlight awaited his eyes, the warmth of it bathed his face in a sensation of safety and home he was surprised to discover just how much he had missed. The intensity of it blinded him for a split second, it came at him from all angles, not just the sky. He closed his eyes. Sunlight? How long had they been in there? It had felt like minutes, but the night had clearly passed, had it really been that long? Isaac opened his eyes until his eyelids formed tiny slits to guard him against the sunlight and he peered out.

  His heart sank as he saw what had made Aster stop. A line of men stood watching the churning mist a couple paces away from the edge. They were just as rough-looking as Ronan’s bandits had been, but these men wore pieces of resplendent armor colored in red and gold. The display of armored men was the first real sign of civilization Isaac had seen since he’d stepped out of the blue fog. Maybe there were actual authorities after all?