“I also know who brought the second stowaway on board.” Lily locked eyes with Rasmus. “I’ve instructed that an announcement be made to tell Mr. Philips to meet me at the boarding car. Where you and I will be waiting for him.”
The loudspeaker chimed.
“Good evening, passengers. We would like to request Mr. Philips Jr. and Ms. Sia to proceed to the boarding car. The conductor will meet you there. Thank you.”
Q
“That’s insane.” Q shook his head, letting Rasmus’s words sink in. “Lily’s obviously still confused. We know that the stowaway can play tricks on your mind and made both Lily and Raya see things that weren’t real. Maybe it’s affected Lily’s memories too. Or maybe she didn’t catch as much of Manon’s fragrance as you did and so what she remembers is in disarray or incomplete. Please tell me that you don’t believe her.”
A bell rang in the farthest corner of the Archive.
“Raya!” Q sprinted to the bell.
Rasmus hurried after him. He checked on the bell, dropped it, and walked away.
“Where are you going?” Q grabbed his arm. “Where is she? Where’s Raya?”
Rasmus tugged his arm free. “I’ll take it from here, Q. I’ll deal with the stowaway.”
“What about Raya?”
“If I can save her, I will.”
“That’s not good enough, Rasmus. Tell me where the stowaway’s taken her.”
“Go back to your compartment, Q.”
“You have no intention of saving Raya, do you? You’re going to decouple whatever train car the stowaway’s in.”
Rasmus pulled a vial of thick blue liquid from his pocket. “Drink this.”
Q glared at the vial. “You want me to erase Raya?”
“I want you to claim your place on the Elsewhere Express just as all the passengers have. You can build a new life for yourself here.”
“By leaving Raya to rot.”
“I promise that you won’t feel one ounce of guilt. It will be as if she never existed.”
“How can you say that? The first stowaway would have destroyed the train if not for Raya. It was her song that saved all of you. Even if this tonic wipes every trace of her from my mind, I’ll hear her songs. They built this train long before she set foot in it. How can I forget someone who’s everywhere? If you don’t want to help her, fine. But you can’t stop me from trying.”
“You can’t do anything if you can’t get to where she is,” Rasmus said.
“Lily was right.” Q’s voice darkened.
“About what?”
Q grabbed Rasmus by the collar. “I am a danger to this train.” He shoved Rasmus against a jade wall. “If you don’t tell me where Raya is right now, I swear to you that I will paint the walls and floors of this train with cracks so deep, everything you’ve built will shatter before you can scream.”
Rasmus raised his hands and sighed. “All right.”
Rasmus
“You’re making a mistake.” Rasmus folded his arms, watching Q’s pencil fly over a piece of official Elsewhere Express stationery.
“Perhaps.” Q set his pencil down and folded the paper in half. “But not one that I will regret.” He slipped the stationery into a black envelope and sealed it with gold wax. He walked over to Rasmus and handed him the envelope. “Can I trust you with this?”
Rasmus nodded and tucked the envelope into his jacket pocket. “Good luck, Q. I hope you’re right. For all our sakes.”
