“Did you think I wasn’t pulling hard enough, Trifecta?”
“Don’t bite my head off. And just because my arms aren’t as big as thighs doesn’t mean I’m weak.”
He huffed and then turned toward the opening we’d come through earlier and gripped the sill to climb out, but a thick piece of metal rose like a window being powered up. “What the—” He snatched his hand back before the metal could saw it off.
I swallowed as the curved glass panel in front of us darkened and turned opaque.
Fear spread through me, and I backed up, my calves bumping into the conductor’s bench. I sank down hard, and a bolt of pain shot up my tailbone. Oh, Skies, I was going to die in a metal box next to Remo Farrow. I wasn’t sure what horrified me more: the claustrophobic nature of my death or the fact that Remo would be the last person I’d see before dying.
My fiancé rained punches on our wrought-iron casket and snarled like alupawhile I gathered my legs against me and pressed my eyes against my kneecaps.
I hadn’t thought anything could beat sticking my hand in the Cauldron alongside Remo’s, but then I’d dropped through a fifty-foot portal, was attacked by a swarm of shrieking pink blooms, explored a ghost town, and made the acquaintance of a rabid pack of wolves before getting locked into a clattering train car. The fact that I kept one-upping myself worried me to no end.
A sob lurched out of my mouth, but I managed to stifle most of it on my knees. Dust coated my wobbly lips, and my parched throat burned.
Remo’s punching and swearing stopped. “Crying won’t help, Trifecta.”
I didn’t pick my face off my legs, but I wedged my cracked lips tighter together to cry more quietly.
A hand landed on my tensed arm and gripped it gently. “Come on, don’t cry.” Remo’s voice sounded strained. “You’re not in this alone.”
I lifted my head. “How neat. We can die together. Do you want to hold hands now?”
His green eyes flared, but I couldn’t tell with what, because my vision was all blurry. “We’re not going to die. I swear I’ll find a way out of this thing.”
I was about to shake my head at how naïve he was when the train stopped rocking and the darkened windows cleared. Both Remo and I watched the land develop beyond the window.
The rocky mountain was still there, but the terrain around us was . . . it was different.
The train door hissed, releasing us into a brand-new cell.
13
The Glass City
“Look at that.” Remo’s voice sliced through the ringing silence. “I told you I’d get us out of here, and I got us out of here.”
“Yeah. I don’t think you had any hand in that.”
“You’d be surprised by the power of positive thinking.”
I side-eyed him. “Can you positive-think us back to Neverra?”
He smiled. “Trust me. Every few seconds, I’m sending brainwaves toward the portal.”
I shook my head but smiled . . . a little.
He tipped his head toward the open door. “Ready to go explore?”
“I hate exploring. Maybe if we sit here long enough, the magical train will take us back home.”
“If my grandfather designed this place, this train won’t take us anywhere nice.”
I slid my lower lip between my teeth and stared back out at the skyscrapers of glass rising from an endless slab of concrete. To say I missed the dry dusty town we’d left behind would be a stretch, but I wasn’t looking forward to finding out what hid in this world.
Remo hopped out of the train, head swiveling as he scrutinized our new surroundings. Slowly, I rose from the bench and climbed out, too. The station had adapted to the environment. Instead of bricks, a single-paned dome of glass enclosed a platform fashioned from silver metal polished to a mirror-shine. The tracks consisted of the same magnetic strips humans used in their metropoles, and the train was sleek and bullet-shaped.
Even though this land looked more familiar than the last, it didn’t feel any more familiar. It was cold, made colder by the blistering white sky and frosty air. I hugged myself as I took in the glass rectangles glittering like cut diamonds. They stretched so high that if the portal had been in the valley, we could’ve cracked open a window and easily hopped onto it.
