»» BOOK #2 of the X-MARKS: Shadows Series «« Valen and her friends are on the run once again. After their camp is disassembled, they take shelter in a series of traveling homes and meet hosts that will shape their journey in unexpected ways.
When...
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"Now listen!" J shouted back and began to unbuckled his harness, "You wait for my signal! When you hear it, get from under the train! Go as far as you can!"
J unhitched himself with ease, and slipped from under the compartment and above the cart, his feet rested on it's jutting pipes.
"Valen?" Nate shouted with his hand on Evee's mouth, "What happened?"
I pointed down to the tracks. Nate's alarmed expression resembled J's as he started to fiddle with his harness buckle.
"No," I shouted to Nate as the hum of the train grew louder again, "We have to wait for J's signal."
Nate's shaggy hair whipped in his face, "What signal?"
"Will anyone tell me what the hell those things are?" Mat shouted from beside Nate.
"Look out!" Ocean screamed and pointed below.
A ray of red light fanned out from the tracks and into our compartment. Its thin daggers pointed in every direction as one seared through my ankles.
The throbbing pain burned my skin and tore a smoking hole through my jeans that sent shocks through my entire body.
"We got to get the hell out of here!" Mat said and unlatched his harness with one hand and held onto a pipe of the compartment with the other.
"No!" I said and held my arm out to stop him, "J's signal, we have to listen to him!"
The others looked at me with raised lips and wrinkled foreheads. They had no reason to believe that J would be coming back.
Above my head, Evees shouts were getting worse. A piece of her shirt near her hip was fuming with smoke. She had been hit by the red light too.
The train came to a slow then a sudden stop, the wheels pulled forwards then back again. The silence was unnerving. We were no longer disguised under the hum of the train. Any sound, any movement would expose us now.
Above, a faint sound crept over the carts. A steady pair of feet were walking on top of the train.
"Citizen!" the cold voice of an Ally shouted in the distance.
It sent a painful rush of fear through me as if the red light had struck me again. There was only one person that this could be.
"Identify yourself," another voice shouted.
It was quiet, and for a long, painful time, no one said a word. Then over the silence, a single voice came through.
"Carry me up the mountain," J's voice began to sing, "Where the dust has gone and settled. This is where you gon' find me."
What? Why was he singing? This wasn't the time for -
