Twelve-year-old Carmen has a secret: she can talk to her cat Grim. But the powerful Brotherhood has banned pets, and the penalty is death.
Ward is the most wanted boy in the world. The only thing standing between him and the hangman's noose is maste...
They had been walking for about ten minutes when Ward saw something big blocking the tunnel up ahead. It wasn't until they were upon it that he realised it was a vehicle. Its wheels were absurdly small.
"It runs along the rails," Ward whispered, "underground?"
"It did," Nick said. He slipped into the space between the carriage and the tunnel wall. Ward followed.
While they were still passing the carriage – or carriages, for the vehicle consisted of sections linked by heavy couplings – they came to another platform, larger than the first. They climbed up onto it.
"Let me show you something," Nick said, gliding away from the carriages. Ward hurried after him. The platform opened out into an airy space into which several staircases descended. They were all blocked with rubble.
"Sealed off," Nick said. "But look here."
Where the staircases met stood a plinth. There was a protuberance at the top of it, its surface tarnished and green and flaky. It looked like something that had grown there. Nick pressed the protuberance and a stream of water arced out, catching Ward by surprise. It plashed down into a concavity and vanished.
"Drink dispenser," Nick said. "Fantastic eh? People would be waiting here for their carriages to arrive, they'd press this button and it would give them water. Go on, try it."
"I'm not thirsty," Ward said, though he was.
Nick shrugged, and drank.
"Where does the water come from?" Ward said.
"Aquifer I guess." Nick wiped his mouth. "It's very cold."
They returned to the platform. Nick handed the lanthorn to Ward and fished something out of his breast pocket. "I'm going to have a smoke."
While Nick rolled a sigarillo Ward moved towards the carriages. He held the lamp up to the nearest window and his heart jolted in his chest. "There're people in there."
"Yeh," Nick said to his bacca pouch. "You won't get inside so don't bother trying. Doors're jammed."
Ward turned back to the window, holding the lamp up until it almost touched the glass. A skull materialised out of the gloom. It was shockingly small – were these people pygmies? Then he realised it was the skull of a child. Perhaps the child had been leaning on the windowsill, looking out at the platform, when it died.
Bones were strewn across the carriage floor. Whatever cushioning had been on the chairs had long rotted away, leaving bare metal upon which more bones were heaped.
"What happened to them?"
"Plague," Nick said, coming up beside him and looking in. "There are several of these trains. One day they stopped, and everyone in them died. Whatever it was it killed them quick."
Ward pulled the lamp back from the window andthe interior of the carriage vanished again. Somehow this was worse – knowingthat they were there in the dark.
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
