Sir Handel had no idea how to approach Luke about his nightmares; they left the poor little Irish engine either too exhausted to move, or too paranoid and hyped up with fear.

He did have good days, of course; but they came and went very quickly.

In fact, Luke's mental state had gotten so bad, that he even asked his driver to get a priest to exorcize Sir Handel!

In Luke's defence, he had a bout of febrile paranoia; but even knowing that, Sir Handel was deeply unhappy with the situation. However, it also made Peter Sam worried for his cousin and felt that keeping him cooped up in the quarry tunnels like a rabbit in a fox den would only lead to bad news; and he brought up his concerns to Sir Handel following the uninitiated exorcism incident.

Therefore, Sir Handel decided to plead Luke's case to Rheneas and Skarloey. They were in charge of Luke's safety, and were the ones who decided, with unanimous agreement from the others, of course, who should be privy to Luke's presence and the dark, foreboding secret that followed the young Irish engine around like bad luck.

"Let me tell you one thing, Sir Handel. Luke is like a snowdrop- trample in the wrong place, and he'll wilt away. It's our job not to let that happen to him. He needs us to protect him and look after him." Rheneas said firmly, in answer to Sir Handel's plea to allow Luke out of the tunnels.

"But Rheneas-" Sir Handel started to object; but he was quickly cut off by the older engine.

"No, I mean what I said, Sir Handel. We must, at all costs, keep him hidden from the rest of the Island. It's for his safety; we can't treat that matter lightly, because we cannot afford to."

"Rheneas is right. Luke's safety is our top priority." Skarloey agreed firmly.

"Listen, I get it," An irritated Sir Handel replied. "His safety's important, yada, yada, de la de doo. "But what use is him being safe if he's losing his mind in the process? Can you answer me that?"

Neither of them could; but Sir Handel sensed he had just won his argument.

"Well, that's a fair point." Skarloey agreed. "We could see about him getting out at night for an hour or two-but remember, there's his crew to think of. And besides, where would he go? Are you willing to keep him here?"

"He could go to the Wharf," Sir Handel suggested. "The workmen there'll love him."

"Duke often works there; and he'll never approve of Luke- especially with his secret- if he finds out." Skarloey pointed out. "Besides, the Thin Controller could still find out. He'll be down there in person; not to mention the possibility of Luke being found by Duke, Freddie, Mighty Mac or Bertram, or Colin. No, Sir Handel. The Wharf's not wise." Skarloey sighed sadly. "We will keep your point in mind, however."

Feeling disheartened and deflated, Sir Handel muttered thanks to his friends, and chuffed away to find his little brother.

...

"Did you talk to them?" Peter Sam inquired, as he watched his older brother approach. "What did they say?"

"I tried to argue our concerns, little brother; but they thought the Wharf was a bad idea." Sir Handel replied.

Peter Sam pulled a face. "Did you really need them two to tell you that?" He asked. "I did say the Wharf was a bad plan!"

"Well, did you have anything better? Don't say you have- moths are flying out of your funnel." Sur Handel teased.

"Any non-existent ideas I could have had were way better than yours." Peter Sam smirked triumphantly at his 'brilliant' comeback. But Sir just looked confused and blinked owlishly at his best friend.

"How does that even make any sense?!" he asked in disbelief.

"He's saying your plan sucked, buddy," Michael said dryly. Sir Handel just snarled and wheeshed at Peter Sam.

"What are... you… you two talking about?" Luke asked, yawning repeatedly throughout his question. He smiled apologetically as he attempted to rouse himself from Morpheus' weakening grip.

Peter Sam sighed, "Sir Handel and I were thinking you could do with a change of scenery." He explained. "Owen and Merrick told us how bad your nightmares were getting."

"I'm sorry." The Wren locomotive sighed, "I'm having a hard time getting to sleep; my conscience refuses to be stifled, and now I'm having nightmares of a blue demon engine that resembles Sir Handel saying I'm mortally condemned, and of the yellow engine breathing his last, asking me "why me?' before sinking to the bottom of the ocean."

"He didn't sink, Luke." Peter Sam reminded him gently.

"I know. But dreams don't care about logic," Sighed Luke in reply. "I just… I know I have to stay here, in the quarry, but… I just want to leave here and get away from my nightmares and my thoughts and my feelings… all of this madness, churning around in my funnel!"

The two engines were sorry for Luke, and they agreed to pause their quarrelling at once.

"If only it was so easy to own up to what I did. If I wasn't so scared that I'd get sent back to Ireland, never to see Sodor again, I'd just do it. But I can't; not with the threat of exile hanging over my head. Now I'm stuck in here, fearing discovery and continually mistaking Sir Handel for a demon engine that only exists in my nightmares."

"Well, we need to do something." Peter Sam said determinedly. "You're our friend, Luke, and we hate seeing you suffering like this. We'll find a way to help you out of this nightmare- one way or another!"

"But what can you do?" Luke asked gloomily. "I'm not ungrateful for what you all have done for me thus far; but I feel that nothing can be done about my nightmares, so I'll be stuck with them for the foreseeable future."

As Sir Handel looked round the quarry, he suddenly had an idea. "Hey, Peter Sam, do you remember how to get to the Mid Sodor Railway?" He asked nonchalantly, as though he was asking about the weather.

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I do- why?" Peter Sam questioned warily. He didn't like where his friend's thoughts were heading. He knew Sir Handel all too well; his brother would suggest some crazy scheme and expect him to roll along with it.

Unfortunately, he was correct, once again.

"How about we go and show Luke where we used to work? We wouldn't actually go in too far, you know- don't think we can, anyway- but we'll just show him where we used to live and work before we came here, and then leave before anyone notices the disturbance of our routines."

"Oh no, Sir Handel- you're crazy!" Peter Sam insisted. "I'm not going back there!"

"I'd like to see it." Luke said softly. "I think it sounds interesting."

"Not you too- I expected better from you, Luke!" The Skarloey Railway number 4 protested, in dismay.

But had he? Luke was young, cooped up in a quarry he couldn't leave, and he had only lived on Sodor a couple of years, as opposed to living in Ireland for many, many years. It was only natural Luke would become very curious to learn more about his new home… especially about his friends' histories.

Besides, Luke was clearly too tempted to finally have his wish fulfilled to think rationally, and this only made Peter Sam more fearful for his cousin's safety.

"Well, I'm not expecting any better of myself." Luke argued. "I'm responsible for knocking an engine into the sea. What's the worst I could do to follow that?"

It was this statement that set off alarm bells inside Peter Sam's mind. He felt that Luke might be in danger of some sort, but he didn't know what. He felt that he should go with them to keep an eye on his cousin (and his brother too, of course.)

Sir Handel may be older than him by sixteen years, but he certainly didn't seem interested in setting a good example here.

"Fine, I'll go too." The Tattoo conceded, listening to the cheers of his companions. "Seeing as everyone else is so eager." Secretly, though, he really wished for a pair of useable hands… if only to strangle Sir Handel with.

Only, he forgot Sir Handel required a neck for that to happen…

...

"Why did I agree to this?" Peter Sam questioned himself, as he, Luke and Sir Handel set off along the moonlit line. He had a niggling feeling in his cylinders that this venture would end disastrously… but he knew Sir Handel would just tell him to shut up again if he tried to object.

"Isn't this exciting, Peter Sam?" Luke's soft Irish accent spoke from behind him; he was very clearly excited and curious to finally see where his two companions had grown up; under Duke's instruction and care.

"I guess it is," Peter Sam answered, shakily, "If adventures involving risk taking and rule-breaking are your thing."

"Oh, do be quiet, Peter Sam!" Sir Handel snapped from the front. "If you don't like it, you can go home!"

This caused the dark green engine to fall silent, but he wished Sir Handel would change his mind, and order them all to retreat. But, as Sir Handel remained stubborn on pushing on, Peter Sam felt he had no choice but to stay and keep an eye on his brother and cousin.

Mist hovered over the time-forsaken line. Sir Handel, feeling reckless, decided to venture on anyway; with Luke and Peter Sam close behind. The old, rusted, overgrown rails creaked and groaned under their weight as they pushed on through the derelict railway.

Luke wasn't in the slightest bit frightened by the sight of abandon and neglect; in fact, it saddened him greatly that it was closed. Sir Handel kept boasting about how he wasn't scared, either; and, he kept chuffing ahead of them, mischievously threatening to leave them behind if they didn't keep with him.

In fact, Peter Sam felt that he was the most scared of the trio, which will not reflect on him kindly the next morning-more certainly so if Sir Handel had something to say about it… (which he definitely did. Peter Sam knew Sir Handel was a master blackmailer. This had been an unfortunately, tragically hard lesson to learn.)

….

Suddenly, a loud hoot overhead caused Peter Sam to squeak with sudden distress, feeling that the end of the world was nigh.

"What was that?" He asked nervously. From the front, he heard Sir Handel scoff; but Luke just chuckled.

"It's only a barn owl, cousin." The Irish engine replied and sure enough, a beautiful barn owl swooped in and captured something that made a loud squealing noise and was quickly silenced.

"Looks like the owl is satisfied, and you know what, so am I. I'm going back now." Peter Sam babbled in fright. He didn't like sneaking about like this at all. He felt like he was committing wrongdoing (which he was.) He was also embarrassed about the owl incident and now, he desperately wanted to scram back to the Skarloey Railway before Sir Handel could tease him mercilessly for being scared of birds.

"Come on, Peter Sam. Stop being a chicken!" Sir Handel snorted, looking around the yard before letting out a soft sigh of nostalgia, allowing himself to remember some of the adventures he had with Peter Sam and Duke before the line closed in 1947 and tragically separated the two young engines from their guardian, mentor and friend.

"Here, Peter Sam, remember the story with Smudger?" Sir Handel asked, wanting to change the subject of his thoughts before he became overwhelmed by the memories of that fateful, heart-breaking day…

"Yes, too well," His friend and younger brother replied. "You're not going to tell it to Luke, are you?" He asked, alarmed.

"Of course I am! It might interest him." Sir Handel said, before turning his attention to a rapt Luke- who he couldn't see anyway.

"Once upon a time, there an engine named Smudger and he was young and reckless..."

...

By the end of the story, Peter Sam was glad to note he wasn't the only one feeling scared; even if he had heard this story for what seemed like the 100th time; he could tell Luke was also starting to feel trepidation, though he would deny it whenever either of the brothers tried to ask him if it had traumatised him.

"Is that story true, Peter Sam?" Luke asked curiously, feeling very disturbed that anyone could conceive to shut an engine up like that... never to run on the rails again.

"Oh yes, he is! He's behind our old shed, boarded up in an old shack. He'd be lucky if he was to ever get out." Sir Handel chucked darkly.

Poor Luke began to tremble. He felt that if Smudger had been turned into a generator for derailing all the time, would he share a similar fate for knocking the innocent engine into the sea?

"Come on, we'll show you." Sir Handel added.

"Please don't!" Luke begged. "It was enough coming here!"

"Alright, Luke. If you don't want to see it, we wouldn't." Sir Handel conceded.

Peter Sam huffed. Why was Sir Handel being nice to Luke, and yet, when he mentioned how he felt, Sir Handel told him to 'grow a pair- Skarloey managed, and so can you.'