Author's Note: Looking back at the last few chapters, I realised that I'd buggered up the sequence of events at the end of chapter 25. I have amended it slightly, but it doesn't affect the story in any way so you don't need to re-read it. What I HAVE changed, though, is the wording to a few sections that spoilt what I had originally planned for the beginning of chapter 26. Oops, sorry, my bad! The relevant alterations are below, and underlined:

"Actually," said James, turning his head to look at Jeanie, "we're standing inside Muffle Mountain, which is where Lady's cave is. It's amazing, isn't it?"

"Er, yeah," Jeanie muttered quietly to herself, then, a bit louder, said, "That means we're in, like, America, yeah?"

"That's right," said James, nodding.

"Fuck!" she spat out. "So how the hell do we get back to Sodor when the portal we came here through leads back to a blocked tunnel thousands of miles away?"

"There's a portal outside that leads back to Sodor," said Thomas.

"But we'll need Lady's magic to use it," said James.

"Once we bring her back to life, that is," Thomas said to his friend.

"That's IF we manage to bring her back to life," said Jeanie caustically.

"I hope we find a telephone somewhere," said Jones the Steam, peering into the engine's small tank on Jeanie side of the engine. "My wife will be wondering where I am when I don't turn up for supper."

"There's a water storage tank just outside inside her cave back there," said Thomas, pointing towards the entrance. "We can use water from that to wash her. It won't take long as there's a hosepipe fixed to a tap near to where she's parked up."

"So I don't have to hunt around for another hosepipe, then," said Jeanie, smirking at him as she spoke. "Who's being silly now, then, eh?" she added, before starting to giggle when she noticed a blush appear on his grey cheeks.

Thomas grinned back at her and said, "Oops, silly me!"

"So, Thomas," said Jeanie, then, "Where's this portal that'll take us back to Sodor?"

Thomas pointed to a spot along the track about three hundred yards from the cave entrance, and said, "It's over there. You can't see it but it is there. Lady used her magic to make it open for me whenever I needed to return to Sodor after visiting her."

Jeanie looked to where Thomas was pointing but, as he'd told her, she couldn't see anything. Shrugging her shoulders, she muttered, "I hope so, Thomas, or we're stuck here for good!"

~Thank you, Jeanie,~ said Lady, relief flowing through her that her fear hadn't come to pass, at least, not right then. Later, maybe, she didn't know, and hoped never to find out. ~There's a portal nearby that I can use to take us all to Sodor. Idris will have to stay inside me until we get there as I'm not strong enough yet to take us all through, so, Jeanie Watkins, I will share my magic with you after we have arrived on Sodor and I am able to make Sparkle under my own power again. Is that all right with you, Jeanie?~

"Yeah, yes, I can wait till then, I think," said Jeanie, knowing now that she could keep herself anchored to something positive like the thought of getting back home again, she should be able to cope with it all. "Er, how long will that take, exactly?" she asked.

And now, hopefully error-free, I give you...

Chapter 26

Ivor huffed and puffed as he slowly pushed the three wagons and Edward out of the tunnel and into the open air. Thomas and Jeanie got up from the rail they'd been using as a seat and walked over towards Lady. Seeing the newly restored magical engine resplendent in her bright purple and gold colours, the old blue engine's eyes widened with pleasure and he blew an excited PEEP-PEEP with his whistle. The connection he again felt with her was as solid as it had ever been and he called to her in delight. ~LADY, I am SOOoooooo glad to see you again!~

~EDWARD!~ Lady cried back, as equally delighted to see the old engine as he was with her. ~Ooh,~ she then gasped. ~You're hurt! How ever did you manage to do THAT, you poor thing?~

~Old age, I think,~ replied Edward rather sheepishly, ~and I suppose a bit of stubborn pride. I... I didn't want to tell the others I was in pain in case they stopped our mission to get the water we needed to save you, an-~

~Oh, my poor, dear Edward,~ sighed Lady, her eyes looking pityingly at him. ~You went through all that just for me? Well, I think you were so brave and noble to risk yourself like that for me, my old friend. I'll never forget this, Edward, and you will always be my hero!~

Edward's cheeks reddened at the magical engine's lavish praise and, his fire having been damped down, vented a few small puffs of steam in embarrassment. ~How... how do you feel now, Lady?~ he asked her, anxious to turn attention away from himself. ~Have you got all your magic back?~

~Idris is helping me to gather it all together again,~ said Lady, still smiling fondly at him, ~but it feels as though some of it is missing, and I'm not sure what it means yet, though I suppose it'll take me a while before I feel fully balanced again. I'm really glad there are so many ley lines around here I can draw strength from, but I think that whatever it was that made me ill in the first place also used them to spread its foulness all over the land. It's terrible what's happened out here!~

In his joy to see Lady, Edward hadn't noticed the state the surrounding countryside was in, but now, as he peered around with wide, staring eyes, he gasped with shock at what he saw.

~It's... everything's black!~ he cried in horror. ~What is all that stuff?~

"It's soot," said James, "though I think a good downpour will soak it into the ground... eventually."

~I hope it doesn't damage the soil or the plants,~ said Lady, frowning. ~Hmmm, I can't feel anything malevolent hanging around in the air, but that's not to say it's actually gone away, so I don't really know. I'll ask Idris if he can feel anything.~

The group then waited as Lady and the dragon in his spirit form communicated with each other, only the gentle hissing and chuffing of the engines broke the silence until Lady spoke again.

~Idris says he can't feel anything, either, except for an after-taste of something most foul.~

"That's good, isn't it?" Thomas asked her. "I mean, it'll be safe for us to use the portal to go back home, then, yes?"

Lady looked to Thomas, her eyes slowly widening as a look of horror appeared on her face.

~Oh, Thomas!~ she moaned. ~That's what I could feel was missing... it's the portal to Sodor! It's gone!~

"What?" asked Jeanie, looking from Thomas to Lady and back again.

"Gone?" said Thomas. "What do you mean 'gone', Lady? Where's it gone to?"

~I don't know, Thomas,~ said Lady. ~It's just... gone. I can't feel it anymore!~

"I said," said Jeanie quite forcefully, now staring at Lady, "WHAT?"

Thomas looked at her and said, "Er, the portal, Jeanie. The one I told you about earlier. Lady says she can't feel it here any more."

"So," said Jeanie, slowly nodding her head, "what you're saying is, we're still stuck here, then. I fucking KNEW something like this was going to happen!" she hissed, then turned away and started walking back towards the cave.

"There's ALWAYS something," she cried out tearfully as she brushed past James as he checked the rope sling on Edward, and started running towards the entrance, but in her haste, didn't hear what Lady was telling Thomas.

"It's one thing after a fucking other!" she continued disparagingly. "Nothing ever changes! FUCK IT!"

"JEANIE," called Thomas, not wanting his human friend to get upset again. "COME BACK... PLEASE! LADY'S JUST TOLD me that..." but he fell silent as she got out of hearing range and just shook his head. Turning to the magical engine, he said, "I really hope you can help her, Lady. She's getting more... volatile as time goes on."

~She can't help it, Thomas,~ said Lady. ~It's the unbalanced magic inside her that's causing it. I really want to do something for her, but I can't risk giving away any of my magic yet until we get to Sodor and I feel right in myself. We'll just have to help her as much as we can.~

Jones the Steam had heard what he thought was an argument going on and, after jumping out of Ivor's cab to investigate, saw the now sobbing Jeanie running towards him.

"I wonder what's happened now?" he said to Ivor, then, as she veered towards him, almost knocking him over as she stumbled into his arms, he managed to grab hold of her to stop them both from falling, and asked, "What's the matter, cariad?"

"We're still stuck here!" she wailed at him. "We... we save Lady and she tells m-m-me she can help me when we g-g-get back to S-S-Sodor, which is fine, but the... the only way b-b-back has g-g-gone!"

"What do you mean 'gone'?" asked Jones, feeling disappointment rising inside himself that something calamitous had happened not only for the young woman to be as upset as she was, but to possibly stop them from going home. Gently, he loosened her grip on his coat sleeves and, with his left hand holding onto her left wrist, reached his right arm across her shoulders and turned her back around to face the way she'd come from, and slowly guided her back towards where Thomas and the others were standing next to Lady.

"Let's go and see what's wrong, Jeanie," he said soothingly to her. "There's been so many strange things happening to us today, something's bound to crop up again to put things right!"

As they got nearer to where the others were standing, Jones noticed that, considering they allegedly couldn't return home, they didn't look as upset as they ought to have been, and he puzzled over what could have occurred for Jeanie to get worked up. "Is it true what Jeanie just told me, Thomas?" he asked the blue-coated former engine. "Are we really still stuck here?"

"It's all right, Mr Jones," said Thomas, smiling reassuringly. "We're not stuck here at all. Lady says that there's a portal at Shining Time Station she might be able to use."

"What do you mean?" asked Jones, looking to both James and Thomas for an answer.

"Well," said Thomas, "that portal I told you about earlier, Lady said that it's gone somehow, but Jeanie ran off as Lady was telling about the one in Shining Time Station and didn't hear her."

"Oh," said Jones. "So we're not stuck here, then?"

~No, Mr Jones,~ said Lady, ~we're not. It won't take us long to get there, but I'll need Idris to pull the portal onto the track for us so we can enter it.~

"Where is it, then, if it's not on the track?" Jones the Steam asked her.

~It's inside the ticket office. Mr Conductor uses it when he needs to go to the other stations. It's strange, but I can't feel a link to him anymore, either. I hope he's all right.~

"Um, Lady..." started Jeanie, as hearing the man's name rang a bell in her mind, but Jones the Steam spoke over her...

"There, Jeanie," he said, giving her a gentle hug, "I told you it would be all right, didn't I?"

"Yes, you did, Mr Jones and... and I'm sorry I got all worked up. Fuck! All I'm doing is getting things wrong and swearing and shouting and... Fuck, Lady, I'm... I'm sorry to tell you this but when I was in a meeting with Sir Topham, he... he said that Burnett Stone told him that this Mr Conductor fellow was, um, dead. I'm sorry to give you the bad news."

~OH, NO!~ cried Lady, and Jeanie and the others all saw a look of great sadness appear on the engine's face.

~That's why I couldn't feel him,~ said Lady mournfully. ~What about Stacy Jones, Jeanie? Did Sir Topham say anything about her? Is she all right?~

"I... I don't know," said Jeanie, thankful that, as far as she was aware, she didn't know of any other people that the magical engine may have known had died. "He only spoke about Mr Conductor."

As Jeanie look at the faces of the group standing around her, she saw the glum expressions on both Thomas and James's faces, and took it for granted that they had known the man as well. It was an unusual name the guy had, she thought to herself, Mister Conductor, not as good as 'Dai Station', Edwin Jones' boss, she added, but then, no-one had told her yet of his magical nature, and she had naturally assumed it was a human being that had died.

~Sad as it is,~ said Lady then, ~we have to move on. Mr Jones?~

"Yes, Lady?" replied the welshman.

~I'd like to speak with your engine, if I may?~

"By all means, Lady," said Jones the Steam, and he stepped backwards to glance back down the track to where Ivor was standing. "Er, will he hear you from over there?" he asked the magical engine.

~He will,~ said Lady, now with a smile on her face.

With that, the short engine driver raised his eyebrows at Thomas, tacitly requesting that he now take care of Jeanie, and released his hold on her before quickly strolling back to his engine.

"Now, then, Ivor," said Mr Jones when he was alongside his old friend, "there's a very special engine I'd like you to meet. Her name is Lady and I want you to be on your best behaviour when you speaks to her."

"prp!"

"I know, of course you will," said Jones, smiling, and he turned back to where the magical engine was waiting.

"Lady," he called out, "I like to introduce you to my very good friend, Ivor the Engine."

Ivor gave a short "prP" and then, in the unexpected and lengthy silence that followed, Jones looked back and forth between the two engines several times, frowning slightly as he wondered why neither of them were saying anything, and he frowned even more when he realised he hadn't understand what his engine had just said.

"prP?" [ "Why, Lady?"]

~~Ivor, my dear, dear friend. I am so very sad for what happened to you. None of us knew then what we later found out, and for that, I am, no, WE were really, truly sorry for what happened with you. We ALL thought, including YOURSELF if must add, that we had all the information we needed for it to work, but it wasn't until afterwards that we found out we were wrong. My heart goes out to you, Ivor, and I won't even TRY to understand what it must have been like for you to be so different to the rest of us, as it would be disrespectful to you, and I wouldn't wish THAT upon you at all.

You wanted to be the first, Ivor, and we all thought back then that you were so brave, but none of us, even you, thought it could go so horribly wrong the way it did. We... We almost give up on the whole project, Ivor, but I couldn't bear to leave you alone like that, so I volunteered to be the next one so I could be with you. Lord Thamesford suggested we try something different and... well, here I am. ~~

"PrrPPprrR." ["I've had a long time to think about things, Lady. I have a... new life now that I've come to enjoy, and be with people I have come to love, and then there's Idris and his family. He has shown me what REAL magic is, Lady. What we did is but a drop in the ocean compared to what exists in the world, you know? We were after power and control. Hah! We were fools, Lady. We're not the ones with control or power now. Look around you. Who are the ones that need iron rails to run on and firemen in our cabs to shovel in coal? No, Lady, I have so much now, more than I'll ever need now that I have nothing."]

Thomas and James watched curiously as the two engines seemingly "talked". It wasn't often an engine would speak in private to another and so they waited patiently until they could hear Lady or Ivor's proper voice again, and not the undecipherable peeps that they were currently making.

Mr Dinwiddy felt sad as, when Ivor peeped at her, the engine's beautiful face suddenly faded back into its smokebox. He wondered if it was an "engine" thing, as he certainly wasn't used to seeing engines with faces talking to each other, and didn't know what actually happened when they did. He hadn't seen the blue engine's face when it came out of the tunnel, only the front of it's smokebox, nor had he heard it speak other than to give a "PEEP-PEEP" on its whistle, but he had seen the magical engine's face when she was talking to it, and he had heard her as well. All this talk of connecting with things was probably why, and she had obviously kept a "connection" open with him back then, and so he just smiled again as he waited until he could see her face again, smiling because he and her had a secret together!

Jeanie felt the enchantment or whatever it was fall away from her as the two engines apparently spoke. She knew that that was more than likely how it was going to be until she had that magic from the magical engine to balance what she already had. She didn't like it, though, but she knew she'd have to accept the engine's condition and stay a part of the magic railway at least until she could finish with it safely, then she'd decide whether she wanted to stay a part or not. Part of her wanted to get to know the engines - former engines? - once they were trains again, and to speak with them again, but another part of her wanted to run away from it all. Sighing, she watched Thomas and James as they stood waiting until whatever was happening between the two old engines was over and someone could make a decision on what they would do next.

Deep within Lady's magical essence, Idris suddenly felt closed off from her, and although he was still connected at her at the magical level, he realised he now couldn't communicate with her. He knew she obviously didn't want him to hear what she was saying to Ivor and, for an anxious moment, he feared he about to be tricked into captivity, but then he recognised the subtle frequency of Ivor's energy as it resonated within the magical engine, and he sensed the sympathetic emotion being communicated. He knew they knew each other from time long gone, and realised that it was a meeting of, well, not exactly lovers, but old friends. His anxiety began to settle down then and he waited for them to finish speaking, hopefully, soon. He didn't like being closed off like this, and didn't voice a protest towards Lady, that is, as long as he didn't feel the spike of negative energy being directed at himself, for that would but a sign that he was about to be attacked. He was, however, also prepared just in case, unlike his father had been when he'd been caught unawares by the use of Words of Power, and if it did come to it, he'd show her what a magical fire dragon could really do to defend himself!

"Prrrbp!" ["After I took you into the tunnel, they wouldn't let me go back in there. I knew something had gone wrong, but no-one would to tell me what it was. I didn't understand. Everyone was acting nervous around me and they only gave me orders: go here, go there! Fetch this wagon, fetch that coach! Lady, they were all treating me as if I was a dog, and I didn't even have a decent driver until I met Edwin Jones many years later!"]

~~I couldn't do anything about that, Ivor, and I'm sorry it was so bad for you. Lord Stone had me shipped over here not long after I was... created, and then, to my horror, I found out that the bastard had branded me with a Rune of Obedience! ME, Ivor, the one he'd promised to share everything with! My current driver is his grandson, Burnett Stone, and when he was first introduced to me, I thought he would be just as bad as his father and grandfather before him, but to my surprise, you couldn't imagine a more gentler and caring man. Existing in this form now, we are both prisoners of our own choosing, Ivor. Remember, my friend, we are the ones who chose to do this to ourselves, no-one else forced us. It's great to speak with you again, Ivor, and to feel a connection with you again. With Idris helping me, it won't be long now before we're all back on Sodor. We'll talk again, then.~~

"Prp!" ["Good luck!"]

~~Thank you, Ivor.~~

Both the humans and former engines were startled when they suddenly heard Lady say, ~Right! It's time we were off! Thomas, couple me up to Edward, please, and I'll pull while Ivor pushes us all to Shining Time Station. James, if you'll be my driver for this trip?~

A chorus of yes-es came from the two former engines as they set about their various tasks. James slowly reversed Lady towards Edward until their buffers touched and Thomas coupled them up before deciding to ride on Edward and chat with him about pleased they all were now that Lady had been saved. Mr Dinwiddy joined his friend Jones the Steam on Ivor, and Jeanie looked down the procession of engines and wagons, resigning herself to sitting alone again in the brake van, but then she heard Lady call to her, ~Jeanie, come and ride in my cab, please. We can talk as we travel.~

Jeanie stepped up into Lady's cab and stood next to James, casting her eyes over the various levers and gauges that Edwin Jones had tried explaining to her, and acknowledged that she still didn't know what half of them did.

James greeted her as he familiarised himself with Lady's controls, then, opened her firebox doors, forcing Jeanie and himself to shield their eyes against the startlingly bright red glow that filled it. They couldn't see any coal or flames or even any sign of Idris, just the bright glow of the colour red itself. "Lady," he said, "with Idris inside your firebox, how can I get coal in there?"

~You don't need to, James,~ answered Lady. ~Idris is supplying me with just the right amount of heat for my needs. He'll sense it if I need any more power and simply give me more heat or reduce it when we slow down or stop.~

"Oh," said James, smiling as he thought about that for a moment. "I won't have much to do, then, will I, if Idris is doing all the work?"

~No, James,~ laughed Lady, ~you won't! Now, Jeanie,~ continued Lady, ~please, tell me what has Sir Topham has had you doing for him... ~

ooo

As Jeanie explained how she discovered the magical railway's existence and everything that followed, she found herself both calming down after her earlier upset and developing a sense of purpose, and despite the dominating presence she could feel emanating from the magical engine, she began to understand why Thomas and James had respected it, no, her so much. It felt as though she was talking her problems over with a really close friend without any fear of being judged or condemned in any way, and was really looking forward to the time when the magical engine would share some of her magic with her to counterbalance the one-sidedness of Sir Topham's. Soon, though, they approached the outskirts of Shining Time and, as they passed over a level crossing, it's bell clanging loudly to alert drivers and pedestrians of their approach, both she and Lady became quiet as they surveyed the state the small town was in. They'd already seen the black soot covering the land alongside the track as they travelled to the town, but seeing what it had done to the peoples' homes and gardens was heartbreaking.

The roofs of the buildings were black with soot, as well as the branches and leaves of the line of trees that stretched along one side of the town's main street. Most of the cars she saw, however, had been washed by their owners, who, as well as the many pedestrians she could see, were going about their daily business as though nothing had happened. It obviously hadn't rained over the weekend as there were still patches of soot on the ground that hadn't been swept up or washed away by the street cleaners, and it all looked quite surreal to her. Moments later, though, James slowed the procession down before finally stopping at the single low platform of Shining Time Railway Station.

It was a single-storey building with two peak-roofed sections built cross-wise to the rest of it, splitting the building into five sections. On one of the roofs, Jeanie could see a weather vane in the shape of a steam engine and tender and, below the roof's eaves, hung several baskets of very dry-looking flowers. In the centre of the building and above the double-door entrance was a large board displaying the words "SHINING TIME". James stepped onto the platform to meet Thomas, who had already jumped down from Edward and was walking towards Lady, and he asked Jeanie to accompany them into the station building. There were several people standing about or sitting on a bench as though waiting for their train, which told Jeanie that, unlike Knapford and the rest of Sodor, the trains here still appeared to be running as normal.

"Who are we going to meet?" Jeanie asked him, looking around the platform as they approached the double doors.

"The station manager's name is Stacy Jones," said Thomas, "but she's only ever known me as an engine, so I don't know how she'll react when she sees me and James like this."

"Do you think I should speak with her first, then?" asked Jeanie just as they reached the doors, one of which was being propped open by a fire extinguisher resting against it.

"I think that would be best," said Thomas, "and you can tell her how Mr Stone is. I'm sure she'd be pleased to know he's not too unwell."

"Yeah, okay," said Jeanie. "Is that her?" she then asked him, nodding towards a red-uniformed, dark-haired woman standing behind a curved counter-bar and speaking on the phone.

"Yes," said Thomas, "that's her."

"Right," said Jeanie. "James, could you go and get Mr Jones and Mt Dinwiddy, please. I think they should be here with us, after all, they're part of all this as well."

"Sure," agreed James, and he set off on his errand.

Whilst Thomas and her waited for them, Jeanie peered through the doorway to look around the inside of the building.

The interior sections of the building were separated off by large archways, and though she couldn't see that far inside, she could see that the doorway led into a waiting area with a small café at the opposite end to the ticket-section. Smiling at the thought of having something decent to eat after they'd introduced themselves to the station manager, she looked around the waiting room they'd soon be entering. Long, padded benches and a couple of very comfy-looking sofas were provided for waiting passengers, and on the walls of the waiting room were painted several gaily-coloured murals depicting various transportation motifs.

A large red racing car had been painted on one section of the wall as though it was being driven along the wooden shelf that ran the length of the waiting room. Another part of the wall showed an ocean liner and, near the curved ticket-counter, there was a painting of a covered wagon from cowboy times next to a steamboat. Above that was an old steam engine like one she'd once seen in a cowboy film on the telly. There were other scenes with lorries, more cars, a plane and, of course, several more railway engines ranging from very early designs right up to quite modern diesels. One painting in particular caught Jeanie's eye, and she found herself being drawn to it as though she was being pulled into it. It was a painting of a signal box next to a sleek-looking steam engine, and on the other side of the signal box was an entrance to a tunnel, and it was the tunnel itself that was holding her attention, as though inviting her to step into it. She shuddered, and had to force herself to look away from it before she felt the onset of a panic attack developing, then, hearing footsteps behind her, Jeanie looked back and saw James with the two welshmen standing behind her. Smiling at them, she then said, "Right, follow me, guys," and stepped inside the waiting room.

The woman behind the counter had, by now, finished her phone call and watched the group enter. It was, she thought to herself, a very motley-looking group of people. The young woman in front looked normal enough, though, dressed as she was in denim jeans, pale blue t-shirt and short black jacket, but the four men with her were very different. Two of them had coal-black hair and looked well into their middle ages with very pale-looking faces that, if she wasn't mistaken, were actually grey, and were wearing almost identical leather coats, one blue, the other red, and both the men had black pants, gloves and shoes. Red piping, buttons and trim ran along the edges of the two coats, setting them off very fashionably, she thought. Both the coats also bore a brass number on their breast pocket, the blue-coated man had the number one, while the red-coated man the number five. The third man was obviously an engine driver, judging by the blue pants and coat, sleeveless leather waistcoat and safety boots he was wearing. He was short, a little bit overweight and had wisps of red hair sticking out from under his blue cap. The last of their group looked to be really old judging from the white hair and bushy beard he had, but, from his bright-looking eyes and the way he was bouncing from one foot to another, he was still very fit for his age. He was wearing a faded tweed blazer and pants with leather patches on the elbows and knees. He was also wearing a battered-looking stove-pipe hat that he quickly removed and started to fidget with as he noticed her looking at him.

"Hi, I'm Stacy Jones," she announced, "Manager of Shining Time Station. How can I help you folks?"

"Hi!" said Jeanie confidently. She'd seen enough american programs on TV to know that that was how they greeted each other. Her eyes flicked from the woman to the top of the counter and the desk she could now see behind it.

It looked a cross between Sir Topham's and Debra's in that it had various files, letters, a keyboard and monitor, and even a mug with a print of a steam engine on it. Jeanie surmised it contained coffee, as she knew that that was what americans liked to drink that rather than tea. She then saw the woman behind the counter raise an eyebrow as though waiting for a response. Her accent had definitely sounded american, Jeanie thought, and suddenly felt the enormity of recent events catching up with her, and felt lost all of a sudden.

She cast a quick glance towards Thomas, then to James and then to Jones the Steam before clearing her throat, noticing at the same time on the wall behind James the tunnel painting that had almost sent her off on one a few moments ago. She gulped nervously and turned back to face the woman. "Um... yes, I hope so," she mumbled, then, a little louder, added, "I'm Jeanie Watkins. I'm from Sodor and I'm, er, Sir Topham's... um, personal assistant, and these, er, gentlemen are Thomas and James and they're form-"

"Oh, Sodor! You know Sir Topham Hatt?" the uniformed woman cut in, as a look of hope appeared on her face. "Oh, I'm really glad you're here, Miss Watkins," she added, leaning over the counter and offering her hand, "There's so many things gone wrong here I don't know WHAT'S been happening!"

Jeanie took the proffered hand and gently shook it, but before she could say anything else, the station manager said, "Please, come through to my office..." and lifted up a section of the counter to make a gap for her to walk through. There wasn't much free space around her desk for them all to fit in, so Jeanie nudged Thomas' elbow for him to accompany her and signalled to James and the others to wait where they were.

"This is Thomas," she said, then, to the station manager as she gestured to him, "er, that's James, Edwin Jones is Ivor's driver and that's, er, Mr Dinwiddy who owns..." she added, wondering why she hadn't yet learnt the old man's first name, "a gold mine."

"Oh," said the manager excitedly as she again cut in. "You British have some quaint traditions with your names; those two guys have the same names as a couple of engines I've had the pleasure of meeting. What can you tell me, Miss Watkins, Jeanie? It's all right if I call you Jeanie, is it? Is Burnett with you, Burnett Stone? He's Lady's engineer and I haven't seen him nor Lady for a few days, now, so you'd better tell him to get his ass in here and tell me what's been going! I've lost a very dear friend just recently," she continued, "and some people I'm fond of are very ill in hospital."

"Er, he's in hospital as well," said Jeanie, "on Sodor,... but it's all right, he's not dead yet," she quickly added, seeing a look of alarm appear on the woman's face. "From what I've heard Sir Topham say, he's doing okay, but he's got a broken arm, I believe, and a few cuts and bruises. He got them when, er, he was travelling in Toby the, er, tramcar and they derailed. Toby stopped my car and asked me to help them and, as I was taking them to the hospital, Burnett collapsed and... well, we got an ambulance for him and..." she paused as the manager sat back down in her seat and start fanning her face with a railway timetable. "He told Sir Topham about what happened to Lady over here and, well, to cut a long story short, we got here and managed to save Lady but we've got to get back-"

"Save Lady?" repeated Stacy, her eyes widening with more alarm. "What's happened to Lady?"

And so, for the next few minutes, Jeanie, as she stood in front of the seated station manager's desk feeling like a naughty schoolgirl reporting to her headmistress, briefly explained what had happened over the last few days and their mission to save Lady and travelling through the tunnels before finally coming to Shining Time in the hope they could get back home again.

"... and so Thomas and James here," she concluded, gesturing to the two former engines, "the engines you said you'd had the pleasure of meeting, are here in, er, person to meet you, Ms Jones."

"I'm pleased to meet you again, Madam Jones," said Thomas, offering his hand to the woman as he'd seen her do to Jeanie earlier.

"Oh, call me Stacy, all of you," said Stacy as she automatically shook his hand. "'Madam Jones' makes me sound like someone from one of your old detective movies!" then the full meaning of what the young woman had just said about the two leather-coated men sank in. "Ooh!" she gasped, then, staring at them. "Yes, I can see the resemblance in their faces," she said. "Wow! Thomas, James, how are you both?" she asked excitedly, nervously holding her hand out to James as she realised just who, no, what was about to take a hold of hers. "Oh, pull up some chairs, will you all," she said as she shook James' hand, "and sit down. You must be tired after standing for so long!"

"It's all right, Miss Stacy," said Thomas, "we're used to standing around and waiting."

"Speak for yourselves, guys," said Jeanie as she went over to the window beside the desk and picked up a chair, "but I can't remember when I last had a proper sit down!"

She placed the chair between the desk and counter and sat on it, smiling with relief as she relaxed and listened to the others as they all chipped in a retelling of what she'd just told the station manager.

"So,... Stacy," said Jeanie to get back to the matter at hand, "you didn't lose any engines, then?"

"I haven't heard of anything like what you said happened to you guys on Sodor," Stacy replied. "No, I think all our engines are fine. We only get the one regular engine running through here, though, and he was fine when I saw him this morning. I remember waking up with my head on top of some magazines with a terrible headache and very sore throat. On my way outside, I saw the remains of poor Mr C on the ledge by his signal box. I really miss his cheerful little voice around the place. I wonder who's going to water the flowers for me now?"

Stacy's last words were almost whispered as she turned to face the office window and stare outside.

She's obviously thinking of her lost friend, thought Jeanie, turning her head to also look outside and noticing the bottom of one of the hanging baskets she'd seen earlier.

"... and there was soot EVERYWHERE," she heard Stacy said, then, her face now impassive as she looked back at her visitors, "and it took me three days to get everything in here clean again."

"I'm, er, sorry for your loss, Stacy," said Jeanie, returning her gaze to the station manager.

"I'm sorry to hear of the two engines you lost as well," replied Stacy. "It seems tragedy has struck us on both sides of the pond."

"Yeah," Jeanie agreed solemnly, "but for us to get back to Sodor before any more suffering occurs, Lady said we need to use the portal here to go through?"

"She must mean Mr C's tunnel," said Stacy, pointing out into the waiting area. Her face again took on a sad expression as she added, "He'd use his whistle to enter it whenever he wanted to travel somewhere."

Jeanie looked back over her shoulder and felt her stomach churn as she saw what Stacy Jones was pointing at. It was the painting of the tunnel and signal box, and she realised then why she'd felt a "pulling" sensation from it. "Oh," she murmured to herself. Shit!

"How ever will Lady manage to use it?" she then heard Stacy ask.

"She'll... She'll have help from Idris, she said, to... to boost her magic," Jeanie absently replied, realising that there was nothing she could do to avoid what was surely to cause her yet more problems, but knowing also she'd that have to go through with it if she wanted to return home again. The only option otherwise was to remaining here in America, which she had NO intention of doing!

"Idris?" asked Stacy. "Is he an engine I haven't met yet?"

"Oh, sorry," said Jeanie apologetically. "I mentioned his name but forgot to say what he was!"

"No," said Thomas excitedly. "He's not an engine, he's a dragon! A real magical dragon!"

"A MAGICAL DRAGON?" repeated Stacy, her eyes widening in surprise as she stared at Thomas. "Now, this, I MUST see!"

Being part of the railway industry, Stacy was fully aware of the magical nature of its rolling stock, but the existence of a real dragon was completely new to her. "I've never seen a real live dragon before. Oh, I MUST see him, Thomas. I can see him, yes? Jeanie? Can I see him before you all go back to Sodor, please?"

"Um, I don't know. You'll have to ask Lady," said Jeanie, finally coming out of her brooding. "She's waiting outside and Idris... Idris is inside her."

"Inside her?" queried Stacy, puzzlement taking over from the look of expectancy that had replaced her initial surprise. "He's got to be a really small dragon, then, if he's inside her cab?"

"Small?" scoffed Jeanie, "he's fucking huge! Oops, sorry for that. No, he's quite a large dragon, I suppose, but... um, he's in his... er... spirit form at the moment... inside her firebox, helping her to get her magic back." As she finished speaking, Jeanie couldn't help but think to herself, I never imagined I'd ever say something like THAT before now!

"Oh," said Stacy, rather nonplussed, then, after a moment of silence, she said, "I suppose I'd better go and ask Lady, then."

ooo

Out on the platform, Stacy Jones' eyes widened as she took in the sight before her. Leading the procession of engines and wagons was Lady, who gave a short "Peep-peep" of greeting to the station manager.

"This is Edward," Thomas said to Stacy. "Say hello to Stacy Jones, Edward," he said to the blue tender engine.

~Hello, Stacy Jones,~ said Edward. ~Pleased to meet you!~

"And you, too, Edward," said Stacy, then, turning to the short engine driver, she said, "Mr Jones, yes? That's your engine at the rear?"

"Yes, it is," replied Jones the Steam. "His name's Ivor and he's, I'm very proud to say, the oldest engine in the world that can talk, though not like the way Lady can. IVOR!" he then called as they both walked over to him. "Say hello to Stacy Jones, will you? She's the manager here, like Dai Station back in Llaniog!"

"PrP!"

"Oh, wow!" squealed Stacy. "That... that was so weird! How are you, Ivor? I'm really thrilled to meet you!"

"Now we'll go and meet Idris," said Jones the Steam as they walked back along the platform. "He's inside Lady's firebox. THOMAS," he called, "do you think Lady can ask Idris to pop out for a moment?"

Thomas nodded and said, "Lady? Did you hear Mr Jones just then?"

Seconds later, Lady's funnel belched out a cloud of white smoke that rapidly turned red and formed itself into something that made Stacy Jones' eyes bulge, for there, flying up above the twin tracks outside her station office and looping back and forth in a figure-of-eight, was the most wonderful thing she'd ever seen since her first talking engine!

"Um?" said Jeanie, looking about the platform at the people still waiting for their train and apparently not noticing what was going on right in front of them. "Er, guys?"

~It's all right, Jeanie,~ she heard Lady say to her. ~The railway magic makes them ignore us. The only way they see Idris is if he actually wanted them to see him.~

"That's right," said Jones the Steam. "Back in Llaniog, what he did was to let people see him and then make them think that he was so normal that they'd not see him, if that sounds right. Only people like Mrs Griffith, who would really believe a dragon existed, would be able to notice him."

"Oh," said Jeanie. "Well, I suppose it's all right, then."

"It works that way with us engines as well," said James.

"Once," Jones the Steam then said, chuckling to himself as a memory came to mind, "I wanted to show Mrs Griffith that Ivor could talk, but when I asked him to speak to her, he wouldn't at first. It was only some later that he actually spoke to her. Nearly had a heart attack she did!"

"I'll bet!" said Jeanie, grinning. "When I first heard Lady talking to me through my mind, I thought I was going mad. I still do sometimes," she finished quietly to herself as she watched Idris lazily descend and land on the platform just yards away from where they were standing.

# Hello, Stacy Jones.#

"Oh, my!" exclaimed Stacy, clutching at her chest. "You're... You're beautiful! I... I'm never going to forget this day as long as I live!"

"Can you do it, Idris?" Thomas asked the dragon. "Can you pull the portal out onto the track for us?"

# I can, but it will be a bumpy ride as we travel through it.#

"As long as we get to Sodor in one piece," said Jeanie, "then I don't mind a few bumps, as long it's not for too long!"

# We will need to be travelling quite fast to enter it.#

"Er, how's this going to work?" Jeanie then asked. "If the portal's part of a painting INSIDE the station, what, are we going to somehow crash into it?"

~No,~ said Lady. ~What we'll do is reverse back down the track so we can build up some speed, then as we get nearer to the station building, Idris will draw out the energy of the portal's entrance out onto the track in front of me and we'll enter it that way. What worries me, though, is what will happen here after we pass through it. Do YOU know, Idris?~

The dragon tilted his head as though thinking, then looked at the station manager. # There may be a bang,# he said to Stacy.

"What sort of 'bang'?" she asked the dragon.

# I don't know, but you'd be wise to make sure no-one is inside the building when we enter the portal.#

"Oh," said Stacy, then, "Ooh! I know! Lady, when I hear the crossing bell start, I'll call a practise fire-drill and get everyone out into the car park the other side of the station. They should all be safe there, I reckon."

~That's a good idea, Stacy,~ said Lady.

# Yes, it is.#

"Right," said Jones the Steam, "I'll go and let Ivor know what we're doing."

"Er," said Jeanie, "before we actually do this, can we at least have a snack in the café here? Please? I'm gagging for a cup of tea!"

"I suppose we can make time for a cuppa, Thomas, James?" asked Jones the Steam.

The two former engines, despite their rising excitement at the prospect of going back home to Sodor, looked at each other and grinned. "I think," said Thomas, "we can do that, can't we, James?"

"I hope they've got some of those chocolate biscuits here like they have in Knapford!" he replied.

"Great!" exclaimed Jeanie. "Come on, then, guys! The café's this way!" but as she paced quickly back to the waiting room, she stopped as she realised something terribly wrong, and cursed, "Shit! We haven't got any american money!"

"Don't you worry about that, Jeanie," Stacy called out to her. "after everything I've seen here today, you can have your teas on me!"

ooo

Feeling suitably refreshed, the group reboarded the three engines and reversed back down the track. Lady had told them that they'd need at least three miles to build up enough speed for what they intended to do. Jeanie had voiced her concern that Idris may not have enough time to draw the portal onto the track, but the dragon had assured her that he could sense the portal's energy from a fair distance away, after all, it was Earth energy that made up the portal and he was a manifestation of that very same energy. Now, Jeanie and James, both inside Lady's small cab, looked along the line they'd soon be travelling back along.

"Do you want to have the honour?" James asked Jeanie, gesturing with his hand to the magical engine's whistle cord.

"Okay," said Jeanie, and gave the cord two long tugs.

"Here we go," said James, and he pulled on Lady's regulator to start her rolling, but not so much that she would be hindered by the weight of the procession behind her causing her wheels to slip.

Jones the Steam was doing the same with Ivor, ensuring that when the little engine managed to shift the weight in front of him, it wasn't too fast or too slow to cause Lady problems.

It took considerable skill for two engines to do what they were doing, one pushing with another pulling, and Jeanie knew from earlier that afternoon how much James had to concentrate on what he was doing, so she stayed silent as she waited for the initial jolts to settle down. Lady, though smaller than Ivor, would be doing most of the work, with help from Idris, of course, and with the coordinated effort from Ivor, they were soon moving smoothly towards the level crossing again.

The clanging of the crossing bell started well before they were near it, giving road traffic enough time to get across or to stop safely before going over it, as there were no barriers to stop them, and as the two engines pushed more power to their pistons, Jeanie could feel their speed increasing. She felt her heart beat start to race with anticipation as the top of the station building appeared in the far distance.

Inside the station itself, Stacy saw the red light on the wall next to the entrance doors started to flash, and seconds later, heard the distant clanging of the crossing bell.

"OKAY, EVERYBODY, CAN I HAVE YOUR ATTENTION PLEASE?" she called out. "This is a test fire drill! There is NO fire, but I want everyone to calmly but quickly go out through the emergency exit over by there," she said, pointing to a glass door near the café section, "and stay together in the car park outside. Leave your luggage and stuff behind; it will be safe! I will check every room in the building before I leave the building! Please, leave now and stay calm! Remember, this is just a practice!"

She watched the waiting passengers and café users get up and leave through the emergency exit, then quickly made her way through the building, checking behind every door to make sure no-one was still inside. Although it was only a practice drill, she knew that this was something she would have to do in the event of a real fire. Finally, every room had been checked and cleared of people and then, as she herself was about to go out into the car park, she heard the approaching engines.

As Lady drew parallel to the station building, Jeanie suddenly felt as though her chest was being pulled out from inside her, then, everything she could see in front of her, Lady's control panel and levers, James, the station building and everything on it, and including, the station platform, indeed, everything she could see outside the magical engine's cab, all started to turn into a blur before her world went grey.

Nervous about what the dragon had said about there being a big bang, Stacy joined the station building's evacuees as the sound of the approaching steam engines increased in volume. Suddenly, she found herself stepping back towards the building, and realised that it must be due to the dragon "pulling" on Mr C's portal, and due to her connection to the railway magic, it was pulling her as well. She struggled to shorten her steps and hopefully actually stop herself from moving, but then her skin started tingling and a wave of giddiness almost made her pass out. Her stomach tightened, churned, and then she was sick onto the tarmac of the car park as the sound of shattering glass suddenly filled the air and then a very loud but short "DA-CHACK", just like the sound of a giant elastic band snapping, and she was thrown backwards away from the station building and onto the hard ground.

As she slowly got back on her feet, one of the men standing nearby rushed forward to help her.

"Gee, Stacy," he said to her. "When that, what was it - gunshot? – went off, I thought you'd been shot! Are you all right? You look awfully pale right now, and what smashed all the windows? Did somebody shoot at them?"

Through her teary eyes, Stacy recognised the man as one of the regular commuters that used the station. "Thank-Thank you, Mr Olsen," she groaned, resting her head in her hands. "I-I don't know what came over me just then. EVERYONE, the drill is over but... but I need to check the building first before anyone else goes back inside!"

ooo

Not knowing if she was about to faint or not, Jeanie looked around at the grey world rushing past her. Sideways-stretched trees, what could be very elongated buildings, fields, water, mountains, all flew by outside Lady's cab in a twisting spiral as she watched, and making her feel quite nauseous as she looked out of Lady's cab. Reminded of what she'd experienced when they went through that portal inside the old tunnel, she hoped dearly it would stop sometime soon, as the eerie wailing she could hear was doing her head in as it rose and fell in pitch. She tried calling out James' name, but it seemed as though her words were being pulled away from her mouth and out of Lady's cab before they reached his ears, so she gave up on that idea.

James, on the other hand, was enjoying himself, whooping and cheering as the world outside spun around him, not realising that it was his joyful yelling that was annoying the young woman next to him.

Inside Edward's cab, Thomas, though, was thinking of the times he'd used the magical buffers on Sodor to travel to Shining Time, and noticed that something was wrong. He'd never had the sensation of being pushed into himself that he was currently feeling before now, and shouted, hoping she'd hear him, "LADY! WHAT'S HAPPENING?"

Holding onto the sides of Ivor's cab and each other for dear life, Jones the Steam said to his companion, "It'll be over soon, Mr Dinwiddy... I hope!"

ooo

Stacy pulled open the glass-less emergency-exit door and, as she stepped over fragments of glass and into the station building, she gasped out loud at what she saw, or rather, couldn't see. Apart from all the building's windows having shattered with bits of glass strewn everywhere, and where once there had been a painting of a signal box with an engine to one side and a tunnel entrance on the other, now, all that was there in place of the mural containing Mr C's portal, was a circular hole about two feet in diameter. It was no ordinary hole, however, for as she looked at it, or rather, tried to look at it, fully expecting to see through it and into the next room, she found her eyes wouldn't stop blinking as she tried to focus on it. All that was there was a blank void, a circle of absolutely nothing at all!

"Now, how do I explain THAT to the building inspectors?" she muttered to herself.

ooo

Lady heard Thomas' cry but couldn't answer him right then as she had something quite important to deal with. She'd realised as soon as they'd entered the portal that there was something wrong, and was currently waiting for a response from Idris as to what, if anything, he could do to help them survive. ~Speak to me, Idris, PLEASE?~

# There is no exit onto Sodor. I see the picture you have in mind of a set of buffers, but they no longer exist as an anchor for this end of the portal. There needs to be another anchor made for you to safely come out through.#

~You said 'you', Idris, not 'we'. Please explain...~

# I can force us out of this passage, Lady, I will survive, but I do not know if you and the others will. To them, it will be as though they have been pulled through a wall of stone. For them to survive, I need to pull on the one we entered through, and then push it in front of us. Also, there are no rails for you to land on. I can do it, but it will be very tiring for me, and I would need to rest for a few days afterwards to regain my strength as I would be very weak afterwards. To do this, though, we would need to fully combine our magic. Mine to you and then yours to me, but I fear... you know my fear, Lady.#

Lady knew the fear the dragon spoke of, for she had been there when his sire had been captured and forced to do despicable things through the use of Words of Power. Her talk with Ivor back at Muffle Mountain had brought home to her how limited she was in her current state as an engine, albeit a magical one, but, she also realised, the temptation to use the power that Idris possessed to try and better her position paled into insignificance with the threat to her own existence, and that of the engines she had come to know and love over the decades. How things have changed, she thought to herself, from when the idea of cheating death had turned her group of innocent and naïve students of the occult into experimental subjects for immoral scientists and corrupt businessmen. She knew the one thing the dragon didn't want was to end up like his father, and by yielding to her, he would be defenceless and at her mercy.

~I am no longer that person, Idris, and I believe you truly know that by now.~

Despite the persistent wariness he felt when dealing with strangers, and his inherited distrust of the magical engine, Idris couldn't help but agree with what she had just said. He'd known her barely a day, and only had his father's memories to guide him, but then, his lifetime so far was but a few moments when compared to the centuries that Gwilym had lived, and the wisdom he was guided by was not that of his own. That was the truth of the situation, and he now had to put his trust in someone that had betrayed his father. He hated what he was about to do, and resigned himself to never seeing Olwen or his children again. He hoped that the memories he'd be passing on to Gaian would enable his son to make better decisions than he had, and with that, he said, # Do what you have to, Lady.#

On hearing those words, Lady almost sighed with relief, but instead, set about doing for the very first time what the original creators of the portal had done. She already knew the Words of Power that would enable her to utilise the full extent of the dragon's power, indeed, had even used them in the past to force Gwilym to immolate experimental subjects, and now she had the opportunity to use them again, not to overpower the fully grown Gwilym, but his offspring, a young dragon that hadn't yet realised his full potential, and use them she did...

On hearing the ancient and incomprehensible Words, Idris felt his spirit form start to sink within itself and then...

She was EVERYTHING! She was the Creator of Life itself and she had the power to do ANYTHING she willed. She felt it wrap itself around her own and consume it, but she was still there, outside looking in as it surrounded her, it became her, and she was it, she was ALL. She thought of what she could achieve now, the good she do with it, the ability to shape the world itself to how she wanted it to be. She recalled the plans and dreams she'd once had, her ambitions, the reason why she and her companions had started what they did so long ago, how with the utterance of one more Word of Power she could change everything to how she wanted.

She felt herself forming that word in her mind, but that wasn't who she was now, and she did what she knew she had to do and gave that power, and more, back to its rightful owner, for she knew it would be wrong if she didn't, and in the infinitesimal moment before she felt the loss of her magic for the dragon to use it to save them, she felt the loss of what she had had and now didn't have, and she let go of those past hopes and dreams she once had in order to BE who she said she was, for only by doing so would the dragon allow her to have it back again, as he would now know who she truly was.

... he had no time to dwell on how relieved he felt that the magical engine had kept her word, all he did have time for was to reach back to where they'd come from and PULL...

The humans and former engines, Ivor, Edward and even Lady all experienced the momentary feeling of being turned inside out as the energy of the portal entrance passed through them and out in front, and as the sensation left them as inexplicably as it had came, the three humans all fainted. The more robust former engines, though, managed to stay conscious, though James' face was as red as his coat and Thomas was coughing as though his lungs were on fire.

As he felt the portal energy merge with his spirit form, Idris pushed it out in front of Lady and used her railway magic to project two streams of brilliant white light through the portal, forming them into iron rails that connected to the part of the track from where the original ones had been removed. Then, with a ripping sound that shattered the night-time silence and a blinding flash of light, Lady, then Edward and the rest of their procession appeared straight out of thin air and on top of the two new rails, rolling forward with the momentum they'd picked up just before entering the portal at Shining Time Station.

With a subtle alteration to the frequency of his spirit-form, Idris returned Lady's railway magic back to her and she opened her eyes to see the star-lit night-time sky above the dark fields and hedgerows of the Island of Sodor. They'd made it.

ooOOoo