Chapter 8
The embers of the fire had long since died and the light of the sun filtered into the cave. As the sun's rays reached Grace's eyes she stirred and blinked, finally being woken from her slumber. She turned to her left to wake Simon and was alarmed to find that he wasn't there. Panic set in for a moment as she feared he may have had a confrontation with that woman before she allowed herself to relax. Simon had promised her he wouldn't talk to the woman, he wouldn't lie to her. He probably just went to go scouting or something, he'd meet up with them soon. Grace looked down in her lap to find that Hazel was curled up in it and already awake. The girl giggled when finally being noticed by Grace.
"You drooled on me in your sleep." she laughed. Grace smiled at her.
"And how long have you been up?" Grace sweetly asked.
"Forever!" Hazel dramatically responded. At this Grace laughed before deciding to see exactly how long Hazel had been up.
"Did you see when Simon left?" she asked. Grace was no longer worried Simon had done something reckless but she still wished she knew how long he'd been gone. Hazel shook her head at the question.
"Nuh uh, he's been gone even longer than forever!" Hazel said. Grace felt a pit form in her stomach that she chose to ignore. Simon was fine, he had to be, she wouldn't let herself think anything different. Grace and Hazel got up and Hazel rolled off her lap. As Grace picked up Tuba's bag Hazel stared intently at her hand which had evidently transformed into a claw while she slept. Grace noticing this sought to correct it.
"Hey Hazel be careful we don't want that lady to see you." she reminded her. Hazel retracted and then produced the claw at will a few times, it seemed she could now control the switching of her forms. "Hazel, stop that." Grace ordered. Hazel looked at her concerned.
"Why? It's me, it's all me." Hazel said solemnly.
"What if you get stuck that way?" Grace asked, to Hazel's displeasure.
"Why would that be a bad thing?" Hazel shot back. Grace and Simon were so weird about her turtle half, treating it like it was some kind of defect. She knew it wasn't. Grace prepared to shoot back a justification but was saved by the arrival of one of the large flying serpents they'd seen earlier. Apparently, it could also slither and at the moment it was slithering towards them with the intent to eat them both. As it reared its head and barred it fangs Grace shielded Hazel with her body in the hope that the creature would eat her rather than the little girl. However they were both spared this fate when suddenly the woman who'd been chasing them earlier ran in and downed the serpent with a shovel. She turned to them panting, clearly it had taken considerable effort to get to them in time. She stared at them with intent, if they dared give chase when she eventually caught up to them she would ensure it was the last time they escaped her, likely through forcefully tying them up. Grace, seeing no clear path of escape armed herself with a nearby sharp rock.
"Back off lady!" she ordered. The woman dropped her shovel and raised her hands above her head, She preferred this to be a peaceful interaction if only because it would require less running around. She began her speech.
"Look, I'm no good at this, but I just saved your lives and uh, well," she extended a hand towards them as a show of good faith. Grace still stood in between her and Hazel, defensive and ready to fight if necessary. "Hello, I'm Amelia." she offered in an attempt to give a proper introduction this time. Grace didn't falter still standing near her rock in hand and Hazel behind her. Amelia simply sighed. "You kids want eggs? I'm making eggs." she said. This excited Hazel who ran from behind Grace towards the mouth of the cave.
"Yes, please!" she said as she ran towards the cooking eggs.
"Hazel!" Grace said through the girl was already gone. Amelia gave Grace a sympathetic look, she did not care for children and she pitied those who did. Given no other option Grace followed Hazel out of the cave and sat in front of the pan where Amelia cooked.
"Believe me I don't enjoy asking for your help," Amelia said. Hazel stared intently at the eggs as they cooked. "But I need to understand and correct this anomaly. I appreciate your corroboration Grace." she concluded. As she thanked the girl two stray numbers on the woman's neck fell. Grace looked at her in shock. Even with a number that high it was still failing. Perhaps her and Simon weren't the only people affected.
"Your number just fell." Grace informed her. Amelia sighed clearly in different.
"Did it? Oh, well when your numbers this high a stray digit here or there doesn't make much of a dent." she stated calmly. She finished cooking the eggs and began to offer them. "How many eggs do children eat?" she asked. Hazel giggled at the question.
"Six and a half! That's how old I am." she responded giving Amelia her age rather than a proper number of eggs. Amelia looked at Grace for an answer who simply responded with a shrug. Sighing once again Amelia began to divy up the eggs as she best saw fit.
"Six-ish burnt eggs." she offered the girl. "I probably should have mentioned I'm not great at eggs. Or any food." she corrected. Hazel clearly disagreed as she gobbled up the eggs at a rapid pace.
"You make the best pancakes!" she said stuffing the food in her mouth. Amelia looked at her curiously. The only person who'd ever enjoyed her cooking was-. She put that out of her mind. Likely it was just some childish nonsense the little girl was spouting.
"While it pains me to turn down my first complement in 33 years we just met yesterday, you've never had them." Amelia said. At this Hazel shook her head and rebutted her.
"I just know." she asserted. Amelia sighed.
"You and Alrick both then." As she offered Grace a plate of eggs she noticed that she cut her serving in half and put one half in a plastic baggy. Amelia gave her a curious look. Grace, noting this offered her justification.
"Simon will be hungry when he gets back." Internally Grace was trying to calm herself. Simon was fine, he just went out for a bit. He'd be hungry either way so making sure he had breakfast was the right thing to do. She ignored the changing of her number and put the plastic bag in her fanny pack.
"Simon? Oh you mean ponytail." Amelia scoffed "He left the car late last night, passed right by me without even noticing." At this news Grace tensed. Simon had left the car? Why? And why had he been gone so long? Hazel, clearly unaware of Grace's nervousness, went back to the topic before.
"What's an Alrick?" she asked naively. Amelia took a deep breath. The girl hadn't meant anything by it. She mentally prepared herself and then explained.
"Alrick was a person, he was my person. And I lost him." The sadness in Amelia's voice was palpable but coated every word as if she'd said it a million times and it hadn't gotten any easier. Like a polished stone that never seemed to lose its luster the grief in Amelia's voice refused to fade when she spoke of him, no matter how many years had passed. Grace considered her phrase for a moment. Alrick was her person. She understood that, she had a person. As she looked at the lines under Amelia's eyes the grief and perpetual tiredness that permeated them she wondered if that was what happened when you lost your person. She felt her stomach twist in knots at the idea and was only released from the thought when Hazel, being the kindest child in the world, gave a big hug to Amelia.
"I like you, we're all here for you." Hazel said, hugging Amelia's waist. Amelia looked at her with confusion for a moment. She wasn't particularly interested in displays of emotion and she never really had been. She removed the child from her midsection and spoke again.
"Really heartwarming, but this car is marked for ejection. It's time to go." Amelia said packing up her cooking implements. At this Grace bristled standing up and speaking with authority.
"We aren't leaving without Simon." she said. Amelia rolled her eyes though she wasn't quite sure why. Perhaps at her old age the passion of youth was annoying to her.
"Ugh, fine." she conceded. The three left out of the car the way Simon had and stepped onto the bridge. As they walked Grace called out.
"Simon! Simon where are you?" the knot is Grace's stomach was tight and she silently begged for any response. Her wish was granted when she heard a familiar voice respond back.
"Grace!" Simon yelled as he hopped down from the roof of a train car. Grace and Hazel pushed past Amelia to meet him. Hazel quickly threw her arms around his legs in a hug.
"Simon! You're back! You missed breakfast." Hazel informed him happily. Simon gave a sheepish look as his stomach rumbled in response to the mention of breakfast. "Wow! You sound like there's a monster in your stomach!" Hazel added
"I guess I was hungrier than I thought." he mused. He looked at Grace who wore an unreadable look on her face. "Grace I'm sorry I didn't tell you I left I just-" Simon found his apology being cut off as Grace threw her arms around him in a tight hug. Caught off guard at first Simon quickly returned the gesture, remembering their encounter in the cabin.
"Don't ever scare me like that again." Grace said, face still buried in his hoodie. Simon responded in kind, his head resting in the crook of Grace's neck.
"I know. I won't. I'm sorry." he muttered against her. Behind them Amelia let out a groan and rolled her eyes.
"That is incredibly sweet but perhaps you could save the confessions of undying love for next time?" she said sarcastically. Ending their hug Simon and Grace fell behind Amelia walking alongside Hazel. Simon spoke first whispering to her.
"Should we be around her?" he asked, gesturing to Hazel. Grace shook her head.
"She saved our lives, and she doesn't know anything. Since she's so strong it felt like a safe bet." Grace's mind raced, Simon was okay, her person was okay. Grace knew that if she didn't tell Simon what she felt she never would, and she couldn't bear the thought of losing him because she was too afraid to let things change. "Can I talk to you about something important later?" She asked. Simon nodded as his stomach grumbled once again. "Shouldn't have skipped breakfast." Grace noted jokingly
"Ugh I know I'm starving." Simon responded. Grace laughed at this before unzipping her fanny pack and handing him the baggie of eggs.
"Here I saved some for you." she offered. A small blush crossed Simon's face though he tried not to let it. She'd thought of him. Of course she had, they always looked out for each other. Grace really did care about him, she was his person. Simon gobbled down the eggs happy to satiate his hunger. Grace crossed her arms and looked at him expectantly.
"So, where have you been this entire time?" she probed.
"I went to go see The Cat." he said honestly. Grace looked shocked; Simon willingly saw The Cat? After everything that had happened?
"Is everything okay?" she asked sincerely. Noting her sincerity Simon nodded.
"I'll tell you all about it later." he responded. Grace nodded. It seemed that the two were going to have a very interesting conversation later, whenever that was. Simon was okay with that. As they walked across the bridge Simon noticed something strange.
"Amelia, right?" he asked.
"Yes ponytail?" Amelia responded. Ignoring that Simon continued with his question.
"Your belt, that symbol, do you know what it means?" he asked. Simon was sure that the belt's symbol was the same as the Apex wave.
"What are you prattling on about?" she responded annoyed.
"Your belt has the symbol of the Apex on it." Simon said. Grace took a look. He was right, the red wave, just as the Apex wore.
"You mean this sign wave? It's a sound shield doofus." Amelia said, rolling her eyes. However as she turned behind her to look at the confused children she noticed what she hadn't seen before. All three of them wore a red lipstick smear across their face resembling her shield, even the little one. "Wait is that why you all have smeared lipstick on your faces?" she asked, confused. She couldn't remember if this level of stupidity was normal for children or if she'd simply encountered a strange bunch. Grace spoke first to explain why they wore the symbol.
"This mark represents the true conductor, a man with the highest number who wore a big balck helmet with a red wave on it." Grace explained.
"He was imprisoned by the false conductor, One-One. He was the most powerful passenger the train had ever seen." Simon added. At this Amelia laughed, she'd never seen such a ridiculous bunch of children in her life.
"Tell me this man, he had a face with a symbol on it and let me guess," Amelia pulled a vocoder out of her bag "A voice like this." she said speaking into the device. Grace gasped, that had been the voice of the conductor, the voice she'd heard when she was a child. "If anyone was a false conductor, it was yours truly." Amelia took a bow to signify her status as their worshipped false conductor. Simon and Grace looked like all the color had drained from their faces,and Hazel looked at them with confusion. Clinging on to each other and Hazel they seemed to go through all of the stages of grief in an instant. Grace was the one to speak.
"Seven years ago do you remember saving a girl in the pumpkin car?" she asked genuinely. Amelia turned away from the children and quickly responded.
"No. Look I could sit around and reminisce all day but we have to move on so let's progress to the next car." she said walking forward. Grace and Simon, still in shock, shuffled forward behind her. It felt as though the tension was thick enough to be cut with a knife. Grace had just heard the voice that she knew belonged to the true conductor. And twice in less than 24 hours Simon had his world view shattered. It would have been utterly appropriate for them to stay silent, and yet despite his belief system crumbling around him, seeing Hazel's utterly lost face Simon thought it right to make a joke. Putting on an awful british accent Simon began.
"Oi, I'm Amelia, tea and crumpets and all that ponytail." he said, struggling to speak through his own laughter. Hazel lit up perhaps more than she had since Tuba's death and Grace shared a laugh as well. The tension faded and laughter settled in the three feeling more genuinely happy than they had it quite a long time as they walked behind Amelia laughing at her accent. As they entered the car Amelia sighed, annoyed.
"Brillant, it's reset. We'll have to wait." she said seting down her things. Hazel sat down next to her and began playing with a pile of sticks. Grace and Simon sat nearby, keeping an eye of Hazel but preparing to have that talk they'd promised each other.
"What do you think?" Hazel asked, showing Amelia one of the sticks she held. Amelia rolled her eyes."
"I think that they are sticks." she exasperated. Hazel laughed at her response.
"They're robots." Hazel told her. Amelia drew in a breath.
"Oh sorry, my mistake." she said once again in her most wooden voice. As Grace and Simon sat near each other both looked as though they wanted to say something but it was clear neither wanted to talk. Simon was the first to talk though it was completed unrelated to his meeting with The Cat.
"Do you want to talk to her about what she knows." he said in reference to Amelia. In truth his belief in the Apex mythos was wavering quite a bit and he wanted Grace's permission to explore that. Grace unbenounced to him, wanted the same thing.
"Yeah, we can talk about everything else later but we should see what she has to say." she responded
"Exclusively for research purposes." Simon added attempting to give the two some plausible deniability from their own minds.
"Of course, just for research." Grace added. The two got up and moved to sit near Amelia and Hazel. Grace looked at Amelia and spoke first.
"So, can you tell us about the true conductor?" she asked, more shy than she'd ever been. Amelia chuckled and reached for her bag pulling out a thermos and a glass bottle filled with brown liquid.
"Ha! Yes I can tell you about it," Amelia said pouring the brown liquid into the thermos which was revealed to be filled with coffee through smell. "Though if you kids are as far gone as you seemed to be you might want some of this." she finished, offering Grace the bottle. She and Simon read the label and Simon raised an objection.
"Is this whiskey? Did you just pour whiskey into your coffee?" he asked. Amelia nodded.
"It's Irish coffee, and if there's one thing we Brits know, it's how to steal from the Irish." she said, taking a gulp of the drink. Simon shook his head.
"We can't drink, we're seventeen." he explained. Amelia rolled her eyes.
"So what, you've got a couple months till it's legal?" she scoffed before eying them again. "Oh wait you're Americans aren't you?" she took the bottle back while mumbling something about America and their stupid drinking laws before taking another sip of her drink and starting. "I was a passenger just like all of you. I didn't like how One did things," she began. Grace and Simon stared at her with interest. "So, I took control. I tried to recreate my old life, failed, again, and again, and again. I created things that never should have been. I am the creator of the cars I'm ejecting, but One didn't fancy that so any cars he didn't make I'm ejecting." she explained. Grace and Simon took the information in for a moment absorbing what they'd just learned. Hazel continued playing with the stick pile. It was Simon's turn to ask a question now.
"So, are you like One-One's prisoner?" he questioned. She was wearing that weird jumpsuit after all. Amelia laughed.
"Prisoner? Of that little peanut? Do you know how easy it was to take over this train? That robot couldn't keep anyone imprisoned if he wanted to." she responded humorously. The humor faded from her voice as she continued. "No, I'm making amends, maybe one day I'll even get off this train." she added. Grace's brow furrowed.
"Get off the train?" Grace asked. Amelia looked at her with shock upon noticing her and Simon's utter confusion with the idea of leaving the train.
"Oh my God how confused are you two exactly? Are you sure you don't want the whiskey because I have a feeling you might want it for what I say next." The two shook their heads. "Suit yourselves." Amelia said, taking another swig of the coffee. "The goal of the train is to get your number down to zero, when that happens you go home, back to the real world. To get your number to zero you work through your problems the worse you do the higher your number goes. Until you do that you are trapped on the train." Grace and Simon shared a dark look. If what she said was true if numbers represented your problems then, all of the Apex kids who they'd encouraged to get higher numbers, had they been trapping them? Simon pulled Grace aside into a huddle.
"Do you believe her?" Simon asked quietly. He already knew how he felt but he desperately didn't want to say anything until he knew how Grace felt. It was like the walls were closing in, like the car was collapsing in on itself. Grace seeing Simon's clear distress gave her answer.
"Yeah, a little bit. Do you?" she asked him. Simon released a breath that he was holding in now that he had the news that he wasn't alone.
"Yeah, I think I do." The two were at an impasse and they knew it. Everything they believed was wrong. Everything they'd held dear was false. How were they supposed to cope with that, to change their entire way of thinking? Amelia looked over at the children and called over to them.
"Are you two finished with your existential crisis yet? The little one wants you to play robots with her." Amelia said gesturing to Hazel. Grace and Simon gave each other a nod. Even if they were terrified, even if their world was crumbling around them, they couldn't let Amelia know that. Their distress would be obvious to Hazel and might cause her to panic. And keeping Hazel calm, keeping Hazel safe was the thing they'd promised they'd do. Walking back over to Amelia the two crossed their arms.
"We don't believe you." Simon said attempting to put on an air of confidence. Amelia rolled her eyes.
"I don't believe that for one, but excluding that I also don't care." she responded. "Now would you please entertain this one," she said, gesturing to Hazel. "I can only tolerate children for so long." After saying this Amelia got up and walked towards the door taking a seat nearby it. "I'll be over here drinking my coffee. Please do not disturb me." Grace and Simon took a seat near Hazel. As Hazel handed them both sticks Simon noticed something strange.
"Hazel, your arm!" he said. Hazel's arm had indeed reverted back to it's turtle form. Hazel smiled.
"I know, isn't it cool!" she said "Look what I can do!" she added as she showed him the retractable trick she'd shown Grace eariler. Just as Grace had Simon scolded her for this.
"Hazel stop that!" he said. Hazel looked at him frustrated.
"Why?" she asked incredulously. "Why do I have to stop it?" Simon put his fingers on his temples.
"Because if you do Amelia will find out." he explained. Hazel was just being a kid but with all of the existential revelations he'd had today Simon was not in the mood for this. Hazel, uninterested in Simon's frustration, asked another question.
"Why is it bad if she finds out? How do you know she'll do something bad?" To give Simon a break from having to answer Hazel's questions Grace took over.
"Well Hazel we don't know that she'll do something bad, but we don't know that she'll do something good either. It's unpredictable." Grace's hope that her explanation would be enough to satiate Hazel was quickly squashed when Hazel responded.
"That's what you said about Denizens!" Hazel reminded her. Grace looked at her with confusion.
"What?" Grace asked genuinely not knowing what Hazel was referring to.
"That's what you said about train people, you said that we couldn't trust them because they were unpredictable and just now you said that we can't trust Amelia because she's unpredictable so which is it?" Hazel was clearly distressed at this point but before either of them could do anything to comfort her Hazel continued. "Am I just supposed to trust you two? Why should I when the two of you won't even let me look the way that I'm supposed to?" she cried. The two could only look on as Hazel transformed into her turtle form. Amelia, who up until this point had been mostly tuning them out walked over just in time to see the change. Pushing past the two Apex leaders Amelia grasped Hazel's face and examined it.
"I got closer than I ever imagined." she said breathlessly realizing that she'd managed to create an approximation of a human being. She looked at Hazel's hand where her number had been tattooed on. "This, this was my number when I got on the train." she turned to address Grace and Simon. "The girl's not a passenger, she's one of my failed attempts at making Alrick." she explained. Simon blinked twice before attempting to recap what they'd just learned.
"So Hazel, is a clone of this Alrick person?" he asked.
"Alrick was her dead boyfriend." Grace explained helpfully.
"Ugh, no she's not a clone, she's something, something else I don't know." Amelia said, shaking her head. This was not at all the form she thought the anomaly would take and she hadn't really prepared for this outcome.
"I'm Hazel!" the girl asserted.
"That's debatable." Amelia responded. "If the pulse I created pases through any car with her inside of it will be ejected. I'll take it from here, the girl needs to be quarantined before the pulse pasess through." Amelia stared over the gap to the car. "Once the canyon fills you'll be able to leave." she explained. Simon narrowed his eyes at her.
"I don't know who you think you are but you're not taking Hazel." he said. Amelia rolled her eyes.
"If the two of you think you can stop me, knock yourselves out. Otherwise I will be recording all of this for future Amelia to remember." she said casually. Simon grumbled annoyed. Grace put a hand on his shoulder to calm him.
"Simon, listen, she's got that weird, energy force field around her and Hazel is still really upset. Trying to make it out of here with her through force isn't going to work. Let's stay here until the canyon fills and come up with a plan in the meantime." Simon took a calming deep breath and relaxed. Grace turned to Amelia, "We're going to stay until the canyon fills." she told her. Amelia didn't even bother to look up. Simon and Grace settled down against the wall and a nervous Hazel came over to them. She darted her eyes back and forth as if she was guilty.
"Can I sleep with you guys?" she asked quietly.
"Of course Hazel why wouldn't you?" Grace asked
"Because I'm a turtle clone." Hazel mumbled. Ignoring this Simon and Grace gestured for her to join them. The arrangement was much like it had been in the previous car, with Simon's arm around Grace's waist and her head on his shoulder. However rather than curled up in their laps Hazel went into her shell and snuggled at their feet. Things were different, but still nice. And they wouldn't be like that ever again.