She's down the hill almost instantly, calling out as she runs. The skeletons dodge out of her way, grumbling, but she doesn't pay them any attention.
The boy turns to face her.
He's clutching his frog like a lifeline, his face tear stained, his expression scared. It so heavily contrasts everything she's ever associated with him, that she stops in her tracks, staring. It is Greg, but not the Greg she remembers. Where is the carefree boy who'd solved so many problems with a smile or a song?
This Greg looks broken, and weary. He looks up at her with confusion as she approaches. Beatrice realises with a jolt that he doesn't recognise her. Of course he wouldn't. Greg had been unconscious when Wirt had cut her wings.
She kneels down. "Greg, it's… I'm Beatrice. You remember I used to be a bird?" Greg appears to relax slightly, though he still looks worried. The cat is watching their conversation with interest. Beatrice ignores it. "Greg, is Wirt nearby?" He has to be. He has to be. Surely he wouldn't leave Greg alone in the Unknown, not after last time. Beast or no Beast, it's still not safe for a small child like Greg.
Greg's face falls at the question, and he hugs his frog a bit tighter. It's an answer in itself.
Greg's voice is small. "He left. I'm looking for him." Beatrice can think of a million questions, but for the moment she focuses on the most important one.
"Where did he leave you?" If she can find where he last was, that could give them a good lead.
"At home. About a week ago…" Greg trails of and starts crying. The frog in his arms raises it's webbed feet to Greg's face, holding it in an attempt to comfort the boy. Beatrice wraps her arms around the boy and pulls him close, and she's so glad she has arms now. Inwardly, she tries to process Greg's words. He left Greg at their home? They had made it home. Why… why would Wirt leave after they'd made it safely home? Why would he go here, of all places? If he even was here…
"…Why did you come here?"
Greg shifts a bit, "When Wirt disappeared… Mum and Dad were really worried… they wanted to call the police, but first we thought we'd look in places he liked to go. By the tree on the hill… the armchair in the library… the bench behind the post office… and the wall in the cemetery…"
The black cat tilts its head to the side.
"We climbed onto the wall, and there were footsteps in the mud on the other side. So we jumped down to see. Mum and Dad… they thought we'd gone far enough, that Wirt had followed the train tracks out of town and that it was time for the police to step in." Greg sighs, "So they stepped away from the tracks, and called the police. They were distracted so… I followed the footprints. I didn't get far when a train came and when I jumped out of the way… I ended up here."
A train…?
"You ended up here because of… a train?"
Greg nods "Same as last time."
Beatrice feels icy with dread. "Greg," She says urgently, "Did you or Wirt ever board the Train?" She's heard that once you board, there's no escaping the Train. Even if you manage to get out, which is a feat in itself, it will hunt you down until death. Once you step aboard it you're marked for eternity.
"…No?" He looks at her quizzically.
She breathes a sigh of relief, and is about to ask another question when the cat interrupts their conversation.
"You think the Train took the boy?" His voice is distantly familiar.
Beatrice frowns in annoyance. Of course the cat can talk. "This is a private conversation! I don't even know who you are!"
The cat appears to smile. "Why, I'm the mayor of this town here. My name's Enoch, I believe we've met…?" He sounds amused.
Oh. She's suddenly very aware that if she doesn't handle this right, she could end up doing farm work here for the next couple of months. "Oh… of course! I apologise for… my behaviour… your Honor…?" Wasn't he a giant pumpkin creature before…?
Enoch gives a nod in response. "Just Enoch is fine. I do appreciate the attempt though." He's laughing at her.
"Right… Enoch…" She stops to gather her thoughts. "Yes, I think the Train may have taken Wirt."
"And what lead you to believe this?" Enoch looks at her weirdly.
"I heard that a strange boy told people that he'd been travelling with his brother… and that the Train was safe. How many strange boys travelling with their brother are there? It's… probably Wirt. And if he said the Train was safe, then it means he probably came into contact with it, and it's… warping his mind somehow. Using him to lure more weary travellers into its trap." She doesn't want to be right, but it's the only answer she can think of.
Greg is looking more scared than before. "But… but Wirt and me haven't been travelling together, not recently, not since we were last here… so it could be a different strange boy?" He looks up at her with desperate hope.
"I… I don't know…" She doesn't want to crush Greg's hope, but it's the best lead they have for the moment.
Which reminds her, she came here to question people.
"Um, Enoch? Do you have any new people in town? Any travellers?"
Enoch's eyes narrow slightly. "You think they have news about your friend? I'm afraid you're too early. They'll be… available in about a week or two. If you're willing to wait…" He tilts his head, considering. "You have my permission to stay a while in our town, given that you respect our rules."
Beatrice doesn't want to be rude, or turn down a good offer like that, but she can't help feeling uneasy about staying in the skeleton town. Not to mention that she's meant to return to her family within a week.
But Greg looks so desperate, and so despite her unease…
"Ok… yes, thank you Enoch. I appreciate it."
The cat nods in response, and there's something in the way he looks at them that Beatrice doesn't quite trust. They follow him to an empty barn. As he leaves he turns, and warns them:
"Remember travellers… it doesn't pay to intrude where you're not wanted. It's foolish to ask questions that shouldn't be answered. You may stay here… but be sure to keep the peace."
—
It's been a month since Wirt attempted to calm the fear over the Train, but he hasn't noticed a difference in people's behaviour when it arrives. In every town he's stopped at the people back away and hide. Once someone even tried to perform some sort of banishing spell.
Wirt isn't sure how to feel about it.
On one hand, he likes being alone. He doesn't want to have to worry about someone finding him, finding what he is. He's uncomfortably aware of how easy it is for him to be killed.
On the other hand, he doesn't want to feel so useless. He can't go home, not like this. He can't— he refuses to fully go back into the Unknown. He doesn't want to go back to the fear, the endless, purposeless wandering from before. His only choice is to stay here… but there's not exactly much he can do here. He writes poetry, he looks out the windows, he wanders through the carriages. It's getting old. He wants to do something that matters. Something different, something to help.
If he could, he'd leave the Train.
He'd go back to his original plan, to run away from his home and the Unknown, to leave it all behind. To live as normal life he could, while hiding what he was from the people he loved.
If he could.
His Lantern is warm in his hands. It needs Edelwood oil, oil that can only be found on this Train or in the Unknown. Creating Edelwoods himself is an option he refuses to consider.
And so he's trapped, unable to run away this time.
He hates being trapped.
In his exploration of the Train, he'd come across a huge, ancient Edelwood looming in one of the carriages. It's ragged mouth dripped a steady stream of oil, and it was simple enough to interrupt the stream to fill his Lantern.
It was as if the Train was designed to keep the Lantern-bearer close.
His thoughts are interrupted by the sight of a town ahead. With a sigh, he pulls the chain, and the Train slows to stop by the town, announcing it's arrival with that familiar, distorted tune. Wirt sits back, out of sight of the windows, and waits. He doesn't expect anyone to approach the Train.
No one ever has.
—
After waiting just over a week, (Beatrice is dreading the reaction she'll get from her parents when she returns late) Enoch informs them that the new residents of Pottsfield are "ready". Greg and her watch as a few skeletons head out to an empty field with shovels, and then return a few hours later with three more skeletons in tow.
After the skeletons have all caught up with each over, and the new arrivals have been presented with fresh clothes and gifts, Beatrice is permitted to question them. Enoch arrives at the barn they've been staying in, and leads the skeletons in with a warning look at Beatrice. Greg is up instantly, hopeful and excited.
All for nothing.
The skeleton travellers have no information of use, unless you count a 30 minute long description of the "simply wonderful" view from Mount Eris useful.
Beatrice is ready to break a few of Pottsfield's rules by the time the skeletons are finally finished talking. They'd wasted a week here for nothing. Wirt could be dead by now! And they know nothing about where he is or why he left. Greg isn't looking at her, but she sees his arms tighten around Jason Funderburker.
She has to do something.
—
"We're leaving."
Enoch tilts his head to the side quizzically.
"So soon?"
"We've spoken to the travellers and…" Beatrice pauses, trying to keep the annoyance out of her voice "…although we had a delightful conversation… they had no news of Wirt. So I'm taking Greg back to my family to figure something out."
"What a shame!" Enoch's eyes shine as if he's just made a joke. "I'd hate to see you go… but I won't stop you. You're free to leave."
Beatrice relaxes slightly. She'd been expecting some sort of catch. She and Greg leave Enoch's house, stepping out onto the abnormally empty streets of Pottsfield. She stops.
An eerie, broken melody drifts through the streets.
The Train has arrived.
—
Wirt peers through the window at the town below, recognising the seemingly endless farmland of Pottsfield. The streets are empty, of course. They've all gone and hidden. No- wait- he can see two figures still outside. Wirt can't see them properly from this distance, but they appear to be staring up at the Train. He hopes they're not planning another banishing spell. The smaller one starts running, not away but towards the Train. Wirt backs away from the window in shock. Is this an attack? Or perhaps they're just desperate to escape Pottsfield, so desperate that they'd board the "dreaded" Train. Cautiously, he approaches the window again. The figure is closer, so close he can see it's a kid, so close he can see it's Greg.
He shouldn't be here.
He shouldn't be here.
He should be home! He should be safe! He shouldn't be here.
It's all his fault.
He should have know Greg would do something like this! He should have known… if he hadn't left Greg… he should have known Greg would do something, because he always does! He's brave, and determined, and kind, and going off on a solo quest to the Unknown was exactly the sort of thing he'd do.
He shouldn't be here.
He should be at home.
He needs to go back home.
Instinctively he reaches out for Greg.
…
The Edelwood branches spread throughout the Train creak and groan as they reach, twisting, distorting, reaching out to the boy. He has no chance to run before they ensnare him, pulling him within the Train like a hungry beast. It only takes a moment for Wirt to realise what he's done, to release the boy from the branches, but it's already too late. He can't see Greg -he'd been pulled into a different carriage- but he can see Beatrice running after Greg, and in a moment of panic he grabs the chain and pulls. He needs to leave now.
—
Beatrice watches in horror as the doors of the Train shut firmly between her and Greg. The boy trapped inside presses his face against the window, eyes wide, as the cursed branches release their prey.
She claws at the door with her hands, scraping her fingers on the rusted metal, but to no avail. She yells and screams and throws her weight against the door, but all she gets out of it is more cuts and bruises.
And then she feels the metal begin to slip away under her fingers. The Train is leaving. It's leaving, and it has Greg, and it's leaving.
And there's nothing she can do.
Hey new chapter!
No one is happy. Apart from Enoch, who's having the time of his life being vague and ominous.
Greg now has another traumatic experience to add to the list, Beatrice believes that Greg's trapped with the "Beast", and Wirt is running away from his problems (yet again)
Thank you for reading!
— Pottsfield CM