Chapter 326: King of the Railway Part 2

It was a long, hard journey, but at last they arrived at Ulfstead Castle. As they approached the platform, they finally got a good glance at the castle.

"Wow."

"Yeah."

"It's…classic."

The castle was in ruins, with scattered remains all over.

"Thomas, hi!"

Looking over, they found Jack running up to them.

"Hey, Jack! What're you doing here?"

"Working, of course! The Earl wants to restore it and open it as a tourist attraction."

"So that's his plan," Thomas said.

"He's got his work cut out for him, doesn't he?" James muttered, earning him a jab in the gut from Percy.

"James!"

"What? Look at this place!"

"Ah, you're here!"

Just then, The Earl came running up.

"Just put those trucks in a siding, we'll sort them out later. Now, has anyone seen Millie?"

"Papa!"

Just then, a woman in a blue dress came running up to hug The Earl. Chuckling, he happily returned the hug.

"Ah, Millie! Just who I was looking for. Why don't you show these three around? I need to find Stephen."

"Of course. Follow me!"

James, Percy, and Thomas followed Millie as she showed them around, though there wasn't much to see yet.

"And that's pretty much everything so far!"

"Looks like a bunch of old ruins to me," James sniffed.

"James!" Percy scolded, but Millie laughed.

"No, he's right. But once Papa is done, it'll be just like it was in the middle ages!"

"Say, how come you have a French accent but he doesn't?"

"Percy!"

"What, I'm curious!"

Millie chuckled.

"It's okay, I don't mind. The truth is, Sir Robert isn't my biological father. My birth father was from France, and a good friend of The Earl, and his son Stephen and I grew up together."

Her face then fell.

"But my father, he…he got sick, and…"

"Oh…"

"Oh my, I'm so sorry!"

Millie's face brightened.

"It's okay, you didn't know! But it's alright now. Sir Robert was more than happy to take me in, and in time I saw Papa as just as much of a father as him."
"Family isn't just blood," Thomas nodded. "I raised Annie and Clarabel like they were my own."

"Millie!" Sir Robert called.

"Coming, Papa! Sorry I have to cut the tour short, but I hope to see you around more."

"Us too! Thank you for the tour."

And with that, she scurried off.

"She seems nice."

Out on the mainline, Gordon was coming back light engine when he heard a very familiar whistle.

"Oh no," he groaned. "Not again."

"Hello, slow coach!" Spencer called as he drove his engine up alongside.

"Isn't your job for The Earl over?"

"Nope! The Duke and Duchess gave me to him on an indefinite loan. Care for a race?"

"Spencer, you know Sir Topham Hatt doesn't approve of racing along the line like that."

Spencer chuckled.

"Oh well, I guess I'm still the fastest on the island!"

"Fat chance!"

"Catch me if you can!"

WIth that, the chase was on. The two thundered along the mainline, neck in neck, until…

WHOOSH!

"What was that?"

"I don't know!"

WHOOSH!

"Again?"

"Gordon, did we just get outpaced?"

"I think we did!"

When they reached Knapford station, they found two Streamlined engines waiting at the platform.

"Whoo! Looks like I beat you this time, Connor!"

"Nuh Uh! I totally reached the platform first."

"Excuse me?" Spencer interjected. "You two completely left us in the dust back there!"

Just then, one of the drivers stepped out of her engine's cab, and Gordon's jaw dropped. To him, she looked beautiful, with long golden hair flowing in the breeze.

"Aw, sorry about that! Sometimes we forget how much faster we are compared to everyone else. We didn't scare y'all, did we?"

"Uh…uh, no! We weren't racing. Sir Topham Hatt doesn't like that kind of thing."

"He does? Oh, I'm sorry! I didn't know."

"Oh, don't worry. He's usually gentle to newcomers, but if anything happens I'll put in a good word for you."

"Aw, you're sweet! My name's Caitlin, and this is my brother Connor."

"I'm Gordon, and that's my cousin Spencer."

"I can introduce myself," Spencer grumbled.

"Shut up," Gordon snapped. "Anyway, Welcome to Sodor! Are you new employees for The railway?"

"Nah, we're hired by The Earl. He's running a shuttle service from The Mainland to Ulfstead Castle, and he wanted us to do some trial runs. And might I add, it was a total success!"

"Coming from the loser!"

Caitlin rolled her eyes.

"Ignore him, he's a pest. I guess I'll see you around?"

"Uh, Yeah! Yeah."

"Great! Come on, Connor. The Earl will want to know how it went."

"Coming, Caitlin!"

""See you around, Gordon!"

"By, Caitlin!"

With that, the two sped off. Spencer snorted as he watched them go.

"What a bunch of showoffs! I mean, can you believe those two!"

But Gordon wasn't focused on his complaints at all. He couldn't get Caitlin out of his head.

"No…I can't."