“There was this guy, Graham, who, along with his girlfriend, Tora, had been messing with me lately. They came up behind me and pushed me over. My food spilled everywhere. When I tried to pick it up, they stepped on it. A few of their friends saw what they were doing and came over to join in the fun. There were eight of them, four guys and four girls. I had never seen them this bad. I could see in their eyes that they wanted to hurt me. Not just humiliate—but physically injure me, maybe kill me. I’d never been so scared in my life.”

Tawni is not like me. She’s not tough. She’s fragile. All I want to do is protect her. I pray I’m strong enough.

“Some of them picked up stones and were ready to throw them at me. That’s when I met Cole. My knight in shining armor. He burst through the circle like a bull. Two of the guys went flying. The other two guys tried to hit him, but Cole was made of steel. He blocked their punches and knocked them out. He wouldn’t hit the girls although I could tell he wanted to. Instead he growled at them to run away and they did. He got suspended for two weeks, and I started spending all my time with him. No one messed with either of us again. He was my best friend.”

Her eyes are moist, but not with sadness. Her pride at having known Cole is just spilling over. I hug her.

We’ve lingered for far too long, but it seems to have energized both of us as we stand up. Although we’re sick, there’s a slight bounce to our steps. I feel like we might still make it through this.

But those feelings can’t possibly last.

Chapter Four

Tristan

Elsey is about to follow her father into the water, but I grab her arm. “Elsey—no!” I shout.

She looks at me blankly. “But Father told us to follow him,” she says. I have a feeling she would jump into the lava flow if he did first.

“I don’t think he’s thinking clearly,” I say. “I’ll go pull him out.”

My head jerks up as I hear a splash. Ben is bobbing in the center of the reservoir, staring at us. “What are you waiting for? There’s a tunnel here.” Without further explanation, he ducks under and kicks downwards, sending tiny ripples chasing each other to the shore.

Elsey manages to squirm away from me and dives in, making almost no splash. Roc looks at me and shrugs. “After what we just did, I wouldn’t mind a quick dip.” I can always tell when Roc is lying—like now. His lips are pursed, his eyebrows raised slightly. He wants to look brave, but I can tell he’s scared. Like I said, water’s not his thing.

“You first,” I say. I want to make sure no one follows us. I still have no clue where Ben is taking us, but I have to trust him.

This time I don’t kick Roc in the butt. He’s scared enough as it is, so I let him dabble a toe in the water and then wade in slowly. Once he’s waist deep, he pauses and I can tell he’s trying to gather his nerve. Plugging his nose, he plunges into the inky stream.

Before following, I turn and scan the area up to the buildings. There’s no sign of movement. The shadowy silhouettes of the downed troops blot the edge of the city. I catch a whiff of burning when I breathe in. Whether it is a lingering reminder of the bombing from three days ago or a new fire, I don’t know.

I turn back to the water and slip in, pushing off of the rocky embankment to propel myself forward. Expecting complete darkness, I don’t bother to open my eyes, sweeping my hands to each side to dive deeper, while churning my feet like a propeller.

Ten seconds pass and still I go deeper. I push forward with my hands, reaching out, trying to touch something, an arm or a leg, anything to tell me I’ve caught up to Roc, but I feel nothing. Nothing. And then…

Crunch!

Sharp pain lances through my fingers as my knuckles glance off hard rock. I pull them back sharply, tucking them to my chest for a moment. I’ve reached the reservoir floor without finding anyone. Finally, I open my eyes and feel the cold water swarm around my eyeballs.

As expected, blackness surrounds.

I swivel my head to the right, seeing nothing but oil. Twisting back to the left, I see it. A light. A beacon. A surprise. Off in the distance, something bright is bobbing through the pool, moving away from me.

I’m not sure how long I’ve been underwater, but my breath is becoming short. My instincts are urging me to kick to the surface and breathe, but I know I can’t. I try to push all thoughts of air out of my head as I kick hard, chasing the light.

As I swim, more lights appear on either side of the first one, except these are stationary, like the sentry lights that guard the tunnels of the many inter-Realm trains. I am gaining on the light.

When I reach the stationary lights, I find they are embedded in the wall, illuminating the entrance to a tunnel. An underwater tunnel! Ben isn’t crazy, after all. He knew exactly what he was doing.

The moving light is in the tunnel and I can barely make out shadowy figures flitting about it. I’m not sure how long has passed since I entered the water, but my lungs are aching for air. From its entrance, the tunnel appears endless, a never ending chute to nowhere, or somewhere—it’s definitely one or the other.

I grit my teeth and kick harder, shoveling the water to either side with my hands. Thankfully, the tunnel is wide enough to use my whole body to move me forward, and I feel a surge of water around my ribs as I move faster through the abyss. Chasing. Chasing. Chasing a damn light that seems to move ceaselessly away from me.

My movements grow frantic as my body, my blood, my brain demand air. I push harder and harder, straining against my own limitations. The light moves upwards and disappears, and I fear it’s gone out, plunging us all into darkness and death.

I push on.

My vision gets blurry and I feel lightheaded.

I push on.

One kick. Two kicks. Three kicks. I have nothing left.

But I find something more. I push on.

I feel strong hands grab my tunic and pull me up. I gasp, splutter, take deep breaths that are half-air, half-water. Choking, I cough, trying to expel the intruding liquid.

“Slowly, Tristan. Breathe slowly,” Ben says, rolling me over onto my back.

I obey, deepening my breaths—in between each gulp I’m still coughing—and trying to relax my heaving chest. Gradually, I open my eyes to see Roc, Elsey, and Ben hovering over me. They all appear to be perfectly fine—while I’m a mess.

“Who hates the water now?” Roc says, smirking.

I’m too tired for a comeback. Plus Roc does appear to have handled the long swim better than me. I take three heavy breaths and start to feel better.

“Where are we?” I ask.

“See for yourself,” Ben says with a wave of his arm. I roll over and look past him, at where he’s gesturing. Everything’s blurry at first, so I blink a few times to clear my eyes. Something comes into focus. It’s a…a…

“Train?” I say, not really believing my own description.

“Traaaiiinnn,” Roc repeats slowly, sounding out the word for me like I’m stupid. “T-R-A-I-N. Spell it with me, Tristan.”

I ignore him and push up to my feet. Indeed, it’s a train, gleaming silvery and metallic, even under the dim glow of the lights inset into the brownish-gray rock walls. We are in a small bunker, accessible only via the train that stands before us, or the watery tunnel from where we arrived.

“Does it run?” I ask stupidly.

“Of course,” Ben says. “All of the secret trains have been maintained by the Resistance for many years.”

“The Resistance…” I murmur, remembering my history lessons. From what I can remember, the Resistance was formed and destroyed in the same year, in 475 Post-Meteor, before I was born. My father and his armies crushed the Resistance like a bug before it could ever really do any real damage to the government. “But the Resistance was destroyed,” I say.