The train blew again, long, loud, and angry—but now its bellowing came from behind, underscored by the alarm bells and the clattering and shrieking scrape of metal wheels on metal tracks.
That light had vanished, too. Still, my heart hammered in my chest, beating loud and hard enough to drown out my shuddering, gulping breaths.
“Stay there,” said that voice.
Grim was here. Which meant he was okay.Washe okay?
Was I?
Somehow, the car went into park.
Moving on autopilot, I twisted for the door and groped for the handle, which at last gave. The door opened, and fighting nausea, I stumble-spilled out into the world as the train rushed by behind me.
The broken bits of the red-and-white gate lay scattered on the asphalt while, above, red lights continued to flash and flare, the warning bells ringing—banging—on and on.
Wooziness wafted around my temples as, numbly, I scanned my surroundings, trying to swallow against the bile that teased at the back of my throat.
Just then, a skeletal hand fell on my shoulder, and throwing him off, I turned toward him, wavering.
“Really, Grim!” I shouted up at him, into that concealing hood. Then I poked him, right in the sternum. “I can’tbelieveyou!”
He seemed taken aback. Hard to tell since he was drenched once more in a mixture of black, shadows, and black shadows.
“You are the worst!” I screamed as, finally, the roaring train rushed by, the clatter of metal wheels on steel tracks tapering away, leaving only the clangor of those warning bells. “And I amsoangry at you right now.”
“Get in the car,” he said.
“Stuff your car!” I yelled, shoving past him while also irrationally trying not to worry about hurting The Judge’s feelings. The car had been with me through some things recently when it felt like no one else—including Grim—had been there to help me cope, process, understand. Let go…
But then, The Judgehadcrapped out on me.
All because of fate.Myfate.
Which Grim had again subverted.
In that way, hadn’thecrapped out on me, too?
“Where are you going?” Grim asked as I just kept walking.
In truth, I didn’t know the answer—which had me swinging back toward the passenger’s side of the car since I’d left my purse in the seat there.
“Helena.”
“I’m going to call an Uber!” I snapped at him.
“The hell you are,” he growled. “Get in.”
“Go away!” I railed at him as I grabbed my purse and hauled it out before slamming the door shut behind me—hard.
Grim rounded The Judge, stalking toward me, but I wasn’t having it.
“I’mtaking you home,” he said, reopening the car door, but I brushed past him again.
“You’re not, actually,” I snarled over my shoulder. “Now leave me alone until you can do your job.”
I trudged on while I dug in my purse for my phone, walking toward a crosswalk, my stride still unsteady, my pulse still racing, and my mind a mess. Tears started falling, too—though for a moment, I’d half forgotten they’d been there, left waiting, like me, in the wings.
A swirl of smoke and mist appeared ahead of me, the gray-black darkness gathering itself into that hooded shape.
