Page 56 of Stormbreaker

The mass is frantic now. We’re jostled left and right, and someone screams in terror as several more people are knocked onto the tracks.

Somehow, we make it off the train and across the platform, though not without several elbows to my ribs, a few knocks to the head, and my pinkie toe taking the brunt of someone’s errant heel.

Still, it’s a small price to pay as Rook drags me to the stairs and up the first few steps.

From here, I can see the tracks and the people trying to climb back up, but there’s no room. A woman scrambles over the edge but is kicked back without anyone realizing it. She screams as she hits the tracks and tries again, along with the dozens of others who crawl over one another like frightened ants.

“We need to help them!” I call out.

Rook nods but doesn’t break his stride as we shove up the crowded steps. “We can’t do anything from here,” he argues. “We need to alert the Patrol.”

I watch as Todd winds his arm and punches the Hollow in the jaw. The boy goes flying and lands on his back, his neck snapping and his head hitting the side of the raised track. I stop climbing with a gasp, my hand covering my face.

“Come on!” Rook hisses. He tugs on my arm, and we continue up.

The ground begins to rumble, signaling an oncoming train from the opposite direction.

“Skies,” I whisper. Everyone on the tracks is about to be crushed.

But Rook is right. We need to get help. He doesn’t let up his vise grip on my arm as we continue our climb. I can’t look as a high-pitched horn squeals in warning, the train barreling into the station.

My eyes squeeze shut, and I look away as we ascend, step by agonizing step.

The screams.

They shatter the air against a backdrop of screeching brakes, crushed bodies, and the crowd’s frantic shouts.

Rook tugs on me again, and I focus on pushing up and up.

When we finally reach the top of the stairs, we burst onto the street crowded with people.

The screams float up, dousing us in the horror of death.

But they’ve become distant and muted, and I can’t seem to get enough air in my lungs.

I notice several Patrols already arriving, and I watch as Rook quickly fills them in on what just happened. After they disappear into the station, Rook continues dragging me away from the chaos as I stumble after him, until we finally reach a quiet plaza.

He eases me onto a bench, and I bend over, putting my head between my knees as nausea swirls in my gut, threatening to bring everything up.

I lose the battle with my stomach.

Spying a garbage can, I leap up and hurl everything into it. A gentle hand gathers my hair, holding it back while I grip the edges of the bin. My necklace is hanging out of my shirt, the mask dangling and the amethysts winking in the light as I picture the people trapped on the tracks. My snot mingles with my tears until I’m spitting up bile and my knees have turned to rubber.

I’ll hear those screams for the rest of my life.

Finally, I stop, breathing heavily as Rook releases his grip on my hair and lets it settle over my shoulder. He backs away a step and stuffs his hands into his pockets. Wiping the corner of my mouth, I stand up and quickly braid my hair into a single plait to keep it out of my face. Then I tuck my necklace back into my shirt.

I cling to the edge of the garbage can for several more seconds as the wail of sirens fills the air, and another wave of nausea makes me dizzy. An ambulance barrels past, red lights reflecting off the plaza’s dark stone.

I sniff and swipe my nose with the back of my sleeve.

“Thank you,” I whisper to Rook. He nods, then points to the bench, where we both settle side by side. Propping my elbows on my knees, I drop my head, waiting for the last of the nausea to fade. Rook sits quietly next to me, and we don’t say anything for several long minutes. I listen to the sounds of chaos in the distance as my vision blurs, a familiar numbness seeping through my limbs as I try to imagine myself somewhere else.

I picture the Patrol subduing the crowds. The ambulances picking up the injured. I wonder what became of everyone. The Fiama kids and the Hollow that Todd probably killed. I wonder if anyone from Amery was hurt, and I wonder if maybe they deserved it a little bit.

Then I shake my head, trying to cast off that equally horrible thought.

Finally, my breathing slows, and I return to the earth, no longer floating inside my body. The effects of touching the storm still linger, making the events of the last half hour feel somewhat distant, almost fuzzy around the edges. But not enough to soften the terror of what I just witnessed.