Bethany

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THE NEXT MORNING BETHANY woke up alone. Making her way to the showers, she waited in line for her turn, hoping that the bags of sun-warmed water had kept their temperature overnight.

“Why aren’t you over by the elders’ cabins warming up their morning habitual?” a grouchy young woman asked.

“I wasn’t on the duty list,” Bethany said. The truth was with only five Techs left, their abilities probably wouldn’t be used for anything but the most important tasks.

The young woman gave a snort. “You Techs are all prima donnas. You should try working for a living. Your back aches, you grow old before your time. Meh, all you do is meditate and...”

“Take energy into my body from various places. Sometimes that energy is benign like a summer breeze. Sometimes it’s from anger. Sometimes the energy tapped is too much, and a Tech will fry from the inside out like crispy pork fat left on the fire too long. Have you ever seen someone boil alive like a human lobster?”

For some reason, the woman left her place in the queue and hurried down toward the breakfast crowd. Bethany saw her retch when the smell of bacon wafted by in the breeze.

“Making friends?” Lem said coming up behind her.

“It’s what I do. So are you here to drag me off somewhere else?” She crossed her arms and glared at him.

“Maya sent me to go with you to talk to these Lewis and Clark fellers.”

“She doesn’t trust me to come back.”

“I don’t know anything anymore. All I know is I have to huck it across the damned country to make sure you survive.” Lem kicked the dirt.

“You don’t have to do that.”

“Yes, I do. And you ain’t going to change my mind neither.”

“Okay,” Bethany said, raising her hands to calm him down. “We’ll go get cleaned up and then make our way over to them. I don’t even know where they are.”

“They’re sitting like the King and King of England up on the dais by where the elders were at yesterday.”

“Lem, what are you going to tell them you can do?”

“I may not have claws and sharp teeth,” he started to say.

“Or know how to use a gun,” Bethany interjected.

“But I can handle myself in a fight. Besides, I’m a good cook and lover. Too bad I weren’t a better one. We wouldn’t be in this mess.” He stepped in close to her, his lips almost touching hers. “I can go longer than that stupid hunter.”

Bethany shoved him back. “Knock it off. I’m not doing this because of Keith.”

“Would you have looked at that big Shifter twice if you were still with Keith?”

“Hell yes, he’s got a fine ass. And Keith is just an ass.”

Lem turned beet red. “You don’t have to talk all nasty like that.”

“Lucas likes me for me. Not because I can charge up his batteries. And I’m not talking dirty.”

“Everyone needs a Tech, Bethany. It doesn’t mean they don’t like you also.”

Bethany shrugged. “I know that. In my head. It’s my heart sometimes that needs some persuading.”

Lem walked into his shower and was done before Bethany got to the head of hers. The water was tepid and came out in a weak drizzle. It had been a dry few days, and the buckets that were carried over from the lake hadn’t had time to warm up in the sun. But as she looked at the scratches on her arm and leg from where the glass had cut her yesterday, she decided to count her blessings. Lucas and Lisa had helped patch her up. Nothing looked infected, but she gave everything a thorough cleaning. Wincing as she bandaged herself back up, Bethany knew it could have been worse.

Dressed in her usual camo pants and sweatshirt, Bethany offered half her earbuds as a peace offering to Lem, and they listened to some music as they walked to where Lewis and Clark were indeed holding court. The one with the eyes like a snake, Lewis, saw her immediately and she found herself ahead of about ten people.

“Lady Tech, you’re hired,” he said.

“I’ve got a few conditions,” she said.

“I’m sure we can accommodate you.”

“I’m bringing with me two Shifters, a leatherworker, and a...cook.” She looked askance at Lem.

“I make a mean chili and can stretch stone soup for four days.”

Lewis looked less than thrilled. “I can accommodate your team. We’re leaving this afternoon.”

“So soon?”

“The elders are getting restless, and they’re afraid we’re going to take all the Techs with us. Dreadful business yesterday, wasn’t it? However did you survive?”

Bethany smiled. “I’m hard to kill.”

“Good,” Lewis said and handed her a piece of leather with grommets punched in. She recognized it as a payment chit.

“Outfit yourself with whatever supplies you need. Have the merchants attach their bills to the grommets. They will be paid by nightfall.”

“What’s the limit?” Bethany said trying to keep the awe out of her voice.

“That’s up to you. It’s your money, taken out of what we find in California.” Lewis dismissed her with a glance and smiled up at a Shifter standing behind her.

Lisa joined up with her and Lem, and they stocked up on clothes, blankets, dried fruits and meats, and other supplies. Bethany splurged on water purification tablets and Lisa on fifty feet of silk rope. Lem got a personal media player, and offered her a chance to swap music in exchange for her charging it up. At least he wasn’t offering sex, Bethany thought with a grin. He also picked up some quivers of arrows. She hadn’t known he could shoot a bow. They wound up having to get larger packs because Lisa and Lucas couldn’t carry their own gear in animal form. But Bethany thought a sore back was a small price to pay for having Shifters she could trust at her back. Karen had her own wagon, and her leather was neatly stored, so there was room to sit in the back if it started to rain. She was waiting for them after the market. They stored some of the heavier gear in the back of her wagon.

Maya put on a great show of giving them her blessing, kissing both of Bethany’s cheeks. Maya pulled Lem aside for what looked like a last-minute lecture and wound up swatting him on the butt when he left. Bethany frowned, wondering if Maya had taken advantage of Lem. If Lem was willing, Bethany didn’t know why it bothered her so much. But she didn’t like the abuse of power, and she was glad to be walking away from the Bluff tribe. Only she knew she wouldn’t be back. If the rest of them wanted to return, fine. But she thought that she’d be better off with Daniel, wherever he might be. And if California really was the land of opportunity, there wouldn’t be a need to return all the way here. Maya had to at least suspect her thoughts, which was why she had told Lem to go with her. Bethany was pretty sure she could either lose Lem or persuade him not to go back either. In any case, she would worry about it when the time came.

There were about twenty other people waiting to start off in the caravan. Bethany saw quickly that they should have spent some money on horses or a wagon. They were the only ones hoofing it.

“I’d fit you in, but I needed the room for supplies,” Karen said with a rueful grin. “If you don’t mind lying on all the leather, you might be able to get back there.”

“That’s okay,” Bethany said. “I can walk for a bit, and I’m sure I can trade for a ride. Have you seen Lisa and Lucas?”

Karen pointed to the sky. “Scouting ahead with the other Shifters.”

“Scoutin’ for what?” Lem asked.

“Just making sure there aren’t any surprises.”

“Any surprises won’t come in broad daylight,” Lem said.

“Better safe than sorry,” Karen said and with a nod snapped her reins so her horses moved along with the caravan.

Lem and Bethany walked together in companionable silence.

“Heya,” a blue-eyed woman jawing on a beef jerky stick called down to them from her place at the head of a wagon. “You’re a Tech, right?”

Bethany nodded. “Yeah, why?”

“You and your buddy can ride up here with me if you provide some music for the trail.” She pointed her boot at a beat-up old boom box. It still had the antennae intact, but Bethany sensed it didn’t have any batteries inside. It would be a tougher pull. Instead of charging the batteries, she would have to be the battery. But she’d be able to keep up with the caravan.

“Deal,” Bethany said and hoisted herself up into the seat.

“I’m going to go around back and try and get some sleep,” Lem said.

“Bless ya if you can,” the woman said. “I always get sick something fierce. My name’s Jesse.”

“Lem.” He nodded at her, his eyes lingering on the woman’s open shirt a bit before he got flustered and climbed into the back of the covered wagon.

“He yours?” Jesse asked.

“No, ma’am,” Bethany said.

“Good,” Jesse said and whipped up the reins.

They took off at a slow clip, following Lewis and Clark who were on horseback, and another wagon, which looked mostly empty. Bethany cocked her ear to the wind and filtered through the band waves that were playing through eternity. “What kind of music do you like?” she said as a pretty red-tailed hawk perched on her shoulder, gripping the leather of her jacket in her talons. Bethany assumed it was Lisa.

Jesse blinked at the bird and then recovered. “I, uh, don’t rightly have a favorite. Just nothing depressing.”

Bethany nodded and brought in some classical Vivaldi. There were always older stuff on the airwaves, so it was a lesser drain. The meteorite had blasted through towns, splintered buildings, and darkened the sun. But on some frequency, it was still the age of radio. Every now and then, she could get a drama or a comedy skit. The old radio sputtered, and the music crackled through the speakers until she was able to fiddle with the knobs so they were in better sync. The wind helped power the airwaves into her, and because she wasn’t shuffling for something specific, it was a mild pull. She could still look out at the landscape.

Bethany caught a glimpse of Lucas in eagle form as he whirled around the caravan and then scouted ahead. She frowned as she took one last look at the conclave.

“Forgetting something?” Jesse asked.

“Just saying good-bye.”

“And good riddance,” Jesse muttered under her breath.

“What tribe are you from?”

“All of them. None of them. Lately, I’ve been hoofing it with the Nomads. I’ve got a way with horses.”

“Why good riddance?”

Jesse shrugged. “Bored, I guess. Been there, done that. What about you?”

“I’m hoping to meet up with my brother.”

“I figured you being a Tech and all, he’d have a radio or something.”

Bethany shook her head. “There wasn’t a lot of time to plan, and we got separated.”

“That happens a lot, I guess. What makes you think he’s in California?”

“It’s the farthest you can get from where we were.”

“I hear that,” Jesse said.

They didn’t say much on the long journey across the rubble-strewn roads and paths. They were headed toward the old city where the train station was. Lisa came and went, and Lucas spiraled around for the day. But mostly it was a monotonous drive. The sky was ashy, and what trees had survived or grown under the faded sky were bare, stretching skeletal branches into the roads. Blacktop was chunked, and the horses tried to avoid most of the larger potholes. It was treacherous in the daytime, unheard of by night. But clearing a new path would take even longer.

Their wagon was in the middle of the caravan, and when she stretched to look, Bethany couldn’t see the front or the end of the line. After a few hours, Lem came out, and Bethany went back to nap. She would probably be needed when they stopped for the night. The roll of the wagon wheels soon put her to sleep. She had fitful dreams of her brother in bear form, fighting. The cold, sick fear that had traveled with her when she left her last tribe haunted her. Maybe he wasn’t even in California. Maybe she’d never see him again.

“Can anyone hear me?” An anguished voice broke through her dreams.

Bethany sat up so quickly she almost banged her head on the top of the wagon. “Yes, I can hear you.”

“You say something, Bethany?” Lem asked, peeking back at her.

“That woman.”

He shook his head. “What are you talking about?”

“Did someone just cry out?”

“Nah, Jesse here was just singing a pub song. That must have been what you heard.”

“Didn’t mean to offend,” Jesse said.

“No, that wasn’t it.”

“Probably just a dream,” Lem told her. “We’re almost at the train station. We’re going to load up and then get going.”

“We’re going to travel at night?” Bethany wasn’t sure that was such a good idea. She’d want to use flashlights, but that would be like setting up a target.

“Word came down that Lewis and Clark have cleared the tracks all the way to the state of Ohio—or what's left of it.”

Bethany’s head swam. She’s never been that far west. “How long will that take?”

“Three days?” Jesse said, with a snort. “If we all don’t die in a wreck.”

“Is that all?” It had taken ten to get down from the Bluffs to the conclave.

“So we’ve been told,” Lem said.

“What happens when we get to Ohio?” Bethany closed her eyes, picturing a map of the United States before the meteorite hit. Ohio was in the middle, but she wasn’t sure where.

“Well, that’s where the last expedition was wiped out. I suspect we’re taking the train into a fight, and then we’re back to riding in the caravan once the tracks run out.” Jesse shrugged.

“That’s, ah...” Bethany wasn’t sure what it was. Terrifying? A real dumb idea? “Exciting,” Bethany finished.

“It is what it is,” Lem said.

“What wiped out the last group?”

“Thems not really saying,” Jesse said. “But the rumors are all sorts of bizarre. I heard everything from trolls to dragons.”

“I heard it was crazed Techs inhabitatin’ robots.”

Bethany rubbed her temples and listened to the radio waves. Had she picked up a ham operator? It wouldn’t be the first time, but there was something so urgent about the tone. She looked around for Lucas, but none of the Shifters were in sight.

“Where is everyone?” she asked.

“Shifters were sent on ahead to clear out any ambushes. Do some scouting. Don’t know why for. Lewis and Clark supposedly have a team of engineers taking care of the place.” Jesse offered her a piece of jerky.

“Thanks,” Bethany said, taking it. “Maybe with the Purebloods bombing the conclave, they don’t want to take any chances.”

Lem whistled. “I'd almost forgotten about them. Pricks.” He spit over the edge of the wagon.

They were inside the city limits winding down a narrow path that Lewis and Clark’s engineers had dug out. Bethany remembered seeing a picture of the pyramids being built and slaves dragging large blocks. That was probably how they dug out a route. Finishing the jerky, she wiped her hands on her pants.

Bethany gasped when a face peeked out of a building. “Did you see that?”

“First you’re hearing things, now you’re seeing things,” Lem said.

“Nope,” Jesse said. “She’s right. We’ve been watched for a while now.”

“Do you think they live in these buildings? Is it safe?” Bethany marveled at the remains of the buildings. They didn’t look secure. Weren’t the people afraid of the walls crushing them if they fell? She shuddered. Give her the wide-open spaces. City life was too confining.

“If it hasn’t come down by now, it probably isn’t going to.” Jesse clacked the reins when the horses started to dawdle.

“Do you think they have tribes?” Bethany asked.

“Have to, I think,” Lem said.

“Why wouldn’t they come to our conclaves?”

“I reckon same reason why we’re all leaving it,” Jesse said. “And it just ain’t for fame and fortune.”

“What do you think they have to trade?” Bethany saw a woman in a doorway before the woman ducked away. She had been wearing a knitted hat that looked very warm.

“Now see here,” Jesse said. “You don’t want to go flashin’ your stuff. You’ve been with civilized people all your life. It ever occur to you that someone could chain you against a wall and only let you eat and drink if you gave them Tech?”

Bethany was about to tell Jesse that she wasn’t an idiot, when Clark approached the wagon.

“Hold up, sweetheart.” He caressed Jesse’s leg in a familiar manner but had eyes only for Bethany. Jesse stopped the team.

“I was wondering if you would like to join my partner and me in a bit of dinner?” He held his hand out to Bethany.

Jesse looked like she was going to say something but scanned the sky instead.

“Uh, sure,” Bethany said and accepted his hand down from the wagon. “I’ll see you guys on the train, I guess.”

Jesse made a noncommittal snort, and Lem climbed down to join Bethany but was stopped by Clark.

“There’s only room for three at the table,” he told him.

“That right?” drawled Jesse.

“Indeed.” Clark winked. With a gentle hand on Bethany’s elbow, he led her through the wreckage.

“Get on back up here, Lem,” Jesse said, clicking her teeth to get the horses’ attention.

The train station was a giant hole in the ground. Bethany could hear the hum of energy and the dim lights that guided them deeper below made her realize she wasn’t the only Tech anymore. They walked along the tracks, trains like rotting corpses sprawled across them. She felt the itch of potential in a few of the engines.

“We used to have a few Techs running the electrical engines. But we found it more efficient to use steam.”

“Why?” Bethany asked, although a part of her knew the answer.

“Wood is easier to find than Techs.”

“How many Techs died running your trains?”

“Too many,” Clark said, but it sounded like a canned answer.

“I’ve never run anything as big as a train.” She felt a thrill of the challenge and a slight prickling of fear.

“Would you like to try? We’d be in Ohio by morning.”

“I don’t think I’d survive that speed.” Bethany laughed, hoping he wasn’t serious.

“Probably not your first time, but we could start you off slow.”

He made his words an innuendo, stepped a little closer to her.

“I don’t think that would be very efficient,” Bethany said primly and put some distance between them.

Clark considered her for a moment. “You’re right, of course. I get so excited about these things.”

The tracks let to a wide-open area that, while still underground, was lit up like daytime with the fires roaring. It was like stepping into hell. He led her to an alcove where a round table was set up with a white cloth and place settings. Shining silverware adorned the napkins like jewelry. It was like she was going to have tea with the Kings of England, just like Lem had mentioned.

Lewis was already seated at the table. He was in a red velvet dressing gown and wore a black silk ascot tie. Bethany felt underdressed.

“I hope you like roast chicken,” Clark said and pulled a chair back for her.

Lewis regarded her with his reptilian eyes over a silver goblet of wine.

“Butternut squash and some green beans that were canned a few months ago.”

“It’s like Thanksgiving,” Bethany said, accepting the large glass of wine Clark offered.

Once they were seated, a waiter came over and served bread with real butter. Although Bethany knew food and lodgings were provided in the excursions, she was pretty sure everyone else wasn’t eating like this. Bethany took a big gulp of wine and wondered where Lucas was. He was supposed to be her bodyguard, but she hadn’t seen him in human form since he rescued her from Maya. It was starting to feel like he had gotten what he wanted, her in bed and her agreement to be his Tech in California, so he had no more use for her.

“Funny you should say Thanksgiving. Most of our crew is very thankful to be here,” Lewis said. Even though he wasn’t slurring his words, Bethany got the impression this wasn’t his first glass of wine.

Since it wasn’t a question, and he didn’t seem to be waiting for a response, Bethany just chewed the herbed potatoes and wondered what they would ask for in return for the dinner.

“How long will it be before we can board the train?” Bethany asked. “Where is it, anyway?”

“It’s on the other side of the station,” Clark said. “We didn’t want to be disturbed during dinner.”

Bethany felt a flicker of fear and through the loudspeakers lively jazz sprouted out. Clark flinched back, but Lewis looked amused.

“Dinner music,” he said. “How kind.”

Bethany secured the link, feeling the energy tickle across her nose. That should pay for dinner. She relaxed a bit, now that she didn’t feel like she owed them something.

“We’re loading up now, so it will take some time,” Clark said.

“We’ve got all night,” Lewis said. His words were no innuendo. It was a straight-up offer.

“So what will be my primary duties on the train?” Bethany said. Let’s get this out in the open.

“I think you can write your own ticket,” Lewis said with another long pull on the wine.

“We will need you to keep the radios and two-ways fully charged,” Clark added, with a glare to his partner. “You may have heard we’ve experienced some trouble in past expeditions.”

“I haven’t heard much. Was it the Purebloods?”

“We’ve had a string of bad luck,” Clark said. “In the beginning, we wanted to take the steam train all the way to California. But the land is too broken, and we don’t have the manpower. It’s not stopping us from trying to lay track, but we’ve met with resistance.”

“We can’t even keep a bloody team in Bellevue,” Lewis snarled.

“Bellevue?”

“Ohio,” Clark clarified. “It’s where we’ll need your skills the most. If everything goes on schedule, we can be there in a day or so. On the train, lights, heat, air, running the ovens for meals are all what’s expected of you. If we get into trouble, we’ll need your help with the firebox, but I don’t foresee that happening on the way to Ohio.”

“How big is the train?”

“Big enough for the wagons, the gear, and the people,” Clark said. “An engine, coal car, five coaches for personnel, and ten freight cars.”

“And our quarters in the caboose, of course,” Lewis said. “If you’d like to see it, I’d enjoy giving you a tour. There are a few devices I’d like charged up.”

I bet, Bethany thought. It was a lot, what they were asking. But as long as she wasn’t driving the train, she could handle it. “Am I the only Tech?”

Clark and Lewis exchanged a conversation in the looks they gave each other. “Yes,” Clark said. He reached under the table and handed her a bag of battery chargers for different size batteries. “We can start with this for tonight. Tomorrow morning, I’ll show you the control panel that the previous Techs used.”

“What happened to them?” Bethany asked.

“They died or were captured,” Clark said, not meeting her eyes.

“By what?”

“Name it,” Lewis said. “Rogue shifters, monsters, automans, or human mobs.”

“That’s not very comforting.” Bethany wiped her plate clean with a snowflake roll that melted in her mouth. She hadn’t eaten like this since the holidays.

“You are traveling with some bodyguards, though. That should provide you with more protection.”

Bethany gave him a slight smile. Yeah, if they showed up.

“Where are your Shifters?” Lewis said. “You rode with our Jesse and that cook of yours. I saw the leather wench, but not your beasts of burden.”

“They’re my friends,” she said, tensing.

“Are they?” Lewis asked. “Don’t you find them primitive?”

“Don’t tell me you agree with that Pureblood nonsense?”

He gave a raw laugh and drained his goblet. “I like to know where all my Shifters are. It’s safer that way.”

“I haven’t had any time to speak with them today.”

“What are their names?”

Bethany was stuck. They hadn’t gone over whether they needed a cover. “Lisa and Lucas. She was a hawk, and he was an eagle.”

When it seemed like they didn’t recognize the names, Bethany slumped in relief. Lewis poured them both more wine.

“Since you’re already acquainted with Jesse, I’m assigning her to you and Lem. She’ll get you to the kitchens in time and help you be where you need to be.”

“Am I really the only Tech?” Bethany looked around.

“Why would you ask that?” Lewis asked. “Have you sensed another?”

Bethany thought a moment about the voice that woke her. “No,” she said. “But there were lights down here. I figured you’d have a Tech running the train station.”

“Not anymore,” Lewis said. “The lights are emergency lights that she charged up. They’ll eventually fade.”

“What happened to her?”

Lewis leaned in. “She danced with the train.”

“Tribute!” howled a voice down one of the corridors of the train station.

“Oh gods, not again,” Lewis said and sedately rose from his chair, dabbing his lips with his napkin.

“Tribute!”

“You think they would at least try to be subtle,” Lewis said and walked to the center of the terminal surrounded by the blazing light.

Bethany could hear the crowd and didn’t know whether to crawl under the table or make a run for it. Clark pulled her inside an alcove of steel and pulverized stones. He copped a feel while he positioned them behind a pillar.

“Hey!”

“Sorry, force of habit,” he said. “Be quiet and watch.” Clark pulled a pistol out of his jacket and flicked the safety off.

An emaciated, rag-clad mob clambered into the room only to recoil from the heat and light of the fires. Lewis slid off his dinner jacket and folded it neatly over one arm as he began to unbutton his shirt.

“What’s he doing?”

“If he ruins his suit, there will be hell to pay.”

The mob carried nets and clubs. They slowly came forward.

“Tribute,” the biggest of the men demanded.

“You offer yourself to me as a tribute? How kind. I accept. After you’ve bathed, of course.” Lewis eased off the shirt and began to unbuckle his pants.

The rabble sniffed the air and narrowed their eyes on the food. The discipline broke down as they rushed the table, leaving the big man in the center of the room. They fell on the table, on one another, grabbing the bread and the chicken bones, stuffing what they could in their mouths.

“It’s so hard to find good help these days,” Lewis said. “I speak from experience. My Shifters were supposed to let me eat my dinner in peace.”

“They’re being kept busy running after my men.” From another corridor, a willowy woman dressed in an evening gown and heels entered the room. She tilted her face toward the light and heat.

“Misha, what a lovely surprise.”

“Is it?” She stalked closer and Lewis drew off his belt with a snap and held it like a whip.

He turned his back completely on the ragged man with the club, who snarled “Tribute!” again.

“Misha, if you wanted an invitation to dinner, you must let my secretary know.”

“He’s not one of mine. He’s Garegoth’s minion.”

Lewis made a moue of distaste and snapped his fingers.

Clark shot the man in the back. Bethany clamped her hands over her ears. They rang from the close shot.

The rabble scattered like mice but wasn’t frightened enough to leave the food and silver.

Misha shifted into a creature of scales and teeth, her evening gown shredding into silk confetti. Lewis dodged her snapping teeth, and cracked the belt into her side. On four legs, she resembled a scorpion, and she lashed and missed with her tail.

“Who is she?” Bethany asked.

“A former partner,” Clark said. “Hell hath no fury, and all that.”

“How did you scorn her?”

Clark didn’t answer.

It looked like Misha and Lewis were going to dance all night when a troll barreled into the room. It was the same color as the rubble, and if it had been still, Bethany would have mistaken it for a boulder. This boulder careened into the center to join the battle.

“It’s like Grand Central station tonight,” Lewis said, then laughed at his own joke.

The troll grabbed Misha by the tail and swung her across the room where she hit the wall and lay dazed and twitching.

“Garegoth, you party crasher you.” Lewis laughed.

Clark emptied the pistol into it. Garegoth staggered back and then turned to face Clark. The troll’s smile featured sharp, pointed teeth covered in moss. The only thing that stopped Bethany from running was that with her luck she’d run into Misha’s or Garegoth’s followers.

Garegoth chortled. It sounded like thunder. He took a step toward them.

“Stop screwing around, Lewis,” Clark yelled.

“I haven’t had this much fun in ages. I would have stopped sending you kids long ago if I knew you’d come out yourself to play.”

“Kids?” Bethany cried.

“Relax. Baby goats,” Clark said.

Bethany reached out and sounded every train whistle in the station. What the heck, she was half-deaf from the gunshots anyway.

The troll clutched his elephantine ears. The scorpion writhed. Lewis raised an eyebrow.

“Lewis, this has been a lovely experience, but I’m afraid I have a busy day ahead of me, and I should get to bed... Alone,” Bethany added as an afterthought.

“Pity,” Lewis said. “Aren’t you going to stick around to see what I turn into?”

“Rain check?”

He shook his head.

“The other Tech did she see what you turn into?”

“And threw herself in front of the train rather than face the horror? No, she went crazy, down here. Hearing voices in her head. Have a pleasant night, dear.”

He lashed out with the belt at a still quaking Garegoth.

Clark walked her across the station, carrying her bag of battery chargers.

“Is he going to be all right?” Bethany said.

“He’s a show-off. It wouldn’t surprise me if he arranged all that.”

“Why?”

“To impress you.”

“I’m impressed. It’s not every day I join up with men who screw over gigantic scorpions and rock trolls.”

“Bethany, we’ll screw over anyone.”

“Good to know,” she said. “I’m not interested.”

“It’s a long way to California.”

When they were aboveground again, the blast of November night air ripped through her lungs, and Bethany shivered. Clark shrugged out of his jacket and placed it on her shoulders.

A coughing growl shattered the night, and a large cougar leaped in front of them. He reared up and batted the jacket away. Bethany didn’t even have time to flinch, but his claws never touched her.

“Your Shifter, I suppose,” Clark said and backed away, showing his hands. “It would be easier if you changed back before we get on the train.”

Lucas eyed him and fell in step between them, shouldering Clark away from Bethany.

“It’s easier to report when you can speak,” Clark muttered.

Lucas let out a rolling growl that scared the birds out of the trees.