After she’d stepped through the hole in the bottom of the lemonade stand, Matt closed the door from above. She caught one last glimpse before the door shut. It vanished into the ceiling of the room she had just walked into, making it look like the staircase they were descending led to a random ceiling.

“I don’t think Matt liked me,” she said as they kept slowly going down to a small, empty room far below.

“He hates all humans,” Reuben said, putting his right hand on the handrail.

His fingers were still growing back. She hadn’t known that was something he could do, but then again, he was always revealing new secrets. Everything was so new to Cara.

“Long, long story. He won’t do anything to you while I’m here.”

She didn’t have an answer. She honestly didn’t care about whatever Matt’s beef was with her or humankind in general, so she asked something she did care about.

“Where are we going?”

He stepped off the last step of the staircase and walked towards the door that led towards the commotion.

“You ask a lot of questions, Cara. You need to learn to just go with the flow.”

“Yeah… Go with the flow.”

Easier said than done. She just broke physics and had completely vanished from her world. She couldn’t hear the sound of cars, and after living in the city her entire life, she knew one thing – there was no place where the sound of traffic went away. Ever. Wherever they were, they weren’t near a bustling city anymore.

Reuben pulled open the door, and together, he and Cara walked through.

She inhaled sharply. There was a long train in the middle of what appeared to be an Industrial Revolution railroad. Swarms of enchanted creatures were minding their business, similar to her visit to the Enchanted Society. Her brain was having a hard time processing the creatures surrounding her, so she decided to imagine she was on the set of a movie, which helped her relax. Well, not really, but the movie set daydream did make her feel a little better. The sounds surrounding her were loud; the tremendous commotion bounced off the top of the tall cavern like it was designed for these types of acoustics.

Reuben walked straight for the train. People moved well out of his way. As big as he was, everyone just moved right around him.

“Cara, have you ever jumped a train before?”

“Did you honestly just ask me if I have ever jumped a train before?” she asked. “Is there any part of you that thinks that’s possible? It’s me, Reuben.”

He ruffled up her hair, which she hated and he knew she hated, but she let him do it anyway.

“Don’t worry. I’ll show you how.”

She felt oddly claustrophobic. She was the only human there, which was painfully obvious. She saw someone that looked human, but when the guy turned, he had long spikes protruding from his back like a porcupine. Two huge creatures that looked like rhinos mixed with men looked down at her with disdain and said something in a different language.

She cleared her throat.

“Reuben, I, uh… I don’t think they’re okay with me being here. I’m drawing a lot of attention.”

Sensing her fear, Reuben stopped to draw her into a protective hug.

“Cara, I promise, we will get through this. Just stick by me and you will be fine. I won’t let anything happen to you and I won’t let anyone hurt you.”

“Promise?”

“Promise.”

Reuben leaned down to kiss her, and Cara felt her worries dissipate. How did he do that to her? She felt almost peaceful – even though nothing about their current situation was peaceful.

The train’s horn blew.

“All aboard!” the conductor yelled. “All aboard!”

“Uh-oh,” Reuben said. “That’s not good. We have to catch that train. That means you have to run. Fast!”

Reuben grabbed Cara’s hand and she struggled to keep up.

“Reuben, my legs aren’t as long as yours. And I am not a werewolf. Can’t we catch the next one?” Cara yelled, almost breathless from the physical exertion.

“Can’t do that,” he said. “Only one of them comes through a day!”

Reuben wasn’t a graceful runner, but he didn’t need to be. Everyone dodged him, shrieking. Reuben jumped on the train and turned quickly to grab Cara’s hand to pull her on. Cara reached for his hand, but it was just out of grasp.

“Reuben!” She screamed frantically, terrified she would lose him.

Guards saw Cara and Reuben trying to jump on the train and chased after them.

“Stop!” the guards screamed. “You need to stop immediately!”

Who would actually heed those instructions? ‘Oh, sure, officer. I’ll just jump off and let you catch me,’ thought Cara.

How had she started doing this so often? She had never done anything illegal except smoke a joint once in college, and even then, she’d coughed her lungs out. Now, in the last week, she’d run from the law what, five times? Who knows? She’d lost count.

Her bare feet were throbbing in pain, as they still hadn’t found shoes. Her foot caught between the tracks for a brief second, twisting her ankle.

“Reuben, I can’t—”

Reuben jumped off the train and grabbed Cara before quickly throwing her over his shoulder. He briefly changed into his werewolf form and ran full force until he caught up with the caboose. He made one impressive leap onto the back of the train, grabbing on with his massive hands.

The train, evidently unaware of either Cara or Reuben, quickly picked up velocity. The powerful jerking motion of the train increasing its speed threw both Cara and Reuben onto the metal grill, with him on top of her.

“Reuben,” she said, trying to breathe. “I can’t breathe. You’re so heavy…”

He pushed himself off her body and flopped on the ground beside her. She tried to focus on breathing.

“We made it! I can’t believe we made it,” said Cara as she looked over at Reuben, her knight in shining armor.

“Of course we made it. I promised I would take care of you,” he said as he grabbed her hand.

She noticed all of his fingers were intact, and looked more closely at his face to see that all of the bruising was gone.

“What are you staring at?”

Cara answered, “You’re lucky you can heal like that. I hit my toe on the coffee table and limp for, like, two weeks.”

“I would take all of your pain away if I could.”

“I wouldn’t let you,” said Cara, laughing at Reuben’s cheesy reply.

They both sat up, and for several moments, sat in silence and watched the scenery go by as the enchanted train made its way down the tracks.

“Where’s this thing going? How does it even exist?”

“Oh, it just runs through the enchanted dimension. Right now, we’re headed straight through a regular solid mountain to the next cavern.

The sound of them moving through the mountain was peculiar. It had a strange earthly ring to it, but the closer she looked, the more obvious it became that they weren’t traveling on an ordinary railroad. The track had disappeared, and the train was now surrounded by a glimmering protective shield—like a bubble—that took them straight through solid stone and dirt.

“But how…?” Cara asked.

“It’s enchanted.”

“It’s beautiful,” she sighed. “I’ve never even imagined something like this, and I never imagined that we’d be here when I first met you.”

He nodded.

“But you know what matters?” he asked.

“What’s that?” She snuggled up next to his muscled shoulder.

He looked deep into her eyes, smiled gently, and stroked her chin. “I’m here now, and we’ll take on anything that comes our way. We’re a team.”

She smiled, then asked, “Reuben, why did we make such an effort to take the train if we were so close to your friend’s house?”

“I changed my mind.”

“What do you mean? We’ve been heading to Texas for days?”

“It’s too dangerous. I think Ezekiel knows where we’re headed.”

“So where are we going?” Cara asked, not knowing whether to be excited about the possibility of going somewhere safe or terrified about what he was about to tell her.

“We’re going to see my family.”

“What? Are you serious?”

Reuben had once shared that he was from the most powerful werewolf pack, and was in line to be pack leader. However, he’d bailed on his pack because of the responsibility that came with being the leader. Cara’s mom and dad had died in a tragic car accident in the first week of college. She’d have given anything to see them again.

“Well, he’s like family,” Reuben explained. “He’s actually my godfather. His name is Eddy, and he is one of the only creatures – outside of other werewolves – whom my father trusts. Even after I left the pack, Eddy never turned his back on me.”

Cara nodded in reply. “Are there guards on the train? Do you think they know we’re here?”

“Maybe. There’s no way to know. They might be fully aware we’re here and are just waiting for the train to stop.”

She nuzzled up against his powerful chest. It was still surprising that he was so smooth. She’d expected that since he was a werewolf, he’d be covered in chest hair. But he didn’t have a single one. That was good; she liked smooth men.

“Get some rest, Cara.” He lay back, closing his eyes. “We’ve had an exciting week.”

‘That’s an understatement,’ thought Cara. Within the past week, she’d met Reuben, ran from Ezekiel the vampire and his thugs, broke a spell cast on Reuben that made him change into a werewolf every night, and lastly, fallen in love.

“Where’s our destination?”

“South Dakota,” answered Reuben.

“Oh boy. So I better get comfortable. How long of a ride is that? A day? Two?”

“Not even hours,” explained Reuben. “Remember, it’s enchanted.”