They chugged uphill, switchbacking up into a steep mountainside forest. Gray slopes fell away behind them into green valleys, which wandered off and faded away into the distance. But as beautiful as it was, it was hard work climbing mountains. The Silver Arrow kept demanding more and more coal, and going slower, and slower, and slower, till after a while Kate could almost have kept up with it on foot.
She didn’t want to think what would happen if they actually stopped, or even worse, started rolling back down the mountain. Tom kept whispering “I-think-I-can I-think-I-can” to the train, like in The Little Engine That Could, and the train kept telling him to knock it off.
I’M NOT DESIGNED TO CLIMB MOUNTAINS. I’M NOT A FUNICULAR!
“I don’t know what that is, but tell me if we have to start leaving cars behind,” Kate said. “I can live without the boxcars, but I draw the line at the library car.”
I’M NOT LOSING ANY CARS
WHAT KIND OF A MONSTER ARE YOU?
“I’m just trying to help.”
WE LEAVE NO CAR BEHIND
EXCEPT MAYBE THE CANDY CAR, I’LL LET YOU KNOW
Finally, they made it to the top, where there was a pass through the mountains. By this time the Silver Arrow was barely moving at a walking pace. The shadows of the mountains stretched away for miles behind them, spilling darkly down into the valley. For one long minute they were on level ground, and everybody sat back and took a deep breath.
Then the Silver Arrow tipped forward and started down the other side of the mountain.
It picked up speed quickly—and kept on picking it up. The chuffing and the clickety-clacking accelerated, slowly at first, but then faster and faster. Kate stuck her head out the window, and the wind hit her in the face. Soon they were really moving, booming down the mountain, faster than they’d ever gone before. Kate and Tom exchanged a nervous look. It was a relief to be making good time again, but maybe this was too much of a good thing.
“I’m sorry I made fun of you for going slow before,” Tom said. “If this is your revenge, you’ve made your point.”
I’M NOT MAKING A POINT
I CAN’T SLOW DOWN
“Where’s your speedometer?” Kate said.
DON’T HAVE ONE
“What?!”
STEAM ENGINES DON’T HAVE SPEEDOMETERS
“Were you literally invented in medieval times? How’re we supposed to know how fast we’re going?!”
Kate could almost feel the weight of the heavy cars behind them, shoving them along. She shut off the steam and tried the brakes, first lightly and then harder.
OW! MY BRAKE SHOES!
It didn’t work anyway. She barely felt the difference. It was official: The Silver Arrow had become a runaway train.
The cab started rocking scarily back and forth. They were cutting across a steep slope, and if they derailed that would be the end—they’d roll sideways, over and over, all the way down the mountain. The animals came crowding forward into the cab.
“We’ve come to express our concern,” the cat said. “We’re concerned that we’re all going to die.”
“I know!” Kate said. “I’m braking as hard as I can!”
“I almost fell on the porcupine,” the snake said.
“The snake almost fell on me!” the porcupine said.
“I want you all to know,” the heron said, “that if we fall off a cliff, I will survive by jumping out the window and flying away, but I’ll remember you all fondly and in great detail.”
“Thanks,” Kate said without much enthusiasm.
“What’s your brother’s name again?”
“Tom!” said Tom.
“I’ll never forget you, Tim.”
“I can’t believe birds used to be dinosaurs,” Tom said.
When Kate put her head out the window again, she saw up ahead the worst thing she could possibly see: They were coming up on a tight curve on the edge of a sheer cliff, and they were going way too fast. Their momentum would take them right off it.
She threw herself on the brake lever and pushed.
IT’S ALREADY ALL THE WAY ON!
“If you can transform into an airplane or something, now would be a good time!”
THAT IS AN UNREASONABLE EXPECTATION!
It was too late anyway. The Silver Arrow hit the curve and Kate felt the whole train lean out to one side over thin air. Everybody screamed. Kate clung to the cab’s left side, which was on the inside of the curve. Maybe her weight would make a tiny bit of difference?! She could actually feel the train’s left-hand wheels leave the track, and for a horrible instant they were riding the curve on one single rail. There was the toe-curling shriek of steel on steel, and for an unbearably long second they balanced there and time seemed to stop—
—and then the train crashed back down onto the rails and they kept going.
The track was straight from there. They rattled down the lower slopes of the mountain and on into the foothills. Kate looked around the cab.
“Let’s never do that again,” she said.
“Agreed,” the heron said.
AGREED
As soon as she dared, Kate stuck her head back out the window to see what was coming next. She regretted it immediately.
“I don’t believe it,” she said.
They’d reached the coast, and up ahead were bright white sand and the wide blue ocean. The tracks led straight down into it.
18
The Wise Island
THIS TIME KATE DIDN’T BOTHER YELLING ANYTHING like “Look out!” or “Oh no!” or even just “Help!” It was already too late. All she could do was watch the wild blue surf come thundering up at them.
She closed her eyes. If she had to die at the age of eleven, she supposed that crashing into a nameless ocean in a speeding steam train with her brother and a bunch of talking animals at least had some flair to it. She would have an outstandingly compelling obituary.
But she didn’t die. Instead the Silver Arrow swooshed right down into the water.
Kate wished she could’ve watched it from a distance because it would’ve looked so cool: The massive black steam engine charged right into the rolling surf, butting and smashing through the waves, throwing spray everywhere, seawater hissing off its hot boiler—and then the water parted and formed a luminous emerald tunnel down into the ocean, and the Silver Arrow shot right down into it.
Gradually, foot by foot, the tracks descended under the water, following the slope of the ocean floor. Shifting green sunlight filtered down through the ocean overhead, quickly cooling into a deep blue dusk as the tunnel took them farther below the surface. Sound became muffled. Rocks and seaweed and schools of silvery fish rolled past, eyeing them curiously and flashing their bright sides.
“Wow,” Kate said. “Oh wow. What is even happening?”