The next day it was snowing harder, and the wind started to howl. It was a real blizzard. The Silver Arrow pounded through the storm, cutting through the wind, its cowcatcher sending snow fountaining off the track on both sides. Kate and Tom lit the woodstove in the library and wrapped themselves in blankets, and the porcupine sat in his armchair—which by this time was quilled beyond repair—and told them stories about his hair-raising standoffs with mountain lions and fishers, which were the only animals with the gumption to seriously take on a porcupine.
(A fisher was nothing like a fishing cat, the porcupine explained. Fishers were actually members of the weasel family, but much larger and more vicious than weasels. And they didn’t even eat fish! Another brilliant piece of naming by the humans.)
Kate went up to the engine to check on the Silver Arrow. The sun was setting, and they were crossing a frozen lake. The tracks ran right across the ice.
THIS MAKES ME NERVOUS
“Me too.” Kate peered out into the snowy twilight. “How thick is this ice?”
I DON’T KNOW
IT WAS A WARM WINTER. AND IT’S VERY LATE IN THE SEASON
“It had better be pretty thick.”
WHAT ARE YOU IMPLYING ABOUT MY WEIGHT
SORRY
I MAKE JOKES WHEN I’M NERVOUS
Kate took their speed up as far as she dared. The sooner they got off this ice, the better. The wind made snaky sidewinders of snow that slid across the frozen lake.
Crunch! Suddenly the whole train lurched and slowed for a second—then kept going.
“What was that?!”
I THINK THE ICE IS CRACKING
Oh no.
“That isn’t good.”
She gave the train all the speed she could, but a minute later it lurched again, harder this time.
I THINK WE JUST LOST THE CABOOSE!
This ice wasn’t going to hold them much longer. Kate sprinted back toward the library car. She met Tom and the porcupine in the corridor, coming the other way.
“The ice is cracking!” Kate said. “We’re losing cars!”
“We know!” Tom said.
Crunch! This time the train ground to a complete halt and everybody fell down in a heap. Kate banged her elbow on the floor hard enough to bruise. They could feel the engine struggling and straining to get moving again. The weight of the long train was dragging it back and down.
“Come on!” Tom shouted.
They raced each other forward to the engine.
I’M STUCK!!!
“Come on!” Tom yelled. “Come on!”
“You have to try!” Kate said.
“You can do it!” said the porcupine. “Probably!”
There was a snap and a crash behind them, and with a grinding, groaning effort, the Silver Arrow surged forward again. Kate looked back: Maybe it was the snow and the darkness but all she could see behind them was the tender and the passenger cars.
Were all the rest gone? The library? Her beloved sleeper car? The candy car? There were so many candies she hadn’t tried yet! There was a whole jar of something called Ultimate Malted Milk Balls, which were like regular malted milk balls but coated in all three kinds of chocolate—milk, dark, and white. Now she’d never get to try them!
They’d been in some close scrapes before, but it suddenly occurred to her—as it had that very first night, when they’d plunged down the hill behind the house—that maybe this wasn’t going to turn out all right in the end. They’d come so far, but maybe they weren’t going to make it all the way. Maybe that was how this story ended.
Then there was a crack like almighty thunder, and the ice gave way right under them. The Silver Arrow crashed down through it into the freezing black water. A massive geyser of steam exploded up all around the boiler.
“No!” Kate shouted.
“No!” shouted Tom.
“No!” shouted the porcupine.
Click-bing.
BLAZE!
25
The Roundhouse
THE SILVER ARROW WEIGHED 102.36 TONS. IT DID NOT float. It sank—fast. Lake water boiled all around it from the heat of the engine.
As panicked as they were, Kate and Tom had the presence of mind to slam the windows shut as fast as they could and close the door at the back of the cab. That should delay our deaths by both freezing and drowning for a good two minutes, Kate thought.
“Can you swim?” she said.
“Yes,” said Tom.
“I know you can, I meant the porcupine!”
“I certainly can,” the porcupine said proudly. “My quills are hollow, so they double as natural flotation devices!”
“Okay. Good to know.”
I CAN’T SWIM
IN CASE YOU WERE WONDERING
“No, I figured.”
Kate stared at the dark water climbing up over the windows. There was a sickening sinking sensation as the snowy evening disappeared overhead and the train slid down into the black lake. How deep was it? There was some length of time people could survive in freezing cold water, and Kate couldn’t remember exactly what it was, but she knew it wasn’t very long. Even if they did get out, they’d be soaking wet in the middle of a frozen lake, probably miles from anywhere. They would freeze to death for sure.
Maybe better to drown and get it over with. Thin jets of water sprayed in around the doors—the Silver Arrow wasn’t made to be watertight.
“Tom,” Kate said, “is this one of those times when you secretly know what to do even though I don’t?”
“No!”
They were completely underwater now. She thought of the time they’d plunged into the ocean surf and down into the emerald tunnel of water, and how glorious and wonderful it was. This wasn’t like that. This was dark and cold and doomed.
If they did die, at least Kate knew it was for a good cause. They’d done what they set out to do, and it mattered. She only wished it hadn’t cost them so much.
The water pouring into the cab was so cold that her feet went numb as soon as it touched them. Kate shivered with her whole body. There was no sound as the engine touched bottom and settled on the floor of the lake. The water outside was pitch black. She wondered how far down they were. She wished—how she wished—that she’d just stayed a tree in the misty forest forever.
For a second she actually wondered if maybe the steam engine could run underwater. Maybe they could steam along the bottom of the lake and up onto land again. But it was too cold, you couldn’t build up enough steam pressure. And there were no tracks. She realized she would never see her parents again, and hot tears ran down her face. Kate took Tom’s hand with one hand and the porcupine’s spiny paw with the other.
“Tom.” She was so cold and scared she could barely catch her breath. “I really am glad you came with me. Except for this part, obviously. In a s-s-second I’m going to open the d-d-door.” Her teeth were chattering. Tom’s face was pale, and his lips were blue. “We’re all going to t-take a deep breath and t-t-try to swim out. Swim s-straight up—we’ll want to climb out through the h-h-hole the train made in the ice.”