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My head snapped to the side, even asto reach Vic’s hilt - but it was only Coach Ajax loo to the snack car to get so?"

I shook ," Daphne piped up

"Me too," Carson said

The two of theot up and followed Ajax The coach walked to the front of the car, swaying from side to side with the motion of the train He reached the door and hit the button so he could step forward into the next car; then he, Daphne, and Carson disappeared froether as they leaned on each other The two guys made a cute couple They’d met over winter break and had been totally into each other, although they hadn’t officially started dating until a feeeks ago

TheAjax, Daphne, and Carson so long I leaned over into the aisle Through the glass in the doors at the front, I could see folks standing in the middle of the aisle in the next car up That must be the line for the snack car Looked like my friends weren’t the only ones who’d wanted sohed, leaned back, and stared out the s again

Another five irls in the front of the car got up and headed toward the back At first, I wondered why, until I remembered that here the bathrooirl approached lanced down and realized I was staring at her The girl hesitated, then gaveback, her eyes slid past aze I couldn’t tell exactly what it was, but it almost seemed likesatisfaction

Her ser before she noticed I atching her watch aze snapped straight ahead, as though I’d caught her doing so she shouldn’t Yeah, it eird that she’d noticed Vic Then again, it eird for me to have a sword on a train, even this train that catered to Mythos students And I still couldn’t putme about her so much, other than her curious interest in Vic

It was only when she took a step past me that I realized she had one of her hands down by her side, instead of putting both of them on top of the brass rails for balance as shewhy she would walk like that when the train was shuddering so irl lurched to her right - letting , black coat

The girl froze for a ave a s deal She took another step forward, then another I turned one all the way past irl whipped out a sword froht it down - ai for my head

Instinct took over, and I iirl’s sword hit the top of the brass rail in front ofdeep into ainst the back of the bench in front of irl was quick - Amazon quick She stepped back, twirled the sword around in her hands, and raised it again for another strike Since there was no way I could reach out, grab Vic, and use hi behind round, and kicked out with irl let out a loud oof! as the air hissed out of her lungs, but she didn’t go down I braced ain This tiht on top of Oliver and Alexei

"Hey!" Oliver snapped "I’ here!"

"What the - " Alexei etting attacked by yet another Reaper The guys would figure that out soon enough Looked like Ajax’s plan to travel on the do hadn’t worked quite as well as he and Metis had thought it would

While the girl scrarabbed Vic

"Look," I said, slipping out fro in the iveher sword and charging at me "I’ll let you know after we kill her"

I didn’t have ti!

Up and down the aisle we fought, each one of us trying to drive her sword into the other I ducked under the Reaper girl’s swing and shoved past her, putting lanced overto crawl over the benches in order to get behind the Reaper girl, while Alexei was struggling to pull his tords out of his black backpack I knew my friends wanted to help ht the Reaper, wanted to take er, worry, and fear out on her So I stepped up and focused on irl was unbelievably quick, like all A with her balance more than it was mine It made all of her attacks h the s, I could see a large curve co up ahead, and I knew the train would lurch to the left So I parried the girl’s blows and waited for the right moment

A minute later, the train screeched around the curve just as the girl raised her sword over her head Her vicious strike, along with the train’s rocking, put her even that much more off balance, and she alht herself

I leaned into the curve and let the train’s irl - and help me bury Vic’s sharp point in her stomach

She sucked in a breath that was equal parts pain and surprise The train swayed the other way, and I pulled the blade free

The girl’s sword fell to the floor, and she pressed her hands to her stoasps She looked down in disbelief at all the blood gushing out of her wound, then back up at me For a moment, a spark of Reaper red fire shimmered in her eyes Then, it was abruptly snuffed out, like a light that had been turned off The girl pitched forward onto one of the tables, her head cracking against the , even as her legs went out fro hard, I stared down at the dead Reaper I didn’t know her, had never seen her before, but the thing that struck e as Jason Anderson Just a kid Just like me And now she was dead like he was - all because of me

"Gwen?" Oliver slid free of the bench he’d been trying to crawl over, stepped forward, and put a hand on my shoulder

"I’m okay," I said "She didn’t hurther had caused another little painful crack to zigzag across my heart I wondered how many more cracks it could take before it cruht had attracted the attention of the other passengers, and they scrambled to their feet and turned around to see what had caused all the coive h the rest of the fight"

I frowned "Rest of the fight? What are you talking about?"

Vic rolled his eye forward

I looked in that direction and got my answer a second later Because the folks in the front of the car weren’t getting up because they were concerned about the battle Oh no They were getting to their feet because they were all wearing long, black coats, just like the Reaper girl