"Are you crazy?" Claire asked as Draz helped her towards the hatch Alek had come through. The space beyond was black and foreboding save for the snow which drifted through the gap into the car below. Claire reached out her hand and a few flakes fell to rest on her palm. They lingered a moment before melting.

"You're hurt," Alek frowned, mimicking Draz's earlier statement. Claire glanced towards him as his gaze dropped to her leg and the hasty bandages Draz had put in place.

"Keen eye," Draz snapped. "Are we doing this or what?"

The lights in the car were beginning to flicker in wild, erratic patterns. Though Draz did a good job at hiding it, Claire could tell he was growing uneasy. She couldn't really blame him, she was eager to get off the train as well.

Alek was quiet for a moment, regarding the blood stained spandex.

Finally he nodded.

"I'm going to climb up first," Alek explained at last, "Claire, I am going to pull you up next, and then Draz, you follow after her."

Draz nodded and Claire watched anxiously as Alek reached up and grabbed the rim of the opening. He pulled himself up easily and a few seconds later was looking down at them, his dark red hair was blowing wildly in the wind.

"Alright, Claire, you're next," he called, his voice sounding distant as the wind threatened to sweep it away entirely. Claire hesitated a moment before she reached up and took his hands. As he began to pull her up she felt hands pressing into her rear.

"Hey!" She protested, looking down. Draz grinned up at her and offered a helpless shrug.

"Just helping," he insisted. She scowled but offered no further protests.

Enjoy it while you can, she thought, it's never going to happen again.

If Claire could have imagined what riding on the roof of a train might be like, she never would have imagined this. As she emerged from the car below and into the chilly darkness, she found herself encased in swirl of snow which glinted like diamonds in the moonlight. It was breathtaking and for a moment Claire forgot all about the throbbing burn in her leg.

"Stay very still, it's slippery," Alek shouted over the roar of the train below them.

Claire nodded and looked towards the front of the train. As she watched the black smoke billowing out of the what she presumed to be the engine itself, she couldn't help but wonder, what had become of the engineer?

It didn't take long for the bitter cold to start seeping in through her clothes. She'd left her coat down in the train car and her exposed leg only made matters worse. On the bright side, the cold was helping to make her leg feel better, though she wasn't entirely certain if that was a good thing.

A few minutes later Draz joined them and she felt a heavy weight get draped over her shoulders. She realized after a brief moment of confusion that it was a coat. It wasn't her coat, but it was a coat nevertheless. She pushed her arms through the sleeves and savored the warmth that enveloped her.

"Thought you might need this," Draz explained, leaning in close to her ear so he wouldn't have to shout. "Come on, let's get you up."

With Draz's help, Claire managed to get to her feet without toppling over the side of the train.

"We need to head towards the last car," Alek called out. He waited for them to join him. "We'll have to jump. Do you think you can manage with your leg?"

He looked at Claire, worry still showing in his eyes.

"Yes," Claire replied, sounding far more confident than she felt. She wouldn't really know until she tried. As a dancer, leaping that distance was a breeze and had she not been injured she wouldn't have thought twice about it. As it stood now, whenever she put her weight on her leg, her entire body felt like it was on fire. In the end, Claire knew that she really didn't have much of a choice. They needed to get to the end of the train and this was the only way.

There were only three cars, surely she could manage.

Alek looked skeptical but he simply nodded.

"We'll do this just like before, I will go first, then Claire, then Draz."

The two of them nodded and Alek took one last look at Claire before leaping onto the next car. He landed gracefully, rising from a half crouched position and turning towards them. He motioned for Claire to jump next. She took a steadying breath and made the leap.

Her landing wasn't as nearly as graceful as Alek's had been, and it hurt like hell when her injured leg took the brunt of her weight, but she made it. Draz joined them a moment later, snow blooming upwards as he skidded expertly to a stop and offered a faint smirk.

"This is no time to be showing off," Alek admonished before leading them towards the next jump.

Again, Alek went first, and like before he landed with ease on the other side. Claire was beginning to wonder if it was grace or something more. The way he almost seemed to float seconds before touching down suggested the latter. On the second jump, her bad leg gave way and she felt herself tumbling forward. A cry of surprise escaped her and she was certain she was about to topple off the side.

Alek, however, moved quickly, catching her mid-fall and keeping her upright. Claire lifted her eyes to meet his. They were wide with alarm. The expression was fleeting, lasting for only a moment before it was replaced by a frown. "You could have fallen."

"I know," Claire breathed. "Thank you."

"You need to be more careful," he continued.

"I will," Claire assured him. "I promise."

"While I'm sure this is a scintillating conversation, could you maybe consider continuing it at a later time? You know, like when we're not on top of a driverless train?"

They both looked over to see Draz standing there with his arms crossed over his chest and look on his face like he had just eaten a bucket full of lemons.

"Right," Alek stated, releasing his hold on Claire. "One more car. Lets go."

Moving as quickly as they could, the trio approached the last jump. Claire's leg felt like it was on fire and the pain had spread up into her thigh and beyond. Each step was agony, but she refused to express her immense discomfort. There would be time for all of that later. At one point she glanced over at Draz and was surprised to see he was watching her intently, no doubt reading on her face what her mouth refused to admit.

"I'm fine," she mouthed to him before she turned away. If he had any more thoughts on the matter, she was not open to hearing them.

"Once we get to the last car, I am going to climb down and try to disconnect it from the rest," Alek called out. "Draz, I am going to need you to go to the other side and climb down the back. When I give the signal, I want you to pull the emergency break. Hopefully we'll be able to slow down enough to jump before we reach the end of the tracks."

"End of the tracks?" Claire shouted, her heart racing.

"Seems to be the case, yes," Alek replied casually, as though this were a normal, everyday occurrence. "Remember when we felt the train tipping? Someone caused the train to switch tracks. We're no longer heading in the proper direction. If I recall correctly, the split off leads south."

"The Southern Pass has been closed for decades," Draz declared.

"Exactly," Alek state,. " and in about fifteen minutes this train is going to attempt to go through a tunnel that is no longer a tunnel. It is ill advised to still be aboard when it does."

Between this new revelation and the pain radiating through her entire left side, Claire found she wanted nothing more than to be in her warm bed with her cat and a good book. She wanted to go home. Gritting her teeth against the cold, she forced herself to remain calm.

"What do I do?" she called out at last.

"You wait," Alek said.

"What he said," Draz agreed.

Had the situation been less dire, Claire would have commended them on their new found ability to agree on something.

Instead, she frowned.

"I can help," Claire insisted.

"Yes, you can, by waiting here," Alek said, pointing to roof of the train car. "Draz, do not pull the break until you feel the cars disconnect. If you pull it too soon, the tension will make it impossible to remove the pin."

"I think I'll manage," Draz shouted back before disappearing into the darkness.

Alek looked at Claire and offered a small smile before swinging down into the gap between the two train cars. Claire lowered herself to her hands and knees and crept close enough to the edge to be able to peer down. It was difficult to see in the dark, but Alek appeared to be laying across the platform on his stomach trying to reach something below him. Claire caught movement out of the corner of her eye and saw the door from the car across from them slowly swinging open.

The car was dark.

"Alek!" she tried to shout in warning, but her voice got tangled up in the wind and immediately carried away. Panic welled up in her chest as she saw the long, black limbs extending from the doorway to wrap around either side of the train car. The creature within was pulling itself outward and it would be only a matter of seconds before Alek fell prey to the digging claws.

Claire turned, looking frantically for something, anything, that she could use to get Alek's attention or distract the Shade. Swinging wildly from the corner of the train was an oil lamp. The flame was nearly extinguished, but that didn't matter, not for her purposes.

Pulling it from the hook, Claire scrambled back to the roof's edge and look down. Her stomach twisted when she saw the shadow creature looming over Alek. "Leave him alone!" She screamed, throwing the lamp down on the creature. The glass shattered and the Shade let out a loud shriek as flames erupted across its backside.

That was unexpected. Claire thought as it fell backwards into the train car, the flames illuminating the small space and exposing a mass of writhing limbs. Alek looked up in surprise, his gaze moving from the blaze quickly spreading in the car, up towards Claire who was still clinging to the edge of the roof.

She shrugged, her nonchalance only surface level. Her heart was still pounding away in her chest and she felt like she was going to be sick. There was a jolt as the bolt holding the cars together was finally pulled free. Claire watched as the train began to pull away leaving a trail of smoke in its wake as everything within the car was caught up in the flames.

Another jolt rocked the car as the break was applied causing Claire's grip to tighten in order to avoid slipping off. Her fingers ached with cold and she wanted nothing more than to stuff them deep into her pockets. Alek quickly scaled the ladder bolted to the side of the train.

"Thank you," he said as he knelt down next to where she was. "That was very quick thinking." He reached out and pulled her hands away from the roof's edge. He rubbed then between his own and Claire felt warmth returning not only to her fingers, but to her face as well. She had never been more grateful for the darkness.

"It was nothing," she replied. "Can we get off this thing now?"

Alek smiled and nodded. He rose, pulling her up with him and the two made their way towards the back of the train car. Draz looked up at them from the platform and waved. Alek looked towards Claire.

"I am going to lower you down to him," he explained. "Go slow now."

Claire nodded and swung her legs down over the edge. She tried her best to ignore the fresh wave of pain and waited until she felt Draz's hands grasp her hips before releasing her hold on Alek's hands. A moment later her feet were planted securely on the platform that extended out from the back of the train. Alek quickly followed and nodded his thanks to Draz.

"The car is still going far too fast," he said after taking a moment to assess the situation. "I was hoping we'd be able to ride it out, but we're going to have to jump if we don't want to end up roasted like a Christman hen."

"I wouldn't mind," Claire mumbled. The cold felt like it had seeped all the way to her bones and her clothing was wet from all the sitting, crawling and sliding she had done.

"I promise we'll get you all warmed up once we're off the train," Alek assured her. "How are your skills these days, Draz?"

Draz smirked. "Sharp as ever, mate, what did you have in mind?"

"Levitation," Alek replied.

The smirk on Draz's face faded a bit.

"Under these conditions?"

"Claire is hurt, it's the safest way," Alek insisted.

"Yeah, if we don't screw it up," Draz replied.

"You worried you can't do it?" Alek goaded.

"It's not me I'm worried about, pretty boy," Draz scowled. "Let's do this."

"Can someone explain to me what exactly is going on?"

"If we jump at this speed, we risk further injury," Alek explained as he tugged at the buttons of his coat. "We need something to help cushion the impact."

Draz was rolling up his sleeves. "A levitation spell is some advanced shit," he added. "It's hard enough to under stable conditions for just one person, never mind on the back of a moving train with three of us."

"What happens if you screw it up?"

"We won't," Alek insisted. Draz made a sweeping motion with his hand while Alek wasn't looking implying that they'd end up flying through the air instead of levitating. Alek, having caught the movement from the corner of his eye, shot a glare towards Draz.

Draz grinned and patted her lightly on the shoulder. "Don't worry, Claire, we were top of our class back in the day, isn't that right, Alek?"

"Enough useless babble," Alek snapped. He shrugged out of his coat and extended it towards Claire to hold. "Let's just get this done. Claire, you must stand very still. Do you understand?"

"Yes," Claire nodded.

"Alright, let's begin."