We were steadily going through the fold, only hearing the subtle noise of the car moving on the tracks. I was still holding Kaz's hand, but I'll admit I am a little surprised he hasn't let go of me yet. We were all on edge but doing our best to remain calm for the other people present. If I had to bet, I'm sure Jesper will be the one to crack first.

A few moments later, there was a loud clanging noise. I jumped a little and increased my pressure on Kaz's hand. I took a deep breath, trying to assure myself that the volcra wouldn't be attracted by one little noise. Kaz lightly brushed his thumb against the back of my hand. Jesper's hands instinctively moved to his guns.

"What was that?" Jesper asked for all of us.

"I've erected a system of timers along the line. Bits of metal hung on poles to keep me apprised of our pace," Arken explained to us. I am slightly surprised by the simplicity of the idea, but I'm sure it is extremely useful.

"How did you know where to put the poles?" I asked

"Physics and engineering account for most of my success," Arken says.

"And the rest?" Inej questions.

"What we might call divine intervention." I internally chuckled a bit at his comment, knowing how crossing the fold was left completely up to fate.

"After all, the fold is thick with volcra, and the tracks are not complete." I could feel everyone's hearts skip a beat at Arkens announcement, mine included. I grip Kaz's hand even harder, and he flinches. I notice, and release it, opting to have my hands at the ready if anything went wrong.

"I'm sorry," Jesper voices, "did you say the tracks weren't complete?"

"I said they aren't complete." Arken corrected, keeping his voice calm.

"What?" Jesper said in disbelief. He began to move towards Arken but was cut off.

"No moving! We're a tad late, more coal." Kaz added a bit more into the flame, and while his exterior showed no signs of fear, his heart gave him away.

"Back to the real issue," Jesper continued his statement from before, "We're on tracks. That don't connect to OTHER TRACKS?" I decided to calm Jesper slightly, his anxiety would do no good for the rest of us. I moved my hands together, only Kaz and Inej noticing what I was doing. Kaz gave me a thankful look.

"Yes, there's a gap, but-"

"You said you could get us through," Kaz said angrily.

"HoW MuCH oF A gAP?" Jesper said again, so I slowed his heart rate even more. He noticed me doing so this time, and gave me a little look, not saying anything.

"I built slats on the car, they roll into place under the wheels," Arkens words calmed Kaz and me slightly. "The turbine creates enough wind to push us all the way to the eastern tracks. As long as we don't shift our weight." The last comment was directed at Jesper.

Another of his signals clanged.

"Now, the noise may attract the volcra, but it's the only way across." I almost stood up to slap Arken when he spoke these words, but Kaz's presence beside me calmed me down.

"Now, there's a nest nearby, " Arken said.

"Are you fucking kidding me?" I voiced. I had no doubt my presence combined with the loud noises coming from the car had already sent the volcra in our direction.

"We'll be fine!" Arken tried to reassure us, "If they haven't attacked us in..." The unmistakable sound of a volcra growling outside of the car sent us all into high alert. Jesper put his hands on his guns, Inej grabbed one of her knives, I had my hands at the ready, and Kaz was just looking at Arken angrily while white-knuckling his cane.

"Well now we've got a problem." Yeah, no shit! I was faced with a decision, do I use my powers to try to protect my friends, or do I wait as long as possible to see if I can protect my identity. I chose option two, but I was willing to out myself at any point to protect the people in this car.

We could hear the volcra flying all around us, and all of our hearts were sent into overdrive.

"How do you fight them off?" Kaz asked, glancing between Arken and myself. I lightly shook my head no, as Arken came up with a response.

"I outrun them." While I was sure that worked with normal passengers, the volcra would be more motivated with me present. "Open the throttle and toss in all the coal, which works when there's twenty pounds of it." Arkens backhanded comment to Jesper made me smirk. The volcra's screaming and screeching brought me back to reality quickly. There was a loud, fleshy sounding sound that seemed like it came from above us. I brought my hands beside me, abandoning my facade of heartrender's hand positioning. Volcra blood came pouring out of the ceiling almost on me, making me jump up and move to sit beside Jesper.

"Damn it!" Arken cursed. "The stupid thing impaled itself on a spike!"

"We need to get it off, the others will stand on it." Kaz said.

"More coal."

"We're down to fumes!!" Kaz yelled back, throwing the empty bag into the flames. "We'll never make it with all this extra weight," he pointed out.

"Give me a second," Arken responded, trying to think of the best way to get us out of this situation.

"This is how we die?" Jesper asked, during the madness I had dropped my influence, making him incredibly more anxious.

"Jesper, grab the goat," Arken told him, not looking up from his watch.

"I'M NOT THROWING OUT THE GOAT!!!" Jesper yelled, not even contemplating the idea. Arken was losing his patience, and yelled back at Jesper.

"Grab the damn goat! It's not bait! It's for you. I need you to calm down. Hug the goat. Shut the hell up!!" Inej began to pray silently, while Kaz looked at me.

"Vik?" He asked, Arken cut him off saying, "Heartrender abilities do nothing against the volcra, he designed them like that for a reason." Kaz and I both ignored his irrelevant comment.

"Not yet Kaz," He looked like he wanted to murder me, but I knew when to begin to fight, and it wasn't time. Another loud clanging sound.

"We should have hit that twenty seconds ago." Arken said, worriedly.

"Twenty seconds is..." Kaz asked, wanting an explanation.

"My timings are precise to get us outside. Even twenty seconds behind means the train stops inside the fold and, that," he paused for a moment. "That means we die. There's more coming."

Another bang was heard from the roof of the car, making us all look up again. Arken sunk into his seat, looking around at all of us.

"You may want to make your peace." I looked at Kaz again, and he looked like he would kill me if I didn't do anything at that exact moment.

"VIK?" He said angrily. I stood up from my place beside Jesper, and made my way to the middle of the car as a volcra made a hole in the ceiling.

"Jesper, come here." I said sharply, hoping he would listen.

"Are you crazy Vik?" He asked, "Come back here and sit down." I looked to Kaz, hoping he would be able to make Jesper listen to me.

"Jesper, listen to her. She may be our best way out." He stood up, making his way over to me.

"Get me up top." I said.

"Are you out of your mind?" Arken asked. "The volcra will tear you apart!" I ignored him, and placed my foot in Jesper's outstretched hands. He hoisted me up, and I hit the ceiling with my hand as I went, breaking the panel. I pulled myself up the rest of the way, astonished by how many volcra were present around the car. There were well over a hundred.

"Here goes nothing," I said to myself, beginning to call merzost. I felt the black veins growing on my neck as I created 2 shadow soldiers to defend me. They were the most useful creatures in a situation like this, and I was always amazed by the terrifying beauty of them. I had only used merzost once while practicing with my father.

He had warned me, "Only use Merzost when absolutely necessary. It drains you and your power, which will have a far higher chance of killing you than if you just stop their hearts." I thought of my fathers useless advice as I drained myself, and walked to the back of the car. I stopped when I was about to step off, and used my normal shadow summoning to call the volcra to me. Nothing happened for a moment, and I had a tiny sense of accomplishment as I thought I had scared them off.

I was about as wrong as I could possibly be. More than twenty volcra hurled themselves at me, but about half of them missed, hitting the back of the car. I hoped that the pushes the volcra provide will be enough to get us out of the fold. The other half, however, I had to fight off. The nichevo'ya did their jobs well, fighting off eight of the ten that remained, leaving me with only two.

I used the cut on one, and forgot about the other while focusing on not hurting my friends below me. I felt a searing pain in the calf of my left leg, but ignored it. I looked over to see the last of the current wave of volcra behind me, having just slashed my leg with its claws. I shook my head at the terrifying creature, and prepared to use the cut once more.

I had never used my power this continuously before, and the nichevo'ya were draining me. I continued to fight off the volcra, hoping we were reaching the end of the fold.

I felt my hopes get washed away in the darkness as I saw more volcra coming from a distance. I gathered up all the strength I had left, let out a scream, and released all the power I could. I felt myself being lifted off my feet, and I sent one massive cut in all directions other than below me. Moments after, I was sure I would collapse and be eaten by the man-eating creatures my father created, but was extremely relieved as sunlight blinded me. I began to slowly fall the ten feet I had risen, collapsing to my knees from exhaustion as I reached the ground. The last thing I saw was Kaz and Jesper running in my direction as my eyes closed.