Chapter 344: Walking Around the Hole

The smile appears before I decide what to answer.

The problem is that Freya notices, and that’s probably a mistake.

"Interesting," I say.

She narrows her eyes.

"What?"

"When you were tied to Dean, you lived on my heels because of that idiotic rivalry. Now you’re free, you can do whatever you want, and you’re still following me."

Her expression starts to change before I finish.

I tilt my head slightly.

"I’m starting to think you have feelings for me."

Freya freezes.

The red climbs up her neck and takes over her whole face at an impressive speed. For an instant, she seems unable to decide whether to answer, flee, or hit me with something.

The air decides for her.

The temperature drops around us.

My own breath starts coming out in white mist, and the same happens to Rhayne and Zhang Xi. Small crystals form on the ground near Freya’s boots while the embarrassment on her face begins to turn into a far more familiar irritation.

"Dryden..."

"I’m joking."

I raise my hands before Permafrost joins the conversation.

The mist in our breath still takes a few seconds to disappear, but the ice stops spreading.

Across from me, I notice Rhayne is smiling again.

I also notice there’s no benefit at all in showing that I noticed. I keep that smile to myself.

"Besides, it doesn’t depend only on me."

I turn to the other two.

"Can Freya come with us?"

Zhang Xi studies Freya for a moment and answers calmly.

"I don’t see a problem. An additional Rank C should make the expedition safer."

Rhayne nods right after.

"Fine by me."

I turn back to Freya.

"Then you’re welcome."

Her eyes fill with water almost immediately.

Freya tries to hold the reaction back, but she loses the battle for an instant and gives a small hop in place before recovering her posture. The movement is so incompatible with the Valkyrie I know that I have to control myself not to laugh. The girl I saw inside that room nearly stepped out into the world for a flash of a moment.

"When do we leave?"

"Now. We were already heading out."

She nods quickly.

I look at the gear she’s carrying.

"Do you need to grab anything?"

"No. I’m ready."

Of course she is. Freya always is.

"Seems Freya didn’t just run into us by accident in the courtyard wearing field gear," I say to Zhang Xi and Rhayne, throwing in a wink.

We start walking.

"Is Dryden okay?"

I hear Zhang Xi murmur to Rhayne.

Rhayne looks at Zhang Xi and nods, but with a genuine worry in her eyes.

I don’t know what they’re thinking, but I’m just in a good mood. And it seems my good mood is a foreign concept to people.

I keep enjoying the good moment.

When we leave the Academy’s main sector, I finally touch the communicator and open the channel to Veric.

He takes a few seconds to answer.

"Sands."

"We’re leaving now. Meet us at Low-Beach Mangrove Forest."

There’s silence on the other end.

"Now?"

"Now."

"You told me you’d let me know when Zhang Xi cleared the expedition."

"I’m letting you know. She did it five minutes ago."

His breathing gets heavier over the communicator.

"You’re literally on your way to the station, aren’t you?"

"Yes."

"That isn’t letting someone know. That’s announcing a disaster after it already started."

I smile as we keep walking.

"The meeting point stays the same. Low-Beach Mangrove Forest, then we head to the abandoned canals and the drainage well."

Veric mutters something I decide not to ask him to repeat.

"I’ll be there."

"Great."

"And if you get there first—"

"I won’t wait."

Another mutter, followed by some piece of tin bouncing off in the distance.

"I hate working with you."

"I’m excited to see you too."

I end the call before he can find a comeback.

Freya looks at me.

"Veric?"

"Unfortunately."

Rhayne seems surprised for a moment, but doesn’t ask.

Freya smiles and ruffles my hair. For a second, we look like a bunch of friends heading to a party. My sense of strangeness wakes up in the same instant. This is Thirstfall.

We continue to the Academy station.

The building always manages to look bigger on the inside. Rails cross several platforms under a high cover of metal and stone, while dozens of cadets, merchants, and Divers move between boarding areas. The sound of the mechanical plates’ gears mixes with arrival announcements, wheels over rails, and conversations that vanish under the raised ceiling.

The emptiness comes before I even reach the platform.

Lola.

I don’t have to try to remember.

The memory is already there, tied to that place in a way that will probably never disappear.

But this time I let it pass. I allow myself to accept that it’s a matter for later. I’d faced it not long ago, when I came here with Freya. There’s nothing new to find in that pain.

I keep walking.

That’s when I notice Rhayne is no longer beside me.

I stop.

She’s stayed a few meters behind.

Zhang Xi and Freya turn too.

Rhayne is looking at the rails.

The smile she’d carried since the courtyard is gone. One hand grips her own clothes near the chest while she stays still, her eyes fixed on the platform.

I know before the first tear falls.

I go back to her.

Rhayne notices me coming and tries to wipe her face quickly.

"Sorry, I..."

"You don’t have to apologize."

She lowers her head.

Another tear comes.

Then another.

I don’t ask what happened. I don’t need to.

That station is where we lost Lola.

Maybe Rhayne didn’t understand, until she came back here, how much of that day was still trapped inside her.

I step closer and pull her to me.

She doesn’t resist even for half an instant before hiding her face against my chest.

I hold her.

There isn’t much to say or do.

I run a hand slowly over her back while I wait for her breathing to steady. Around us, people keep walking, trains arrive, plates spin, and the station goes on working as if the place meant nothing.

To almost everyone there, it really didn’t.

To us, it’s where Lola vanished.

I feel that same hole every time I look at the rails. The difference is that I’ve already learned to walk around it. Rhayne is still discovering the shape of her own.

Zhang Xi stays a few steps away with Freya, and neither of them asks anything.

After a while, Rhayne pulls back on her own. Her eyes are still wet, but her breathing has returned to normal.

"I’m okay."

I don’t answer by saying I believe her.

I just wait.

She runs a hand over her face one more time and starts walking toward the platform again. Only then do we follow.

Finding the right train is never as simple as showing up and choosing a destination.

The mechanical plates above the platforms spin constantly, changing names as trains come and go. The final destination only appears shortly before departure, when the gears finally lock and leave passengers a few seconds to decide whether to run for that car or wait for the next.

We stay near the northeastern platforms.

The first plate locks.

[Saltspire Market]

I ignore it.

The train leaves.

Another train pulls in a few minutes later, releasing steam from its sides as the plate above starts to spin.

CLACK. CLACK. CLACK. CLACK.

The names change fast.

[Black Reed Crossing][Northern Shell Quarry][Low—]

It changes again.

Freya looks up with growing impatience.

"Does it always work like this?"

"Always."

"Who thought this was a good idea?"

"Probably someone who hated planning."

Freya has probably never taken a train before; Dean was too protective to let her head off to some random place in Thirstfall.

The plate keeps spinning.

The train is already stopped.

Doors open.

Passengers waiting.

Only a few seconds left.

Then the gears slow.

CLACK.

[Low-Beach Mangrove Forest]

"That one."

We move immediately.

We board the car before the closing warning. Freya goes first, Zhang Xi comes right behind, and Rhayne enters beside me. We choose a set of nearby seats and stow our gear where it can be reached fast.

The doors close and the train starts to move.

I look out the window as the platform slides slowly backward.

Low-Beach Mangrove Forest.

The right destination.

I checked the plate twice before boarding.

That doesn’t help as much as it should.

Last time, the plate also showed a perfectly normal destination. Lunar Snow Station should have been just another trip.

We ended up in Lost Ark.

The station disappears behind us as the train starts to pick up speed, and I follow the first bend of the rails, trying to decide how long I’ll need before I actually believe that, this time, Thirstfall means to let us reach where we chose to go.