smoky black arms—huddled together, not knowing that behind them the hole the trucks and car had been in was widening. Then, with a shriek, they fell into the hole, which seemed to have deepened too, rather than just widened.
Immediately the sky cleared, the flames disappeared, and Asa, back to normal, leapt down from the outcrop and tipped his hat to us. “Hello, ladies.”
“Asa!” I shouted, running to hug him. He felt vaguely spiny beneath his jacket.
“Come on!” he said. “Let’s figure out a way to keep them in!”
The girls exchanged glances, then ran forward to help. Zo pulled Cassandra to her feet, and as Asa ran by, he said, “Sorry, sorry! So sorry! I’ll make it up to you!”
“Don’t mention it…” Cassandra muttered, staring straight ahead, in a daze.
Down in the hole, the Laredo Boys were shouting and cursing, trying to climb out of the hole, but sure enough, it had deepened, and they couldn’t quite get a foothold. Olivia looked down into the hole, her arms crossed, her knuckles bleeding.
“So now you’ve met our daemon,” Olivia said. “Don’t worry. We wouldn’t let him eat you.”
“Olivia, you bitch!” Samson shouted up at her. “You didn’t say anything about a daemon!”
“You didn’t ask, pendejo!” Olivia grinned.
“I’ll get you for this!” Samson shouted. “One day that daemon will be gone and I’ll—” He launched into a string of obscenities too foul to mention, and we stepped back from the hole.
“Want me to kill them?” Zo asked, coming forward. “They’re fish in a barrel.”
Olivia glanced backward at Mowse’s wide eyes and said, “Not this time. It’s not fair this way.” Then she whistled and said, “Judith!” She jerked her head toward a nearby boulder.
“Got it,” Judith said, her lip split and bruises flowering all over her. She went to the boulder, and with a mighty push, rolled it over the opening of the hole. Their shouts were muffled, and where they had seemed so frightening only moments before, they suddenly seemed no more intimidating than june bugs trapped in a jam jar.
Olivia turned to Asa, and when their eyes met, she smiled as though she were seeing him for the first time. They seemed to drift toward each other for a moment; then both of them stopped as though they realized what they were doing and took a step back.
“Thanks,” Olivia said. “That was brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.” She was smiling at him like she had forgotten that he was a daemon. It was then that I realized how good yet strange they looked together.
“Well, I do pride myself on showmanship,” Asa said, blushing vibrantly.
“I hope this means you’re reconsidering my offer,” Olivia said, her eyes flickering over him.
Asa hesitated. His smile faltered, just for a moment. Then he shrugged and said, “You’ve talked me into it. After all, I doubt they’ll forget what I’ve done to them, and if they catch me alone out here and decide to get revenge—”
“We definitely wouldn’t want that,” said Olivia. “It’s settled. You’re coming back with us. Deal?”
“Deal.” Asa smiled.
They shook. Then, practically drunk with triumph, we loaded the metal on top of Judith’s sleigh, and all together, we headed back to the train, listening to the Laredo Boys’ muffled shouts fade into the distance.
CHAPTER 18
By the time we trudged back to the train with the metal in tow, the sun had begun to slide toward the horizon. A cot was set up for Asa, close to mine in the machine car, and he flopped down on it and was practically snoring before his head hit his shabby, feed-sack pillow. Outside, the mood was high and electric. I’d hoped to finally get to talk to Olivia about what she’d said before. About Mother Morevna. But before I could say anything, Olivia and Judith were on their way back out to go get something from some secret cache of theirs, something special, for a “special occasion.”
“What special occasion?” I asked Cassandra.
“For your initiation, darling.” She smiled. “Yours and Asa’s. You’re one of us now, both of you. So we just want to have a little celebration in your honor. Now why don’t you go help Susanah and Mowse with those horses and leave it all to me.”
So, after Cassandra practically pushed me the whole way there, I spent the next two hours in Susanah and Mowse’s cave, helping them cobble more pieces of metal onto the horses, covering exposed wiring here, patching rusted flanks there. Then Cassandra stood at the mouth of the cave and called for me.