we were all alive and well. I figured we would stay reasonably warm by staying close, using body heat. That it was dry made the most difference. Four of us crammed into the space, each one taking a corner. Michael sat at a right angle to me, our legs entwined together, his strong arm pressed firmly against my shoulder.
Ellie and Kim sat as far from us and each other as the small space would allow. It struck me then that Ellie was a misfit in our little bunch. I wondered why she stuck with us…or allowed us to stick with her…besides the obvious, anyway; that we were all looking for Kreios to some degree or another. She was definitely a square peg in a round hole. She didn’t like any of us; that much was true. I did have to wonder, though, how far I could go with her; how much I could trust her.
She seemed bothered, I thought, whenever she talked to Kim. And since Kim was my best friend, I was a little put out. I wanted to say, Hey, jerk face. Watch your mouth around my friend.
“So,” Michael began, “I’m still trying to wrap my head around how the Brotherhood nailed us.” The crate he leaned against was all marked up with stenciled Chinese lettering. “I thought it was just…odd, you know…how they could find us with such accuracy. And speed.”
“And that was only one small group, too,” Ellie said. “El forbid we should have run into many more, much less an entire clan.”
“Yeah,” I said. I had wanted to get to the bottom of that question from the moment the Brotherhood had shown up. “How did they find us?” I looked at the faces of my companions. Nobody knew anything as far as I could tell.
“Did anyone else think their strategy was a little off?” Michael asked.
“Like how?” Kim asked.
“I mean, they didn’t…they didn’t…” Michael dug around for words. “They weren’t shoot-to-kill types. Does that make sense? I mean, it’s almost like they were just there to waste our time, to harass us.”
“Yeah, but why would they do that?” I asked.
It was dead quiet for a second.
“It’s almost like they were there to see what we were made of,” Michael said. “I know if I wanted to size up my enemy…I mean, if it was my call, and I was up against an enemy force that was, say, an unknown quantity…that I would send scouts. Or a strongman, like they did. Throw something serious at the situation and see what happens.”
“Well, we saw what happened,” I said.
“Yeah,” Kim said, “Airel kicked butt.”
“Yeah,” Michael said. “And I’m just wondering if we won back there. Really. Or not.”
“I don’t get it,” Kim said.
“I do,” I said. “I guess what you’re asking is, ‘what did we gain back there’—right?”
“Yeah,” Michael said. “I mean, I know what it appears to be on the surface. We won, they lost. We took them out.” He paused. “But I’m unsettled about it…when it’s all said and done.”
“What do you mean?” I asked.
Michael looked into my eyes. “I don’t like that those three Anti-Cherubs showed up.” He gestured to Ellie. “I talked about that with her. Those kind only show up when there’s something really big going on.” He paused again. “I have a few ideas…but I don’t like what I’m thinking.”
Ellie’s eyes flashed and she shook her head. “Don’t look at me.”
Michael sighed. “We’re a walking target. Somehow.” He looked at me. “They could have been tracking us using your phone.”
“How about your phone, captain connected?” I was annoyed. “Or even the ice queen here,” I said, motioning to Ellie’s vivid blue spikes.
“It doesn’t matter how they found us,” Michael said, “because in the end they found us and saw what we can do.” He looked at me again. “They saw that you have the Sword—”
Ellie burst in, “How do you know— ?”
He stopped. All was quiet, save for the swaying, creaking motion of the train, the clack of the trucks as they rolled over the gaps in the rails. “— And they saw,” he continued, his gaze moving from Ellie back to me, “that you know how to use it. That you can call it up at will.”
He looked at Ellie and Kim. “What other reason would they have to allow us to do away with one of their strongmen and his Brother? Those two were enormous; very strong. And then, what did the Anti-Cherubs do? They just took off!”
I looked down,