Chapter 5: The Train

CLAIRAELLE’S POV

The train was already crowded when we boarded.

Long black cars with silver trim waited under the fortress platform. Candidates filled the narrow aisles, claiming seats and talking in low, tense voices. Guards stood at each end of the car, watching. I kept my head down and moved toward the back, looking for the furthest empty seat I could find.

I never reached it.

A foot shot out into the aisle.

I hit the floor hard, face front. Pain jolted through my palms and knee. For a second everyone went quiet around me. Then laughter broke out.

I pushed myself up.

A female werewolf stood a few steps away, wavy blonde hair falling over one shoulder, sharp gold eyes bright with amusement. A smug little smirk sat on her mouth like it belonged there.

Her friends—two other werewolf girls—laughed openly.

“Oh my god, she actually fell,” one of them said.

The blonde tilted her head, still smiling. “Did you see that? She went down like a sack of flour.”

The second friend snorted. “What is she even doing here? They’re letting humans in now?”

“Apparently,” the blonde said, looking me up and down. “Cute. She really thinks she has a chance in this. That’s really adorable.”

“She’s going to get herself killed in the first trial,” the first friend added. “I almost feel bad.”

“Almost,” the blonde agreed.

More quiet laughter rippled from a few other candidates.

I wanted to glare at her. I wanted to say something sharp enough to wipe the smirk off her face. Instead I kept my expression blank, brushed the dust from my hands, and turned away. Starting a fight on the train would only draw more attention. Attention was the last thing I needed.

I took one step—

And another girl moved into the space between me and the werewolves.

She was tall, with warm brown skin and dark curly hair pulled into a loose knot. She looked the blonde werewolf up and down once, then smiled in a way that didn’t reach her eyes.

“Careful,” she said lightly. “Tripping people on purpose is a good way to look insecure before the Games even start. Especially when the person you tripped hasn’t even spoken a word yet.”

A few candidates nearby snorted. The blonde werewolf’s smirk faltered for half a second.

“Mind your business, will you?” the blonde said.

“I was minding my business,” the dark-haired girl replied. “Before you made it everyone’s business by being loud about it.”

The werewolf’s friends stopped laughing. The blonde opened her mouth, then shut it again when she noticed a couple of guards glancing in their direction.

The dark-haired girl didn’t wait for a reply. She simply stepped aside, giving me a small, easy look that said the path was clear.

I didn’t thank her.

I walked past all of them and kept going until I found the last empty pair of seats at the far end of the car. I dropped into the window seat and stared out at the dark stone of the platform, jaw tight.

A moment later someone stopped beside the empty seat opposite me.

“Is this seat taken?”

I looked up.

It was the same girl who had spoken up in the aisle.

I shrugged.

She sat down, settled her bag at her feet, and studied me without speaking. The attention made me shift in my seat.

After a few seconds she laughed under her breath.

“Sorry. You have a very ‘leave me alone’ face. It’s impressive. Most people try to look mean and fail. You actually succeed.”

She held out her hand. “Savannah Framingham.”

I hesitated, then took it. Her grip was firm and warm.

“Clairaelle,” I said.

“Just Clairaelle?”

“Clairaelle Rue Fitzpatrick.”

Savannah sat back. “That’s a long name for someone who looks like she wants to disappear into the seat.”

I didn’t answer.

She tilted her head. “You seem like someone I could trust. Want to be friends?”

“No thanks,” I said. “I’m not interested.”

She chuckled, not offended at all. “Straight to the point. I respect that. Fine. Allies then. Because the tournament we’re about to walk into? No one gets far alone. You’ll need people watching your back, and so will I.”

I looked at her for a long moment.

“Why me?” I asked. “You don’t know anything about me.”

“I know you’re human and yet you still showed up. That already tells me more than most of the people on this train. And you didn’t start screaming or crying when those mean girls tripped you. You just got up and kept walking. That kind of reaction is useful.”

She wasn’t wrong. I had seen enough of the registration grounds and the way the other candidates looked at humans to know isolation would get me killed faster than any trial. Alliances were practical. Practical was the only language I trusted right now.

I nodded once.

“Allies then,” I said.

Savannah’s smile widened. “Good. I was hoping you’d say that.”

Before either of us could say more, another girl slid into the narrow space at the end of our seats, close enough that her shoulder nearly brushed mine. She had black hair with green highlights that caught the light when she moved. Her expression was curious and a little amused.

“Did I just hear the word alliance?” she asked. “Because I’m interested.”

Savannah brightened immediately. “Perfect timing. The more the better.”

The new girl looked at me. “You don’t mind?”

I simply nodded. One more person watching my back was still better than none.

“Excellent,” Savannah said. “Then we do this properly. Names and races. I’ll start. Savannah Framingham. Witch.”

The new girl reached up and pushed her hair back on one side, revealing a pointed ear.

“Zelda Fray. Fae.” She let her hair fall back into place. “I usually keep them covered. Draws less staring. Some of the werewolves get weird about it.”

Both of them looked at me.

“Clairaelle Rue Fitzpatrick,” I said. “Human.”

Zelda’s eyebrows rose a fraction. “Huh. You’re the first human I’ve seen actually make it onto the train. Most of them turned around at the registration.”

“I noticed,” I said.

Savannah leaned forward. “So. A human, a witch, and a fae. That’s either going to be a very strong alliance or a very interesting disaster.”

Zelda smiled. “I’m fine with either, as long as it keeps me alive longer than the first week.”

“What’s your plan after we arrive?” Savannah asked me. “Stick together during the preliminaries, or just share information with each other?”

“Information first,” I said. “I don’t know how the trials work yet. Neither do you. We learn what we can, then decide how useful we are to each other.”

Zelda nodded. “Practical. I like that.”

“And if one of us becomes a liability?” Savannah asked, watching me closely.

“Then the alliance ends,” I said. “I’m not here to die for people I met on a train. And I don't expect anyone to die for me.”

Savannah’s smile returned, slower this time. “Good. I don’t trust people who pretend they’d die for strangers either.”

The train lurched forward a moment later. The platform slid away. Through the window the black-stone fortress grew smaller, then disappeared as the tracks curved into the mountains.

We talked in low voices for a while after that. Savannah asked a few careful questions about the Human District without pushing too hard. Zelda mostly listened, occasionally adding a dry comment about fae politics or how the other factions usually underestimated anyone who wasn’t a werewolf or vampire. Neither of them asked why I had entered the Games. I didn’t ask them either. It felt safer that way.

Outside, the landscape changed.

The rough lower territories gave way to cleaner roads and larger buildings. The farther we traveled, the more polished everything became. By the time the train began to slow, the world outside the windows looked like it belonged to a different century.

The High Kingdoms rose around us in clean lines of pale stone and glass. Wide streets. Tall buildings with silver accents that caught the afternoon light. People moved along the sidewalks in fine coats and tailored clothes. Even from the train I could see how different it was from the Human District—brighter, larger, ordered in a way that made the lower city feel like a half-forgotten corner of the map.

The train finally stopped at a private platform near the edge of a massive complex of towers and walls.

The castle.

It dominated the skyline, all pale stone and sharp peaks, with blue and red banners hanging from the highest points. Guards in formal armor waited on the platform. Officials with clipboards stood ready to direct us.

Savannah stood and slung her bag over one shoulder. “Welcome to the High Kingdoms.”

Zelda adjusted her hair over her ears again and glanced at me. “Ready?”

I touched the pendant at my throat once, felt the cold metal of the candidate band against my wrist, and rose from my seat.

“As ready as I’m going to be,” I said.

We stepped off the train with the rest of the candidates and followed the officials toward the castle gates.

The streets around us were wide and clean. Everything looked expensive. Everything looked like it had never known the kind of dirt and debt I had left behind.

I kept my face neutral and walked between Savannah and Zelda.

Whatever waited inside those walls, I would face it the same way I had faced everything else.

One step at a time.