Logan House Publishing Presents.
From the World of We Were Heroes.
The Case Files of White and Doorchester’s Magic Shop.
The Train.
By J.R. Logan. Discord
Note: This is a misfiled case. It should appear before, The Case of Jessie Fairchild.
In the darkness, the train's whistle blew. A light off in the distance cut through the darkness surrounding the station. A team of four heroes, all veterans of Lake Force, the largest hero team in the country, waited on the platform. Three heroes wore tactical vests and cargo pants. They bore team and association patches. The fourth Hero, with a red cape and a garish blue and yellow spandex suit, was the costumed Hero. The talker and frontman for the team. The tactical heroes called him The Bait.
A train whistle blew. The station lights changed to an amber glow. As the train pulled into the station, A blast of steam flushed from the engines along the tracks. It stopped with a lurch. The steam settled. The car doors opened along the platform. No one got off. The heroes waited, then got on. Finding seats, the doors close. The whistle blew, and the train, with a jet of steam from the wheels, started to move.
Curt Doorchester and Hank Magnum walked through the Dayton Union Station in daylight. The abandoned station had the worn look and veneer that thirty years of neglect can give. They looked down both sides of the rails.
"At midnight, they got on to investigate the train. That was two weeks ago," Magnum said.
"Whose bright idea was it to get on the train?" Curt asked. He looked up at the sign overhead that said 'The C.C.C.St.L. Railway.'
"That came down from HQ in the work order," Magnum said. "They're with Lake Force. I don't directly oversee them." Magnum said. He looked around, embarrassed. "The place is closed. We only know about the train by accident when the security guard was behind schedule."
It's good that no one's here to get on or off the spooky train by mistake," Curt said.
"Brother, I know."
"Alright, Hank. Put a camera on this place. I'll do some research to see what I can find. Don't send anyone else on the train until I can get back to you," Curt said.
"It's cool," Magnum said.
Curt spent the rest of the day at the Dayton City Library looking over microfiche. The decades of dust filled his nose as he opened long, closed file cabinets. The microfiche looked new and likely never used. Curt searched news stories of the C.C.C.St.L. Railway. He soon learned it was the Cleveland, Cincinnati, Chicago, and St. Louis Railway. He found one accident in 1903, but that was in Indiana. It is not even close to Dayton, and there is nothing to this scale for an anomaly.
Back at the hotel room, Curt called Emily. "I got nothing, you?" Curt said.
"Nothing in the sky charts. I don't know the heroes well enough for a fortune. The Sibyls expressed disinterest," Emily said.
"Sibyl's disinterest is a good thing. Okay. I don't want to keep driving down here," Curt said.
"We have to find the heroes," Emily said.
"We will. Bring down Beth and Mary Robin tomorrow," Curt said.
"Make a night of it?" Emily said.
"They need a field trip," Curt said.
As the sun set, the four magic heroes waited on the platform. Mary Robin, the youngest, leaned over the side to look at the rusty rails. "The Railroad has not used these tracks for a long time," she said.
"The whole station," Beth said.
"Don't get on the train if it shows up," Curt said.
The four walked about, casting minor spells. Beth and Mary Robin went around with divining rods; they found nothing. The heroes settled into a corner of the station. Lawn chairs unfolded, and Emily wore a thermos.
"We'll wait till after midnight," Curt said. At ten minutes to midnight, the light in the ticket window came on. Emily tapped Curt's arm and pointed as ghosts came into the station. The heroes could not see ghosts, but the mages and Mary Robin could.
"It's a haunted train," Curt said.
"I got this," Beth said. The young girl started to follow Beth to the ticket counter.
"Mary Robin, stay here," Emily said.
Beth stood in line at the window. She spent a moment talking with the ghost teller and came back as the other ghosts lined up on the platform.
"Well?" Curt said.
"I got a schedule," Beth said, holding a piece of yellowed paper. Fades green ink displayed the C.C.C.St.L. logo. It had a list of times and prices.
"That's spirit money," Mary Robin said.
Curt rubbed his eyes. "How much do you have?"
"Not much," Mary Robin said.
"All right, hold on to it," Curt said. The whistle sounded, and a light showed out in the darkness. Overhead lights changed to an amber glow as the train stopped
The car doors opened. "All aboard," the spectral conductor called out.
"Wait here," Curt said. He walked down the steps to the rails. He stayed off to the side, well away from the train line. The ley lines pulsated in the ground and were always near an anomaly. With the silver spike, he jammed it into the berm. The train whistle blew. Curt tied a silver cord to the spike and started to unwind the ball of cord. He walked until he found where the veil parted. The train passed by, rattling the tracks. The veil closed and then opened again when it hit the silver cord.
"Curt?" Emily called into the open rip in reality.
"Hold on, I'm tying off the string," Curt said.
The two younger heroes waited at the ground spike. Beth looked at the silver cord that ran into the veil that had remained torn in reality.
"They went in holding hands," Beth said.
"Curt is using Emily as a mana source," Mary Robbins said. "He could run out of mana, and it would take forever to walk back."
"Still holding hands, even in the land of death," Beth said.
"It's not death," Mary Robbins said.
"You're ruining the moment," Beth said.
Time and distance in the spirit realm passed subjectively to the mana of the observer. As long as Curt held Emily's hand, they would be together. "Mary Robbin and Beth could walk around fine. But I will get lost in a few minutes," Curt said.
"The mana drain for two of us isn't bad," Emily said. They soon came to a train station. Overhead lights glowed. A few ghosts waited on benches, along with four heroes.
"Everyone okay?" Curt asked.
"We're all fine. Not cold, not tired, or hungry," The Bait said.
"How did you end up here?" Curt said.
"We got on. The conductor asked for our tickets, and we didn't have any. They threw us off at this station. Can you get us out of here?"
Emily won't have enough mana to get everyone out at once," Curt said.
"And we can't leave that portal open for long," Emily said.
"What are we going to do?"
"Did you talk with the ticket counter?" Curt asked.
"Yeah, we don't have any ghost money."
"Okay. We could trade one of your souls for three tickets home."
"No."
"Or a vial of vampire blood," Curt said.
"No," Emily said.
"Yeah, I thought so. None of the Hero Associations have an account with the railway," Curt said.
"Then what are we going to do?"
"I'll spend some mana to send a telegram," Curt said.
"We're going to stand here, looking at a string going into nothing?" Beth said.
"It's a magical adventure," Mary Robbin said.
"Is time all funny in there?" Beth asked.
"Hysterical," Mary Robbin said.
Beth looked over the schedule. "So if I have this spirit money? I could ride the train," Beth said.
"I'd ask around before going on a trip," Mary Robbin said.
"How do I get spirit money?" Beth said.
"Babies," Mary Robbin said.
"Why is it always babies?" Beth said.
"I don't think it has to be a baby, but that's what's the most valuable," Mary Robbin said.
"It says they trade mana," Beth said. Curt had commented on that before he left with Emily.
"The rates are not great, but you can recover over time," Mary Robbin said.
There was movement behind them. Both girls turned around to see the ghost teller. He held out a telegram to Mary Robbin.
Steam hissed as the train stopped at the station. The heroes got off. Curt and Emily waited for them. Each shook Curt's hand.
"Thank you."
Mary Robbin wired the tickets to their station. The heroes wait for Curt and Emily to send a telegram to tell them that they are back safely. When the next train arrived, they got aboard. The tickets, not the train, determine where you go.
Beth and Mary Robin had drained themselves of mana to buy the tickets. The two girls lay in the lawn chairs, unable to move. The heroes gladly carried the two girls to the car.
White and Doorchester’s Magic Shop stories can be read at Logan House Pub on Substack.
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