24.

PRESENT DAY

Lotte didn't know who she was saving and why future Rowan had sent that message to her. She knew the seal was fading fast because of all the extreme enchantments she was doing. Poe had warned her to keep to simple things.

But he'd never told her it was because of another enchantment.

Maybe Rowan thought that whatever Lotte was going to do in the future would kill her.

"Lotte," Maloru said, standing up. "There's something you're not telling me. I can feel it."

Lotte wasn't very good at hiding her expression.

And although only a handful of days ago, she hadn't known Maloru, in that time, he somehow learnt to read her like a book.

"You know what this seal is, don't you?"

She didn't want to lie. Hiding the truth and lying were close relatives, they were even the same thing. It was easy not to talk about things when she couldn't talk in the conventional sense.

She didn't want to lie to him, so she told him.

Maloru, unlike Blue, took the news considerably well. His mouth was stretched into a grim line, but he didn't cry. He drew in a deep breath and held Lotte's hand. "You're not going to die," he said. "I can feel it."

"Wait, what?" Rowan cried.

"You're not going to die because we're together," Maloru continued. "We're connected. Did you forget what I am?"

Maloru... Lotte felt warmth rush into her chest, comforting and ensuring. That was what being next to Maloru felt like. He was a Yomi elf, a bringer of life and peace. A heart as gentle as a summer breeze, but as deep and powerful as the earth.

"Come on, what're you two walking about?" Rowan demanded, and Maloru had to explain. Lotte watched him speak, white teeth flashing in a smile, that lively gleam in his dark eyes. She reached over and patted his coarse hair.

You said you felt my magic in your heart, she thought. I can feel yours too.

He turned a smile towards her. She would be fine. Maloru would stay by her side long enough for her to figure out how to survive on her own.

The journey passed quietly. The world rushed by their window. Maloru brought a pair of dice and they played for a time, though Rowan kept cheating, claiming the it was a habit hard to break. A food trolley came by. Rowan brought over their meals. Lotte ate slowly, in leisure. It was as if there was no war going on. They weren't on the run. They were just friends on a journey to visit a faraway place.

Night fell. Their window showed a deep valley before they plunged into a tunnel only to come out again. They were now in the mountains. Port Kelt was walled on one side by Mount Kelt and on the other side by the sea. It was said that Mount Kelt used to be an ancient volcano that erupted constantly and that the land upon which Port Kelt had been built was made of dried lava. Maloru watched the darkening sky apprehensively whenever they existed a tunnel.

Have you ever stayed up at night before? Lotte asked.

"A few times," he said. "But it feels wrong. I'm so small and the night is too dark."

"You're not that small anymore," Rowan said. "Your voice is changing."

"It is, isn't it?" Maloru said, bouncing in his seat. "Puberty, here I come!"

"I wouldn't be that happy about puberty, if I were you," Rowan said. "Then again, it's not as bad for boys."

"What's the difference?" he asked.

Both Lotte and Rowan had to laugh. Even Fintan squeaked in mirth.

Maloru's face flushed brightly. "Hey, I've heard all about sex. I'm older than both of you."

"This is only indirectly about sex. Puberty for girls is a lot messier. An unpleasant shock, really," Rowan said. "For boys it's more about embarrassment."

"Why would it be embarrassing?" Maloru demanded.

"I actually don't know how it is with elves," Rowan said with a shrug. "But for human boys, it's embarrassing because the little friend in their pants has a mind of its own."

"The little friend in their...?" Maloru gasped when it dawned on him.

Lotte had never seen Maloru blush so fiercely. His face was glowing gold. Her stomach hurt from silent laughter.

"You're going to start thinking about girls soon," Rowan said. "Or boys. I don't know. Boys are nice and everything but girls are just...I don't want to say that they're better but they're...better."

"Can it be both?" Maloru asked. "How do I know when it's happening?"

"Your body will basically broadcast it like a very loud radio," Rowan explained.

Maloru began squirming uncomfortably, then he got up, putting his hood over his head. "I need some air."

Lotte thought that she may have burst a kidney at this point. Rowan was doing a great job at keeping a straight face until Maloru stepped out.

"So, if we're already on the subject," Rowan said. "How's it going with your dream boy?"

Fintan fluttered over to Rowan's shoulder showing his support for this topic.

Lotte pretended to talk.

"Can't you write or something?"

Lotte took some paper out of her pack and attempting to write a few words. The letters scrambled themselves the moment she put them to paper.

"They're moving," Rowan gasped. "That's crazy. Why does this happen?"

Lotte sighed and shrugged.

Rowan laughed. "It's like when the dentists asks you questions while digging through your teeth. How do they expect you to answer, eh?"

Lotte had no idea what Rowan was talking about. She never visited the dentist. Being a Lotte meant that she never had bad breath and her teeth were always perfect.

Maloru returned. He was still flushed and looked a lot more subdued.

"Made any discoveries?" Rowan asked.

"I'm not telling you about it." He gave her a very surly look.

"Alright, alright, no need for that. I'll stop teasing—"

Rowan's eyes widened in the way Lotte now recognised they did when she got a message from her future self. "Oh no."

"What?"

"Oh no, no, no, no..."

What is it? Lotte demanded through Maloru's head. But of course, Rowan couldn't hear her.

"We have to get off this train," Rowan said in a flat voice.

"Why?" Maloru asked.

"Because if we don't, we'll die..."

"Again, why?"

"Mount Kelt is about to erupt. It's going to start in a few hours. It'll take down the whole mountain."

"That's impossible," Maloru cried. "Mount Kelt has been dormant for a thousand years or something like that..."

"I know it doesn't make sense," Rowan cried. "But I'm never wrong."

The ancient protections, Lotte thought.

"Oh no," Maloru breathed. "You're right."

"Right about what?" Rowan cried.

"The elves are going to lift the protection holding the mountain back," Maloru whispered. "Everyone in Port Kelt is going to die."

Everyone on this train is going to die, Lotte said.

"We have to stop the train!" Maloru cried.

"That won't help us," Rowan said. "We're already on Mount Kelt."

Then simply getting off this train won't help us either, Lotte thought. We need to get off this mountain.

Maloru looked at Lotte dumbstruck.
There were hundreds of people on this train. Innocent, unsuspecting people. Men and women and...children.

And then Port Kelt. There would be hundreds of thousands there, sleeping in their beds with nowhere to run to.

She had to use magic anyway. Her seal would run out anyway. The die had already been tossed.

"Lotte knows who she's going to save," Maloru said.

"Who?"

He gulped. "The whole train."

***

9 YEARS BEFORE THE WAR

Mrs. Treebald fainted.

She was looking at the table one moment, and then she was on the floor. Mr. Henri ran to her like he was running through water. Lotte went round the desk to see if she was alright. She was already sitting up and rubbing the back of her head.

"Marlene!" Mr. Henri called. That was the name of the current house-keeper. "Get me some ice!"

The lady came in with an ice pack, and Mr. Henri, while keeping a constant eye on the desk, made sure that Mrs. Treebald was taken to her bed where she could have a lie-down. He shut the door after her and the house-keeper before approaching the desk, looking down on the I'M HERE Lotte had written with her tears.

"Poppin," he whispered. "Is that really you?"

Lotte shifted the tears, YES.

"What is happening?"

Mr. Henri patiently waited as Lotte arranged the letters.

I DON'T KNOW.

"Then who is that girl in the Mortuary? She looked just like you."

MELONY, Lotte wrote.

"Melony? Who is..." Mr. Henri trailed away. "Your doll?"

NO ONE CAN SEE ME.

"Are you standing next to me? Can you move something else?"

Lotte moved towards Mr. Henri and unfastened his watch. But he didn't notice. He was looking round himself, searching for her. He couldn't feel her touching him. She put the watch on the desk. He didn't see it.

I JUST TOOK OFF YOUR WATCH, Lotte wrote.

Mr. Henri was startled to discover his watch gone, and then he noticed it on the table. "I can't see you, or feel you, or hear you," he said. "Are you now a ghost?"

She was a ghost, if ghosts were solid and hungry and tired just like living people. At least Mr. Henri wasn't weeping anymore. If anything, he looked hopeful.

He was willing to accept surrealism if it meant accepting her.

Why had she ever doubted him?
Lotte didn't know how to solve this problem, but it suddenly occurred to her that somewhere, out there, there was someone who did.

She arranged the tears on the desk.
IS THERE A CARD IN YOUR POCKET?

Lotte felt like laughing at herself. Of course he didn't have it. Mr. Henri had met that stranger days ago and the card was probably lost somewhere in a jacket pocket.

"A card?" Brows knitted, he reached into his pocket.

And pulled out a cream-coloured card.

YOU WILL CALL ME IF THERE IS NEED, it said in bold gold letters on one side.

Mr. Henri turned it over. That side had been blank last time.

But now, there was a phone number.