Chapter Text
Every single day, Sofia Aro Heim wished she was an only child.
As Sofia kicked off her shoes in the doorway, she glared at Trinidad, conveying with her murderous eyes that her little sister had better not embarrass her in front of her friend.
Trinidad didn’t even notice, her head stuck in the fridge. She emerged holding…was that Sofia’s last flan?!
Deliberately maintaining eye contact, Trinidad pulled the lid off the flan and stuck in a spoon. She chopped the pudding’s flat surface a few times like an explorer staking a flag. The brat knew that Sofia wouldn’t make a fuss about her food being stolen in front of an outsider. It wouldn’t suit the serene good girl image she’d maintained at school. Though Sofia trembled with fury, not a drop of it showed on her face. But later, after Alexa was gone? Then the brat would pay, when she least expected it, after she believed the offense forgotten.
Alexa swept into the kitchen. “Hi, Trini! I’m here to work on a social studies presentation.”
Trinidad bristled. “My name is Trinidad.”
“Chill out, it’s an affectionate nickname,” Sofia said. A hint of her rage slipped into her eyes, threatening with her laser-sharp glare that each additional word would be an added offense on top of the dessert theft.
“That’s okay,” Alexa said breezily, tossing back dyed blond hair. “It’s great that you and Sophie are proud of your Mexican heritage.”
Trinidad had perfected a sneer designed to make even older kids feel an inch tall. “Her name is Sofia, you can’t even manage a five-letter name? We’re from Chile. It’s not even on the same continent. You’ve been told before. If you don’t know North America from South America, no wonder my sister has to do your homework for you—”
“Let’s leave her alone, she’s probably PMS-ing,” Sofia growled, ushering Alexa up the stairs.
“That’s a sexist thing to say!” Trinidad called after them.
As soon as they were in the bedroom, Alexa asked, “Was I rude? I didn’t mean to be rude.”
“What? Nooooooooo. Ignore my sister, she’s a brat.” Inwardly Sofia prayed that her little sister would turn out to be adopted. Trinidad never understood that people didn’t care if you were right or not, they cared how you made them feel. If you made people feel good about themselves, they’d like you. If you made them feel bad, they would dislike you, and if you made them feel stupid, they might even bully you. Thanks to Trinidad, now Sofia would need to spend the next fifteen minutes reassuring Alexa and soothing her feelings, then do all the work on their group project.
Trinidad had been right about Alexa being useless as a social studies partner, but the brat didn’t understand that Sofia did not solely suck up to the most popular girl at school for the prestige. By studying with Alexa, Sofia had obtained access to expensive SAT preparation material. Sofia needed a top score on the standardized admission test in order to obtain a college scholarship. At the same time, she’d been busy studying for her U.S. citizenship test in order to be eligible for more scholarships.
But Trinidad never thought ahead like that. Trinidad didn’t even care about her grades. She spent all her time on her art and her nerdy manga club. They were too poor to be artistic. Art was an indulgence for kids from rich families like Alexa. The Aro Heim siblings needed to work hard to get ahead. Someday, Sofia would get a high-paid job as a lawyer. Then she would visit her little sister in a shitty tiny starving artist apartment just to laugh at her.
Due to the need to soothe Alexa’s ruffled feathers, Sofia’s careful schedule was fifteen minutes off. She showed her friend out, all smiles and not rushing her at all. The instant the door closed, Sofia ran for the kitchen to preheat the oven. She’d frozen a bean casserole earlier, she just needed to defrost it, then sprinkle cheese on top.
It wouldn’t be a big deal if dinner was fifteen minutes later. Except that then Sofia’s evening SAT studying time would also be fifteen minutes late. She hated it when her routines got interrupted.
“I’ll help.” Trinidad popped up by the kitchen counter. She licked a bit of incriminating custard off her lower lip.
Sofia snorted, switching to Spanish, the language she felt most sarcastic in. “Of course you’ll help, if you want to eat. Make a salad, and don’t think that will get you off the hook for my flan.”
Grinning, Trinidad waggled her eyebrows and replied in the same language. “I wish your school friends could see what you’re actually like.”
Sofia sneered. “If you want me to be nice to you, then be useful to me. What do you have to offer?”
Trinidad appeared to seriously consider this. “I could draw you like an anime character?”
“With giant boobs? No, thanks.”
“I have more class than that!” Trinidad stalked out of the room, then returned with her sketchpad. “See?” She flipped through the pictures, where she’d drawn herself as a wizard, a cat girl, and a warrior princess. She’d been surprisingly honest, including her braces, the frizzy explosion of her red-brown hair, and the rash of freckles on her light brown skin. “Want me to draw you as a fox girl?”
“No, that’s almost more cringey than big boobs.”
“Want me to draw you as the evil dragon I have to slay?”
“Sure, except I’ll kick your ass.” Sofia would rather feature as a nonhuman because she currently felt very insecure in her body. She’d fretted in front of the mirror over her boyish flat figure. Even growing out her black hair halfway down her back hadn’t made her feel pretty. Acne persisted on her chin. Beauty was also for the rich—she didn’t have the money to afford the skin treatments she saw in magazines.
The phone rang. Sofia groaned to see Aunt Mary’s caller ID. This unscheduled call would be a further delay to her evening timeline. But there was no point in expecting her aunt to ever adhere to a schedule, that would go against her nature.
Sofia put the phone on speaker so she could continue prepping her bean casserole. She switched back to English. “Tía Mary, how’d your flight go?” When she spoke to her aunt, she let her original accent come through, unlike her nasally Midwestern accent in high school. Aunt Mary didn’t speak Spanish but had pride in her Chilean heritage, so Sofia called her the Spanish word for aunt to make her happy.
“Quite smooth. I have to run to another one in five minutes, but I wanted to check on you first.” Aunt Mary worked as a flight attendant. “How have you and Trinidad been doing on your own?”
“Great.” Sofia laughed, the same light and airy sound that she’d perfected for high school. “We’re getting along wonderfully.”
Trinidad opened her mouth. Sofia glared. Trinidad closed her mouth.
“I’m glad to hear—oh, I’ve lost track of time! I have to run.”
“What a shame, I wanted to talk longer. Bye! Love you!” Sofia chirped.
After the phone call had ended, Trinidad leaned against the counter and said, “You’re so fake. You could have said we were in the middle of making dinner.”
“You confuse honesty with blurting out every thought that crosses your mind,” Sofia said.
“I refrained from telling you how much I hate your sparkly preppy T-shirt!”
“Not anymore, you didn’t.”
“I’m pretty sure Alexa gave you that shirt because she thinks it’s ugly too.” Trinidad chewed on the tip of her braid. “Alexa can be so rude to you. I don’t know why you put up with it. You’d beat my ass if I ever called you Sophie.”
Because Alexa gave Sofia a lot of free stuff. Because Alexa was the most tolerable of the wealthy popular girls at their school. Because… “Because friendship like in manga doesn’t exist. Friends are people who can be useful.”
“Of course friends exist! I have friends! We don’t have any villains to fight but at least we like each other. Do you think you’re being deep? Because you sound cringey.” Trinidad clutched her hair. “My sister is only eighteen and already an edgelord.”
“My sister is twelve and lives in fantasy land.”
“I bet you’d like manga and anime if you ever tried it.” As Trinidad spoke, she took out the ingredients to chop up for a salad. “I found a good story recently with the standard ‘girl transmigrates into a villainess’ theme except this time, she acts like a villain instead of immediately turning into a good girl. She’s very two-faced, just like you, so I think you’d like her. It’s a great entry point into the isekai genre. We should watch an episode together.”
“I don’t know what isekai means, and I don’t care. Scientific research has proven there is nothing more boring than listening to someone ramble about a show you haven’t seen.” Sofia popped the casserole into the oven and set the timer. “I need to study. Put your earphones in when you watch your show so you don’t bug me.”
Despite her sour tone, Sofia counted her blessings. It was better that Trinidad hadn’t said anything during the call. Sofia was too tired to play peacemaker between her aunt and her sister yet again.
Trinidad didn’t understand or didn’t care to understand just how precarious their living situation was.
The Aro Heim siblings didn’t have any other family besides their aunt. Their parents had been childhood friends raised in the same orphanage. They’d moved to the United States because their mother had gotten a good job offer and their father had wanted to live closer to Mary, his long-lost sister who had been adopted by an American couple as a baby. Then their parents had died in a car accident.
After the funeral, Sofia and Trinidad had been sleeping in the guest room at their aunt’s house. Sofia had been woken by the sound of voices. She’d crept to her aunt’s door and pressed her ear close.
Mary had been talking to a friend: “I don’t know if I can do this. I never wanted kids. If it was only one kid…but raising two is too much. My job requires me to be away from home a lot and doesn’t pay well enough to be a single parent. But if I don’t take in the kids, then they’ll be separated. Trinidad was born here and is an American citizen, Sofia is not. Unless someone sponsors Sofia, she’s going back to Chile. There’s no one else except me.”
Heart hammering, Sofia staggered backward. She moved as silently as possible, slipping back into bed. Her little sister drooled slightly on the adjacent pillow.
The very next day, Sofia had started learning cooking. She’d convinced Aunt Mary that she was old enough to be left alone and look after her little sister. She’d studied how people talked and acted on TV in order to blend in at school. She’d been the perfect kid, causing no trouble. Her motto was: Adapt and survive.
Going back to Chile didn’t scare Sofia. She had only good memories of her early childhood. No hardship had caused their departure. Alexa acted like Chile was a war zone, not a beautiful and prosperous democratic country. Being separated from her little sister scared Sofia. They had only each other as family. Mary had been raised by her adopted family and only reconnected with them as an adult. Sofia feared this fragile bond might break if the kids ever became too much trouble. Mary’s words always lingered in the back of her mind…one kid was easier to look after than two…and Sofia felt certain she knew who would have been the one thrown away. The older kid, the one more able to look after herself, who didn’t belong in this country. Sofia had to be perfect.
Trinidad had never even tried to be good. Maybe because Trinidad was younger and with less responsibilities, maybe because she had the security of U.S. citizenship, maybe because she’d never overheard the conversation revealing they weren’t wanted. Either way, Trinidad had no sense of fear. It drove Sofia crazy sometimes.
When in first grade, Trinidad’s math teacher had lost her homework, then claimed she hadn’t turned it in. Sofia had helped her little sister with the homework and knew it had been finished. But was it really such a big deal to redo it? Trinidad had refused to turn in any math assignments for the rest of the school year unless her teacher admitted he’d been wrong. Sofia had worked overtime hiding the bad grade and letters from the school from their aunt.
Then in second grade, Trinidad had protested her favorite tree in the school yard being cut down by climbing up into the branches and refusing to come down. She’d stayed up there for two days without food or water. Sofia had been at her wit’s end. Her little sister seemed to cause a major incident at least once a year.
As a teenager, Sofia had started babysitting for a bit of extra cash. The Lau family had been one of her favorite customers, with two angelic kids who enjoyed reading alone in their rooms. Until Mrs. Lau had lost her ten-carat diamond engagement ring and accused Sofia of stealing it.
Word had spread around the neighborhood. All babysitting offers had dried up. Sofia had cried for hours in her room, terrified she would be arrested by the police.
Three days later, Mrs. Lau had shown up on their doorstep gruffly saying that she’d found her ring behind the soap dispenser in the bathroom, and she needed Sofia to emergency babysit that night. Sofia had been desperately grateful and about to accept.
Then Trinidad had stepped forward to block the doorway. “Apologize to Sofia.”
“Excuse me?” Mrs. Lau had peered down at the tiny scowling girl.
“Apologize to my sister.” Trinidad had articulated each word with a poise unnatural for an elementary schooler. It made Sofia jealous, because it was perfect for a lawyer, right down to how Trinidad cooly looked up her upturned nose with an adult disdain. “You falsely accused her of stealing, damaging her reputation and her business. You need to go around and tell every last person you spread rumors to that you were wrong and you lost your own ring. Then you should give Sofia enough money to make up for everything she lost when people stopped hiring her to babysit. And you should pay her double for all future babysitting, if she ever agrees to work for you again, which I don’t think she should.”
Of course that hadn’t happened, because giving a speech about justice only worked in Trinidad’s manga. Mrs. Lau had huffed off without another word. Sofia had been furious, because she preferred the babysitting money to an apology, and because Mrs. Lau hiring her again would have been the best she could do to clear her reputation. Such a prideful woman would never retract her accusation. Far from thanking Trinidad, Sofia had chewed her out and stormed up to her room to plan a new way to make money.
Two months later, Sofia had returned from a school field trip to find Mrs. Lau in her front yard, frantically searching. Sofia might not have thought anything of it if she hadn’t seen the small smirk on Trinidad’s lips.
Dragging Trinidad inside, Sofia growled, “What did you do this time?”
“Nothing that will affect you. I talked to the Lau kids, and their mom is always taking off her ring because it’s heavy. She loses it once a month. She’s made police reports about it being stolen a dozen times. At this point, the police just toss her report in the trash bin. Just in case, I made sure you had an alibi.” Trinidad spoke so calmly, it reminded Sofia that her little sister could be a good actor when she bothered to lie.
Sofia grabbed her sister’s shoulders and shook her. “Unless someone finds where you pawned the ring.”
“The ring is where no one except a fish will ever see it again. I would never sell it.” Trinidad sounded appalled at the idea. “This isn’t about money. It’s about justice. Mrs. Lau punished you even though you didn’t take her ring, so I made her lies come true.”
Sofia should have been furious. It wasn’t worth the risk. But no one besides Trinidad would ever stick up for Sofia like this. Even Aunt Mary had asked Sofia if she was certain she hadn’t moved the ring somewhere.
So instead Sofia had taken her little sister into her arms and held her. For once, even if Sofia had cried a little, Trinidad hadn’t teased her for it.
Even if life would be easier as an only child, sisters had to look out for each other.
That was why, after Sofia had adequately complimented Alexa’s new haircut and let her pretend to help with their presentation, she’d said, “Dick’s younger brother is giving Trinidad a hard time, could you have a word with him?”
Alexa had shrugged. “I dunno, your sister has it coming.”
In this case, Trinidad had verbally eviscerated the boys in her class for making a sexist joke. She’d told ten funnier jokes and had the class in stiches. For someone so smart, Trinidad hadn’t yet figured out that it was dangerous to make people laugh at the popular kids.
“I know, but it looks bad for me if my sister gets bullied.” Sofia nudged Alexa’s shoulder. “Come on, for me?”
Alexa put an arm around Sofia’s shoulder. “For you, because we’re best friends.”
There was the secret reason Sofia had almost but not quite spoken when Trinidad had asked why she remained friends with Alexa: Because I need her to keep your dumb ass out of trouble.
If Sofia had said it, Trinidad would have only protested that she didn’t need any protection. Trinidad had no idea how bad bullying could get. And she never would, as long as she had her older sister. This was far from the first time Sofia had stepped in to protect Trinidad from the consequences of her defiant personality and sharp tongue.
If Trinidad knew about half the effort Sofia put in behind the scenes to keep her from being bullied…well, she wouldn’t appreciate it because younger sisters were all ungrateful.
Sofia taped a sticky note with cooking instructions on the lasagna dish before sticking it in the fridge. She was going on an overnight trip with her friends, so she’d made dinner for her little sister in advance.
A car honked outside. Her ride was here. Sofia grabbed her backpack, stuffed full of clothing and essentials. As she pushed open the door, she called, “Dinner’s in the fridge, try not to burn the house down.”
Footsteps pounded from upstairs. Trinidad called, “I downloaded the first season of that anime onto your phone in case you have time to watch it on your trip. We could talk about it afterward.”
“How do you keep figuring out my passcode?” Sofia rolled her eyes. “As if I have time, I have to study.”
“You should take a break now and then.” Trinidad ran down the stairs and hugged her. “Hope you have a great time. I love you!”
Sofia was standing in sight of the car, so of course she didn’t say she loved her sister back. That would be too embarrassing in front of her friends. Maybe Sofia was also a bit annoyed at having to make dinner for her sister when all her friends had parents to do that. With a grunt, she disentangled herself and headed for the car.
Dick was driving with his cousin Connor riding shotgun. Alexa was in the backseat. As Sofia slid into the car, Alexa whispered, “Connor looks cute in his new shirt, doesn’t he?”
Sofia carefully did not reveal her annoyance on her face.
Ever since Alexa had started dating Dick, she’d made it into her life goal to set Sofia up with someone. Sofia simply wasn’t interested in dating. All her time and attention were consumed by getting into a good college and passing her citizenship test. Besides, the popular boys who Alexa hung out with all expected sex. Sofia had tried to tell Alexa that Aunt Mary had strict opinions about premarital sex. Alexa had only giggled and said “My parents, too. We’re too cool to care about old people.”
They weren’t the same. Alexa’s parents would have been furious if they knew about her sneaking off with Dick (sometimes using visiting Sofia as a cover). But if Alexa got into trouble, whether an STD or unplanned pregnancy or a public indecency charge for doing it in the car, then her rich parents would have made her problems go away. Sofia didn’t have the same confidence in her aunt’s love and forgiveness. The fear had lingered in the back of her mind ever since becoming an orphan: if she was too much trouble, she’d be sent away. One wrong step might ruin her carefully planned future.
Sofia didn’t want to be uncool in front of Alexa. So instead of rejecting Connor, she’d made it her goal to be so annoying that he rejected her.
Sofia looked at Connor, then let out an earsplitting high giggle. He jumped in the front seat, putting his hands over his ears.
Burying her face in Alexa’s shoulder, Sofia whispered, “Oh, no, I did it again. I just get so nervous around him.”
“Aw, it’s okay,” Alexa whispered, rubbing Sofia’s back.
Although Alexa enjoyed playing matchmaker, she also liked being more successful with boys. Especially since Sofia got better grades, so this gave Alexa an area to feel superior in. Thus Sofia could keep up the charade without too much pressure or unwanted help.
Whether or not Sofia liked Connor had never factored into her decision, because there was no one cute enough to be worth jeopardizing her future law firm over. But she didn’t find him attractive. He talked too much, asked too few questions about other people, and bumped into other kids in the hallway because he never stepped aside for anyone else. Fortunately, someone like that thought he deserved the best, so it was easy to turn him off.
As they continued their drive, the suburbs turned into rolling green fields. A heavy mist clogged the air. Earthy scent seeped into the car. The sky overhead was dark grey and about ready to burst.
Dick and Connor talked about the football team’s prospects while Alexa had fallen asleep. Sofia pulled out her SAT vocabulary cards from her backpack. This trip would put her behind studying, so every free moment must be used.
When the car came to a stop, Alexa jolted awake. Sofia shoved her cards into her backpack, a little too late.
“You’re always studying, why bother when you get good grades?” Alexa rolled her eyes. “You’re a nerd, Sophie.”
Easy for Alexa to say, when she was guaranteed a spot in her family business. If Sofia would have to work twice as hard as Alexa to get ahead, then that just meant Sofia would work three times as hard. Someday she’d be a partner at her law firm, and everyone would have to suck up to her instead.
“Studying calms my nerves,” Sofia said with a shrug.
They got out of the car. Alexa nudged Sofia. “You should talk to Connor.”
Sofia bumped into Connor from behind. “Oops!” She ran and hid behind Alexa with a giggle. Connor hated people bumping into him, even though he did it to others all the time.
They’d left early, so it was still morning. The parking lot was completely empty except for their car. The fog was so thick that only a few scraggly bushes and yellowing grass at the base of the mountain were visible.
When Sofia had first heard they would be traveling up to the lodge by a funicular, she’d wondered what on earth that might be. Apparently a funicular was like a train car, except built slanted with the rows of seats like steps. It had been designed to take people up the tracks of a steep mountain. This particular one had been painted a deep maroon, with the company name flaking off the side.
An elderly man read a newspaper in the booth. Alexa approached and said, “We need tickets for four people. When do we leave?”
“We don’t.” He set aside his newspaper. “The funicular doesn’t operate when it’s this foggy.”
“What?” Dick exploded. “We already have reservations at the lodge!”
“You can travel up tomorrow.”
“We were only staying for one night.” Alexa twirled her hair. “Please?”
“The rules are the rules.”
Connor threw up his hands. “This is bullshit! We’ll sue you if we miss out on our reservation because of you.”
Sofia bit her lip. She didn’t want to cause trouble for someone only doing his job or act like a spoiled brat. Sometimes Alexa could be so rude at restaurants, it was an embarrassment accompanying her. On the other hand, Sofia couldn’t understand why the funicular would close down because of fog. It went straight up the railroad track, no turns or divergences, and no other vehicles, so visibility didn’t matter. She’d heard of trains getting delayed because of fog, but it wasn’t generally enough to cancel them. “Why doesn’t the funicular run during fog?”
“It’s a family tradition.”
“Tradition?” Sofia had been hoping for a better explanation than that. Skepticism entered her tone.
The elderly operator looked between the four upset teens. “My family has been running this funicular for generations. People sometimes vanish if they go up during fog. Not every time, but often enough for us to notice a pattern. They get on at the bottom, then never get off at the top. Legend says they were spirited away.”
Sofia lost all sympathy for him. Their plans were being ruined by some quaint local superstition? Who still believed in spirits in this day and age?
“Bullshit!” Dick cried. Connor growled his agreement.
Alexa planted her hands on her hips. “We’ll pay you double if you take us up.”
“We will?” Sofia frowned. She thought the fog reason was stupid, but she didn’t have money to throw around like the other three. She’d saved up for this trip for months by tutoring and working at the library. “I’m fine going home. Surely the lodge will refund our deposit.”
Dick scowled. “I didn’t drive all this way for nothing.”
Alexa’s smile turned mean. “If you don’t let us ride, then we’ll leave bad reviews everywhere.”
It was a stupid threat, in Sofia’s opinion. This funicular was the only method of travel to the lodge besides hiking up on foot, so people had to use it no matter the rating. Did funiculars even get reviewed? The operator looked more irritated than worried.
“Fine. It’s your lives.” He held out his credit card reader. Perhaps the bribe had moved him more than the threat.
As the other three paid, Sofia gnawed on her lip harder. She didn’t have the money to spare. Every part of this trip had been carefully budgeted. She’d have to skip lunch and maybe have a salad for dinner. But if she refused, she didn’t have a ride back home and she’d lose major coolness points. She supposed she could claim the altitude made her too nauseous to eat. Reluctantly, she pulled out her wallet. She was the only person to pay in cash—she didn’t have a credit card. It hurt to watch her hard-earned money vanish.
The operator opened the door for them. The seating was at an angle like stadium bleachers. Alexa took the seat in the front row, with the best view. Sofia quickly sat next to her because she didn’t want to be next to Connor. The two boys sat behind them.
From inside the building, the operator flicked a switch. The funicular started moving.
There was a place at the lowest point of the car with a steering wheel for the operator to stand. But he’d let the funicular depart without him. Presumably it didn’t need someone to steer, there was only one track for the single car to go up and down. Even so, it seemed odd. Shouldn’t the operator be coming with them in case he needed to throw the emergency brake?
Through the glass, Sofia met the operator’s eyes. What she saw there nearly made her open the door and jump out.
But the funicular was already moving. It didn’t go as fast as a train, or even a car, but if she threw herself onto the rocky ground, she’d probably be injured.
Sofia told herself that she was a logical person who didn’t believe in ghosts. Even if the man had believed the danger to be real, that only made him a fool. Her fingers clenched on her knees.
The funicular moved at an angle like a roller coaster car headed up. It rattled as loudly on the tracks as a skeleton dancing on a tin roof. The shaking and frequent stops and starts made Sofia even more uneasy. Was it supposed to sound this loud? Or was it in bad repair?
Alexa didn’t seem afraid at all. Raising her voice over the clacking, she complained, “This thing moves too slowly. I’m leaving a bad review anyway.”
The fog had grown even thicker, making the air heavier. The scent of dirt permeated the car. Each rattling movement vibrated to Sofia’s bones. Wishing for a seatbelt, she grabbed onto the railing in front of her. Briefly, she glimpsed the parking lot and station growing small below. Then the fog was too thick to see anything at all.
When the world went dark, Sofia screamed.
Alexa laughed. “We’re going through a tunnel.”
“Oh.” Sofia looked around, seeing the rocky walls of the tunnel and the sliver of light below. Her cheeks burned with humiliation. “Sorry, I’m jumpy.” She tugged on her sleeves, trying to cover more skin. When had it gotten so cold?
Alexa leaned over to whisper, “It’s okay, I don’t think Connor even heard you shriek over this loud track.”
Then they were out the other side. Light came through the windows, but the fog shrouded their surroundings from view.
“It’s cold.” Alexa turned around. “Dick, lend me your sweatshirt—” Her sentence cut off, then her voice trembled. “The boys are gone.”
Sofa looked too. The row behind them was empty, not even the slightest trace of Dick and Connor’s presence. Their backpacks were also gone. “Where did they go?” It was a stupid question, how would Alexa know? Sofia’s voice had gone high-pitched with fear. She wanted to scream again.
“It’s probably a prank.” Alexa sounded high-pitched and uncertain too.
“Yeah, they’d do that to scare us.” Sofia shouted, “It’s not funny! Come back here!”
The absurdity of her own statement made her stop talking. The funicular doors were closed and it still rumbled up the tracks. If Dick and Connor had leapt out, then the car would have moved too fast for them to get back on again. That was assuming they hadn’t broken bones making the jump. Surely Sofia would have heard a loud thump if they’d jumped out of the car. Instead they had vanished, as if they’d never been there to begin with.
Alexa was the first to ask the question: “Do you think they were…spirited away?”
Sofia opened her mouth to say no way. Then she recalled advice from the many books she’d read about being a good lawyer: never say anything before a judge that she wasn’t sure to be true. She scrambled up the seats, toward the front of the car. As the funicular jolted, she grabbed a seat to steady herself. Each clacking sound dug into her brain and made it harder to think straight. She was about ready to punch the tracks to make it stop.
At the front of the car, Sofia squinted at the impossibly even thicker fog.
A cruel giggle ran through the air. Force slammed against a lower window, making the whole car shake. Sofia whirled around. A white lace veil brushed against the glass. The air had grown colder. The rattling was too loud and she wished it even louder, to cover up that inhuman laugher. Bloody fingers scrapped against the side window, leaving trails of red.
“I want out of here!” Alexa grabbed the car door.
“Don’t!” Sofia cried. “Whatever is going on, it’s all outside the car, not inside! Don’t let them in!”
Fortunately, the car door was locked. Alexa grunted, yanked a few times, then finally let go.
A ray of light slipped through the front window. The funicular groaned, then jerked forward, through a gate in a high fence. They broke through the fog.
In the window behind, Sofia could only see trees. Too many trees, spreading from the base of the mountain across where there should be a parking lot. There was no trace of the car that had brought them here. Civilization had been erased by the thickly packed green leaves. Even in her dazed state, Sofia was pretty sure the trees had formally been conifers.
In front, a range of mountains stretched up into the sky. The white snow-covered tops blended with the clouds. Sofia gulped around a dry throat, because these mountains were far taller and more numerous than should be able to exist in this part of the world. They’d been traveling to a lodge, but instead an entire village spread out ahead: wooden buildings with brightly painted shutters and smoke rising from the chimneys. The largest building was rectangular and granite, one slanted edge curving out over a huge lake. There hadn’t even been a lake in the brochure pictures.
If not for the creepy spirits, Sofia might have been able to convince herself she’d misremembered the lodge. And the trees…trees didn’t suddenly change species. Sofia gulped. “Alexa, I don’t think the boys got spirited away. We did.”
The funicular rattled past stone statues of a fox and a wolf guarding the path, the latter with a scar over the right eye. Then it stopped in front of a log building with the front open to the air. Perhaps this was the ending station? The very last fog dissolved into the wind.
Alexa had collapsed back into the seats, whimpering. It felt hard to breath. The air had gotten thinner. Sofia pushed past her friend, headed for the steering wheel, determined to see if there was any way they could make this funicular go back down to where Planet Earth presumably existed.
The funicular steering wheel was gone. All evidence of technology had vanished, leaving only the window. The tracks behind them had melted away along with the fog. Sofia distinctly remembered the funicular being painted red, but now the paint outside was bright blue and the company logo gone.
Oh, god, she should have jumped out the car at the bottom of the mountain and hitchhiked home.
“There’s no tracks.” Sofia turned around to look at Alexa. “How are we supposed to get down the mountain if the tracks are gone?” She did not know why she was asking Alexa, except that there was no one else to ask, and she might be in a state of shock. She had a sudden urge to cry and scream at Alexa that she’d never even wanted to pay double to use the funicular, this was all Alexa’s fault. But that wouldn’t fair. Sofia’s only objection had been about the price. She’d never believed they were in any actual danger of being…spirited away…either.
This was insane.
Mouth gaping open, Alexa pointed. “Behind…you…”
Sofia whirled around. Strange people approached the funicular, all manner of appearances except all were young and beautiful. They wore the same light blue uniform, the shirt folded over and buttoned on the left side and silken flowing pants. Slitted pupils and hints of fangs flashed amongst the crowd. One dark-haired woman had four spider legs on her lower body. A mischievous green grin flashed from the closest tree trunk. Then all the nearest trees sprouted faces, talking amongst themselves.
“Two new humans? How long has it been?”
“At least a century.”
“More like a decade, silly! A decade is the shorter one.”
“I’d started to think that way through the veil had stopped working.”
More people talked in the crowd, in several languages Sofia could not understand.
A tiny blond woman with scales running down her neck opened the door. A short troll darted between her legs to enter first.
The door opened?! Perhaps the locks had vanished when the funicular had transformed. Sofia could not accept this last barrier between her and insanity gone. She backed away.
“Is this the latest human fashion?” The troll stroked Sofia’s denim jeans. “Fascinating fabric.”
Sofia had frozen, unable to even jerk away.
The scaly beauty grabbed Sofia’s backpack off the seat, then darted out of the car.
“Hey!” Sofia screamed. “That’s mine!” The loss felt all the worse at a moment like this, when her entire world had vanished. Now the last of her possessions were gone, too. Tears stung her eyes. She did not dare follow. The funicular had proven no safe haven, clearly the creatures could come inside, yet stepping out into their territory seemed even more daunting.
“Go away!” Alexa wailed as the troll grabbed her backpack.
The troll sneered at her, then leapt through the open door.
Alexa burst into loud, noisy tears.
The sound of crying brought Sofia back to reality. It must be an older sibling instinct. If her little sister had been crying, then that would have meant it was time to annihilate the threat. (Unless Sofia had been the culprit causing the crying, which happened more often than not.)
Sofia put her arm around Alexa and stroked her hair. She whispered, “We have to remain calm. We’ll find a way out of this. People always manage to return in stories.” She hoped she wasn’t giving false hope.
Raising her voice, Sofia called, “We’re lost, can anyone help us?” She adopted the good girl voice that made all the teachers like her. Sweet and gentle, but not annoying, designed to elicit sympathy.
It wasn’t clear if anyone heard her over the chattering, most of which she could not understand.
A deep, slightly accented voice called, “How dare you steal a lady’s belongings?” There was a slap and a squeal from the troll. The door flung open dramatically, bouncing off the wall hard enough to dent. A tall man with antler horns ducked inside. He wore a green doublet looking from a century ago, unlike the others’ uniforms. A golden chain hung around his neck. He offered Alexa’s backpack with a flourish.
“Oh, my! Thank you!” Alexa flushed, staring at his unnaturally smooth and symmetrical face.
“Yes, thank you,” Sofia said. “My backpack was stolen too.” She pointed at the scaly woman still amongst the crowd. “Could you please be so kind as to get it too?”
The horned man bent down and kissed Alexa’s hand, his eyes fixed on her. Alexa giggled.
“The thief is running away now,” Sofia said. “But you could still catch up to her. If you wanted to. You seem to be someone important. I bet she would listen to you if you ordered her to bring my backpack back, you wouldn’t even need to chase her. I would be very grateful if you could help me.”
Sofia might as well have been invisible and silent. Alexa tucked back a lock of hair behind her ear. The horned man offered her a handkerchief for the old tears still visible on her cheeks. The scaly thief vanished up the path, into a building.
At this point, annoyance had planted Sofia’s feet firmly back in reality. Because of course Alexa would have a powerful man riding to her rescue (as usual). Of course Sofia would be on her own. That, more than any other evidence, proved this was not a dream but rather all too depressingly real.