Legacy of the Claw Read Online Free

Taylor’s dark, sleek cat skittered up the aisle behind them.
    â€œYou could have gotten yourself killed, going out there while the rigi’s in motion!” the conductor said as he closed the door behind Bailey with a loud
whump
. Bailey could hear the disgruntled murmuring of passengers who didn’t appreciate being woken up.
    â€œAlready in trouble, and we’re not even there yet,” said Taylor, who looked down at Bailey with a mocking smile. “Got something to prove?”
    â€œBark off, Taylor,” said Hal, appearing in the doorway behind his brother.
    But Bailey was still reeling from what he’d seen. The animal he’d spotted seemed like something otherworldly, watching the train  … 
    â€œYou all right, boy?” asked Roger.
    â€œI—I saw something
huge
out there,” he blurted out.
    Roger narrowed his eyes at Bailey. Taylor, who stood behind him, laughed with a snort.
    â€œA wolf?” he asked. “There are plenty of wolves in the Dark Woods.”
    â€œNo, it wasn’t that,” said Bailey. “It was all white  … ”
    â€œThat doesn’t sound like anything in these parts,” said the conductor dryly. “Sometimes a bear will wander close to the tracks, but they’re your average brown or black variety.”
    â€œToo true,” said Roger loudly, clapping a heavy hand on Bailey’s shoulder. “Must have been a trick of the light.”
    â€œIt was there,” said Bailey. “It was much bigger than a bear—and it was so bright. It almost glowed  … ”
    â€œWas it a gh-gh-ghost?” asked Taylor, wiggling his fingers in a mocking gesture.
    â€œGo back to the front, Taylor, before you get on my last nerve,” snapped Roger. “And, Bailey, come sit down and calm yourself. You just saw a wolf or coyote, that’s all. Enough of these stories.”
    Bailey hung back, angry and embarrassed, while Roger and Taylor returned to their seats. Other passengers in the car were looking at him. His ears were hot. He knew that he had seen something—hadn’t he? For a second, he wondered if Roger were right and he had mistaken a wolf for something else. But no. The creature he’d seen had been large enough to spot from several yards away, and had been a pure, snowy white.
    â€œI know what I saw,” said Bailey quietly to Hal.
    â€œSure, I believe you.” Hal sat down on his cot, but didn’t climb in just yet. He was still fidgeting; Bailey could tell he wanted to say something more.
    Around them, the excitement of Bailey’s scolding had died away, and the murmurs of their fellow passengers had been replaced with low breathing, snores, and the occasional rustle of feather and fur.
    â€œLook,” said Hal. “I just want you to know  …  I’m not going to tell anyone about  … 
you
know. If you want to keep it a secret when we get to Fairmount, you can count on me.”
    â€œKeep what secret?” Bailey asked, even though he already knew what Hal was talking about. But he wanted to know for certain just how much Hal knew about him. “What have you heard?”
    Hal breathed in deeply, as if to steel himself against the words. He leaned in close to Bailey’s ear.
    Then he said them, the words that hurt Bailey like a physical blow, like nothing but the truth could do:
    â€œYou have no Animas.”

Two
    FAR FROM THE LOWLANDS and the dim gas lamps of the rigimotive, a small, dark shape circled the sooty factories of the Gray City, sweeping high over a stream of acrid smoke. It dipped past the far edges of the skyline, pulling its wings closer to its body as it careered over the rooftops, then spread them wide as it finally came within sight of the copper roofs of the palace, the home of Parliament. It let the air currents carry it straight to a window ledge halfway up the wall of a rickety tower on the