Chapter 2

Jack leaves Dezi for Pernil with Payton Orville and Mary Klee, burdened by supplies and doubts. Ayden Hestin meets him at a gated sidetrack marked FORBADE, carries the pack, and departs with a veiled threat. Jack finds Payton and Mary waiting under the trolley platform, and they all board the decrepit trolley Winola after Jack uses Youngblood’s override code.

The ride is hot and halting. Jack opens windows, dozes, and momentarily relishes the droplands’ beauty. At Hilltown, the bleak landscape stirs memories of his mother. Later, Mary returns Jack’s leather notebook stamped SOPHIE. He recalls giving it to Sophie to hold his memories, and reads an entry recounting his childhood: Morgan Sloat’s treachery, Tommy Woodbine’s death, and Sloat’s drive to bring Discordia to Mid-World.

Winola repeatedly stops for a “software update,” stranding them overnight among mesas and eerie howls. At dawn the trolley crawls on, then dies again just short of Pernil station; Jack forces the door and helps Mary and Payton across to the platform.

At the Good Rest Hotel, a young clerk recognizes Jack as the Shadow Queen’s consort and comped rooms are refused. Asked about the Great Gorge—called the Gullet—the clerk warns it is growing and that nearby Riven is abandoned save for Manni and “wompies” (vampires). Over brunch at the Good Boy Good, Mary says her second sight is stronger here and insists the danger is real. Jack assigns Payton to find a bukka wagon and plans a daylight visit to Riven and the Gullet.

Mary hints they must go as witnesses and fears Discordia tied to the barred gate. Jack retires to the Tull Suite, then goes to the alley, focuses, and flips to present-day America, intent on Youngblood’s errands and meeting his friend Dale.