The floor shuddered, the broken glass of the Carriage of Echoes dissolving into black mist. The rails stretched out again, carrying her forward.
Evelyn clutched her lantern close, its white flame steady but dimming. Her chest rose and fell with heavy breaths, her body trembling from the battle.
For the first time since it all began, the silence was absolute. No whispers. No screams. Just… quiet.
Then the air shifted. A low vibration rolled through the walls, the ceiling, the very bones of the train. It wasn't just sound. It was pressure, weight, a presence filling every corner.
And then—it spoke.
"Little spark," the voice rumbled, vast and endless. It was not one voice, but thousands layered together—male, female, child, ancient—every victim who had ever ridden the train. "You burn, but you will gutter out. They all do."
Evelyn froze, her breath caught in her throat. She had heard whispers before. But this—this was the train itself.
She gripped her lantern tighter, forcing her voice through the fear. "You took them all. Sophie. Alex. Leo. But you don't get me."
A laugh rippled through the darkness, shaking the rails. "They said the same. Every soul resists at first. But I am not a monster outside you. I am already inside you. In your grief. Your fear. Your desire."
The walls warped, stretching, pulsing like veins. Faces pressed out of the metal—Sophie's, Alex's, Leo's—each twisted in agony, their mouths moving with the train's words.
"You will ride until you break. Until you open the last door. Until you become mine."
Evelyn's legs trembled, but she forced herself to lift the lantern high. "No. You can't have me. I'll burn every carriage. I'll burn you if I have to."
The train roared in laughter, so loud it cracked the rails. The next door appeared, pulsing with veins, waiting.
"Then burn, little spark. Burn… until nothing is left."
The flame in Evelyn's lantern wavered, but her eyes hardened. She stepped toward the door, her voice steady despite the tremor in her hands.
"Then I'll burn forever."
And the door opened.