Everwild

CHAPTER 5 Southern Discomfort

Nick had never seen a city with so many deadspots. They were so numerous that they could hardly be called deadspots at all. The city of Atlanta belonged as much to Everlost as it did to the living world. The streets were part cobblestone, part asphalt, part dirt. The night was lit by just as many gas lamps as modern street-lights. Buildings from multiple time periods seemed to occupy the same space, fighting to claim "dominant reality." It made it very clear to Nick that as much as he thought he knew and understood Everlost, he barely knew anything at all.

Their train slowly, cautiously rolled forward on tracks that once carried the Civil War dead. Then, as the train neared the center of Atlanta, the living world road began to fill the train like an asphalt river.

"We're sinking!" shouted Johnnie-O. "We're sinking into the earth! Stop the train!"

"I don't think that's it," said Charlie. "It's more like the street's rising. We're still riding on tracks."

"I have a feeling we're in for a few more surprises," said Nick.*