Chapter 10
The train hummed through the night sky, a deep and steady sound like a heartbeat. The windows glowed with a pale blue light, illuminating the rows of seats. Ark sat beside Tina, trying not to look at the guards posted by the door. Every few seconds, one of them would glance at him as if expecting him to run.
He didn't. He had nowhere to go.
Tina leaned closer. Her golden eyes moved from the guards to him. "They think you did it," she whispered.
Ark gave a short laugh. "Yeah, I noticed. Lucky me."
The air smelled faintly of oil and flowers, the mix of machine and perfume that lived in every train car. The hum under their feet felt stronger now, like the train was climbing faster. Outside, the clouds rolled by like slow rivers.
Tina looked thoughtful. "We should recheck the bathroom before they clean everything."
Ark nodded. He wanted to see it once more, too. There was something wrong about that scene—too clean for a murder.
They walked down the narrow hallway. The guards didn't stop them, but their eyes followed. The door to the men's bathroom was half-open, a faint smell of iron still hanging inside. Someone had wiped the floor, but a dark stain remained under the light.
Ark crouched beside the spot. "They cleaned fast," he said.
Tina didn't answer. She was looking at the metal railing near the sink. Her ears twitched. "There's something here." She reached out and plucked a single hair from the metal. It shone orange with black stripes under the light.
Ark blinked. "That looks familiar."
Tina froze. Her tail stiffened. She closed her hand around the hair.
"Well?" Ark said.
Her voice came out low. "It's mine."
The silence that followed was heavy. The faint hum of the train filled it, soft and deep.
Ark stood up slowly. "You want to explain that?"
Tina sighed and leaned against the wall. Her face looked tired now, not proud like before. "I followed Valerius," she said. "I was hired to watch him, not kill him. He worked with the Syndicate, and my employer wanted proof. I tailed him into the bathroom but left when someone else came in. That's when I lost him."
Ark crossed his arms. "So you were there before the murder."
"Yes," she said. "But I didn't do it. I swear."
He studied her eyes. They didn't flicker. They stayed still and bright. He wanted to believe her, but the hair on the railing told its own story.
"You should've told me earlier," he said.
"I thought I could handle it alone," she said softly. "I was wrong."
Ark looked down at the cleaned floor, at the faint shadow of blood that still marked the tiles. "If you're telling the truth," he said, "then someone else was there after you left. Someone fast, quiet, and very good at this."
Tina pushed away from the wall. "Then we find out who."
---
The conductor let them back in after a short talk. He wasn't happy, but he wanted answers as much as they did. He gave them a small silver box and said, "This scans for magic. Be careful."
Tina turned the box on. A faint hum filled the air. Blue light ran over the walls and floor, tracing faint lines that glowed like veins. The smell of ozone tickled Ark's nose.
"Water magic," Tina murmured as the light pulsed. "See that ripple? Someone used a water-type spell here. Probably a blade made from it. Clean cut, no weapon left behind."
Ark crouched beside her. "So the blade melted away."
"Yes," she said. "But there's more." She ran the scanner along the stall wall. The light changed from blue to dark purple. "Shadow magic. Someone passed through here."
Ark frowned. "Passed through the wall?"
"Not walked," she said. "Phased. They slipped from the men's room to the women's. That's how the witnesses got confused. The 'woman in red' and the 'plain woman' were the same person."
He stood and rubbed his neck. The air felt colder now. "So we're looking for a shapeshifter with shadow skills."
"Exactly."
The train shook as it hit a rough patch in the track. The lights flickered. For a second, Ark thought he saw a shadow move at the edge of the room, but it was only their own reflections in the mirror.
When they returned to the compartment, the conductor waited with a file in his hand. "Passenger list," he said. "Everyone who passed that hall in the last hour."
Ark and Tina took it. The paper smelled of ink and metal. They scanned the names. One stood out — Adrian Cale, occupation: courier.
"That's the man in the tuxedo," Tina said. "He had a briefcase."
Ark nodded. "Let's talk to him."
They found the courier two cars down. He sat alone, his face pale, hands trembling around a cup of coffee. The smell of it filled the small room, bitter and sharp.
"Mr. Cale," Ark said. "We have questions."
The man looked up, eyes wide. "I didn't kill him!"
Tina raised a hand. "Then help us understand what you were doing."
Cale swallowed hard. "I was hired to test the Councilman's mana shield. That's all. I used a small tool that disrupts magic barriers. A woman paid me—never showed her face, only her voice. Said she worked for Lady Seraphina."
Ark looked at Tina. Her eyes had gone cold. "So Valerius's shield was disabled before he was killed," she said. "That explains the clean cut. The killer waited for the moment the barrier dropped."
Cale covered his face with shaking hands. "I thought it was just a test. They said he'd never know."
Ark sighed. "Well, you're lucky we found you before the guards did. They'd throw you off the train."
Cale stared at him, pale and sweating. "What now?"
"Now," Ark said, "we use what you told us."
Tina's eyes glimmered. "We set a trap."
They returned to their seats and whispered a plan. The air inside the car was warm now, thick with the smell of coffee and metal. The world outside had turned dark; only streaks of white clouds were lit by moonlight.
Tina spoke low. "We spread a rumor that Cale kept a data crystal in his room—proof of who hired the killer. The assassin won't be able to resist."
Ark grinned faintly. "Simple and dangerous. My kind of plan."
They started the rumor with a harpy woman from the next car. She loved to talk, and her voice carried like a bell. Within an hour, everyone on the train had heard about the hidden crystal.
Now all they could do was wait.
The train moved on through the night, glowing faintly in the darkness. Ark sat with Tina in the quiet corridor outside Cale's compartment. The smell of iron and oil filled the air. The hum under their boots felt stronger now.
"Think it'll work?" he asked.
Tina smiled slightly. "If I were the killer, I'd already be on my way."
A shadow flickered near the far wall.
Ark reached for the knife at his belt. "Then I think we're about to find out."