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She wasn’t able to bite through the wire armature, of course. But her teeth sank right into it, and then she pulled away,

tearing the molded head off the way one might rip the meat off a barbecued rib.

And then she spat it out.

Annie and Nabler dropped to the floor, their elevated embrace having come to an abrupt end.

She hit the floor on her side and rolled, while Nabler landed on his feet—or, more accurately, ratty paws—with his hands clutching

his throat, a bluish-green liquid spilling out between his fingers. He let rip with a scream that drowned out the trains still

stampeding about the layout.

A few tendrils of viscera, a brain stem, were all that linked his head to his body as he staggered about the room. Those tendrils

gave way, and the head landed on the floor with a plop. But what amazed and horrified Annie was that he continued moving,

the proverbial chicken with its head cut off.

Nabler wasn’t done.

Even without eyes, his body sensed where Annie was and came for her. She was still reeling from the fruity potion and Nabler’s

embrace and was unsteady as she scrambled to her feet.

The timing, she believed—and hoped—was just about right. Charlie had shown up when she’d needed him most. She’d acquired enough power so that when she bit off that head, the so-called “mir roring” effect kicked in. But, judging by Nabler’s headless lunging in her direction, it hadn’t quite been enough.

She looked to her hand, to see what else she could do to the figure, but it was not there. In her fall, she had lost her grip

on it.

ChuffchuffCLICKETYCLACKclicketyCLACKwooWOOchuffCLICKETYchuffCLICKETYchuffWOOchuggachuggaclackclicketyCHUFFCHUFFclicketyCLACKwooWOOchuffCLICKETYchuffCLICKETYchuffWOOchuggachuggaclackclicketyCHUFFCHUFFclicketyCLACKwooWOOchuffCLICKETYchuffCLICKETYchuffWOOchuggachuggaclackclicketyCHUFF...

Annie jumped back as Nabler came at her, swinging his arms like Frankenstein’s monster in some old black-and-white horror

movie. He might be missing a head, but if he managed to get hold of her, she had no doubt he could crush the life out of her.

Where the fuck was the—

“I have it!” Charlie cried.

He waved it in the air, briefly, his eyes wild. The figure, headless. But he didn’t take more than a millisecond to figure

out what he had to do. He ran for one of the closest tracks that was at a level he could reach. A mighty steam engine was

furiously approaching.

Chuffchuffchuffchuffchuff

Charlie placed the figure across the rails, straddling them, one hand on the feet, the other on the upper torso, holding it

down firmly so that it wouldn’t simply be tossed aside when the train reached it.

Chuffchuffchuffchuffchuff

The real dismembered head, on the floor in a puddle of blue-green blood, shouted, its eyes still open: “ Nooooooo . ”

The train hit the figure square on, its wheels slicing through it at the knees and stomach, striking with enough force to

sever the inner armature.

The headless Nabler, lunging forward to grab Annie by the throat, suddenly fell apart, as if someone with a great sword in each hand had slashed him across the body in two places.

The three remaining chunks of him fell to the floor and moved no more. The eyes on the head drifted shut.

Chuff... chuff... chuff...

All the trains stopped.

The only sound left in the room was the frantic panting of both Annie and Charlie. She slid down to her knees and Charlie

ran into her arms and the two of them clung to each other like they would never let go.

And for a moment, Annie saw John giving her a thumbs-up.