Dark Angel (Casteel 2)

father and ruin his life! Ruin Tom's and Fanny's, and

don't leave out Our Jane and Keith! You want

revenge, Heaven Leigh Casteel! I see it in your eyes,

those incredible blue eyes that speak of a devil inside

more than they speak of an angel!"

I slung my balled fist at him blindly, striking

nothing as he released me so suddenly I fell off

balance to the floor. Quickly I scrambled to my feet,

to spurt ahead so fast he wasn't able to say another

word before I was running up the stairs to the safety

of my bed again. My crying place.

At one o'clock I was again in the cottage, and this time Troy was out of bed, looking a bit stronger as he smiled at me. "Come," he said, beckoning, "I want you to see this train set-up that has just been

finished, and then we'll eat."

What he had to show me filled one huge corner

of his workshop. It was a tiny stage-set with soft

lights glowing, and hidden spots lit up the sets, and

miniature trains picked up passengers and let them

off, only to pick them up again, repeatedly taking

them around mountains steep and dangerous; I

thought, as I watched the tiny Orient Express

chuggity-chug, chuggity-chug, starting slowly,

gaining speed, forever climbing, forever taking risks,

daring everything only to reach the heights, only to

descend much more quickly than it had ascended, that

Troy was trying to tell me something through his tiny

trains.

What was it that Troy tried to say with these

three little trains that wove such intricate paths

through different territory, yet always reached the

same destination? Didn't the whole human race ride