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The Midnight Station
The path narrowed. The shadows lengthened. No wind stirred the trees anymore – as if even they were holding their breath. "This place smells of... change," Remy murmured. Gertrude looked around. "Or old iron." Then, between the ferns and the fog, a sign made of dark wood appeared. Barely legible, overgrown with moss, with little more than one line: → Whisper Stop They followed the barely visible path and suddenly emerged from the forest into something completely different: A train station. Small. Quiet. As if from another time – or no place. Lampposts hovered above the platform, humming softly. The tracks ran into nothingness – beginning nowhere and ending in the starry sky. "What is this?" Gertrude asked quietly. Remy blinked. "A... crossing?" A distant whistle broke the silence. At first barely audible, then like a song of dream and memory. And then it came: A train. Not made of metal, but of brass and light, of steam and shadow. The wheels glided over the air as if on ice. Windows glowed in soft colors. The locomotive had a face—not really, but somehow. It stopped in front of them. A door opened. A conductor stepped out—tall, wrapped in a cloak of stars, his face hidden beneath a hood of light. He held out his hand. "Destinations?" Remy hesitated. Gertrude stepped forward. "Wherever we're going," she said calmly. The conductor nodded. Two cards appeared in his hand, made of paper that looked like folded moonlight. Remy took them. Both read: Ever After Express Valid for courage, memory, and true connection They boarded. Inside the train, nothing was as they knew it. Carriages made of libraries. A dining car with flying cakes. A compartment where snow fell even though it was warm. Mirrors that showed who you had been—or perhaps could still become. Gertrude leaned back. "We're not in Federwitz anymore." "We're not even in history anymore," Remy murmured. They traveled through dreams, through questions, through skies that no name could describe. And in all the wonder, in the smiles of strangers, in the quiet closeness, they knew: Sometimes the real thing only begins long after you've set off.