Tsarina by Patrick J. Nelle

Author:Patrick, J. Nelle [Patrick, J. Nelle]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Penguin Group US
Published: 2014-02-27T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

The longest train ride I’d ever taken was to visit a cousin who lived on the edge of Siberia. I was in a luxury car, one with its own butler, and there was tea and coffee and the perfect, beautiful Ural countryside to take in, all rocky crests and trees and snowdrifts. The sun would break across the horizon in the morning and light the land up, and we would see wolf packs running among the trees, in a dance with one another and the cedar forests. It was a nine-day trip, but when I got off the train, it felt like it had been a single day at the most.

It had only been a day and a half on this train, however, and it already felt like a month. My body was numb, like all my corners had been filed down by the constant vibrations, and it felt like I had a permanent layer of silt and dust caked on top of my skin. We were moving slower than expected, creeping along at times, to the point that every so often, we debated the merits of getting out and walking alongside the train. So far, fear that the train would suddenly pick up speed and leave us stranded in the wilderness outweighed our desire to escape, but by the second day, I wasn’t sure how much longer we could go without breaking—my head ached, and I was starving, hollow with the feeling of nothing but freezing air in my torso.

The sky was blue, crisp, and clear; we could see leafless trees that stretched out like wooden skeletons for miles. When the afternoon sun was just setting, we pulled the door open far as it would go to let a beam of golden sunlight in. If we sat three abreast on the wall opposite the door, each of us could sit in the light and warm up, if only the tiniest bit. Even in the sun, I felt cold to my core, like my bones had been turned to metal rods in my skin. Every jolt, every bump sent pain rippling up through my body, and my teeth ached from being rattled together for so long.

“Remember that time . . .” Emilia began as she slumped down on the wall between me and Leo. She stopped speaking, closed her eyes, and the sun made her lashes sparkle, like the memory of warmth. I got the impression that as cold and miserable as I was, she was colder—it worried me, to say the least. After a deep breath, one that reemerged as a puff of cold air from her lips, she continued, “That we traveled to Moscow in a boxcar, Natalya? And we were stranded in the country for weeks and weeks?”

“I seem to recall it,” I answered, tilting my head down to rest it on her shoulder even though it made my neck stiff. My throat was raspy, protested conversation, and my lips were so chapped that speaking made them crack and bleed.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.