They stood on the sidewalk, hands cupped around their eyes, peering through the chain link fence. Above them loomed Angels Flight, beyond which they could make out the shadowy, weed-fringed rise of Bunker Hill.
Leopold broke the silence. “We’ve been standing here a full minute. Are you going to explain why you dragged me back here?”
“Just look,” Emmet said anxiously, pointing into the gloom. “Halfway up, right side. What do you see?”
Leopold squinted. “Crappy apartment buildings.”
“And there.” Emmet’s arm shifted higher and to the left. “What about over there?”
“I don’t know, man, it’s pretty dark—”
“How about a huge building with what looks like a crown on top? The US Bank Tower.”
“No.”
“Do you see any tall buildings at
all?” He was gesturing toward the crest of the hill now, cloaked in a fine shroud of mist. “There should be a bunch of skyscrapers.”
“Yeah.” Leopold hesitated, then frowned. “I mean—no. I don’t see any of that.”
“That’s what I’m saying. Where the hell did they go?”
Leopold blinked at Emmet. “What do you mean?”
“What do you mean,
what do I mean?” He was getting frustrated. “They’re gone.”
Leopold turned to face his friend. Emmet’s eyes were wide, his expression bordering on panic. Emmet was freaking out—and Emmet never freaked out.
“Buildings don’t just disappear,” Leopold said slowly.
“Great. Yeah. Let’s make a list of other obvious facts.” Emmet shot him a stony look before returning his eyes to the hill. “First: Buildings don’t just disappear. Second: I know what the downtown LA skyline is supposed to look like—and that’s not it.”
“What are you trying to say? A minute ago you were giving me this big speech about how all this weirdness was just coincidental. Now you’re making me think my episodes are contagious.”
Emmet was shaking his head. “I realize I just spent hours telling you that what you’ve been seeing isn’t real. But I’m not seeing, like, half-human monsters outside motels. This feels like a cosmic problem. I was born and raised in this beautiful, disgusting city, and it’s never looked like
that.” He nodded toward the hill again, then took a deep breath. “There might be more than just a tiny bit of uncanny weirdness happening right now. And I need to know why.”
A snap of silent lightning split the night sky. They turned at the same time to gaze at Angels Flight.
Inside the trolley, dimly, a light was burning. For a moment, neither boy drew breath.
“Holy shit,” Leopold said softly.
Emmet turned to him. “You still have that token, right?”
Copyright © 2024 by Ransom Riggs. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
