Floors: by Patrick Carman Page B

wouldn’t say, and Leo began to feel as if he’d made a mistake being so upset about the arrow.
    “It’s okay, Remi. You were right. I shouldn’t have gotten so angry about the arrow. I’m sorry.”
    Remi seemed to perk up as he looked at the train waiting to be boarded. They were standing on a platform, the train was marked with a number 5, steam pouring out from under its wheels like it wanted to go but wouldn’t leave without them.
    “I left the blue box behind,” said Remi, wincing at the sound of his own words.
    “Oh,” said Leo. “That
is
bad.”
    “I know, I know — I blew it. I should never have set it down. Someone else might find the box, and then what will we do?”
    But Leo was worried about something else entirely. Without the box they didn’t have the model, which meant they’d have to figure out how to get out of the room themselves.
    “I didn’t get a very good look inside,” said Leo, trying to put a good face on things. “Do you remember anything that might help us?”
    “Not really. I mean, it was a train. There were lots of tracks and tunnels.”
    Not helpful,
thought Leo. He was beginning to think inviting Remi into things had been a mistake, but thenRemi had an awfully good idea. He pulled Blop out of his pocket.
    “Blop, this is important, okay?”
    “Important, yes. What is it?”
    “Did you get a good look inside the blue box?”
    Leo and Remi held their breaths as Blop’s little head turned back and forth between the two. Clearly the robot wanted to please Leo and Remi. He didn’t want to let them down, and they were happy to find that he did not.
    “It’s the donuts you want, that’s the trick,” said Blop.
    “What do you mean? What donuts?” asked Leo.
    Blop’s head twisted around and faced the train.
    “Climb aboard and I’ll show you.”
    Leo scratched his head and looked at the train. It was small, more like a roller coaster, and looking around the room he saw that the course it would take was filled with banks and sharp turns, ups and downs, tunnels and bridges.
    “Wow, thanks, Blop! You totally saved us!” said Remi. Turning to Leo, he added, “Which car do you want?”
    Leo wasn’t sure they could trust Blop, but he wanted to, and he was glad Remi was the courageous type. He’d have hated to drag an unwilling participant onto a train bound for who-knew-where.
    “I’ll take the back car, you take the front,” said Leo.
    “You got it,” Remi answered, setting Blop in his jacket pocket and climbing over the rail into the train car. Leo jumped into the last car and had a feeling of déjà vu. There was something familiar about the inside of the box he sat in, but he couldn’t quite place it. There wasn’t time to give it much thought, because the engine on the train began to lurch forward on the tracks. When it did, Leo spied the seat belt in his train car and the light went off. He knew this car, and so he knew he’d better speak up.
    “Put on your seat belt, Remi! You’re going to need it!”
    The engine was taller than the two cars behind it, with a small round window in the back. Leo and Remi were sitting in the open air, and it was Remi who realized something first.
    “Leo?” he said as the train pulled out of the station.
    “What is it?”
    “Someone is driving this train.”
    Leo’s heart raced as he looked past Remi and saw the round window in the engine car. It had fogged up, like the frosted glass in the Room of Rings, and someone was writing a message with their finger.
    Hang on.
     
    Leo’s knuckles went white against the sides of the car as his grip tightened, and then the train shot out of the station so fast, it felt like Leo’s face had been blown off.
    Remi howled with laughter, his jet-black hair fluttering in the wind as the train rounded the first tight turn and flew over a bridge. It was a rough ride, both boys being hurled back and forth in their cars as they entered the first of three dark tunnels. Before they knew it,