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As Imogen had expected, we stopped about two or three hours later, and within twenty minutes were moving again. When I next went into the corridor — this time with Lottie, and to actually find Martha and Ellie and Thomas — the Clermore Avenue lot were nowhere to be seen.
I wasn't sure if that was a bad thing.
Lottie apparently had a gift for talking to people. Within what felt like seconds she had struck up a conversation with Edith, and it wasn't making other children panic. That seemed to be a plus for Michael, that and the fact that Lottie wasn't sleeping on him anymore.
Alex had drifted off to sleep himself by the time we stopped for the second time, and stayed put as everyone began to stand up and fight to get their suitcases from the rack. I wasn't entirely certain that he was really asleep through the chaos, but he didn't open his eyes until everyone else was gone — even Lottie.
"We're here, then."
"Mhm. Come on, get your case. We're gonna get — we're getting left behind."
"Right, right..." He almost whacked me round the head with his case as he pulled it down, and then shoved it at me. "Take mine, and I'll take yours. I saw your hand earlier."
"I can carry it."
"I know, but I don't want you to. It's a long walk to the church, and that's the only place that can fit everyone on this train."
"Alright then..."
I figured he'd got the information from somewhere else — most likely another teacher — and didn't ask how he knew what the largest building was.
We were some of the last people off the train, and most of the other St Mary's kids seemed to be off the platform already. So Alex and I trailed behind the crowd, both of us ignoring the shouts and gasps of the people around us.
Somebody screamed.
Alex bit back a laugh. "I don't think you guys have ever seen cows before, am I right?"
"As if you have!" I wasn't entirely sure what he was talking about.
"Well, how do you think I know what they're shrieking about? You can smell that, right?"
He did have a point. I could hear somebody grumbling about 'fresh country air', and I could tell why they were moaning. There was a horrible smell in the air, and apparently Alex knew what was causing it.
I couldn't bring myself to care about the how part of that, though.
Following the rest of the group down the path, we passed a fence that separated us from a green field — and the field had black-and-white creatures in it. I assumed they were what had scared the person who screamed, though I couldn't quite see why. They seemed pretty peaceful, and I said as much to Alex.
