“I have a dagger at my throat!” yelled Molly.

Giles’s arm snapped out and he snatched the dagger right out of her hand. “No, you haven’t. Now behave yourself.”

Molly glared at him, and then at me, her eyes darkening dangerously. “You really think you can threaten Gods with a mechanism? With your little box full of clockwork?”

“Only one way to find out,” said Giles. “Give me the box, Eddie.”

“It won’t work,” said Molly. “We won’t let it work. Nothing happens here that we do not allow.”

And then we all looked up, startled, as a new sound entered the higher dimension; a triumphant howl like a great steam whistle, Dopplering down from some unimaginable distance. The heavens split apart, and the Time Train came thundering across the brilliant sky, hammering over the very tops of the mountainous Hungry Gods. A big black beast of an old-fashioned steam train, its engine roaring, strange energies sparking and cascading all around it, marking its trail across the sky with a rainbow of discarded tachyons.

Jay and Jacob Drood, the living and dead man, had made it through after all.

The Hungry Gods cried out, a terrible, unbearable sound, full of rage and malice and spite, outraged that something from a lower world should dare force its way into their hidden home. Ivor blew his steam whistle defiantly, a sharp, clear sound. The Time Train was falling now, descending at a controlled speed . . . and then it just stopped, hanging there, as time itself slammed to a halt. Nothing moved anywhere, everything was quiet, and suddenly the ghost of Jacob Drood was standing right in front of me, smiling his old crafty smile.

He reached out sharply and prodded Molly on the forehead with his forefinger. She swayed suddenly and shook her head.

“What?” she said. “What just happened? Eddie, why are you looking at me like that? And Jacob, what are you doing here?”

“Saving the day!” Jacob said grandly. “I just hit your reset button. Don’t know how long it’ll last, so pay attention. I have things to tell you.”

“What are you doing here?” I said. “I mean, why aren’t you up in the Time Train?”