Grace Monroe/Synopsis

Overview
**Synopsis**
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## *Book One - The Perennial Child*

### "The Engine"

Grace makes a cameo appearance along with Simon when Amelia is combing through a record of all current passengers on a device.

## *Book Two - Cracked Reflection*

### "The Lucky Cat Car"

In this episode, Grace uses her disguise and mask to hide her true identity from the Denizens in the Lucky Cat Car. At the end of the episode she reveals her true identity to everyone, including The Cat, and lets a bunch of Apex kids in the car. She also takes Jesse and Lake to the Mall Car.

### "The Mall Car"

In this episode, Grace introduces Jesse and Lake to The Apex, and also Simon Laurent, her second-in-command. Grace takes Jesse to the Cube Car where Jesse is forced to kick a cube, making his number go up. Shortly after, the two return to the Mall Car, where Jesse witnesses the Apex restraining Lake and Alan Dracula on Simon's orders. Jesse demands to know what they are doing, with Grace telling him that they intend to kill Lake by throwing her into the train's wheels, angering Jesse and causing him to cut ties with the Apex. Jesse saves Lake and Alan Dracula, apologizing for leaving them. Irritated at Jesse's interference, Grace summons the Flecs, allowing them to chase the trio through the Mall Car. Jesse's number hits 0 and he attempts to exit the train with Lake, only for her to be left behind with the Flecs due to being unable to pass through the exit.

### "The Wasteland"

After Jesse unwillingly leaves the train, leaving Lake behind, Grace expresses disappointment at Jesse's choice. Simon calls Jesse weak, but Grace corrects Simon, stating that Jesse was only misled. The Apex then leave Lake to her fate.

## *Book Three - Cult of the Conductor*

### "The Musical Car"

Some time after their encounter with Jesse and Lake, Grace continues leading the Apex alongside Simon as they continue to raid different cars, one of which was the Musical Car which was destroyed as its denizens were in the middle of a performance. Following the successful raid of the Musical Car, an eager Grace immediately suggests raiding another car, to which Simon and the rest of the Apex agree. Simon picks out a target nearby with no passengers on his scanner, the Unfinished Car. The Apex attacks the unfinished car and its turtle and corgi denizens, but before the raid could be completed, the entire car begins to shift with the Apex still inside. The rest of the group manage to escape before the car ejects itself towards the rear of the train, but Simon gets trapped. Grace stays behind to rescue him and the two manage to escape while the car is still shifting. After escaping, Simon's scanner reveals that they are several dozen cars away from the nearest cluster of passengers, rest of the Apex. With their equipment now damaged, Grace and Simon set off on foot through the cars to reunite with the Apex.

### "The Jungle Car"

Grace and Simon trek through the Jungle Car, with Grace encouraging Simon to loosen up from the Apex rules and procedures and have a little fun for a change. Their fun gets interrupted by a mysterious creature that nearly causes Grace to fall over a waterfall, and almost crushes Simon with a falling tree. The two decide to capture and incapacitate what they believe is a dangerous null. They try to set up a trap, but they both end up being captured by the creature and placed in a circle of leaves. As the creature approaches them, a young voice announces that they will be offered to the mighty Tuba. Grace's horrified screams turn into laughter as Tuba engages a tickle attack the two Apex leaders. The voice belongs to a young girl who introduces herself as Hazel. Grace introduces herself to Hazel and asks if she has a number, to which Hazel shows off a number that doesn't glow. Thinking that One-One might have deactivated Hazel's number, Grace and Simon decides to induct her into the Apex. Hazel happily agrees but wants to take Tuba with her. Not wanting to irritate the large gorilla denizen, they decide to let Tuba accompany them back to the Apex, but plan to wean Hazel away and abandon Tuba before they return to the Apex hideout.

### "The Debutante Ball Car"

On their way back to the Apex, Grace and Simon begin plotting ways to get rid of Tuba. They introduce Hazel to some of the ideals of the Apex, and succeed in getting Hazel to distrust One-One. They also learn that Tuba is on her own after the deaths of her children and the bond between her and Hazel is extremely close. Upon reaching the Debutante Ball Car, the gang is immediately rushed to a room where they have to learn a ballroom dance in order to exit. Grace and Simon reluctantly play along at first, but begin to find a way to force an escape once trapped. Hazel eagerly suggests they follow the car's rules and learn the dance, which infuriates Grace at first, but she relents when she sees how desperate Hazel is to live up to the Apex ideals. While Simon looks for a means of escape, Grace learns more about Hazel, most worryingly that she has no memories of her mother or father. Grace calms Hazel down by sharing how she used to have private dancing lessons as a child and revealing an instance where she wasn't invited for ice cream after a recital since the other girls didn't know her. When Simon returns, Grace convinces him to learn the dance to exit, as Hazel suggested. The gang all learn the dance, and make their ballroom debut in front of the denizens of the car, which makes them able to exit. Grace compliments Hazel for her bravery and gives her the Apex mark on her face, but refuses to give the mark to Tuba since the mark is for children only. On their way to the next car, Grace notices Tuba's pained reaction for being left out, which troubles her. She doesn't notice that her number has started to go down.

### "Le Chat Chalet Car"

The gang's trek back continues through a snow filled car where Simon decides to initiate a playful snowball fight. During the fun, Grace notices her number going down as she continues to interact with Hazel. Unnerved, she seeks shelter in a nearby cabin as a blizzard starts to get worse. To Simon's horror, the cabin also contains the Cat and her current companion, Frank. Simon tries to get everyone to leave, but the snow storm traps everyone inside the cabin. Simon is still adamant on leaving despite the storm, but Grace frustratingly tells him they have to hunker down and wait the storm out. His frustrations boiling over, Simon reveals to Hazel and Tuba that the Cat used to be his denizen partner years ago, but abandoned him in the middle of a Gohm attack. Simon also accuses Grace of not caring about his feelings of being trapped with the source of his childhood trauma. Grace apologizes to Simon and reveals to him that her number is beginning to decrease. Simon insists that he is there for her and that they are still a team. After discovering the blizzard is just Randall engaging in a giant snow fight, Grace and Simon convince him to stop, allowing everyone to leave the Cat's cabin.

### "The Color Clock Car"

Before entering the car, Grace breaks up a dispute between Tuba and Simon and sets up a compromise: Tuba can carry Hazel while she naps, but they need to keep moving to reach the Apex. When they're out of earshot, Simon suggests they get rid of her now, but Grace rejects, claiming she's too strong for them and that they'll have the rest of the Apex to help them take care of her. When Simon bets he can take her on solo, Grace simply tells him no. When he asks if that was a dare, Grace repeats herself more sternly this time. Once they enter the door, they meet Roy, who happily welcomes them into his car. Grace asks him how to exit and Roy explains that they need to find the key to the lock in order to unlock the exit. Grace decides they need to split up, originally teaming up with Simon. Hazel tells her shortly after that she wants to be with Grace so Tuba and Simon can be friends, which Grace agrees to.

After splitting up, Hazel and Grace climbs a large yellow pyramid and Grace finally explains to Hazel what a null is after being asked why she doesn't like Roy. When Hazel questions her, she brings up Tuba and how she's good. Grace tells Hazel that Tuba's one of the 'good ones' before sliding down a slide with her. Once it's red'o clock, Grace and Hazel races back to the door, questioning Simon and Tuba if they had any luck finding the key. Simon explains that they need the clock to be green in order to get the key and they all realize that Tuba's colorblind, which could allow her to grab the key while the clock was still at red. Grace and Hazel watches at Simon and Tuba works together to unlock the door, resulting in all the colors appearing at once and Roy, with a deeper voice, congratulating them and reintroducing himself.

Suddenly, the car starts moving, and Grace assumes that One-One found them, so they all evacuate the car. While Grace and Simon made it across, the car detaches itself from the next car before Tuba and Hazel can cross over. Grace and Simon calls for Tuba to throw Hazel across, which Tuba does after handing her bag to Hazel and singing a line from her lullaby, Hazel finishing for her. Once Grace catches Hazel, they spot Tuba hanging from the car. They both retreat into the next car while Simon claims he'll save Tuba. Several moments after comforting Hazel and assuring her Simon and Tuba will be back, Simon enters the car. When asked about Tuba, he happily admits to killing her, which causes Hazel to sob and run out of the car. Before Grace can chase after her, Simon stands right in front of her, bragging how he knew he could take Tuba solo and watches his number grow. Grace groans at him angrily and storms out of the car. She calls Hazel's name and finds her at the edge of the car, sniffling. Before she can say anything, Hazel begins sobbing again, now transforming into a turtle, which shocks Grace.

### "The Campfire Car"

In order for Hazel to transform back into her human form, Grace calms her down and assures her that Tuba's death wasn't her fault. When asked if she's a train denizen, Grace says she doesn't know while inspecting Hazel's number. Hazel asks if Grace hates her, to which Grace says she doesn't, shocked that Hazel would ask a question like that. When she's accused of hating Tuba, Grace denies it. Hazel tells her that Simon did before realizing that he was going to kill her too, transforming back into her turtle form as she's panicking. Grace assures her that he won't, as long as he doesn't find out about Hazel being a train denizen. She instructs Hazel to take deep breaths, which Hazel follows and transforms back into her human form. Once they re-enter the car, Grace scolds Simon for taking actions like that without her say so. She then calls for Hazel to move through the car with them.

After a short while, Hazel finally decides that she wants to hold a funeral for Tuba. While Grace tries to tell her lightly that it might not be possible without Tuba's body, Simon is straightforward and harsh. After claiming that the car belongs to them and not the train denizens, they both watch Hazel having a panic attack, telling herself that she's being good and calm. She then reasons that it would be good for her and that it helps to say goodbye. After Simon points out that the Apex were a car away, Grace finally decides to agree with Hazel, reasoning that she didn't want to throw Hazel in with the Apex while she's still crying over Tuba. They walk through the car, looking for a spot to hold the funeral, but Hazel can't seem to find one, wanting it to be a perfect spot for Tuba. Simon begins yelling at her to choose a spot already, to which Hazel shoots back that he was the one who caused this and that it was forever before running off, crying. Grace scolds him for his lack of empathy for Hazel and pleads for him to remember how he felt when The Cat left him. Simon tells Grace to hold the "pretend" funeral for Tuba, but that he'll be waiting for them at the exit. Grace then looks for Hazel, calling her name, before Hazel calls back from up a tree. She climbs up to join Hazel before Hazel has her speech about how much Tuba meant to her. Grace reluctantly speaks as well, calling Tuba nice, quiet (but in a good way), and brave before choking up. Hazel then sings Tuba's lullaby, and once she's finished, Grace begins crying softly. After Hazel sets the rock in a hole in the tree, she tells Grace she needs to use the bathroom, which Grace chuckles in response.

Once they join Simon at the exit, he explains in relief that everything was finally going to go back to normal and that he'll name a brave character after Hazel. Grace asks Hazel if that was really cool of Simon, which Hazel reluctantly agrees. After exiting the car, they pass by Amelia and enters the next car, finding themselves in a desert with none of the Apex in sight. As Simon tries to excuse their absence, Grace stares at his number tracker. After he realizes that the cluster was now behind them and questioning how that can be, Amelia pokes her head through the door and questions the kids about what they have been doing to the train cars.

### "The Canyon of the Golden Winged Snakes Car"

Grace, Simon, and Hazel quickly realize that their number tracker hadn't been tracking the Apex, but rather it had been tracking Amelia's single high number. They inform her that the train cars they had been visiting were ejecting themselves which worries Amelia, who informs them that she is working with One-One, whom Grace and Simon still believe is the false conductor. Upon hearing that the group were involved in ejecting train cars, she demands more information from them. She asks if they had seen anything peculiar recently and mentions "too many turtles" in her list. Concerned about Hazel, Grace convinces Simon to run away from Amelia. The trio manage to elude Amelia in the car's canyons and take refuge inside a shallow cave. Once safe, Simon forcibly insists on checking everyone's number, which Grace refuses to do. She angrily snaps back at Simon, telling him that she needs some space. Simon reluctantly agrees to and informs her and Hazel that he will keep watch outside the car. Once Simon leaves, Hazel's anger towards him boils over. She begins to transform back into a turtle while she tells Grace that she will fight him. Grace comforts Hazel as the young girl tells her that she will protect them both. Unbeknownst to them, Simon sneaks away that night back to the Cat in a desperate attempt to get Grace to start "acting the way she should".

### "The Hey Ho Whoa Car"

The next morning, Grace and Hazel wake up still in the canyon cave. While Hazel is beginning to learn how to control her transformation, the two suddenly get attacked by a golden winged snake. Luckily, Amelia comes to their rescue and incapacitates the creature. She awkwardly reintroduces herself and invites them to join her for breakfast, which Hazel happily agrees to. While at breakfast, Grace notices Amelia's number decreasing while she and Hazel talk. Amelia admits that its hard to keep track of a few stray numbers with a number as high as hers. They learn of Alrick and how Amelia lost him long ago, making Grace doubt any antagonistic intentions from Amelia. On their way into the next car, they are confronted by Simon who tells Grace that Amelia shouldn't be trusted. He also accuses Amelia's sound wave on her belt as stealing the Apex mark, confusing Amelia. Grace informs her that their Apex mark represents the "true conductor", who they still think of a man with the highest ever number currently imprisoned by One-One. Amelia laughs at the confusion and introduces herself as their true conductor by using her voice modulator she used to use, which Grace immediately recognizes. She asks Amelia if she remembers saving her life in the Pumpkin Car seven years ago, which Amelia doesn't. In a hurry before her next pulse scan hits, she pushes everyone forward into the next car, only to see that the Hey Ho Whoa Car had reset and will take several hours before they are able to exit.

While they wait, Amelia reveals her story to the group, which Simon dismisses wholesale as lies and train propaganda. Simon becomes further enraged when Amelia suggests the idea of leaving the train. Amelia tells Grace, Simon, and Hazel of the train's true purpose, to help people work through their problems and to escape by getting your number to 0. Having enough of Amelia's revelations, he accuses her of brainwashing Grace and that, even if she was the figure the Apex worshiped, she had lost her way. Amelia laughs off Simon's idea and accusing him of being a child. Simon attacks Amelia, but is pushed back by her sound wave shield barrier, and she threatens to put down Simon if he doesn't yield. Upset at the exchange, Hazel suddenly transforms into her turtle form in front of everyone. While Amelia and Simon are shocked, Grace feigns ignorance and pretends that she is shocked. Amelia reveals that Hazel is one of her failed experiments at recreating Alrick, and Hazel was the anomaly she was searching for. Amelia offers to take Hazel with her to study. Simon pulls Grace aside with the idea to leave Hazel with Amelia and return to the Apex that very moment. A teary-eyed Hazel asks Grace if she is really leaving. In a sudden move to save face in front of Simon, she tells Hazel that she can do whatever she wants, calling her a "null" in the process. The act destroys Hazel's feelings and Grace immediately regrets her sudden decision. Simon insists on leaving right then, but Grace decides to stay in the car for the night, giving her a chance to process her next move. While everyone sleeps, Simon uses the mini-robots he obtained from the Cat to tape and view Grace's memories. He views the raw tape and tears flow from his eyes, his heart breaking when he sees how Grace knew Hazel's secret the whole time and decided not to tell him.

### "The Origami Car"

During a tense breakfast the next morning, Grace announces her intention to continue protecting Hazel despite being a denizen, and reassures her that she is still a member of the Apex. Completely furious, Hazel refuses to go with Grace and asks Amelia if she could travel with her instead. Amelia warns Hazel that she is not her caretaker, to which Hazel bluntly points out that Grace and Simon weren't either. Once outside the car, Grace tearfully begs Hazel to reconsider, but fails. Hazel wishes Grace good luck as the cars separate and Grace could only watch as Amelia and Hazel's car shifts to the far ends of the train. Heartbroken, Grace breaks down sobbing as Simon coldly watches on.

Grace continues to weep as she and Simon enter the Origami Car. Grace watches her step as she is careful not to crush the Origami Birds living in the car. Simon, on the other hand, crushes several birds and habitats as he expresses his relief that things are back to normal now with Hazel gone. Grace snaps at Simon, accusing him for treating their friend Hazel like she was nothing. Simon responds that he was her friend first and before Grace can reply, he activates his mini-projector on Grace, forcing her to relive her memories. Grace watches scenes of her childhood play out around her as she relives the circumstances that brought her to the train. Simon joins her and notes that the train came to her to give her a purpose. They continue to watch Grace's memories of her encounter with "The Conductor" in the Pumpkin Car. Her memory of the conductor was of a large, looming shadowy figure, with an arm completely covered in numbers, which Simon delights in seeing. Grace on the other hand, feels the memory is off and the image corrects itself to Amelia's real disguise at the time. Infuriated at the corrected memory, Simon accuses Grace of lying to her just like everyone else.

Grace then sees her first memory of Simon, saving him from a Ghom after Samantha left him behind. Once safe, the young Simon cried at how he was left behind while the young Grace calms him down. When he asks her how did she get her number so high, she tells him that she is "really good at the train." From there, Grace and Simon's friendship grew as they teamed up to take on the train, forming the foundations of the Apex. Simon scoffs at the memories, again accusing Grace of lying. Grace denies she lied, but is then forced to see the moment she told Hazel that they won't tell Simon about being a denizen. Grace attempts to explain herself, but admits that she didn't tell him because he would have killed Hazel. Grace tries to apologize but Simon, whose number has now reached his neck, refuses to hear from her anymore. Accusing Grace of betraying the Apex and him, Simon leaves her trapped in her memories and walks away with no means for Grace to escape, the tape looping the moment Grace told Hazel that they won't tell Simon about Hazel's denizen status.

### "The New Apex"

Completely trapped in her memories, Grace is tortured by the image of Hazel accusing her of controlling everyone around her, of being responsible for killing Tuba, and ultimately being a coward. Grace's protests fails as more and more evidence is presented to her. Unable to take anymore, she breaks down and sobs, finally admitting to herself that she was wrong about everything and was afraid of being alone. She apologizes to her memory of Hazel and says she deserved better, and is suddenly able to escape her memories. She awakens in the Origami Car with the mini robots still producing more memory tape from her mind, which she forcibly removes. She then noticed the origami birds that Simon had crushed and comes to their rescue, refolding them back to life. Seeing her reflection again, she removes her mark from her face and begins to make her way back to the mall car and the Apex.

Some time later, she arrives at a seemingly deserted mall car. She runs into Lucy who confronts her, calling her a "void" to Grace's confusion. The rest of the Apex sound the alarm to Simon that "the void" had infiltrated their base and corner her. Simon reveals himself to Grace as the new leader of the Apex, his number now exceeding Amelia's current value, and once again accuses her of betraying them all. Grace attempts to reason with the Apex about everything she had learned, but Simon continues to call her a "void", or a leader unfit to lead, and he orders Grace to be wheeled. Even as some Apex members show hesitation, they take Grace outside to be wheeled. Before they throw her off the train, Grace reveals the whole truth about the "conductor" being Amelia to the Apex, which confuses them. Grace breaks away from the Apex members and confronts Simon on the bridge. She admits to Simon that she did what she had to do to keep Hazel safe and that they can still change, which lowers her number considerably. Simon refuses to acknowledge the possibility of change, which increases his number considerably. He engages Grace into a fight and the two battle, sending the rest of the Apex back inside the mall car in fear. Grace attempts to fight Simon off, but he manages to floor her. In the middle of the fight, Grace attempts to reason with Simon one last time, but finally acknowledges that she isn't responsible for his problems and that she doesn't owe him anything. As Simon retorts, claiming Grace owes him everything, a stray Ghom lands on the bridge taking a dangerous position in front of the two. Grace and Simon dodge the Ghom as it attacks, taking safety under the bridge. Grace hangs on to a fallen railing while Simon finds himself upside down with his now somewhat damaged anti-gravity boots. While Simon approaches the now vulnerable Grace, the Ghom tries to attack her by her exposed hands. With a sudden move, Grace manages to grab one of Simon's boots and throws it at the Ghom, knocking it off the bridge. While she pulls herself back up, Simon's remaining boot fails and he begins to fall. Grace catches him in time, saving his life to the sounds of the cheering Apex members. When Simon asks why she saved his life, she simply says she doesn't know. Without any warning, Simon kicks Grace off the train to its wheels, horrifying the Apex members as she had just saved his life. Simon laughs and cries in satisfaction, sadness, and mad resignation that he had just killed his best and only friend. To everyone's surprise, Grace is flown back to safety thanks to the origami cranes. The Apex members are overjoyed that Grace is ok while Simon looks on dumbfounded. Seconds later, the Ghom reemerges and attacks Simon. Grace tries to reach him, but she is too late. She can only watch as the Ghom horrifically kills Simon and subsequently explodes moments later. Grace collapses and cries at the ashes of her former best friend, comforted by Lucy and the Apex members.

Later, with the Apex still in shock over the loss of Simon, Grace announces that the truth can't be ignored anymore now that it's out in the open. She also tells the Apex that she can't tell anyone of them how to understand themselves, but they can work together to make changes, the first change being that the Apex can no longer continue. When Lucy asks her what are they going to be, Grace could only respond that they're gonna have to figure it out. With the former Apex members all wondering what that could entail, all their numbers begin to change as they start being enthusiastic about what is next for all of them. With her own number lowering by 3 more digits, Grace watches the kids with a melancholic smile as an origami bird perches on her shoulder.