The Nightland Express
(Book)

An orphan caring for her heavily pregnant sibling disguises herself as a boy to take a job on the Pony Express, where she partners with a young man hiding his own secrets and a mixed-race youth trying to defend his freedom.

When Jessamine Murphy finds a recruitment poster for the Pony Express, she's looking for adventure-- and a chance to track down her wayward father in California. Eager to reunite her fractured family, Jessamine cuts her hair, dons a pair of trousers, steps into the world as Jesse, and wins a special assignment. Ben Foley guards his secrets as closely as Jesse does. The two are to transport unusual cargo along an unusual route: the Nightland Express. They ride west together, one navigating the world as a boy, the other passing as white. They soon notice that their tireless horses cover ground faster than should be possible, and inhuman creatures watch their journey from the darkness. The Nightland Express traces the border between the mortal world and a vibrant, magical land-- and both realms hover on the precipice of disaster. -- adapted from jacket