“Where can I catch a tiny train?”
Frequently Asked Questions
The Elsewhere Express
Passenger Handbook
Raya
Rasmus tucked a small jar containing a swarm of swirling lights into his satchel and handed an identical one to Raya. “Use this to signal me in case you find the stowaway first.”
Raya examined the jar’s contents. “How do we signal each other with fireflies?”
“Not fireflies. Flares. The jars are filled with flashes of brilliance, the little lights that switch on in your head when a great idea pops inside it. Just give them a good shake to wake them up.”
“How will you see them if we’re in different train cars?” Raya squeezed the jar into her tote.
“Don’t worry. I’ll see them. What you need to focus on is mastering the map. It will allow you to get to the exhibit area in the gallery car in no time. The key is to keep your destination firmly in your mind. Think about the gallery and nothing else. It’s that simple.”
“Simple? Are we even talking about the same map?” Q frowned at the tangle of silver tracks that extended from one end of the Archive to the other. “I can’t even hear a single song.” He looked at Raya. “Can you?”
“Not anymore.” The faint melodies Raya had initially heard hadfallen silent, leaving her as empty as the day she had smashed her old guitar into pieces.
“Try listening with something other than your ears,” Rasmus suggested.
“Sorry?” Q said.
A memory stirred in Raya’s hands. She had lost track of the times that songs had raced through her guitar strings and found her when she wasn’t looking. She traced the gossamer tracks with her fingertips. A looping track grazed her knuckles. A melody shot up her arm and burrowed behind her ribs. Two tethered hearts jumped.
“The gallery’s song.” Q’s hand flew over his chest. “You found it.”
“I knew it.” Rasmus smirked. “I knew you had music inside you. You found that song faster than anyone I’ve taught to use the map. Well, except for Lily. That would have to be a tie.”
Raya stared at the map as though she were looking at it for the first time. Tracks untangled in her mind, freeing their songs. Each melody was distinct and waited patiently for their turn to be heard. Raya would have been happy to live in this moment she was standing in, relishing every note.
“Now that you can see and hear the tracks”—Rasmus interrupted a ballad about midnights and ghosts—“you’ll be able to travel across them.”
“How?” Q said.
“You’ll need to catch a much smaller train.”
To describe what it felt like to board a train the size of her thumb, Raya thought, was as difficult as getting someone to imagine a song they had never heard. There was one person, however, who would never require her to give such an explanation.
Q’s heart jumped as high as hers did and ran as fast as hers raced as they entered Rasmus’s crystal train. Their tether stripped their boundaries beyond their bones. Raya had never felt more naked while fully clothed.
Inside the crystal train was a playground with swings and a faded blue slide. Raya strode over to it, keenly aware that Q knew that her heart had stopped.
“Are you going to tell me what’s wrong?” He walked alongsideher.
“Do I even need to?”
Q took a seat on the double swing. “Knowing how you feel has little value when I don’t understand the reason behind it.”
Raya set her bag on the grass and sat next to him stiffly, gripping the swing’s chains.
“Not a fan of swings?” Q said.
“Let’s just say that my brother and I grew up being fully indoctrinated on the dangers of rusty swings and tetanus.”
