“—a map legend.” Q’s eyes flashed. “Raya, look at this.” He pointed to two leaf designs etched over the spiral. One was locatedon the outer edge of the spiral above a tree, the second at its center. “It’s the same shape as the tree house’s door. If the tree on the map refers to this banyan tree and the leaf is its door, then the second leaf in the center of the spiral could be a door too.”
Raya pushed the window open and surveyed all that the night hid. “If our exit’s out there”—she glanced over her shoulder at the jar of fading light—“there’s no way I’m waiting until morning to find it.”
Q
The single flare they had found in the jar flew in an arc toward the valley, taking all of time with it. Q held Raya’s hand, certain that the seconds had stopped. He kept his eyes on the tiny light, willing it to burn bright.
The flare flickered and died.
Two hearts sank behind Q’s ribs. “It’s okay.” He squeezed Raya’s hand. “We’ll find the door when the sun’s up.”
Raya squeezed his fingers back. “We will.”
A small spark flashed and glowed as bright as the sun. It set just as quickly, but not before Q had caught a glimpse of the valley. The tether tugged his heart. Raya had seen the valley too. The mounds of lost objects were arranged in a giant spiral as they had suspected, but what lay at the center of the spiral made their hearts stop. Then race.
“You saw that, right?” Raya’s breath quickened. “I didn’t just imagine it?”
Q stared out the window. “I saw the whirlpool too.”
“Why aren’t passengers allowed to go outside?”
Frequently Asked Questions
The Elsewhere Express
Passenger Handbook
Lily
Lily balanced on the gallery car’s rooftop, reliving a night that, thanks to Mr. Goh’s serum, felt as if it had happened moments ago. Like the retrieved memory, she and Rasmus were, once again, too late. The stowaway was gone by the time they searched the gallery and the most they could do was stop the spread of decay.
Rasmus ran down the train car’s roof, luring the Echoes away from the coupling. Lily lay on her stomach and held a torch over the metal lovers, shining its blue flames over their slumbering faces. She remembered how she had felt about tearing that first pair apart, but tonight, her eyes were dry and her hands were steady. She hurled the torch at the lover attached to the gallery car.
Rasmus screamed.
Lily’s heart jumped to her throat. She twisted around. “Rasmus?”
The Echoes wailed, swarming over him.
“Why are certain doors on the train locked?”
Frequently Asked Questions
The Elsewhere Express
Passenger Handbook
Q
They climbed down from the tree house amid a drizzle of wedding rings. The tree house clinked and clanked, refolding itself into its original form. Q handed a flashlight he had taken from one of the atrium’s makeshift lamps to Raya.
“I hope we’re right about the whirlpool being an exit.” Raya directed the flashlight’s beam ahead of them.
Q switched a second flashlight on. “We’ve seen doors that look like everything from rice wine kettles to clay pots. A doorway that looks like a whirlpool isn’t that much of a stretch.”
“True, but I can’t help but wonder why Olly took so long to find it,” Raya said, making her way out from under the banyan’s canopy. “A whirlpool in the middle of a valley is pretty hard to miss.”
“I don’t think Olly missed it.”
