“It proves nothing.” Raya folded her arms over her chest. “I’ve never seen that thing in my life. I don’t want it.”
“The ticket has been issued in your name.” Lily tucked the ticket into Raya’s bag. “It’s yours.”
“I don’t care.” Raya yanked the ticket out and crumpled it. Her hand tingled. She opened her fingers and caught the paper melting into her palm, leaving its gold knot and words imprinted on her skin. She gasped and frantically rubbed her hand.
“Convenient, isn’t it?” Lily peeled off her glove and turned her hand over. An identical knot shimmered and coiled on her palm like a living tattoo. “This way, no one needs to worry about losing their ticket. The previous conductor came up with it. He’s quite the tinkerer. Now, if you’ll follow me, we can head to—”
“I’m not going anywhere with you.” Raya lifted her chin. “None of this is real.”
“That depends on how you define ‘real,’ Ms. Sia.” Lily pulled her glove back on and strode over to the empty picture frames at the end of the carriage. She picked one up and held it at arm’s length in front of the paneled wall. “Is what’s real what you can see and touch?” She peered through the frame and moved it an inch to theleft. “Or does it include things that are invisible and intangible?” she said, alternately looking through the frame and adjusting its position over the wall. “Like thoughts?”
“I’m not listening. You’re not here. We’re not having this conversation.”
“As you wish.” Lily let go of the frame.
Raya flinched. There were few things that she hated more than hearing things shatter. She had not been with Jace when his car flipped over twice, but this did not stop the sound of crumpling metal from grating in her skull whenever it got too quiet. Real memories and made-up ones sounded the same in the dark.
“If you’re waiting for the frame to fall,” Lily said, “it won’t.”
Raya flung her gaze to the empty frame. It hung in the air as though held steady by an invisible hook. A moonlit meadow stretched inside it. A bird flew out of the frame, darting past Raya. She jumped back.
“I won’t say another word if you don’t want me to, Ms. Sia.” Lily looked through the frame. “But first, allow me to show you what ‘real’ means on the Elsewhere Express.”
“Where are the train’s doors located?”
Frequently Asked Questions
The Elsewhere Express
Passenger Handbook
Raya
A breeze blew through the frame’s gilded borders, perfuming the vintage train car with roses and mint. “That scent.” Raya inhaled deeply. “I’ve smelled it before.” A wispy, fragrant memory wafted across her mind. “On the subway.”
“Ah, yes. That can happen sometimes when Mr. Nakamura and his team set up the boarding car. Incoming passengers catch glimpses of it. Some can hear and smell it. I just love the scent of wildflowers.”
Raya surveyed the meadow through the frame, her heart racing faster than the train. A large oak tree stood to the left of the scene, its canopy of glowing numbers rustling in time with a chorus of unseen birds and a violin quartet. A golden retriever ran past the oak and chased a husky around a pond. Black-and-white kittens tumbled over one another a few feet from them. If the scene was an illusion, it was a convincing one.
And if it was the truth, then Raya was much farther from home than she had thought. “What is all this?”
“It’s the product of a lot of hard work. The boarding team outdid themselves tonight.” Lily puffed her chest out. “The passengers in your subway car deserve a lot of credit too, of course.”
“What do the passengers have to do with anything?” Raya said.
“The boarding team’s work is only as good as the daydreams that are available to use as décor. Last night’s setup was lovely, but not as charming as today’s. A woman on the Singapore MRT had been thinking about a Yayoi Kusama exhibit she had just visited. And so Mr. Nakamura and his team brought it to life. The giant polka-dot trail was gorgeous. Hopping from dot to dot, however, was a bit tricky.” Lily let out a small laugh. “But don’t worry, we shouldn’t have any problems walking over grass.”
Lily’s words scattered in Raya’s mind like ten different jigsaw puzzles tossed onto the floor.
“I know it’s a lot to process.” Lily selected a second empty frame from the collection leaning against the train car’s wall and handed it to Raya. “It will all make sense soon.”
Raya frowned at the frame. “What am I supposed to do with this?”
“Just hold on to it for now.” Lily set her hands on the bottom border of the floating frame and pushed down, expanding it until it was the shape and size of a door. She stepped through it and looked over her shoulder. “Coming, Ms. Sia? The boarding car’s exit is this way.”
Lily had been wrong about how easy it would be to walk over grass.
Though Raya was standing on solid ground, she was adrift. Each step led her deeper into a flood of questions steadily rising above her neck. The world inside the gilded frame refused to fit in any of her mind’s premade boxes, no matter how hard she tried to shove it in. Its grass was green, its air crisp, and the large chestnut-colored horse that had galloped over to say hello smelled like grain and warm hay. While her senses agreed that the meadow was real, a tingling deep in her bones challenged all she heard, saw, touched, and smelled. “What is this place?”
