Rasmus cracked the book open over his desk and flipped through it. “Here it is.” He tapped the bottom of a yellowed page. “It says that the doorway to the engine is—” He reread the line and frowned. “That can’t be right. This must be a misprint.”
“What does it say?” Raya said.
“According to the manual, the doorway to the engine is in the Dragonfly’s ravine.” Rasmus rubbed his chin. “But that’s not possible.”
“Why not?” Q said.
“Because the only way you can get to the ravine is by jumping from the bridge two thousand feet above it.”
“What happens if you fall from the train’s bridges?”
Frequently Asked Questions
The Elsewhere Express
Passenger Handbook
Raya
The sea of clouds obscuring the dining car’s ravine did not make the idea of leaping from the cobweb bridge swaying above it any less terrifying. Climbing over the bridge’s railing was the quickest way for Raya to hurl herself from it, but there was only a small window when you could let go of things before they clung to you. Though jumping through the hole Rasmus’s metal ladybug was cutting into the bridge would take longer, this option kept Raya from getting stuck. All she had to do was close her eyes and let herself fall. “Thanks, Beatrice,” Raya said as the ladybug crawled away from the newly cut hole.
“I can go first, if you want.” Q peered down at the clouds rolling beneath them.
“I’ll lose my nerve if I have to watch you fall,” Raya said, her palms like ice.
“And I’ll lose mine if you jump ahead of me.” Q held out his hand. “Together then?” Raya gripped his fingers. “On the count of three.”
Jump.
“Thou shalt commit adultery” was an unfortunate misprint in the 1631 King James Bible just as the footnote about the doorway to the Elsewhere Express’s engine was. Like the Bible, the train’s operating manual had missed a rather important word. “Falling from” a bridge versus “falling up from” it involved two very different ways your insides were tossed about. The screams that accompanied them, however, were identical.
Raya hurtled back through the hole in the cobweb bridge as quickly as she had jumped through it. Her hand slipped from Q’s grasp. She tumbled toward the painted sky and crashed into a constellation, scattering stars. Her hip grazed the moon and knocked it an inch to the left. By the time she landed softly on her feet by a gurgling brook, she had run out of breath to scream. Broken stars splashed into the clear water and dissolved into twinkling swirls of paint. Raya clutched her bag to her chest. The limestone cliffs surrounding her gave no hint that they hid behind a painted sky.
“I’d like to have a word with whoever reviewed the operations manual.” Q walked up from behind her, raking his hair back from his face. “How do you feel about forgetting the stowaway and chasing down a copy editor instead?”
“Lead the way.”
Abbie poked her head out of Q’s pocket and narrowed her eight eyes at them.
“Relax, Abbie.” Raya smiled. “We’re kidding.”
The spider crawled back inside.
“That felt like a flashback from boarding school,” Q said. “Our librarian gave us the same look when we got too loud, but with fewer eyes.”
Music drifted past Raya’s ear. She turned her head in its direction. “This way.”
“You’re getting good at this,” Q said. “I’ll be out of a job as your map porter soon.”
“Don’t worry.” Raya followed the song’s trail. “I’ll give you a good reference.”
“Thanks. And don’t forget, the snitch will need one too.”
Raya tried to smile but the corners of her mouth were too heavy to hold up. To be tethered to Q was to live in a glass house next to a neighbor who lived in one too. She had gotten used to looking over and waving hello. “I won’t.”
“Make sure it’s a glowing one.” Q smiled. “I’m sure you’ll want the snitch to be on its way to its next employer as soon as possible.”
“Right…um…can’t wait.” Raya stopped in front of a tree that was bent so low, its leaves kissed the grass.
