“What time does the boarding team begin setting up the boarding car?”
Frequently Asked Questions
The Elsewhere Express
Passenger Handbook
Raya
Except for the storm pummeling it, the moonlit meadow was the same as Raya remembered. Mr. Nakamura and his team had not yet replaced the boarding car’s décor. A lifetime had seemed to pass since she floated away from the subway and found herself standing beneath an oak tree’s glowing canopy.
But now, she had no feet to stand on. Nor legs. Nor body. Since the stowaway had abducted her, she had unraveled into threads of disembodied thoughts as Olly had. She scattered through a swarm of moths and moved as they moved, a prisoner held in pieces in a thousand winged cells.
When the swarm took shelter from the downpour in the hollow of the oak’s trunk, Raya wondered if this was to be her prison or tomb. She peeked through a tiny hole in the bark.
Lily was walking up to the tree. She pulled an unlit torch from her satchel and a blue flame burst from it. Raya tried to call out but had neither a throat nor a mouth to make a sound.
Lily cast the torch’s light on the oak. “Mr. Philips, you can come out now, I know you’re there.”
“Are you allowed to toss things off the train?”
Frequently Asked Questions
The Elsewhere Express
Passenger Handbook
Q
Earlier
Even in a downpour, the meadow inside the boarding car did not disappoint. It was exactly as Raya had described it.
Q sheltered beneath an oak tree’s glowing branches. He knew that he had not endeared himself to Rasmus when he had forced him to reveal where the storm was brewing and the fastest way to get to it. He did not doubt that he made Rasmus wonder if Lily had been right about him. He asked himself the same question.
He took a pencil and a piece of paper from Rasmus’s satchel and made a quick sketch. He folded the paper and tucked it into his pocket.
The tether tugged hard at his chest. Raya had to be close. Footsteps trampled his thoughts. Q ducked behind the oak’s trunk and waited.
Now
“Mr. Philips, you can come out now,” Lily said. “I know you’re there.”
Q slipped his hand into his pocket, his fingertips grazing the edgeof his folded sketch. He stepped out from behind the oak’s trunk. “Hello, Lily.”
“I was wondering when you’d get here.” Lily lowered her torch. “I was beginning to worry that you might not have heard the announcement over the loudspeaker.”
“We heard it.” Q kept his distance from her. “But there were a few things Raya and I needed to take care of first.”
“Like discarding the Missed and Misplaced Department through a painted back door?” Lightning streaked over the meadow. “Sadly, your plan didn’t work. As you can see, the stowaway’s still on board.”
“It has Raya.”
“I see.” Lily’s face tensed. “Don’t worry. We’ll find her.”
The weight of Lily’s words was convincing. If she had a plan to get rid of him, Q thought, it was on pause. He pushed his sketch deeper into his pocket. They had a truce.
“But we need to act fast, Mr. Philips.” Black tendrils slithered from the oak tree like gnarled roots. “This train car is lost but there may still be a way to save Ms. Sia.”
