Page 13 of Mislaid in Parts Half-Known

“I told you, I can only find a Door while it exists, and this was the closest one that would get us out of there,” said Antsy frantically. “I wasn’t looking for Kade’s Door, or anyone’s, specifically. I was looking for a way out. Is this a Fairyland? It feels like a Fairyland.”

“It is,” said Kade, voice gone dull. “And like all Fairylands, it has rules, and it doesn’t like when people break them, even accidentally. I can’t be here. They didn’t throw me out because I wasn’t sure. They threw me out because Iwassure, and Iamsure. This is a paradise if you’re exactly what it wants you to be, and the first person who ever saw me clearly was from here, and he’s dead because I helped the people who hate me kill him.”

“Do you knowroughlywhat it costs to open a door?” Emily asked, anxiously.

“Three days, I think,” said Antsy.

“Do you have to open it?” asked Sumi. “Or can you just find it, and leave it for someone else?”

“I… I just have to find it, but you may not be able to open it if it’s entirely inimical to you as a person,” said Antsy.

“Guess Jill should have waited awhile to start up with the snicker-snack,” said Sumi. “We found a skeleton key after all, and if she’d just been a little patient, she’d be an undead monstrosity by now, instead of a puzzlebox girl spread out across a thousand surgeries.” Then she laughed, magpie-bright, and moved closer to Kade. She set a hand on his arm.

“Hey,” she said, voice gentler than Antsy had realized Sumi’s voice could be. “The door wasn’t there because you have any obligations left to these people, or this world. It was there because sometimes people can’t let go of who they thought we were, and so they keep trying to tangle us in nets and drag us back. That doesn’t mean we have to go. Or if we do go, that doesn’t mean we have tostay.”

Kade looked at her, tears running down his cheeks. “I just… I loved it here so much, Sumi. So, so much. It was perfect. Everything here was perfect, except for me, and so they made me leave instead of changing enough to let me be perfect, too.”

“People who can’t change aren’t really perfect, and no matter how much we love it somewhere, that doesn’t mean it’s good for us,” said Sumi. “You have to listen to me. Idied,and that means I’m clever now.” She looked over her shoulder at Antsy. “Wecan’tstay here. Find another door. Doesn’t matter where it goes. But don’t you open it! I was dead forages,and came back same as I ever was. I can afford to spend a few of the days I didn’t get to use the regular way on getting us away from here before somebody notices we’ve arrived.”

“I’ll try,” said Antsy. She turned a slow circle, eyes half-closed, head cocked like she was listening for something. When she returned to the place where she started, she openedher eyes and shook her head. “I’m sorry. There isn’t one right now.”

“Not even back to the school?” asked Kade, a thin edge of panic in his voice.

“Not here,” said Antsy. She wrapped her arms around herself, visibly frustrated. “I don’t know how close something has to be before I can find it. I didn’t find the school, even though I needed to be there, until after I found my mom and also Angela’s kitten.”

“So maybe we just need to move,” said Emily, trying to sound encouraging. “That’s all. Come on, let’s go. Kade, is it safer to head for the trees or down toward the base of the hill?”

“Trees are goblin territory,” said Kade distantly. “Dangerous for the Courts. Open ground is best for them. Branches catch and tear fairy wings.”

“So we’re heading for the trees,” said Sumi. “Come along, Kade, you can tell me what mushrooms not to eat.”

Kade stirred himself, focusing on Sumi for the first time. “All of them,” he said. “Allof the mushrooms are not for eating. Sumi—”

She was already laughing and skipping away, and Kade had to hurry to catch up with her, leaving the rest of them to walk more slowly behind. Christopher fingered his flute as he walked, but was the first of them to put into words why they weren’t rushing, as long as Kade and Sumi were in sight.

“Kade would tell us if we were in danger while the fairies aren’t around. He’s never said anything about Prism being one of those worlds where the grass tries to eat you or anything.”

The others glanced nervously at their feet, which continued to move normally, no roots or vines catching hold of them.

“Not that he talks about Prism much,” said Cora.

“Am I allowed to ask what happened?” asked Emily.

Christopher glanced ahead, checking Kade and Sumi’s location, then said, in a low voice, “Prism’s a Fairyland, and like Kade said, Fairylands get real hung up on rules. One of the rules of Prism is that they only take girls from our world. I know all the doors mostly catch girls, but Prism does it on purpose.”

“Auxesia is the same way,” said Antsy.

“So when they grabbed Kade, they thought they were getting a girl to fight their battles, and when they discovered their mistake, they kicked him to the curb. He’s been at the school ever since.” Christopher shrugged. “Most of us want to go back. Want to gohome. Kade never has. That’s why this feels sort of like a mean trick.”

“It wasn’t,” said Antsy. “I wouldn’t. It’s not.”

“I know. But you can see why he might be a little upset, right? Being forced to go back to the one place in all the worlds that he never wanted to be again?”

Antsy nodded, expression miserable, and kept walking. Emily slowed to stay even with her.

“Hey,” she said. “You didn’t do anything wrong, okay? We needed a door to get us out of there, and you found the only one available. We’d be doing whatever Seraphina wanted right now if it weren’t for you. Like finishing her math homework, or filing her nasty toenails.” Emily wrinkled her nose in an expression of exaggerated disgust.

Antsy giggled.

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