Page 9 of Mislaid in Parts Half-Known

“I’ll explain later,” said Cora, putting a hand on her shoulder and guiding her toward a seat. “It’s a long story.”

“So you helped and helped and you stayed and stayed, and you were steady and sturdy and not hollowed out by hope like the rest of us, and eventually that meant we all started to depend on you to be here when we needed you.” Sumi rolled her shoulders in a gesture that would have been a shrug if she hadn’t been vertical and contorted. “You’re like caramel that way.”

“No one, and I do meanno one,ask her what she means, or we’ll be here all night,” said Kade. “Where the hell’s Christopher?”

“He was in the library with me, but he didn’t come out,” said Antsy. “He’s supposed to catch up.”

“Meaning he’s trying to head off Angela and Seraphina, so they don’t either come crash this partyorgo wake my aunt,” said Kade.

Antsy straightened, suddenly alarmed. “Is Seraphina going to make him bring her here?”

“She can’t,” said Sumi airily. “He’s immune.”

“What?”

“Christopher traveled to a world of dancing skeletons, and fell in love with their princess,” said Kade. “He calls her the Skeleton Girl, and swears one day he’s going to go back to marry her. Which doesn’t sound like fun to me, since marriagein her world involves flensing the non-skeletal spouse, but what do I know?”

“Since you’re still carrying a torch for a ghostie-girl who’s never coming back and doesn’t believe in the pleasures of the flesh, I’d say not too much,” said Sumi.

Kade blushed. Antsy shook her head, looking at Cora.

“Have you considered handing out orientation sheets before you drag people into whatever sort of club this is?” she asked. “Nothing too involved. Just a little list of all the weird in-jokes and inexplicable references.”

Cora laughed. “No, but maybe we should look into writing one.”

The door at the base of the stairs slammed. A moment later, Christopher called, “It’s just me!”

“What took you so long?” Kade called back.

“Seraphina was real determined to get her hands on Antsy, and you know how much she hates that I don’t do whatever she tells me to,” said Christopher, as he climbed the stairs to join the rest of them. “She told Angela to go and wake Eleanor, and I had to convince the pair that Cora’d taken Antsy outside. They probablywillwake Eleanor as soon as they crawl out of the turtle pond—”

“Youdidn’t,” said Cora, with delighted horror.

“—and even if they decide not to, they’re almost certainly going to tell the rest of the school. How do you think the student body reacts to the news that they could go home right now, if Antsy were just willing to find their doors?” He had his flute in one hand, as he almost always did. He looked down at it as he spoke, letting his fingers play gently across the surface. In a softer voice, he asked, “How are wesupposedto react?”

“The same way we have been, we’re just going to have to doit faster,” said Kade firmly. He turned to Antsy. “Please don’t think we’ve only been friendly because we wanted something. You seem genuinely nice, if a little spacy, and we’re all spacy while we’re readjusting to this world’s rules. We figured you’d need friends. But Sumi and I sat down with all the records we’ve been able to scrounge together so far, and we figured out that your ‘I can find anything’ was probably literal. Meaning you could find people’s doors.”

“I can only find a Door while it exists, though, and not every Door exists all the time,” said Antsy. “If a Door doesn’t exist right now, I won’t be able to find it for anybody, not even for myself.”

“That’s still a lot of doors,” said Kade. “You could find them. You could open them.”

“I could, but I won’t, and you’re saying it wrong,” said Antsy, frowning deeply. “Everyone here says it wrong, all the time.”

“How should we say it, then?” asked Emily.

“Like it matters. Like it means something. Like it’s so important that it’s worth what it costs.” Antsy shook her head. “I can’t explain. You either hear it or you can’t. But the Doors deserve respect, and caution, and I don’t care how many people ask me, I’m not finding Doors for everyone at this school. It wouldn’t be right. The Doors don’t throw people out willy-nilly. They want to make sure no one gets trapped in something they want rightnowbut that’s going to eat them alive if they stay there too long. If you’re meant to find your Door, you’ll find it. I’m not a magic shortcut.”

“Even if Seraphina asks you to?” asked Sumi. She rolled onto her stomach, nearly falling off her tower of books, and looked at Antsy with sharp interest. “Even if they come weeping and begging at your feet, please, please, just let me gohome? They won’t care about shortcuts or whether it’s ‘meant to be.’ People never do. They’ll only and ever care that youcouldhelp them, youcouldrelease them, but you don’t.”

“Don’t you want the same thing?”

“Me? Nah.” Sumi shrugged. “I know I go back. When the time’s right. I’m not in any hurry to push the issue. I want to give Confection as much time as it needs to make sure the present and the future are happening in the right order, and not wind up when I’m not supposed to be. Ponder doesn’t need to bethatmuch older than I am, and I don’t need a kid who’s already had more birthdays than me running around.”

“Right, Confection,” said Antsy. “Time happens there in whatever order the world needs it to, except when something really important happens.”

“I have to save the world,” said Sumi. “Defeat the Queen of Cakes once and for all, and usher in a boring ol’ age of heroes.” She whipped the ribbon off her fingers, untangling it instantly, and waved it above her head like a banner. “Whee.”

“You know about Confection?” asked Kade, ignoring Sumi as he focused on Antsy.

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