strange women?â
Ruby rolled her eyes. âGod, you really donât listen, do you? I literally just said , Cora was convinced there was some random lady hanging out in the nature strip behind the chem labs all afternoon, and I just⦠Hey! Where are you going?â
âForgot something!â Saffron said, already moving off. Remembering that sheâd left her phone charging in her bedroom, she turned and added, âTell mum and dad Iâll be home later, OK?â
âTell them yourself!â Ruby called, but Saffron didnât answer.
Heart pounding, she made her way across campus, trying and failing to explain to herself why on Earth this felt so important â or why, more to the point, she felt so damn certain that the woman Cora claimed to have seen was her mystery teacher. What the hell are you hoping to accomplish here? she asked herself. Schoolâs over, dumbass â even if she was there earlier, sheâll be long gone by now. And yet she kept walking, ignoring the awkward tug in her chest that said she should just go back to the bus lines. She passed the science block, turned the corner, and stopped.
There, standing in the middle of the nature strip, was the mystery teacher. She was side-on to Saffron, but unaware of her presence, head cocked as though listening for something. Saffron licked her lips and stepped closer, too concerned with trying to think of what to say to question why the woman was there at all.
And then it happened.
Scarcely three metres from where the teacher stood, a crack appeared in the world: a gaping, pink-tinged tear in realityâs flank, scything through the naked air like some sort of impossible portal . It almost hurt to look at, and as Saffron gulped and thought itâs real, Iâm seeing this and itâs really real , her whole body went weak with shock, the way it had done last year when a clumsy driver had knocked her off her bike. Her blood was alive with panic, fear, excitement â what should she do? What should they do? And only then did she see that the teacher was smiling, striding towards the gap as though its presence was the most natural thing on Earth. In the split second before the teacher crossed the portalâs threshold, Saffron made a decision. All she could think of was that sheâd wanted to talk to her, and now she was escaping, moving through a hole in the world that had no business existing anywhere , let alone in a nature strip behind the chem labs. And so, in her shock, she did the only thing she could think of. Saffron ran forwards and followed her through the gap.
Two
Down, Through, Over
B lack light blinded her . A frightened cry died in Saffronâs throat, and then she was stumbling, falling into a small, square room. The walls were made of pale stone, the only light coming from cracks in a wooden door. The transition was so sudden as to be unreal, but when she turned, the rip â the portal, whatever it was â had vanished. All she saw was another stone wall and the mystery teacher, staring at her in shock.
âOh, no. No, no, no ââ
âI followed you,â said Saffron, stunned. âI wanted to talk, and then I justââ
âYou just ? You senseless, impulsiveâ¦â She broke off, visibly willing herself to calm, and into the silence, Saffron asked, âWhere are we?â
âSomewhere you shouldnât be,â came the snapped response. âDown the rabbit hole. Through the wardrobe. Over the bloody rainbow.â
âYouâre not a teacher,â Saffron said. The realisation left her fighting inappropriate laughter. âWho the hell are you, anyway?â
The woman sighed. âMy nameâs Gwen Vere.â
âGuinevere? Like the queen?â
âLike my father fancied himself a comedian. Gwen-space-Vere. First name and last.â She said it with the tired cadence of someone used to explaining their name to strangers.