Chapter 234
The Sleeping Room
The children were not ghosts.
They breathed. They shifted beneath gray blankets. A paper lantern glowed above each bed, and every lantern carried a name.
“How long have they been here?” Rowan whispered.
“Long enough to forget the question,” Claire said.
The first child opened her eyes. She looked at Claire with immediate suspicion.
“Are you from the people who count?”
“No.”
“Are you from the people who take?”
“No.”
“Then why are you here?”
Claire looked back at the others. The answer could not belong to her alone.
“Because we found a door,” she said. “And we want to know what you want.”
The child sat up. Around her, the other beds began to empty.
At the far end of the room, Nora Vale was standing beside the only unopened door.