Welcome to another session of Turning Pages!
Synopsis: The story of children vanishing isn’t new; they slip between worlds even when they’re safely at home. Mostly girls, because they’re quieter, and not as quickly missed when they’re taken Underhill. At times, a changeling is left, made of mud and sticks… and, not much hue and cry is made. But when they’re sucked into Fairyland, or dropped down a rabbit hole into Nonsense, or emerge into the Moors, or end up via the wardrobe in some Virtuous world where all is sunshine and unicorn and rainbows, it’s not the disappearing that matters… The worst thing on earth is the bump when you land coming back.
And, what then?
Then you end up at Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children. On the surface of things, it’s a reform school where your parents send you when you need straightening up. Once the front door closes, and they’re safely back at home, there you find your tribe.
Nancy was the Princess-in-Waiting to the Lord of Death. Her black-and-white hair, habit of stillness, and grayscale color scheme bespeak her the world in which she once lived in a state of cool, bloodless peace with no haste. But, the world she’s landed back in is colorful, cacophonous, and her parents don’t know her anymore. Desperate, they steal her black clothes and send her away with a dreadful pink suitcase stuffed with rainbow-brights. Nancy’s desperate with longing to find her door, and go back to where she feels she belongs. But, there is no going back. That’s what the child-sized psychologist at her new school, Dr. Lundy, says. Restless, tree-climbing Sumi, Nancy’s new roommate, agrees, stating that hope is the worst of the four-letter-words no one should say. Eleanor, the sixty-ish woman who runs the home, says that’s not true – that some doors reappear for some kids. She knows exactly where her door is located, after all. She’s only waiting to go home when it’s the right time.
