people. It must have changed Dorian into the type of man who carries a sharp blade, a man who stands in the backyard pretending to smother someone with a pillow. Maybe it turned him into something far worse.
This all led me to think about Chua Ling. Why Chua Ling? Did Fiona dig up some article about a girl who had disappeared all the way across the country just to make me believe she was having trouble at home? Not necessarily. She wanted me to see the story beneath the story. The Riverman was out there stealing children. He was someone she knew. In fact, she lived with him.
* * *
I really needed to talk to Fiona alone, so I avoided her until the end of the day. After the last bell, I waited at the bike rack. Wedged in the maroon teeth of it was a solitary bike—Fiona’s. Snow or no snow, she was the only kid who rode to school this late in the year. To some that made her seem tough. To others, a little crazy. Like so many things about her, it was open to interpretation.
She exited the school through the rarely used east doors and followed the brick path past the dumpsters to the bike rack. As I had hoped, she came alone. I didn’t bother saying hello. I jumped right into it.
“There are others like Chua?” I asked.
She pursed her lips and nodded. I hadn’t abandoned her yet, and this seemed to please her. “He’s gotten others I know of,” she said. “Werner, obviously. Then there’s Boaz and Rodrigo. Can’t find the articles in the library yet, but if you make some calls, it checks out. Missing. No evidence.”
“I see.” I turned my eyes to the base of the rack, where the paint was chipped and exposing the rust.
“Do you not believe me?” she asked. “I can give you full names, hometowns. I can give you phone numbers. Newspapers, police stations. Long distance, unfortunately, but—”
I looked back up at her. “No, I believe you,” I said, and I did. I had no doubt that if I called those numbers I would hear stories of other missing children. What I didn’t believe was that there was anything supernatural about their disappearances. That’s not to say the disappearances weren’t connected. I figured if I humored Fiona, maybe she’d let more truth slip out.
“I’m trying to understand how he does it,” I went on. “How does he sneak into other kids’ worlds, again?”
Fiona’s feet shuffled in the gravel. “When you’re at the folds, it’s not easy to cross over to someone else’s world the first time. You have to be invited. You have to have something they need. One of the things that Chua needed was a friend like me. And I was there. So that’s how I ended up in her world. It’s not always so simple.”
“So if I needed, say, hamburgers, and I called out that I needed hamburgers, then I’d be inviting the Hamburglar to my world?”
Fiona reached over and patted me gently on the stomach. “If you needed hamburgers, you could have hamburgers, Alistair. This is Aquavania. Not a drive-through.”
Her touch made my muscles clench. “I was just—”
“It’s not about objects,” she said, pulling her hand away. “It’s more emotional. Things you can’t wish up yourself. Things that only others can provide. Encouragement. Debate. Love. Hate even, I guess. Werner needed to know what his father really thought of him. And I guess the Riverman was able to give him that, or at least the Riverman was able to pretend he could give him that. In Aquavania, you can create anything your mind can think up. You’d be surprised what your mind can’t create. It’s often the things you really need.”
“So the Riverman knew what they needed. But how? You said that he might be here, in the … Solid World?” I still wasn’t comfortable with Fiona’s terminology, but I was trying.
“Everyone else who visits Aquavania also lives in the Solid World,” she said. “So why wouldn’t he?”
“Do you think he met Werner and Chua in the Solid World? Do you think
This all led me to think about Chua Ling. Why Chua Ling? Did Fiona dig up some article about a girl who had disappeared all the way across the country just to make me believe she was having trouble at home? Not necessarily. She wanted me to see the story beneath the story. The Riverman was out there stealing children. He was someone she knew. In fact, she lived with him.
* * *
I really needed to talk to Fiona alone, so I avoided her until the end of the day. After the last bell, I waited at the bike rack. Wedged in the maroon teeth of it was a solitary bike—Fiona’s. Snow or no snow, she was the only kid who rode to school this late in the year. To some that made her seem tough. To others, a little crazy. Like so many things about her, it was open to interpretation.
She exited the school through the rarely used east doors and followed the brick path past the dumpsters to the bike rack. As I had hoped, she came alone. I didn’t bother saying hello. I jumped right into it.
“There are others like Chua?” I asked.
She pursed her lips and nodded. I hadn’t abandoned her yet, and this seemed to please her. “He’s gotten others I know of,” she said. “Werner, obviously. Then there’s Boaz and Rodrigo. Can’t find the articles in the library yet, but if you make some calls, it checks out. Missing. No evidence.”
“I see.” I turned my eyes to the base of the rack, where the paint was chipped and exposing the rust.
“Do you not believe me?” she asked. “I can give you full names, hometowns. I can give you phone numbers. Newspapers, police stations. Long distance, unfortunately, but—”
I looked back up at her. “No, I believe you,” I said, and I did. I had no doubt that if I called those numbers I would hear stories of other missing children. What I didn’t believe was that there was anything supernatural about their disappearances. That’s not to say the disappearances weren’t connected. I figured if I humored Fiona, maybe she’d let more truth slip out.
“I’m trying to understand how he does it,” I went on. “How does he sneak into other kids’ worlds, again?”
Fiona’s feet shuffled in the gravel. “When you’re at the folds, it’s not easy to cross over to someone else’s world the first time. You have to be invited. You have to have something they need. One of the things that Chua needed was a friend like me. And I was there. So that’s how I ended up in her world. It’s not always so simple.”
“So if I needed, say, hamburgers, and I called out that I needed hamburgers, then I’d be inviting the Hamburglar to my world?”
Fiona reached over and patted me gently on the stomach. “If you needed hamburgers, you could have hamburgers, Alistair. This is Aquavania. Not a drive-through.”
Her touch made my muscles clench. “I was just—”
“It’s not about objects,” she said, pulling her hand away. “It’s more emotional. Things you can’t wish up yourself. Things that only others can provide. Encouragement. Debate. Love. Hate even, I guess. Werner needed to know what his father really thought of him. And I guess the Riverman was able to give him that, or at least the Riverman was able to pretend he could give him that. In Aquavania, you can create anything your mind can think up. You’d be surprised what your mind can’t create. It’s often the things you really need.”
“So the Riverman knew what they needed. But how? You said that he might be here, in the … Solid World?” I still wasn’t comfortable with Fiona’s terminology, but I was trying.
“Everyone else who visits Aquavania also lives in the Solid World,” she said. “So why wouldn’t he?”
“Do you think he met Werner and Chua in the Solid World? Do you think
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