Door Near Here

Alisa's fingers were digging into the knees of her jeans. Her nails were turning white. "Is she mad?" she asked. I looked at her, wanting to hug her but at the same time feeling a weird sense of responsibility, like I should try to be at least sort of parental. "Whywouldshe be mad?" I asked carefully. Alisa looked at the letter in my hands. "Well . . . what did she say?" she countered. Smart. I didn't smile, though. "Why would she be mad, Alisa?" She paused and then crumbled. "She doesn't believe me." "What doesn't she believe you about?" "Narnia." Her voice was disappearing, so I reached out and took one of her hands to reassure her. Then it registered what she'd said: "Narnia."Narnia? Was this about that letter? "What . . . ," I started, then stopped. I couldn't figure out what question to ask. "What are you talking about?" That came out wrong. Alisa bit her lip but kept her head up. "I told her I saw the door to Narnia," she said, her blue eyes looking not quite at me but off to one side. "And Idid. In the woods. I was trying to get to it, but Miss Barnes came and caught me before I could. She ran faster than me. And she yelled at me and the door disappeared . . . because she made too much noise. She scared it away." "The door to Narnia," I echoed stupidly.Quarles, Heather is the author of 'Door Near Here' with ISBN 9780440227618 and ISBN 0440227615.