22
An Accident of Stars
reality’s flank, scything through the naked air like some sort of impossible portal. It almost hurt to look at, and as Saffron gulped and thought it’s real, I’m seeing this and it’s 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 – 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 portal’s threshold, Saffron made a decision. All she could think of was that she’d 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.