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  Cooper felt a little lightheaded as he stood, the butterfly garden in one hand, the plunger of his father’s pocket watch in the other. The tiny ridges on its edges—like longitudinal lines on a globe—left a pattern in his skin as he squeezed it hard. The touch of that nub against his thumb was still comforting, even without the watch body it used to connect to. It was tarnished and bent and hardly distinguishable for what it used to be. Irreparable.

  But Cooper still loved it. He put it in his pocket.

  He held the butterfly garden out to Jess, but she gently shook her head and said, “I think Mom’s right. Time to let it go.”

  Cooper waited to make sure she meant it before putting it back by the trash can. “Let’s go inside. I’m cold.” That was when he realized his clothes weren’t wet at all.

  They walked toward their house, and both faltered as their back door flickered. For a fraction of an instant, for one sparkling moment, it looked like something stolen from a king’s castle or a czar’s palace, intricately engraved wood embellished with ovals, twists, and whorls covered in gold leaf.

  The two of them smiled widely. It was their turn to move beyond.

  “Ready?” Cooper said.

  “Yeah,” Jess said with a squeeze. “I think I am.”

  “Five, four, three . . . ?”

  “Two, one,” Jess joined in. They didn’t yell Ouch! The hurt necessary for this venture was already behind them. Together, they climbed the steps, opened the door, and stepped through.

  As the door approached the jamb, it flickered one last time before gently clicking shut behind them.

  Author’s Note

  When I was looking for inspiration for the magical mystery you just finished reading, I searched online for real mysteries, hoping that some event would serve as a starting point for my imagination. That’s where I found the true, unsolved case of the Charfield railway disaster.

  In 1928 an overnight passenger train headed for Charfield passed through a heavy mist, failed to heed a stop signal, and collided with a mail train at the Charfield station. Sixteen people died—but only fourteen of these people were ever identified. A girl and a boy, found together, were never claimed. No parent, school, or loved one ever came forward to name them or collect them. A headstone that includes “Two Unknown” still stands in Charfield, England, to this day.

  I read this with sadness and wonder. How on earth could two children leave this life in such a public manner without one soul knowing who they were? It was with this question that my story began.

  In the course of writing and revising, I changed the Charfield mystery to involve only one anonymous child, and though one article I found about the disaster spoke of a school cap and blazer found in the train wreckage, the crest and the Vigilantes Unum banner are from my imagination. Just like the Charfield accident, the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire and the Sampoong Mall collapse are also real historical events. I have added names of fictional characters for the purpose of this story, but the other details of those catastrophes are true—there are many resources online and at your local or school library if you’d like to read more about them.

  About the Author

  REBECCA K.S. ANSARI is the author of The Missing Piece of Charlie O’Reilly. A former ER doctor, she lives in Minneapolis with her husband, her four sons, and two big oafs masquerading as dogs. You can visit her online at www.rebeccaansari.com.

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  Books by Rebecca K. S. Ansari

  The Missing Piece of Charlie O’Reilly

  Copyright

  Walden Pond Press is an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers.

  Walden Pond Press and the skipping stone logo are trademarks and registered trademarks of Walden Media, LLC.

  THE IN-BETWEEN. Copyright © 2021 by Rebecca K. S. Ansari. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.

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  Cover art © 2021 by Julia Iredale

  Cover design by Joel Tippie

  * * *

  Library of Control Control Number: 2020947621

  Digital Edition JANUARY 2021 ISBN: 978-0-06-291611-2

  Print ISBN: 978-0-06-291609-9

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  2021222324PC/LSCH10987654321

  FIRST EDITION

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