Every Heart A Doorway

Content Warning: This section of the guide includes discussion of child death, bullying, and emotional abuse.

The school can hold about 100 children, but there are only 40 in attendance at present. The silent, empty spaces make Nancy feel as though she’s surrounded by the ghosts of students who failed to return to their worlds, and she flees to a shadowy grove of trees. Jill finds her crying there and expresses sympathy about the difficulties of being surrounded by people who went to “pastel dream worlds full of sunshine and rainbows” (65). Nancy explains that she hoped to earn a place among the Lady of Shadows’ entourage but wasn’t permitted to wear colors besides her pomegranate hair ribbon until she had proven herself. Jill says that she wears light colors because her Master liked the way that they showed bloodstains. She claims that the Master taught her wonderful things but was unhappy with Jack. Jill believes that Jack was banished on purpose but that she’ll be welcomed back to the Moors any time now.

After Jill leaves, Kade reveals that he heard the girls’ conversation from his position up in a tree. He deduces that the source of Nancy’s distress is Lundy’s grim observations about their odds of returning to their worlds.