She grabs the knife, which she'd put in the satchel, and attacks the hand.

Blackness surrounded them as Robbie pulled them into the closet, except for the thin rectangle of light outlined against the far wall.

"Ready?" he whispered, his breath warm on their skin. And before either of them could answer, he pushed the door back with a creak, revealing the Nevernever.

Pale silver light flooded the room. The clearing beyond the door frame was surrounded by enormous trees, so thick and tangled you couldn't see the sky through the branches. A curling mist crept along the ground, and the woods were dark and still as if the forest was trapped in perpetual twilight. Here and there, brilliant splashes of color stood out among the gray. A patch of flowers, their petals a shocking electric-blue, waved gently in the mist. A creeper vine snaked around the trunk of a dying oak, long red thorns a stark contrast to the tree it was killing.

A warm breeze blew into the closet, carrying with it a shocking assortment of smells--smells that should not be together in one place. Crushed leaves and cinnamon, smoke and apples, fresh earth, lavender, and the faint, cloying scent of rot and decay. For a moment, there was a tang of something metallic and coppery, wrapped around the smell of rot, but it was gone in the next breath. Clouds of insects swarmed overhead, and if you listened hard you could almost imagine that you heard singing. The forest was still at first, but there was movement deep in the shadows, there was the sound of leaves rustling all around them. Invisible eyes seemed to watch them from every angle, boring into their skin.

Robbie, his hair a bright flame atop his head, stepped through the doorway, gazed around, and laughed. "Home." He sighed, flinging his arms wide, as if to embrace it all. "I'm finally home." He spun in place and, with another laugh, fell backward into the mist, like he was making a snow angel, and vanished.

She was about to call out to him, but decided to let him enjoy his moment. In the meantime, she looked around their new surroundings. It wasn't like anything she'd ever seen before-then again, she rarely went anywhere.

,, There is a way back out of here, right? ,, Isiea demands sharply.

Mist swirled around their ankles like a living thing, caressing their skin with damp fingers. The silence mocked Isiea. Out of the corner of their eyes, it was possible to catch something big and white that darted into the trees like quicksilver.

She turned and looked over at the trees, studying them intently.

Nothing. Just flora, no fauna.

It was possible she was just imagining it, so she didn't pay any more attention to it.

She whips around to look at the white thing.

"Boo." Rob appeared behind them, rising out of the mist like a vampire from its coffin.