Finally Fifer threw her hands up in exasperation. “Look. If we can’t fix the 3-D door, we won’t be able to get to Simber anyway. So we may as well not stand here forever wondering. The clock is ticking on our friends trapped in the library. They won’t have any food or water like the lounge people have access to. I say we chance it and free Simber first, because we’re definitely not going to get anywhere without him.”

Sky left the children to pick their favorite leaves at the base of the tree and returned to Fifer and Florence. “Do you know who’s in the library?” she asked, her expression worried. “Did you see who they were sending there?”

“They didn’t send as many there as to the lounge. I saw Aaron and Clementi. And Samheed. Maybe a couple of others.”

Florence looked up. “Aaron and Samheed? Well, that’ll be interesting at least. Forced to work together after that argument they had. I look forward to hearing that story once they’re out of there.”

“Here’s hoping we can get them out,” said Sky. “Do you have any more of those new send components so we can communicate with Aaron and the others?”

“I made a few more after the one I sent to Thisbe, but they’re in Octavia’s classroom,” said Florence grimly. “I didn’t think to tell the group to grab them for me.”

“We wouldn’t have been able to reach her classroom anyway,” said Fifer.

“We also didn’t expect to be separated like this,” Sky said. She blew out an exasperated breath. “We have to figure out how to get everyone out of there.”

“One thing at a time.” Florence reached for the 3-D door and unrolled it carefully to examine the tear. It went a few inches into the drawing, which meant the door wouldn’t expand and rise off the paper to form a real door. “Okay,” she said. “This is definitely a problem. Since we can’t access the mansion to get supplies to fix this, the nearest place to find what we need is in Quill. And you’re going to have do some serious searching to find art supplies there.”

“We could break into Claire’s house,” said Sky. “I’ll bet she has plenty.”

“Great idea.” Fifer emitted a short, shrill whistle to call for the hammock, then turned to Florence as her birds, now fully recovered, laid the canvas down and gathered around them. “Sky and I will take the hammock to Quill—it’ll be faster. We’ll meet you back here.”

“Don’t bother,” said Florence. “We can’t do anything with that door out here—there’s nothing smooth enough to attach the drawing to. The kids and I will meet you at the old Quillitary building. We can use the exterior wall there. And while I work on fixing the drawing, you two and the children can get some sleep in the barracks. By morning I’ll have a plan for our next move.” Florence gave them a weak but encouraging smile.