A moment later, the bandages tugged back.

Alessia peered under the table. She frowned, and bent down. "It...looks like it goes out the other side, but...there's nothing there."

Morgana frowned and gave the line another small yank, in hopes that Portia would get the hint and return. "I suppose the question now is . . . does it go some place here, on the islands? Or does it go to the Mainland? Or . . . or some other place entirely?"

A moment later, Portia's face appeared from the other side of the tablecloth. "What?" she asked. "I didn't even find Dareen yet."

Morgana let out her breath. "Never mind Dareen, I'm sure she's fine on her own. Good girl. Did you recognize anything in there? Did it look more like here, or like England?"

Portia frowned. "Well, I haven't been outside here," she pointed out. "But there were a lot more unicorns and rainbows and shiny rocks than in England. In England, unicorns are extinct."

Morgana chuckled nervously. "That still leaves the question somewhat up in the air," she said. "I'm not at all sure what we should do about this. My daughter is missing, and there's a world of shiny rocks and rainbows underneath the table."

"Do you think your daughter went underneath the table?" Portia asked. "Maybe Dareen knows her."

"Maybe," Morgana said. "Are there any other people besides Dareen? Other than evil kings, of course," she said. "Is Dareen a grown-up?"

"Sort of a grown up?" Portia answered. "She's maybe like Helena and Hermia. Twelve or maybe thirteen? Bigger than me but not old." She frowned. "I think there might be other people but I didn't see them. Not in Dareen's house."

Morgana bit her lip again. "If there's someone there . . . maybe at least she's seen something? If not her, there must be other people." She balanced on the balls of her feet, wavering between standing back and wanting to go alone, right now. "Someone might know. There's a chance they might know. And it would explain why no one's found anything and why Mother can't track her--"