Cora Miller

## Cora

### Quote

"Why do people always *say* that? There's always more than one way to find something out. People only say there's only one way when they want an excuse to do something incredibly stupid without getting called on it. There are *lots* of ways to find out, and some of them even involve not pissing off a man who goes by 'the *Lord* of the *Dead*,'"

Cora is the main character in *Beneath the Sugar Sky* and *Where the Drowned Girls Go*. She lives at Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children.

## Appearance

She is short and round, with surprisingly delicate wrists and ankles. She has blue eyes and long hair in a dozen shades of green and blue. Before she fell into the Trenches, her hair was brown. She also still has scales under her skin. After Come Tumbling Down, Cora has an iridescent sheen.

In the official art, she appears to be wearing a pink top with tassels on the hem, with black trousers and shoes.

## History

### Before the Books

Cora was born on Earth, and was considered overweight her entire life. By the time she reached third grade, she had developed a bad image of herself; however, she was incredibly athletic, joining her school's Endurance Swim team and becoming their powerhouse swimmer.

She started training to become a lifeguard during the summer inbetween Ninth and Tenth Grade, but relentless bullying led her to attempt to drown herself; instead, she ended up in the Trenches, where she became a mermaid; she had been called there to save the world. She was perfect for the Trenches; her fat insulated her from the cold water, and she'd grown gills and fins and learned to think of herself as beautiful. While there, she apparently drowned sailors whenever necessary. Unfortunately, she was sucked into a whirlpool that brought her back to Earth, where nobody believed her stories and her parents sent her to Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children.

### Beneath the Sugar Sky

Cora arrived at Eleanor West's Home for Wayward Children sometime before Autumn, and she was still getting used to the Nonsense that was accepted there. While she was terrified of being body-shamed by the other students, none of them seemed to mind her weight, and she had been befriended by Nadya, who tended to burst into her room and begged Eleanor to let them be roommates (she was refused, on account of them both being from water-worlds and would enable each other to take longer baths). She also seemed to befriend Angela.

Six weeks after her arrival, Cora and Nadya go to the pond, trying to get into their element. While Nadya rushes off to play with the turtles, Cora stands off, not liking the Fresh Water as opposed to Saltwater. At that moment, Onishi Rini falls from the sky, landing in the pond with a splash. She demands to be taken to her mother, Onishi Sumi, who had died before Cora arrived at school. Cora runs off to find Eleanor, only to run into Christopher. While she is terrified that he'll call her clumsy and fat, he seems to think that she's scared of him for going to a darker world. He bonds with her over both of them having suffered microaggressions and past bullying, and then she tells him about Rini.

Christopher takes her to Eleanor, explaining about Sumi and Jill. Once they reach Eleanor and Kade, the latter agrees to go with them to bring Rini to the Office. When they return, Rini is naked- her candy dress washed off in the pond- and Cora is incredibly embarrassed. Rini shows them that two of her fingers have disappeared, and she is slowly fading from existence. After giving her a dress, they take her to Eleanor, and Rini tells her story. Cora asks how she got to Earth, and Rini shows her a bracelet that can take her to any world so long as there is sugar. Christopher has the idea to find Sumi's skeleton, return her hands, and then find her soul in the Halls of the Dead. Eleanor gives them all permission to go.

Kade drives the group to the graveyard in a minivan. Cora keeps turning up the heat and is made uncomfortable by sitting in the backseat, which makes her feel like she takes up too much space. Christopher summons Sumi's skeleton, and Cora opens the jar of hands so that Christopher can rejoin them to her. As the others describe Nancy to Rini so that she can lead them to her, Cora stays silent, having arrived after Nancy left. Rini then opens them a door to the Halls of the Dead, and they enter.

Cora is nervous about the possibility of pissing off the Lord of the Dead, since they made the door instead of finding one. After Kade reassures her that they have no other choice, she asks Christopher if he actually wants to be a skeleton, since he's not fat. Christopher explains that it's not a "dieting" thing, as if he's a skeleton, Mariposa can't make him leave again. The group then enters the Halls of the Dead, and encounter the Lady of Shadows. She takes them to Nancy, who takes them to the room of souls, which collect around Sumi to form her ghost. However, they still have to find her Heart. The Lord of the Dead then arrives, announcing that they will have to trade one soul for another, and somebody will have to stay. Nadya agrees to trade herself for Sumi, which upsets Cora, as Nadya was her best friend.

The Lord of the Dead tells them that Sumi's Nonsense is home, so Rini takes them all to Confection. They land in a Strawberry Sea, where Christopher almost drowns. Cora manages to dive into soda and pull him out, drag him to shore, and perform CPR on him to save his life. After that, Rini takes the travelers towards her home, explaining her world, which confuses the logical Cora. They are intercepted by the army of the Queen of Cakes, who arrest them and take them to the Castle. The Queen is excited to see Sumi's skeleton, but Cora quickly deduces that the Queen was a traveler. The Queen tells the travelers that she will release them if they tell her how they made Sumi a Shade, and when they refuse, she pulls out Christopher's flute. Christopher attempts to attack her to get it back, and once he is dragged away, the Guards take the group to a prison.

Christopher starts slowly getting ill due to the loss of his flute, while Rini starts to lose hope. Cora decides that they have to escape, and asks Kade what he used to do in Fairyland. He mentions that he was a soldier, and Cora formulates a plan. She then yells for the Knights, causing two to enter the room. Kade knocks one out, while Rini captures the other. Kade then takes a sword, and he and Cora. Kade poses as a soldier, taking Cora to the Queen. Cora pretends to understand the Queen, saying that Confection needs Logic. The Queen allows her to come closer, and then Kade traps her. Cora asks the Guards why they won't help the Queen, and they reveal that nothing seemed real to them. She allows them to leave, and she and Kade free Sumi's shade and drag the Queen up to the prison, where Cora returns to Christopher his flute. They tie the Queen up and then leave the castle.

While walking to the farm, Cora realizes that they'd accidentally left Rini's bracelet behind. Kade tells her that they'll figure out some way to get home, though he admits that it's possible things won't work out. Cora finds that oddly comforting, as she doesn't like lying to herself. The group then reaches the Candy Corn Farm, where Sumi's husband, Ponder, directs them to the Baker, and he gives Cora a silver sickle.

While walking towards the Baker's Oven, Cora worries about meeting what is essentially Confection's God. Kade argues that she's already met some deities, as the Lord and Lady of the Dead. She and Christopher stop walking for a second to rest before Rini pushes them to continue onwards.

They reach the Baker's Oven, where the Baker of Confection greets them. Though she originally doesn't think she can help Sumi, Cora asks her if she can improvise, using the Nonsense of her world to help them. The Baker eventually agrees, patching up Sumi's skeleton with sweets and putting her in the Oven. The group then talks for a little, where the Baker- Layla- reveals that they'll have to bring Sumi back with them to fix the timeline. Once Sumi has finished baking, Layla pulls her out, and Rini awakens her.

Layla bakes the travelers a door to take them home, and they go through it, entering onto the lawn of Eleanor's school.

### Where the Drowned Girls Go

Cora, hearing the voices of the Drowned Gods, struggles to settle in at Eleanor West's Home. She requests a transfer to the Whitethorn Institute, where children are taught to leave behind the worlds they visited. Eleanor is reluctant and warns her that she may not be able to leave, but Cora insists.

Once there, Cora immediately realizes it is not a good or safe place, but she cannot leave. She gets to know the girls in her dorm. Eventually Sumi joins her there in order to help. They eventually escape the institute along with Regan Lewis and the other girls in her dorm.

## Trivia

* "Cora" is a Greek name meaning "maiden."

## References

1. ↑ http://www.tor.com/2017/06/28/illustrated-scenes-rovina-cai-seanan-mcguire-beneath-the-sugar-sky/
2. ↑ Beneath the Sugar Sky, page 57: "You were a mermaid, weren't you? That's what Nadya said."

"I still am," said Cora. "I just have my scales under my skin for now."
3. ↑ Beneath the Sugar Sky, page 62