For a moment Alice thought about rushing him. They had more numbers, they could overpower him, get the sword. But then she noticed the shadows lining the walls, shifting, glowing eyes blinking in and out of sight, a fanged growl here and there.
This place was Nightmare Central; they’d probably be torn apart before they reached the stairs.
“I come, and they don’t get hurt?”
“Not by me.”
Alice pushed to her feet. She started for the door, only to draw up short when Haruka stepped in front of her.
“You don’t have to do this,” Haruka murmured. “We can fight.”
“Maybe we can, but not right now. I’ll go see what she wants. You guys try and come up with something to get us out of here.”
“You know I can hear you, right?” the Black Knight called.
Annoyed, Alice hugged the other Dreamwalker, then stepped past her and to the Black Knight’s side. He closed the door, which locked with a clank, before turning to lead the way toward the stairs.
The two of them climbed in silence, which was a bit strange. Usually the Black Knight was … chatty. But this time he just seemed somber. Alice still wanted to beat his entire ass. He’d nearly killed her friends, kidnapped them, torn up her house with her mom inside! If she didn’t manage anything else, she was going to kick his teeth in.
At the top of the stairs, the Black Knight moved a few steps into the hall, then stopped. Alice did as well, tensing as he heaved a sigh.
“I’m sorry, kitten, but you’re not going to see Her Majesty.”
She didn’t like the way he said that. “Then where am I going?”
“Home,” a familiar voice said. “If I have anything to say about it.”
Her heart leaping, Alice whirled and came face-to-face with Addison. Shock locked down her tongue, but her body moved on its own, hurrying to throw herself at him. Her arms went around his neck, and she buried her face there as well.
His arms wrapped around her in turn, and for a moment she was safe. She was okay. And he was squeezing her. But then she drew back, wiping at her face, her mind going a mile a minute.
“W-what are you doing here? H-how … but … the exile…” That was when she noticed how pale he was, how dull his eyes had grown, the edges rimmed in orange. “Oh my god … you’re … you’re dying…”
“Can’t worry about that now, we have to get out of here.”
Alice stared, blinking, her mind trying to make sense of what was going on. Then she remembered the Black Knight and whirled to find him standing nearby, his arms folded over his chest. Her head whipped back and forth, confusion building. And if that wasn’t bad enough, that’s when she caught sight of Chess slumped over unconscious behind a nearby pillar.
She pointed. “What—”
Hatta took her shoulders and brought her around to face him. “I know, it’s a lot, but we don’t have time. The woman behind all of this, it’s the R—”
“The Bloody Lady?”
“Who?”
“She’s all red and covered in blood.”
Hatta blinked rapidly. “Sh … she’s not the Red Queen?”
Alice shook her head as her shoulders hunched. “I-I … I don’t think so, no one recognized her.”
Hatta’s brow furrowed. He muttered about something not making sense, but then shook his head. “Fine. This … Bloody Lady, then. Humphrey says she has the Eye.”
“Humphrey?” Alice asked.
“That’s Humphrey.” Hatta gestured to the Black Knight, who waggled his fingers.
Again, Alice glanced back and forth. “So y’all for real know this asshole.” First the exchange with Duchess earlier, and now this? The hell was going on around here?
Hatta flinched. “Yes. It’s … complicated. He used to be the Red Knight, but then he went missing at the same time as the Red Queen. We’re still not sure what happened to either of them, and Humphrey doesn’t remember anything before he woke up as the Imposter, and … Long story short, he’s on our side.”
Alice really didn’t know what to say to that. She just stared at Hatta, then stared at the Black … Humphrey, then at Hatta again. “So, what, we’re good now? Let bygones be bygones?”
“You don’t have to let anything go, princess,” Humphrey said. “But we can’t do this right now. The … Bloody Lady—strewth that’s a ridiculous name—”
Alice glared. “Then what’s her actual name?”
He fidgeted. “I only know her as my lady.”
“I thought she might be the Red Queen, but … it seems I was mistaken,” Addison said.
Alice nodded. “Then Bloody Lady it is.”
Humphrey sighed. “The Bloody Lady plans to raise an army to exact a vengeance I thought I wanted, but now I … I’m sure that’s not something that’ll end well for any of us.”
Alice scoffed. “Oh, so now that your ass is on the chopping block, too, you feel a way about all this nonsense.”
“Total memory loss shifts a person’s priorities. Are we going to stop her or argue about it?”
Alice continued to scowl. “Is Chess all right?”
“Far as we can tell,” Addison said.
“Besides the being-half-dead thing,” Humphrey murmured.
“Must you?” Hatta asked.
Humphrey said something else, but Alice had stepped away and over to her unconscious friend. The last time she saw him, he’d been trying to take her head off. Now he was just lying here, shadows crawling over him, his face slightly drawn up as if in pain, and—if Maddi was right—there might not be any way to free him without …
Alice straightened and turned to face the two of them, who’d fallen silent as they watched her. “So what’s the plan?”
“Take her by surprise. Use numbers to overwhelm her,” Addison said.
“With the number of Nightmares at her command, doubtful.” Humphrey frowned. “And with both the Eye and the Heart, if we don’t do this right, we’re all dead. I can get close enough to get the Eye away from her. Then we might have a chance.”
“What about everyone else?” Alice asked.
“They’ll have to stay where they are,” Humphrey said. “For now.”
“Why?” she shot back.
“I was ordered to come get you. Well, your head. If I let the rest of them out, she’ll be alerted long before we reach her.”
“Faster than when you show up without my head?” Alice ran one hand along her neck.
Addison reached to weave his fingers between hers. “They’re safe where they are. Safer than we’re about to be, at any rate.”
“And if we fail?” Alice asked, her voice faltering. If I fail …
“It won’t much matter either way,” Humphrey said.
Alice shook her head. “We can’t just leave them trapped down there. There has to be something we can do.”
Addison released a slow breath.
“Nothing that leaves everyone alive.” Humphrey frowned and sheathed the Vorpal Blade against his back. “I … might be able to buy a few minutes, but only a few. You’ll have to move fast.”
“What about you?” Addison asked, an odd note of concern in his voice. Alice had to remind herself that this was a friend of his essentially back from the dead. She was quite familiar with that particular feel.
“What about me,” Humphrey murmured. He shook his head when Addison looked to protest. “I can make a quick getaway if I need to.”
“You can’t face her alone,” Addison pressed.
“You’re in no condition to help me,” Humphrey fired back.
“Addison’s right,” Alice said, much as she hated it. “You’re injured. I can tell by the way you move.”
Humphrey snorted. “Thought it was because you’re the one who injured me.”
“Little column A, little column B. But you can’t do this by yourself. And it’s too important to risk it. I’ll go with you. Addison, you can get the others and get out whatever way you got in.”
&
nbsp; Addison shook his head. “No, I can’t—”
“Look at you.” Alice gestured at him. “You’re about as bad off as he is, if not worse. You can’t fight.”
“But he can?” Addison scoffed.
“I honestly don’t care what happens to him.” Alice folded her arms over her chest.
“Offended,” Humphrey murmured.
Addison lifted his hands. “It doesn’t matter. I can’t just watch the two of you go off to face her.” He reached to take Alice’s hand, his thumb stroking against the back of her fingers.
Alice gazed up at him, her heart in her throat. She wanted nothing more than to press into his arms, her lips to his, but now wasn’t the time. And they had company.
“You have to. I know it’s hard, but we don’t have any other options,” she said.
“And we don’t have much time,” Humphrey said. “Whatever we’re going to do, we need to do it now. She’s bound to start wondering where I am.”
Addison didn’t look happy but nodded, his lips pursed. “Fine. But you had better come back to me. The both of you.”
Humphrey gave Addison a look Alice couldn’t quite decipher before he turned to her. “Now I need to figure out how to get you across this castle, alive, without alerting her.”
“Let me save you the trouble.”
Alice spun toward the sound of a voice. The last thing she saw was the Bloody Lady standing at the end of the hall, her skin so sickly it appeared white. She lifted a hand, and everything went black.
Thirty-Five
WHAT YOU GONE DO?
Pain jolted through Alice, white hot.
“Ah!” Her eyes flew open. She twisted to try and sit up, but her body wouldn’t move.
It wasn’t the restrictive press of something holding her down, just … when she tried to wave her arms or flex her fingers, nothing happened!
She floated, her arms and legs spread, caught as if in water.
All was darkness and shadow save for the occasional flash of crimson lightning.
“W-what…” Her voice echoed around her and between her ears. “What’s happening? Where am I?”
Panting, pain singing through her body, she pulled even harder. Nothing.
“Help … help!”
Panic started to set in. Chest heaving, her vision waned.
“Alice…” The voice was soft, careful. “Alice, you have to focus.”
Another flash of lightning. Another stab of pain. She screamed.
“Alice.” The voice pressed in, closer now.
She shook her head, gritting her teeth as red crackled, popped, and fizzled along her body. God, it hurt.
“Alice!”
She jerked, her eyes fluttering open. Hovering in the darkness was … well, her. Dressed in the same glowing skirts of white light, Reflection-Alice stared at her, her expression saddened.
“Get up, Alice.”
“I—I can’t. I can’t move!”
“Hatta, Humphrey, they’re fading. Even now, the Bloody Lady turns them to her will.”
“N-no…”
“They will be lost. Unless you stop her.”
Tears burned hot against Alice’s face. “I—I can’t. I can’t stop her, she’s too strong.”
“Yes, you can.”
Alice whimpered.
“We can. If you finally trust me.” Reflection-Alice drifted forward. She pressed a hand to Alice’s chest and, with a sudden rush of warmth, Alice’s limbs fell free of whatever had been restricting them.
She flailed, her balance thrown off, but she was able to bring it back under her control. She wiggled her hands, holding them up in front of her face. Then she looked at her reflection, who watched her with such a strange expression.
“Who … who are you?”
Reflection-Alice smiled. “Let’s say … I’m your Muchness.”
Alice’s eyes widened.
Reflection-Alice nodded. “That part of you that believes in you, even when the rest of you doesn’t.”
“My … You look like—”
“Well, it’s how you imagine yourself at your most powerful, so it is not much of a surprise.”
“Moon Princess. Right.” Alice swallowed, glancing around. “W-where are we?”
“Where I’ve always been.” Reflection-Alice reached to set a hand to Alice’s chest. Warmth spread from where her fingers pressed gently. “The Bloody Lady is using the Eye and the Heart to try and corrupt you. I was able to hide us away in the deepest part of your heart, but … that meant going somewhere you didn’t want to.”
Alice was about to ask what that meant when the darkness behind Reflection-Alice began to peel backward. Light filled that small space, and at its center rested her dad’s smiling face.
“Hey, Baby Moon! What you up to?”
Something inside Alice cracked open. “D-daddy?”
Another section of the black peeled open. Another image of her father, still smiling. “Hey, Baby Moon!”
One after the other, visions of her father’s face faded in, surrounding her. Some smiled. Some laughed. Some frowned. And they each called out to her.
“Why so down?”
“Don’t do me, little girl.”
“Alice.”
“Fix your face.”
“Alice.”
“Hey, Baby Moon.”
“Alice!”
Alice pressed her hands to her mouth as the sadness filling her threatened to spill over. He … he was everywhere.
Reflection-Alice gestured widely. “This is where you keep him. Here you are at your strongest, but also your weakest. Here your heart is most guarded. But here, if the darkness reaches you, is where it can pull you under.”
Reflection-Alice’s words barely registered as memories of her father swirled around them. Memories of their time together, of him teaching her to ride a bike, to sew her first costume. Memories of them watching Saturday morning cartoons, of him shouting at a football game, of him calling out to her.
“Sup, Baby Moon?”
“Alice whimpered. She didn’t want to be here. She wanted to be anywhere but here.
“You can’t let it overwhelm you.”
“No!” Alice pressed her hands over her ears. She didn’t want this. It was too much.
Crimson lightning arced through the black. Reflection-Alice glanced around, a look of fear crossing her face.
“Alice, we don’t have time.”
Alice shook her head, drawing back when her reflection reached for her. She didn’t want to be touched, she didn’t want to be here, she didn’t want any of this!
Crash! The lightning struck one of the memories. It shattered. Pain spiked through Alice’s head. She doubled over, clutching it.
“Alice!” her reflection called. “You have to get up!”
Another arc of lightning, another window shattered. Now the space around them began to fill with lightning.
Reflection-Alice spun in a circle, glancing around at the chaos pouring in. “She’s going to break through … Alice, get up!”
Why … what’s the point …
“Alice! Ah!” Reflection-Alice jerked as lightning struck her. It darted across her, shrieking and crackling.
The pain in Alice’s head intensified.
He’s gone …
“But you’re still here, Baby Moon.”
“Daddy?” Alice squeezed her eyes shut. “I can’t do it…”
“Yes, you can. You can do anything, don’t you know that?”
“I can’t do this.”
“But you already did. You’re here because you did it.”
“I can’t!”
“Breathe, Baby Moon.”
Alice drew a shaky breath. Pain radiated through her body. Someone screamed. Maybe her. Maybe Reflection-Alice. She didn’t care.
“Again.”
She took another breath.
“Again.”
And another.
“That’s my girl.”
“I
t … it hurts, Daddy. It hurts so much.”
The darkness faded, and Alice found herself wrapped in one of the remaining memories of her father. The sun was bright in the sky; the air smelled of fresh cut grass, dirt, and summer; and Alice sat on her father’s lap, where he held her after picking her up from the sidewalk. A small bike lay to the side, its wheels spinning. Pain radiated up Alice’s leg from where her knee was split open, bleeding freely. Little Alice blinked up at her father through tears.
He sighed as he dabbed at the tender skin around her wound. She whimpered and gave a little squeal.
“She okay?”
Alice recognized her mother’s voice. She stood in the doorway to their house, a towel in her hands, her face scrunched as she squinted into the sun.
Alice’s dad glanced over his shoulder and up the driveway. “She’s good, Tina. I got it.”
He looked back to Alice and smiled.
“It hurts,” Alice murmured, wiping at her snotty nose.
“I know it hurts, baby. And I’m sorry. I wish I could make the pain go away, but I can’t. It’s gonna have to heal on its own.” He finished cleaning the wound, then taped a bandage into place. “There. Now, ready to try again?”
Alice glanced at the bike and fidgeted.
“No?”
“Mmph.”
“Why not?”
“What if I fall again?”
“You might.” Dad nodded. “Might be worse next time. But you might just keep going. Then you might just get better. Then? You might be the best.” He smiled, tickling her other knee. “My girl, best bicycle rider in the neighborhood.”
Alice giggled. “The world!”
“The world!”
She smiled, then looked at the bike again. An ugly feeling twisted in her stomach. “I’m scared…”
“That’s all right. It’s okay to be scared. I was scared when you fell over. My heart near jumped out of my chest.” He set his hand over it. “But we can’t let fear control us. We can’t let it make decisions for us, neither. You wanna learn to ride a bike?”
Alice nodded. The heavy balls at the ends of her braids bounced against her shoulders.
“Don’t let fear take that from you. Don’t ever let fear steal anything from you, because it’ll sure try. Sometimes fear lies and tells you you can’t do something when you can do anything.”
A Dream So Dark Page 28
