by Eva Chase
I focused on finding a rhythm. I’d just settled into one when a skittering noise brought my gaze to the right.
A pack of birds trotted toward us down a dune flecked with gravel. They looked for all the world like overblown basketballs decked out in fluffy blue feathers, tiny heads posed tight against their rounded bodies, each nearly as tall as my waist. My spine went rigid. Jubjub birds.
“Oh my God,” Lyssa said. “Those are actually really cute. That’s a nice change of pace from disturbing and bloodthirsty.”
“Ah,” I said, and that was all I managed to get out before the couple dozen birds broke into a full-out charge.
The Jubjub birds’ heads shot out from their bodies on spindly necks, pulling out the long piercing beaks that had been hidden in their feathers too. Beaks hard and sharp enough to puncture steel. Human flesh was a piece of cake. And unfortunately they did enjoy fresh meat when they could get it.
Hatter whipped out one of his hatpins, and Chess raised his fists. Lyssa swung her sword in front of her, her arms wobbling, and something inside me twisted.
I couldn’t stand to see her try to take those things on and lose. I wasn’t sure I could stand it if she saved the day all over again either.
“Lyssa!” I said before I could second-guess the impulse. I held out my hand. “The sword. Now!”
I still knew how to make a command. Lyssa startled, but she heaved the sword toward me, aiming the hilt toward my reach. As she ducked back behind the others, I snatched the sword out of the air. In one swift motion, I sprang forward and sliced the blade through the pack of Jubjub birds.
With that one slash, three of their heads burst off their bodies, their fluffy forms collapsing. I gave a shout, stomped my foot, and ran at them with another swipe to cut through a couple more.
The one thing you need to know about Jubjub birds, if you’re going to know anything, is they’re cowards at heart. The spray of a few of their companions’ blood and my yell sent the others scattering. The pack raced back over the hill they’d attempted to ambush us from, leaving a rain of frightened feathers in their wake.
Dee started to clap as I lowered the sword. “Nice one, boss!”
I started to smile, but my sense of accomplishment faded behind a prickle of shame when I remembered why I’d asked for the sword in the first place.
Maybe there hadn’t been time to talk Lyssa through what she needed to do. Maybe it’d made the most sense for me to step in. But I could admit that hadn’t been the only reason I’d done it.
That didn’t matter as long as no one but me ever knew it.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Lyssa
T heo adjusted his grip on the sword, looking every inch the warrior even in his white button-up and gray slacks. It was easier to admire the strength in his form, the speed with which he’d dispatched those freaky killer birds, now that said freaky killer birds weren’t stampeding toward us. I’d started to freeze up, and he’d been there, ready to tackle anything in the blink of an eye.
Should I have gone along with his suggestion this morning that we head back to the city immediately? It hadn’t felt right, and my feelings had seemed to guide me pretty well over the last few days, but I hadn’t enjoyed arguing with him. He’d guided me awfully well since I’d arrived in Wonderland too.
But it hadn’t been personal. I had more of a connection to the artifacts than he did, thanks to Aunt Alicia’s ring—I understood the power coursing through those rubies better than he could. And he must have recognized that, because I hadn’t needed to say that much before he’d agreed.
He’d trusted my judgment. That memory made me almost as tingly as watching the flex of his muscles as he lowered the sword.
Theo started to turn toward us, and the ruby flashed red. His fingers jerked apart, dropping the sword as if it had burned him. It thumped on the ground. Theo smacked his hand against his side. From the flinch of pain through his expression, it really had hurt him.
“Are you okay?” I said with a hitch of concern in my chest, stepping toward him.
He waved me off with his other hand as he lowered the possibly wounded one to his side. He kept it angled toward him so I couldn’t see the skin on the inside.
“The grip heated up all of a sudden,” he said in an even tone. “Took me by surprise. Those rubies do pack a lot of kick, don’t they?” He shook his head ruefully.
He bent as if to pick the sword up, and I leapt forward first. I was the one who’d started us on this quest—if it was going to burn anyone, it should be me.
“Thank you,” I said. “I revise my earlier statement about those bird-things. Definitely not cute. Definitely not a change of pace.”
Theo’s chuckle didn’t sound particularly strained. But as he let me take the sword, he motioned Dum over. The solemn twin passed him the tube of salve without any spoken request.
I curled my fingers gingerly around the sword’s grip. The cloth that bound it felt warm, but not unpleasantly so. Of course, the ruby had gone dull too. I’d felt how searing the ring could become.
It had never physically burned me, though. Did the sword not like to be used for killing monsters? I wasn’t sure it would be much use to us then. It would figure if a weapon worked that way in Wonderland.
“Onward?” I said, with a tentative look Theo’s way.
“Onward,” he said with an easy smile. Maybe it hadn’t even hurt him, only startled him. He might have wanted the salve for a blow one of the birds had struck during the fray.
I held the sword a little tighter as we walked on, scanning any slopes we passed for hints of blue feathers. The cacti kept up their periodic vogueing, but no more killer birds appeared. We even passed a pool of faintly sweet water where everyone refilled their canteens. I gulped a little extra with my hand to counter the dryness in the air.
The dark haze of the next night square ahead of us shifted in rippling patterns as we approached. I understood why the second we crossed the threshold. Wind whipped through the darkness, yanking at my hair and swatting my face. The lanterns tossed in the guys’ hands.
I braced the sword against my vest so the wind couldn’t catch it. How far were we going to have to walk through this?
We formed a tight line, Theo at the head with one lantern and Dum at the back with the other, huddling against the wind as we walked. If Hatter hadn’t lost his hat yesterday, I doubted he’d have been able to hang onto it through this place. My gaze settled on the back of his head, the tufts of his hair blown even spikier than usual, with a flutter in my stomach that was both affection and heat in memory of our little interlude yesterday.
The wind fell back, even though it still howled all around us. Had we entered a sort of eye in the storm? Doria eased up beside me as we hurried on through the dark. Maybe she’d noticed my fond glance a moment ago, because she cocked her head and spoke just loud enough for me to hear her over the bluster around us.
“So… you and Pops are having kind of a thing, huh?”
I nearly swallowed my tongue. “Um…”
“It’s okay. That’s why I’m asking. He’d have a conniption before he told me anything like that. But I think it’s kind of cool. You’re cool.” She smirked. “You got him to stop being such a spoilsport all the time.”
“I mean, it’s not—” I hesitated. It was hard to say whatever I had with Hatter wasn’t serious, especially after our intense encounter yesterday. Especially with the way my heart lifted just looking at the back of his freaking head. I groped for the right words. “I’ll be going back to the Otherland when we can find another mirror that’ll open up the way there. Hopefully after you all take down the Queen of Hearts, but… I’m going back.”
Doria shrugged. She’d grown up in Wonderland with all those laissez-faire ideas about relationships and intimacy, after all. I guessed I shouldn’t be expecting her to react like the teenage daughter of a guy back home might.
“Most people here don’t stick together very long anyway
,” she said. “Dad says my birth parents were unusual that way. They had something really special.” The corner of her mouth turned up as her gaze traveled to one of the twins—Dee, I thought, from his relaxed expression. “Maybe I’m weird, but I hope I get to have that too someday.”
It looked like I wasn’t the only one crushing hard. Did Hatter know his daughter was swooning over one of the guys here?
Probably better if he didn’t. I didn’t know how Wonderlanders felt about age differences, but Dee didn’t seem like the type to take advantage where he shouldn’t anyway.
“You know,” I said, “back in the Otherland, wanting that wouldn’t be weird at all. Never settling down is weird to us.”
“Hmm. Maybe I should visit sometime.”
She laughed, and the sound was caught by the wind as it roared up around us again. Goodbye, eye of the storm. I ducked my head against it, shielding my watering eyes with my arm, and we trudged on without trying to talk any more.
Between the sandy landscape before and the windblown one after, my legs were throbbing by the time the edge of daylight crept into view ahead of us. My knuckles ached where my fingers were clamped tight around the sword’s hilt. I pushed myself faster anyway, just wanting to be out of this blistering gale already.
The second we stepped out into the gentle sunlight, my spirits leapt. We’d finally reached the hill I’d spotted from a distance. It looked even more like a wave up close, arcing up over the landscape with its narrow peak pointing almost straight down. All that lay between us and it was a stretch of field scattered with several trees hunched in a similar shape and strands of long grass that also bent over on themselves, as if the whole environment were echoing the hill.
As I gazed at our surroundings, taking a moment to catch my breath, a faint clattering broke through the peaceful murmur of the breeze. The Plains train with its mahogany engine and cars whirred into view at the far end of the square, beyond the hill but near enough that I couldn’t imagine it was more than a couple hours’ walk farther. A grin sprang across my face.
“We’re right by the other end of the loop,” I said. “We can check out the hill and then hop back on right away.” Maybe we could make it back to the city before even one more day had passed.
“Let’s get to it, then,” Dee said, bounding forward. I hustled after him with a skip of my pulse. What had been so important here that this specific place had stuck in Aunt Alicia’s mind—that she’d drawn it and kept that drawing even long after she’d left Wonderland behind?
We were several steps into the tall grass when the blades around me whipped upward. With an unsettling hiss, they split apart into flayed strands that shot toward my legs, my waist, and my arms.
A squeak of protest slipped from my lips. My sword hand slashed out instinctively. The shining blade sliced through the flayed blades of grass with a snickering sound, but more were already launching themselves at me.
Several strands snagged around my ankle. One licked over my wrist just before I chopped it down, scraping across my skin with a sandpaper texture that left a raw trail in its wake.
Someone swore behind me. I swung the sword again, hacking this way and that, managing to free my ankle. I dodged out of the way of another spray of strands and chopped right through them. The grass all around me lay cut and limp.
The others were still struggling against the grassy bindings. Theo was slicing his way free with a little knife that was making slower work than my sword had, but the others hadn’t been carrying any blades they could quickly reach. I hurried to Doria, severing the strands that had yanked her wrists together and then those that were tangled around her legs from thighs to feet. She darted away from that spot with a sputter of relief, and I turned to the guys.
Hatter had fared the best with his full suit. The grass hadn’t managed to scratch him up at all. When I’d hacked him free, he produced a hatpin from inside his suit and set to work piercing and ripping the strands that had wound around Dum while I slashed the ones holding Dee. The cheerful twin had managed to snap the strands around his wrists with his flexible arms, but they held him tight around his waist and knees, and the ones he’d broken had left tracks across his bare forearms.
By the time I’d finished with him, Theo was just hewing away the last few bits of grass twined around his ankles. Where the hell was Chess? My heart lurched as I scanned the field. Had he been whisked away somehow in the chaos?
My gaze caught on a heap of grass that appeared to have formed a sort of funnel farther across the field. It twitched slightly as if moved by some presence inside it. An invisible presence.
“Chess?” I said, moved toward it. He might have slipped out of sight to avoid any additional dangers that came at us, but I didn’t know why he was staying so still and quiet now. A nervous prickle ran down my back.
He didn’t answer. I stopped in front of the heap of grass, more obviously shaped around a brawny torso and legs now, and tentatively reached toward the air above it. My fingers collided with the warm fabric of Chess’s shirt over his chest. It rose and fell with a shallow shaky breath.
Had the grass done something else to him while it held him—poisoned him or put him into some kind of fugue state? My pulse thumping harder, I slid my hand up to cup his jaw.
“Chess,” I said softly, trying to keep the panic out of my voice. “I need you to make yourself visible again so I can cut the grass off you. I don’t want to cut you by accident. Can you do that?”
He gave a twitch of a nod. Then he shimmered into view, all of him at once, no floating grin. Because he wasn’t grinning at all. His mouth was set in a tight line, his forehead damp with sweat and a glassy look in his eyes.
The grass must have poisoned him or made him sick somehow. Gritting my teeth, I chopped at the strands that held his wrists and then his waist and his legs. When he was free, he stumbled forward, and the edges of him wavered as if he were going to vanish on us again.
“Hey,” I said, catching his elbow. “Stay with us. Stay with me.” I turned to look toward the others. “Do you have any idea what’s wrong? Is there something we can give him?”
Theo shook his head, looking genuinely confused. Hatter’s eyes had darkened with what looked like understanding.
“I think he’ll recover now that you’ve gotten him out,” he said. “Give him a minute.”
What did he know about Chess that I didn’t? I turned back to the other man. A bit more color was starting to return to Chess’s face, but he still looked sick. My stomach knotted.
On an impulse, I eased closer to him and wrapped my arms right around him. “I’ve got you,” I murmured into his shirt.
Chess’s hand came up to rest on the back of my head. After a second, a chuckle escaped him—a little weak, but much closer to his usual self. “So you do, lovely,” he said in a light tone. “We did get ourselves into quite a tangle for a moment there, didn’t we?”
I looked up at him, not releasing my embrace. “Are you okay?” I asked. “You seemed really... out of it for a minute there.” And all the minutes he’d stood there silent while I was helping the others.
“Oh, I go out and in and all around,” he said with a wave of his hand. His grin came back, solid as ever. He tucked his arm around my shoulders and turned me toward the hill. “We’ve almost reached your destination. Let us go and see where it gets us, hmm?”
I didn’t totally believe his nonchalant demeanor. Something had really shaken him up. But he obviously didn’t want to tell me about it, at least not right now, here, with the others.
The knot inside me expanded to encompass my entire stomach. The men around me put forward a tough front in their various ways, but none of them were invincible. I had the feeling they were putting on that front for me, so I wouldn’t feel guilty about dragging them on this quest—so I didn’t think I needed to worry about them. But they’d been here for me so much. I wanted to be strong for them when they needed it, if they’d let me.
I
bobbed up on my toes to brush a quick kiss to Chess’s cheek. “If you want to talk about it with me later, whenever, you can,” I murmured for just him to hear. “I want you to know that.”
He dipped his head to kiss my temple in return. “Sentiment appreciated, but there’s nothing to talk about,” he said. His hand closed around mine, with a gentle squeeze that felt like a thank you in itself.
That answer didn’t really satisfy me, but we did have the end of our quest right in front of us. Keeping my fingers twined with his, I strode forward.
The bowing grass at the edge of the ring I’d cleared hissed as I approached. I waved the sword at it, and to my relief the strands stilled. I’d shown them there was a force to be reckoned with around here.
All seven of us stayed close together as we waded through the subdued field, me staying in the lead this time, sword ready. Nothing jumped at us or grabbed us the rest of the way to the hill. As we came up on the immense shadow beneath the curve of the wave, I made out the raggedly arched entrance to a cave at the base of the hill beneath.
We’d just reached the edge of the shadow when a slim figure stepped out of the cave. I stopped in my tracks, raising the sword higher defensively.
The man gazed at us with a joyful light filling his wizened face. He swiped a hand over his wisps of white hair in an effort that didn’t do much to smooth it down and stepped forward with a clink of his plated armor, tarnished metal dappled with patches of worn red paint. With a grand sweep of his arm, he dropped into a bow on his knee in front of me. His voice creaked out of him like a wind-swayed branch.
“It is an honor to finally greet you, your Majesty.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Lyssa
Y our Majesty?
I let the sword drop to my side. “Er,” I said to the old dude in the armor, who was still crouched in his very committed bow. “There’s been some mistake. I don’t think any of us here is a majesty of anything. I’m definitely not.”
