I jumped onto a thick fallen log and looked around, trying to find a good place to hide. Not far away was a thick, branchy bush with a pile of snow on top. I hopped down and darted under it. It wasn’t comfortable. The sharp little branches stabbed me from all directions, but there was enough space and a small gap in the snow that I could look through and see my surroundings.
Where was Hareson? Wasn’t he supposed to help me now that Lional was gone? Though really, what could a hare do against a tiger that a lion couldn’t? There was a reason the food chain existed. Food chain. Oh man, what if the Cheshire Cat had eaten Hareson?
The sound of snow crunching under heavy feet on the other side of the log marred the silent air. My ears perked up and turned that direction as I forced my breathing to become shallow, soundless.
Out of the darkness, the ice monsters appeared and stopped at the other side of the log. They tried to step over it but couldn’t raise their knees high enough. Their jaws moved up and down, making a clicking sound against their skulls as ice hit ice, and they swung their arms around in agitation. Instead of walking around or jumping over it, their mouths dropped open in a silent roar of anger and they started to tear at the log, their massive claws taking it apart, chunk by chunk.
I was left watching in horror at the shear violence from under my bush just feet away. But there was something else that I noticed. They couldn’t seem to jump or make noise. They must be made out of solid ice, there were no muscles that could expand and contract. In the right situation, that could give me an advantage. Maybe I’d get a chance to use that when they walked past.
At least the Yellow Path wasn’t pointing at them anymore, but it was still indicating that I needed to go back the way that I came. Back to the Ruby Castle. But to do that, I’d have to go around the monsters.
With a crack, the log split in two. The monsters shoved the pieces apart and walked forward, the snow crunching under their heavy feet.
I gritted my teeth together and squatted closer to the ground, enough that my chin sank between my two paws. Adrenaline pumped through my veins, adding tingles to my already shivering skin.
Go away, I thought. You can’t see me. I was a brown cat, hiding under a bush covered in snow, in the night. They shouldn’t be able to see me.
They walked right up to my bush and looked down right at me.
One bent over and reached both hands out for me. My heart stopped. I lunged out of the bush a second before its hands clapped together, crushing the whole bush into splinters. I turned tail and ran as fast as I could in the opposite direction.
How did they find me? It was like they knew I was there.
The monsters clicked their jaws sharply and thudded after me again.
The yowl of a tiger up ahead made me freeze in my tracks. Just hearing it, the wet fur on my shoulders rose in alarm, letting more cold air against my skin. I couldn’t see him, but I knew that sound. That same haunting sound that echoed in the rafters in Ruby Castle and scared everyone so badly. I could barely get away from the monsters, now I had to worry about a tiger too?
I swallowed and looked around. What could I do against a tiger? It was ten pounds against six hundred. Not a fair fight.
There was a break in the trees to my right. I glanced over and let my breath out. I’m not going to die here. Gray peaks of a small river gleamed in the moonlight. Along the shore was a tree, heavy with snow and with several low hanging branches reaching most of the way across the water. I was light enough, I could walk along the branches and jump the rest of the way. The monsters couldn’t jump, and they were made out of heavy ice. They wouldn’t be able to get across the water. I had to count on that.
Granted, it wouldn’t be a problem for the Cheshire Cat, but I needed to solve one problem at a time. Maybe I’d get lucky and he wouldn’t be able to find me.
I turned and ran over to the tree. My ears flicked back as I considered my options. Choosing the thickest branch, I hopped up and crept carefully across. It was slow moving, worming my way around the offshoots that jutted out of the main branch. Only a foot below, the river rushed, its tinkling sound echoing loudly in my sensitive ears. Little flecks of water jumped up at me as the water parted around rocks.
Half way across the branch, I heard the heavy thuds of the monsters get closer and stop. I looked over my shoulder and gasped when I saw them right next to my tree and reaching for me. All the hair stood up on my body and I half ran a couple steps farther across the branch. Their clawed fingers closing sharply with clanks in the cold air, missing my tail by inches. I let out a satisfied breath and turned back to hurry across.
My branch gave a hard lurch.
A feline yowl escaped my lips and I grabbed onto the branch, claws flexing to dig into the wet bark.
I glanced over my shoulder just as one of the monsters swung its huge claws at my branch again, leaving giant gashes in the bark. The limb bounced around in the air, me with it, my claws the only thing keeping me on. Alarmed, I glanced down at the water rushing under me. I needed to get across. Now.
I let go and scrambled over the branch, heart pounding faster than ever. The limb began to slant down, my weight affecting it now. It was time to jump. I wasn’t a pro at cat jumps, but hopefully I could make it across the remaining three feet of water to the shore. I leaned down, bunching up my muscles and prepared to jump. The limb lurched violently again, the thinner part whipping me up and down hard enough to disorient.
My front paws slipped off the wet bark and my gut tightened painfully as I realized I was falling. My yell of fright was cut off as I splashed face first into the icy water. I hit the bottom of the river and kicked off it, towards the surface. I broke through with a frantic gasp. The current grabbed me and swept me away.
Sputtering, my paws clawed at the water in desperation, barely keeping my head above the water. My body wanted to freeze up from the intense cold, but I kept paddling. The water was only about two feet deep. If I were human, I could just stand up. Instead, I was tossed to and fro like a rag doll. If I didn’t get out of this water soon, I was going to die.
My surroundings and the monsters were swept past, replaced with more black trees that flew by at a dizzying pace.
A thick, fallen branch rested half in the water ahead, with the bulk of the wood on the shore. I yowled in relief and tried to position my body in line with it. My teeth gritted in effort. It was so hard, fighting against the current with these tiny paws. “Get … there.”
The branch got closer.
“Ah!” I reached out a paw and clawed at the soft, wet wood.
The undertow of the eddy tried to drag me under, but I reached out my other paw and dug my claws in. It felt like they were being ripped out, but I wasn’t going to let go.
“I am not going to die in this crazy world as a cat!” I pulled as hard as I could.
My freezing muscles screamed in pain, but slowly the water gave way enough that my back claws could reach the wood. Coughing and suddenly sleepy, I worked my way out of the water. I don’t know what was wobbling more, me or the branch, but I kept going across until I fell off and collapsed onto the snowy shore.
I had to keep going. Had to get out of the snow and somewhere dry or I’d get hypothermia. I would freeze to death if I stayed here.
But my body wouldn’t listen. My arms tingled and grew heavier and heavier. I tried to raise my head, but I couldn’t.
No, stay awake!
My blurry eyes weren’t listening any more than my body.
White faded into black.
Chapter Five
So warm. Humming contently, I snuggled closer to the body pillow.
Man, what a crappy dream. Wonderland, Oz, and I should never be mixed in the same sentence—never mind the same world. What a bad combination. I still didn’t get how cats were involved, but who could ever understand dreams?
The blanket was heavier than normal. As unwilling to wake up as I was, one of my eyes cracked open to a flesh colored blur. I
t was shaped like an … arm? What …?
“Aah!” Panicked, I pushed myself off the ground. I squeaked when I stepped on my skirt and fell flat against—what was a wall doing here? My mind raced, and I looked around, trying to make sense of my surroundings.
I was in a short, wooden shack barely taller than me with no windows, just a short door. In the opposite corner stood a stone fireplace with a cheery, crackling fire under a hole in the roof. Next to it lay a crumpled pile of material that looked like my dress, the corset, and the hoop slip.
Alarmed and horrified anew, I looked down. I was definitely human again, which thankfully included clothing. Sort of. I was in my last layer of slip, with cap sleeves and a square neckline. Fortunately the black silky material wasn’t see-through, but its length was at least three inches past my toes.
Relieved I wasn’t naked, I turned my attention to the most concerning thing of all. The object I’d been cuddling with was a man, sleeping right in front of the door.
He appeared to be a couple years older than me. His shirtless body was long and lean with well-toned muscles in the all the right places. His hair was, well, orange. Popping out of that orange hair were cat ears of the same color with white tips. An orange tail with a white tip stuck out of his gray pants. Maybe the fact that he had animal parts should have made him less appealing, but that wasn’t the case.
He turned his handsome face toward me and cracked opened solid, deep brown eyes. “You are really loud in the morning,” he observed, voice groggy with sleep. His tail twitched in irritation.
“Sorry,” I muttered out of reflex. Then I shook my head. Why was I apologizing? “I mean, what’s going on? Where am I?”
“This is an abandoned Munchkin shack in Cheshire Forest.” He closed his eyes and relaxed back to a comfortable position. “And what is going on is that I’m sleeping.”
“Wait, who are you?” My arms wanted to cross in front of my stomach, but I couldn’t let on how nervous I was. Was this person a friend or someone else who wanted to kill me? Instead I made fists and forced them to stay at my sides.
“Ace,” he muttered with his eyes still closed. “Look, I just found a half-drowned cat and decided to pick it up to see if it was alive. That’s all. Now be quiet until I wake up.”
I stared at him. He was seriously just going to go back to sleep with me here? Wasn’t he worried? It’s not like I could do much to him, but still? “Hang on, why is my dress—”
“It was cold and wet. Now, shh.” His breathing deepened. After a couple minutes of further silence, I deemed him asleep.
I ran my hands through my hair as my mind raced. What should I do now? I was in a short shack with a cat-man. Weren’t there horror movies that started like this? He didn’t seem particularly threatening. At least, I couldn’t see him trying to hurt me if he was content to sleep by me. On the other hand, he was sleeping right in front of the door. There was no way out without waking him.
So I was stuck here. With a sigh, I sank down the wall and tucked my legs up against my chest. I rested my chin on my knees and fidgeted with all the material around me. The slip’s long skirt was meant to go with heels. Who knew where they were right now? Being shoeless wasn’t a big deal to me. While most of my classmates spent their summers in the mall, I spent mine roaming the streams and hillside barefoot with my brothers and friends. But how was I supposed to move in this slip?
Move where, anyway? I stared down at the yellow glow on the floor and lightly brushed at the color. It was supposed to lead me to where I needed to go. Right now the path led to the door. Big surprise. And where to after that? Red Queen had mentioned something about the Emerald Castle where I was supposed to choose the next ruler of Oz. By False Dawn, but I didn’t even know what time it was now. And the only person I knew of the small selection was Red Queen. Was she really the most loved ruler? I needed to find more information.
But how? The people were scared of me. How could I make them talk to me?
I glanced at the sleeping cat-man. He wasn’t scared of me. Frowning, I watched his tail twitch. Briefly I wondered what breed of cat Ace was. There were no stripes on his tail. Probably just an orange tabby.
I really should be leaving. Not only was I being hunted by ice monsters and a man-eating tiger, I didn’t have that much time. What if I’d wasted half a day sleeping? How far behind was I?
Disregarding Ace as much as he was disregarding me, I stood up and pulled at my skirt. I couldn’t move quickly with the length. I tried to tie it up in a knot at my knees. When I was done, the knot was the size of a basketball, and I was barely more mobile than before.
This was ridiculous. Maybe I could rip the material? I’d heard it wasn’t as easy as books and movies made it sound, but I could give it a try. I was not going to run around in lacy red underwear, after all. After working the knot out, I sat back down and pulling at the slippery silk. How did they make this thing? There wasn’t a single seam in the entire slip, and it was not tearing.
“What are you doing?”
I jumped and nearly fell over.
Ace sat cross-legged, watching me with interest. His gaze was level, but a wild gleam showed in his eyes.
I looked down and tugged at my skirt. “I’m trying to make this shorter. I can’t move with it this long.” My fingers slipped off the fabric again. “Wish I had some scissors or something. A knife, maybe.”
Something thudded into the wooden wall right next to my head, and I gasped. I turned to find a knife protruding from the wall several inches from my face.
Mouth working, I glared at him. “What was that?”
He shrugged, and a half smile touched his lips. “You said you wanted a knife.” His eyes twinkled.
Wow, he was hot when his eyes lit up like that. Trying not to let his smile distract me, I looked him up and down. Where had the knife come from? I knew from first-hand knowledge that he didn’t have any knives strapped to his bare torso. There wasn’t a single place he could have kept it, was there? Then again, it’s not like I’d checked his pants.
“Thanks,” I muttered. “Next time, just hand it to me.” I pulled the knife out of the wall. The blue handle fit perfectly in my hand, and the silver blade slid through the material like it was warm butter.
I glanced at him and found him watching me. Amusement was still the primary expression on his face, but there was something else just behind it. Curiosity? Confusion?
“You haven’t asked my name yet,” I said slowly, proud of how nonchalant my voice was. Did he care?
He flashed another smile. “I know your name. Everyone in Oz knows your name.”
“Really? How would you know?” I stopped cutting my skirt, waiting for his answer. Fame wasn’t always good.
He shrugged and tugged the wrinkles out of his pants, completely at ease. His ears twitched. “It’s not hard. Your scent, for one. You don’t smell like an Ozian.”
I frowned. Should I be offended? The last time I’d been awake, I was a drenched cat-sicle, but the smell couldn’t be that bad, right? “What do I smell like?”
He laughed. “Not like an animal, that’s for sure. Most Ozians carry a trace of their animal form even when they’re human. You don’t. I don’t even know the name of what you smell like.” His nose twitched. “But it’s nice,” he added quickly.
Despite the situation, I felt like laughing. That was totally a guy answer. I bit my lips and swallowed to stay cool and collected. “It’s just soap. Nothing special. Thanks, though.” I went back to cutting the skirt. Was my scent what kept giving me away last night while I was hiding? Those monsters seemed to always know exactly where I was. “What else sets me apart?” If I was going to be hunted, it was best to know so I could change it.
“Your eyes. They have the black things in there.”
“Pupils,” I corrected absentmindedly. I couldn’t change that.
“Oh, and the dress.” He motioned to the one piled on the ground. “I took it off so you would actually dr
y. It has Red Queen all over it. Colorful, sparkly, and poufy.” He smiled, and his eyes softened with fondness.
I stared at him. Whether or not he meant to, he was showing honest emotion. He genuinely liked Red Queen. Did that mean he was a good person? If he liked her, then he was aligned with her, right? “You seem to know a lot about her.” I sliced at the back half of the skirt.
He blinked as if startled out of his thoughts. “Sure. About as much as anyone in Oz.” He shrugged off my comment. “She’s pretty open about herself.”
His answer sounded like a half-truth, or an easy way out of a tough question. I nodded, accepting that for now. “The people seem to really love her.”
Ace shrugged. He leaned back against the door and laced his hands behind his head. His right ear flicked back as if listening to something on the other side of the door, then it came forward. “Of course. She’s Red Queen. The people love her and she loves them. Don’t you?”
“I only met her for an hour or so. That’s not long enough to form a true opinion.” And trying to get answers from her was like trying to wring water from a rock. “Yet apparently I’m supposed to make an important decision. I can’t do that without finding out more about what the people want.” I shrugged.
When Ace didn’t say anything, I glanced at him. He stared at me with an unfathomable expression, as if I was something new and different, but he didn’t know what to make of me.
“Well, what do you think of White Wizard?” I prompted.
He snorted and shook his head. “If you had fun last night, pick him.”
No, I couldn’t say that last night was fun. It had been the worst night of my life. “Why did everyone turn into animals?” The terror and confusion I had felt was still so fresh on my mind, it was hard to keep my voice steady.
The tip of Ace’s tail twitched and slapped at the floor. His brow set in a hard line and the smile slipped from his face. “That’s how White Wizard views the people of Oz. As animals, stupid and pointless. So that’s what they become when he’s in charge, since he’s the only one important enough to be human.”
Alice Games Page 4
