“Will that be enough for you to be able to get them through?” Attie and my mother are my first priority. Even now, I’m glaringly aware of the oxygen tank my mother needs, it’s little wheels crooked from the fall. White reaches down and grabs it, taking any burden from my mom.
“I’m fast,” he nods. “I can carry them both if I have to. Watch your back, Calypso. Stay away from her teeth.”
I clench my jaw in answer and roll my shoulders. Avoid the venomous White Queen’s teeth?
Easy peasy.
Chapter 19
Cheshire
I watch Cal with intense eyes, as she stares at the door in front of us, waiting for the it be thrown open, so we can barge inside and step into a nightmare. It’s been years since I’ve had to deal with the White Queen, far longer than I can really recall. She was one of our greatest failures when Alice came back to Wonderland, and she haunts my dreams. I can still remember the look on her face as Alice had drained her completely before our eyes, starting her transformation. It hadn’t been anger, or agony, or any other emotion you would expect from someone in her situation. No, it had been acceptance, and strength. She’d known it would happen, and I always had the feeling that Absalom had slipped another one of his prophecies inside her mind.
Cal is beyond what I imagined when searching her world. I’d been almost afraid of what I would find, if my mate would be destined to be a soft creature that couldn’t handle my darkness. And yet, here Cal stands, tall, strong, beautiful, and so full of fire that I want to wrap myself in it and go up in flames. I want to fan the inferno, until she overflows and takes me out with her.
But no temptation, no prophecy will force us together.
I can tell she’s not on board with the prophecy, either. She doesn’t want to be the savior, and yet, she steels her spine, and prepares for battle against something she has no idea about. I can only imagine how she would react if she found out the second half of the prophecy, that she’s my mate.
No, best to keep that part hidden for now. Until I’m unable, I’ll protect her and her family, help her save Wonderland, and then I’ll send her home to live her life.
No matter how much I long to keep her.
Chapter 20
White doesn’t throw open the door like I expect. Instead, he twists the knob slowly, silently and pushes the door open just a crack. Immediately, the scent of must and stale air hit me in the face. A chill only found in caves runs over me, and I shiver. White’s ears twitch, and I listen with him, picking up only the sounds of dripping water and a constant thrumming echo of enclosed spaces.
White turns to look at us, nodding his head and pushing the door open on silent hinges, the full force of the chilly air and must hitting me. I wrinkle my nose but take a step forward, before Cheshire grabs my arm. He shakes his head and moves in front of me. I’m tempted to scowl, but I don’t really know what I’m walking into, so I move behind and put my trust in him.
White moves to the side for us to pass, pulling a sword from his back I’d never seen, and holding it at the ready. I glance back at my mom and Attie one more time. Attie looks worried, his shoulders tense, but he attempts a smile and a thumbs up for me. My mother simply nods her head at me, her little oxygen tank beside her, ready for White to grab it once we slip inside.
I take a deep breath and focus on Cheshire’s back, the scars almost comforting. I place my hand on his shoulder as he peers inside the cavern to make sure we don’t get separated. It’s dark, only a soft glow coming from somewhere, and I don’t have any special eyesight like I suspect Cheshire does. A slight tensing of his muscle is the only sign that he even feels it.
When we step over the threshold, the only thing I note is that the glow is brighter deeper inside, and it flickers like a flame. A soft scuttling sound reaches my ears, and I tense, but Cheshire doesn’t pause, leading us closer to the glow.
The first torch comes into view pretty quickly, the flames dim by normal standards but enough to spread light a short distance. That’s when I see the webs, thick as silk, spread along the walls. My heart gives a hard throb, and Cheshire’s ear twitches in answer. I wonder how he would react if he knew I’m an arachnophobe? Already, I can feel my skin crawling, and I pray to whatever god is listening that there aren’t actual spiders in this cavern.
Something scrapes along the stone in front of us, and I press myself to Cheshire’s back. To his benefit, he doesn’t push me away. Instead, he reaches back with a clawed hand and gently touches my hip. I don’t know if it’s in comfort or something else, but it makes me feel better either way.
We move forward as one unit, taking tiny steps forward. I twist my head to look behind us but the torch doesn’t penetrate into the darkness enough. When I feel eyes on me, I prepare my dagger. I don’t know what I’m about to be up against, but it’s stalking us, waiting for the right moment to strike.
I almost breathe a sigh of relief when the torches grow more frequent along the walls, and their combined glow spreads outward, slowly chasing some of the darkness away. For the first time, I’m able to see the ceiling, and I cringe.
Webs. There are webs hanging from everything. And there’s nice thick sacs that scream of a spider’s prey cocooned inside. When one twitches, I practically wrap myself around Cheshire’s back. Fuck this. This is not what I signed up for.
I’m ready to climb Cheshire like a tree and make him take me out of this place when a brightly lit area appears, and something sings inside of me to move towards it. I lift my hand and point over his shoulder, right at the center where what appears to be a sarcophagus lays. The closer we get, the more details I can pick out, and the louder the singing gets in my blood. It’s carved into the shape of a woman, and I wonder if it’s meant to be the White Queen. She’s beautiful even in carving, delicate, a tiny smile curling her lips.
I don’t believe in prophecies, or destiny, but the draw I feel towards that sarcophagus makes me think otherwise. Whatever is in there, it’s meant for me.
The scuttling sounds again, above us, and I whip my head in that direction, but there’s nothing there. Cheshire tenses, and we take a step closer together. His ears twist on his head, listening, hearing more than I ever could. He must be following the stalker, waiting for it to attack. I’m afraid what it’ll be. I’m afraid of whatever the White Queen has become.
When we get within ten feet from the sarcophagus, that’s when every nightmare I’ve ever had forms into a ball and then becomes even worse. The scuttling stops, and for a moment, I think it has disappeared, deemed us unworthy of dinner, anything really. It’s not because the creature has given up on us.
It’s because she chooses that moment to show herself.
The White Queen drops from the ceiling with a quiet thump, her feet light as she lands on the depiction of who she used to be. You wouldn’t be able to tell they are one and the same. I freeze and clench hard against Cheshire. I peer over his shoulder, but the urge to run flows through my body. I suppress it. It’s obvious that’s what she wants, and she would pick me off in seconds. She waited for us to get deeper inside before she appeared. She knows she has us at a disadvantage.
“Your Highness,” Cheshire says, bowing his head the slightest bit.
If he expects me to curtsey, I’m going to bash his head in.
The White Queen no longer looks Queenly. She wears no clothing, her skin gray and sunken deep, until she appears as skinny as a skeleton. Her legs are bent at an unnatural angle, making her walk on all fours. There’s no meat on her body at all, as if she’s been sucked dry. Her hair, once white, hangs in thin strings around her face, where thick pinchers clack together. Each time they touch, my body grows more tense. When those pinchers open and reveal the fangs inside her mouth, I flinch. Her eyes, as dark as I’ve ever seen, catch the light and suck it inside their inky blackness. On her head sits a dainty silver crown, so delicate, it makes me hurt.
We’re going to die.
The thought flits through my he
ad before I can stop it. I have too much to live for, so I shove that thought aside, and clench my dagger harder. My hand is shaking violently, but still I step to the side of Cheshire and raise it. My breaths come in small pants, but I ignore everything unnatural about the woman in front of me, and attempt to talk to the Queen she once was.
“Your Majesty,” I whisper, and her eyes dart to me. Her head twists to the side like a predator sizing up its prey. Her eyes don’t linger on the dagger at all, dismissing it as no threat. “We’ve come for the Vorpal Blade.”
Her pinchers clack together again, and she moves a little closer. I tense, but don’t back down. Cheshire keeps his eyes trained on the threat in front of us, not daring to look away.
“You thinkkkk that you cann come into my hommme,” she hisses, “and takeee what is minnnnee.”
Goosebumps race up and down my arms, the sound of her voice is husky and raw, as if she hasn’t spoken in a long time.
“We need the blade to save Wonderland, Your Highness,” Cheshire speaks.
“Ssssave Wonderland?” She focuses on Cheshire. “Wonderland is alreadyyyyy dead.”
She doesn’t give us any warning. One moment she’s talking to us, the next, she springs from the sarcophagus, her fangs bared, and Cheshire has just enough time to shove me to the side and away. I land against the wall, the webs closing around me like silk, and I start to hyperventilate. I rip myself away, but they come with me. I have the urge to do the spider dance, the one where you walk into a web and freak before waving your arms around, but I don’t have the chance.
I barely have time to raise my dagger and leap out of the way as the White Queen scurries for me, her legs moving far faster than I would expect. I barely avoid her before Cheshire has his arms around me and is hauling me towards the sarcophagus.
“Get the sword!” he yells, shoving me toward the light. “Now!”
I scramble towards the stone woman and push against the lid. It doesn’t move. I grunt and push harder.
“Watch out!” Cheshire’s warning almost comes too late. I throw myself to the side just in time for the White Queen to speed past, her fangs centimeters from my shoulder. She turns, but Cheshire is there to meet her, teasing her away from me, tempting fate.
“Come on, you blood-sucker,” Cheshire goads her. “Here’s dinner.”
If I wasn’t shoving with all my might to open the sarcophagus, I might have laughed. Instead, sweat breaks out along my skin as I push as hard as I can. Still, the lid doesn’t move.
“It won’t open!” I shout, just as Cheshire dives out of the way of the White Queen’s outstretched claws. He taps her on the shoulder as he goes, pissing her off even more.
“Try your blood!”
“What the fuck?”
The White Queen screeches in anger and moves faster towards Cheshire. He barely avoids her, her pinchers narrowly missing his shoulder.
“It could be locked with blood. Put a drop of blood on her mouth.”
Because, of course. Why didn’t I think of that?
I prick my finger with the dagger. The moment a drop of blood wells out, the White Queen stops what she’s doing and turns to me, the hunger in her eyes freezing my heart.
“Unlock it!” Cheshire screams just as she darts for me. I smear my thumb across the mouth of the stone lady and duck just in time, her movement making my hair swirl, she was so close. I don’t wait for the lid to open. Frantically, I move around the side, away from the blood-crazed creature that now only has eyes for me.
I focus only on getting away, even if I can hear the lid of the sarcophagus open and whatever is inside pulls me towards it. If I’m dead, I can’t grab it.
Cheshire sprints to my side and pulls me with him much quicker than I can move, the White Queen’s movements growing faster and more determined.
“You have to get the blade. The longer we’re in here, the more danger we’re in.”
“Easier said than done,” I growl, leaping towards the open container as she scuttles closer. I get a good look at a shining sword inside just before I have to move again to avoid fangs. The sword isn’t the only thing inside. There’s a body of a man, too. I don’t ask who it is. It doesn’t matter at the moment. I throw myself towards the sarcophagus again and reach inside.
The moment my hand wraps around the hilt of the sword, a sharp prickling runs down my arm all the way down to my toes. The White Queen stops and looks at me, the sword glowing bright as I lift it and hold it above my head.
“Enough.” My voice is hard, and I hold the Vorpal Blade, as it sings to me songs of victory and battle. “Enough.”
If I expected the White Queen to actually back down, I’d have been stupid. My command only throws her into a fit of anger, and I dive out of the way just in the nick of time. Cheshire is there to catch me, and he pulls me back into the darkness, towards the way out. The scuttling follows us, her screeching angry and intent on catching us. The harder we run, the more webs that catch on our bodies, dragging us down. Cheshire slashes through them with his claws, growling with every swing, pushing us harder. The screech comes from above us again, and I realize she’s following us on the ceiling. Fucking spiders.
In front of us, a doorway stands open, not the one we came through. This door is stone, but the light that filters in from the other side is bright, lighting up the whole area. The scuttling gets closer, and I realize we’re not going to make it. We’re not fast enough.
Not today, bitch!
I release Cheshire just in time to spin and hold the Vorpal Blade up, ready to impale her. But Cheshire grabs me and throws me to the side. I watch in horror as the White Queen sinks her fangs into his shoulder and he grunts in pain, before ripping away. The White Queen chitters and scuttles backwards, giving us enough time to stumble towards the door and into the light.
I push the door closed on the White Queen’s angry screeches and turn to where Cheshire lays on the ground.
“Why would you stop me? I had her,” I snarl even though blood drips down Cheshire’s shoulder.
“I can’t kill her. Wonderland won’t let me. She’s still my Queen.”
My anger deflates at that, and I kneel down next to him. I set the Vorpal Blade on the grass and study the wound.
“What do you mean Wonderland won’t let you?”
Cheshire sighs and shifts, grunting in pain.
“My role in Wonderland is to be the Hand of Justice, the Punisher of the Damned. I can’t harm her because Wonderland hasn’t deemed me to do so.”
When Cheshire shifts again, I notice for the first time that black veins spread from the wound, the flesh gaping and shredded. It’s relatively small compared to the White Queen’s pinchers at least, but red blood streams from the hole. The skin around it is a little green. They’d said the White Queen was venomous. And Cheshire has been bitten. It takes a moment for that fact to sink in but when it does, panic officially sets in.
My eyes widen in alarm, and I meet his eyes.
Chapter 21
Cheshire
I can see the moment Cal realizes how bad the bite looks. My first instinct is to tell her it’s fine, that I’ll survive. It hurts like hell, and my shoulder feels like it was run through a meat grinder, but after a few minutes, I’ll be good as new.
Cal doesn’t know that, though, and the urge to play with her crosses my mind. How far can I push her if she thinks I’m dying?
I groan and let my elbows collapse underneath me, like my body can’t hold itself up anymore.
“Fuck! She bit you. You said she was venomous,” Cal says, panic threaded through every single word.
“Oh, Wonder. I can see the light.” I reach my hand up towards the sky and let my eyes go unfocused. “I’m coming home, mom.”
Cal scowls. Maybe I put that on a little too strong. I need to bring it back down.
“How can I help? Is there an antidote? An anti-venom? What do I do?”
Cal hovers over me where I lay, her hair falling around
her face. Even though there’s panic in her face, she’s still beautiful. Her eyes are wide, and when I see the fear there, it makes me stumble. But I can’t help but to keep the ruse going. It’s far too fun to tease.
“There’s only one solution to the White Queen’s bite,” I say, my voice purposely weaker sounding. Can’t have her thinking I’m healing already. So far, she hasn’t noticed the black veins receding, but Cal is smart. If she focuses on them, she’ll see.
“What is it?” she asks, leaning closer.
I meet her eyes, my face solemn.
“You have to suck the venom out.”
Her brows go up and she glances at the wound. I wait for her to notice that it’s closed, but either it doesn’t register or she isn’t really seeing it. The blood probably helps with that.
“You’re serious?” She looks at me skeptically, and a tiny smile threatens to curl my lips.
“Dead serious.” I enunciate the word ‘dead.’ She doesn’t even roll her eyes at my joke.
“How do I do that?” She leans just a hint closer.
“Well, you put your mouth over the wound,” I say, heat filling my body. When we meet eyes again, I continue. “Then you suck.” Fire ignites in Cal’s eyes despite the situation. I hum low in my throat. “I’m so cold.” I really lay on the act. “We don’t have much time. You have to hurry.”
“Fuck my life,” Cal mumbles, before leaning down, excruciatingly slowly.
I hold my breath, anticipating the moment her lips land on my skin, tense for the moment those feather-light touches tease my shoulder. She places one of her hands on my chest to brace herself and the muscle jumps in answer. I lean my head back and wait.
Feral as a Cat (Sons of Wonderland Book 3) Page 8
