Page 19 of Escaping Wonderland

He raised his tail and delicately settled the hat over his head again, tipping it to a sideways angle. He drew in a deep breath; the air was scented withlife, with the smells of earth and growing things, with the perfume of at least a dozen different species of flower—and with her sweet, mouthwatering aroma, which only grew stronger as time passed. “You can see all this, smell it, hear the wind in the leaves and the wood creaking,touch it,tasteit, if you were so inclined. This, my dear Alice, is as real as it gets.”

“Drugs can make you feel that way, and they’re pumping us full of them.”

“I don’t partake,” he replied. “They make me feel unbalanced.”

She frowned, appearing to be in deep thought before her eyes widened. “The Hatter!”

“What about him? He’ll be furious, but we’ve no need for concern.”

“You said he’d come back, right? But he’s supposed to be dead. If this was a real world, he would stay dead. He wouldn’t come back. So how does that make sense?”

“Because that’s how things work.” Shadow shook his head and chuckled. “Really, just sayingpeople ought to stay dead doesn’t make it reality. And how dull would that be, anyway?”

“Because that is how the real world works, Shadow. People die.”

“Yes. In the real world, people die. And then they come back—usually angry that they were killed to begin with.”

Alice stared at him for several seconds, searching his face. “You really believe that.” She sighed, and her body sagged. “You can set me down now, Shadow. I can walk.”

He lifted his chin slightly. “I rather prefer carrying you, Alice. I enjoy the way you cling to me.”

“But I’m not—” She hurriedly loosened her hold on him. “I wasn’t clinging.”

With a heavy sigh of his own, Shadow halted and stooped to set her on her feet. She did, in fact,clingto him as she found her balance.

“You’ve a strange way of looking at things, sweet Alice.”

“I could say the same about you,” she replied, glancing up at him before stepping away and looking around. “So…you really have no idea where we are?”

He felt oddly incomplete without her in his arms. He ran his palms down his coat, smoothing the fabric, and tossed the feeling aside. Things between him and Alice had only just begun; there was plenty of time for her to warm up to him. He spun in a slow circle, studying their surroundings. “We’re in the woods, of course.”

She chuckled. “Aside from the obvious, I mean.”

Shadow turned to face her, arching a brow and tilting his head. A soft smile lingered on her face. He couldn’t recall anyone reacting to him like this, with genuine humor, withwarmth. He’d been an outsider here for as long as he could remember—and even if he couldn’t quantify his time in Wonderland, he knew it had been a great, great while.

“We’ll find our way to wherever it is we’re going,” he said.

“I suppose if we keep walking one way, we’ll end upsomewhere.”

“That makes more sense than anything you’ve said so far, Alice.” He folded one arm across his chest, leaned his opposite elbow on the back of his hand, and took his chin between forefinger and thumb. “So, we need to find a way to return you to unreality, correct?”

“To reality, yes. I need to find some way to…wake up, I guess. There have to be others like me here—people who know all this isn’t real.”

“Hmm…” Shadow tapped his chin. “I suppose we just need to find other crazy people, then.”

“I don’t think they’re the—” She shook her head. “Never mind.”

A sudden thought occurred to Shadow. His eyes widened, and he raised a finger into the air. “We’ll go talk to Jor’calla. He’sthe maddest person in Wonderland. The two of you should get on well.” He narrowed his eyes on her. “But nottoowell, mind you.”

A crease formed between her eyebrows. “What do you mean?”

He stepped closer to her and slipped his tail around her waist, tugging her against him. Before she could pull away, he cupped her face in his hands and looked into her lovely eyes. “Have you forgotten already, Alice? You’remine.”

Alice flattened her hands on Shadow’s chest, eyes rounding at his declaration.

You’remine.

He’d said the same in the Hatter’s bedroom. She’d thought little of it at the time—she’d been preoccupied with more pressing matters and had dismissed the words as those of a madman. But hearing them again now—while looking into his eyes—she had a feeling that he trulymeantthem.

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