Page 24 of Escaping Wonderland

To Alice’s surprise, he simply lay down on his back, stretching his long legs out and sliding the hat forward to cover his eyes.

She glanced through the canopy above, letting her gaze linger on the dark sky for a few moments, before looking in the direction in which they’d been traveling—or at least in which shethoughtthey’d been traveling. The darkness between the trees was deepening at an impossible rate. She sighed.

“Since we’re having such alogicalconversation, it only stands to reason that we rest for the night,” he said. “It will be full dark soon.”

“Isn’t it already full dark?”

He settled a single finger on the brim of the hat, tipping it back just enough for his glowing eyes to meet hers. “Can you still see the things around you?”

Since she could, she had to assume thatfull darkmeant exactly what it implied.

With another soft sigh, Alice lowered herself onto the grass a few feet away from Shadow and lay on her side, facing away from him. She curled up and bent one arm, using it as a pillow.

This place wasn’t real, after all, so why not just lie down and sleep in the middle of the woods? It wasn’t like they’d come across signs of any predators during their journey. She hadn’t even seen a single animal, bird, or insect—she’d onlyheardthem.

But if it wasn’t real, why was her exposed skin so chilled by the night air?

Too muchhad seemed real since she’d woken up in the woods. She touched her fingers to her neck, where she’d felt the bite of the Hatter’s blade.

A shiver coursed through her, and she curled up a little tighter. Tears filled her eyes. She sniffled; in that moment, she felt incredibly, wholly alone.

There was a whisper of moving fabric behind her. A second later, something warm and soft settled over her—Shadow’s coat. In her position, it was large enough to cover her entire body.

She lifted her head and looked over her shoulder. He was laid out just as he’d been when she last saw him—on his back with the hat covering his eyes—but he was no longer wearing his coat, and he was a foot or two closer to her.

“Thank you,” she said.

“Mmhmm,” he purred.

Alice laid her head down and clutched the coat, drawing it tight around her and burying her face in the fabric. She inhaled. It smelled of damp earth and springtime air, but beneath that was another scent, a scent belonging only to Shadow—oakmoss and amber.

Snuggling into the coat, she closed her eyes and slowly exhaled. The tension in her muscles gradually faded.

As she was drifting to sleep, she was distantly aware of a solid body pressing against her back and long, strong arms wrapping around her, drawing Alice into the shelter of a warm, hard body.

“Whether you believe or not, I will keep you safe, Alice,” Shadow whispered.

CHAPTER 7

Alice woke as though only a second had passed since she’d closed her eyes. Despite having spent the night on the forest floor, she’d suffered no restlessness or discomfort; her sleep had been deep and dreamless. If it weren’t for the golden morning sunlight streaming through the leaves, she wouldn’t have believed she’d slept at all.

She was wide awake without a hint of grogginess.

She sat up, and something slid off her chest to pool on her lap—Shadow’s jacket. She recalled him covering her up with it, and even vaguely remembered the warm, hard press of his body as he’d pulled her against him.

Curling her fingers into the coat’s velvety material, she scanned her surroundings, searching for Shadow, but he was nowhere to be found. Alice frowned. Where was he? Had he gone with a purpose, or simply wandered off?

He wouldn’t just leave her, would he?

“Shadow?” she called.

The only answer she received was a gentle rustling of leaves and the soft creaking of massive tree trunks in the breeze. Even while Shadow was walking beside her, head and shoulders aboveher, she’d never felt quite as small as she did in that moment, alone and surrounded by these massive, almost-familiar plants.

Alice drew in a deep breath and shook her head. It was okay. None of this was real. She had nothing to worry about.

If only she could believe that.

She looked around again only to realize that everything wasdifferent. Not that any individual plantlookeddifferent, but they all seemed to be in different places—like the whole forest had picked itself up and shuffled around during the night. Even in the dark, she’d been able to make out the vegetation that had been around her; none of it was in the same position now as it had been before she went to sleep.

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