Page 31 of Escaping Wonderland

“I suppose it’s easier to be impossible when nothing is real, isn’t it?”

Her laughter faded, and her smile eased. “You are real, Shadow.”

His expression took on an uncharacteristically solemn cast. “I believe that’s the nicest thing anyone’s ever said to me, Alice.”

“People must not say nice things to you often, then.”

“Usually its things likeget the hell out of hereorI’m going to gut you when I get my hands on you. I assume they mean it all in good spirits, as most everyone says something along those lines when they encounter me.”

“I…don’t think they do, Shadow.”

His grin returned, and he moved his face into her hair, brushing his nose along her neck and behind her ear. “Butyousay nice things. You smell nice, too.”

Delightful shivers swept through her. Alice gasped and flinched away, her hands tightening around his jacket as her skin tingled in the places he’d touched. “Shadow!”

He chuckled huskily and held her closer. “You smell even better whenI’mnice to you.”

Heat suffused her cheeks. She couldn’t believe how swiftly he’d caught scent ofthat. Of course, it didn’t help that she was wearing nothing beneath her dress, but still! To actuallysmellher desire while they were kissing? It was as embarrassing as it was arousing.

“Are we almost there?” Alice asked.

“Oddly enough, we arethere. Or here, rather.”

Her brow furrowed. “What?”

She looked away from him, and her eyes widened when she realized they were no longer in the swamp, trudging through water and muck—they were back in the woods, and Shadow’s feet were planted on solid ground.

She scanned their surroundings; there was no sign of the swamp anywhere behind them, not even a wisp of fog or a single dangling strand of moss. Afternoon light streamed through the forest canopy, which granted glimpses of a pure blue sky just a shade or two darker than her dress. It was as though they’d somehow teleportedwhile he’d been talking to her.

Alice turned her attention forward. The purple-stone path—or at leastapurple-stone path—meandered past directly ahead of them, and on the other side of it, no more than ten feet away from the paving stones, stood a strange house.

The structure looked like it was made of some sort of pale gray, hardened material—stucco or clay, perhaps. Its lower portion was a wide, squat cylinder with a small round window to either side of its comically wide front door, and the tiled roof swept outward from the central point high overhead and hung at least five feet past the exterior wall to give the entire structure a decidedly mushroom-like appearance.

“How did we— Never mind,” Alice said. She should’ve known by now not to question this place. “This is him?”

“No. That’s hishome. Jor’calla is aperson, not a building.”

She chuckled. “I know that. I wasn’t asking if this was literally him.”

“But that’s exactly what you asked.” He shook his head. “And people callmemad.”

Alice glared at him. “You can set me down now.”

“And if I don’t want to?”

“You should.”

“Well, when you put it that way, it all makes sense,” he said without a hint of irony before gently setting Alice on her feet.

Alice brushed her hands down her skirt, tugging the hem a little lower on her thighs, and started toward Jor’calla’s house. Shadow fell into step beside her.

“So, you think he can help?” she asked as they approached the door.

Shadow shrugged nonchalantly. “Probably not. He’s a strange one. Doesn’t usually make much sense when he talks. It often seems like he’s never truly where he is.”

“I thought you said he could help us.”

“Hmm.” Shadow lifted a hand and tapped his chin with the tip of his finger. “I believe I said you’d get on well with him, as he’s one of the maddest people in Wonderland. I never mentioned anything abouthelpspecifically.”

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