Page 50 of Escaping Wonderland

“No, no…no oneis the Hatter’s now.” Miraxis squirmed again, but Shadow’s hold didn’t allow him much movement. “Hatter is gone.Youended him.Youruined it all, ghost.”

“I feel like I’m repeating myself, but I only stabbed him a little,” Shadow grumbled. “I don’t understand why he’s taken it so hard. It’s not the first time!”

Miraxis shook his head, though his range of motion was limited by the floor. “He’s late. Too late. He hasn’t come back.”

Shadow’s brows fell, and his grin faded. He leaned forward. “Elaborate.”

Swallowing thickly, Miraxis licked his lips. “Hatter was always punctual. Even when he died, he always came back on time. He wasneverlate. That’s why he was a great man. But he hasn’t come back, and it’s beendays. It’s the true death.Shehas brought true death to Wonderland, and now it marches with the Red King.”

Shadow flicked his gaze toward Alice. His eyes were troubled, but he only allowed her a brief glimpse of them before his attention returned to Miraxis. “That…that doesn’t make anysense, and I don’t appreciate your insinuation. If true death is in Wonderland, the king won’t be doing any marching, regardless of who is responsible for it. I killed him yesterday.”

“He is deathless in Wonderland,” Alice whispered softly. Ice chilled her blood, and a heavy weight sank in her stomach.

Miraxis nodded and released a panicked chuckle. “He is leading his faceless soldiers to the city, to Rosecourt, to cull the population—and to hunt the Grinning Ghost.” His eyes locked on Alice again. “To hunt you. They are marching now, collecting hearts as they go.”

Shadow’s muscles tensed as he pushed up on Miraxis’s arms, causing his captive to wail in pain. Thoughts thrashed around his mind in a merciless cyclone, too quick and numerous to acknowledge, too chaotic to decipher. It had taken a while to calm down after his crisis last night, but he’d been in amuchbetter place by the time Alice awoke this morning—especially considering thewayshe’d woken.

All that was undone now.

“Lies. Why do you lie, Miraxis?” Shadow didn’t even sound convinced to his own ears. “If the king is back, Jor’calla and the Hatter should be back, too. Why him and no one else? It doesn’t make any sense. This is all madness!”

“It’s the truth, I swear it!” Miraxis’s voice wavered. “The dolly is right! The king is deathless.”

Growling, Shadow dug his claws into Miraxis’s forearms, producing another cry of pain from the restrained praxian. “Donotcall her that.”

Alice muttered something, something too soft for Shadow to hear. When Shadow glanced at her, she was looking down, her brows creased in concentration. He frowned; despite the maelstrom in his head, despite the chaotic jumble in his mind,Alice’s troubled expression pierced everything and struck him deep. He didn’t like it. He didn’t like itat all.

Keeping one hand clamped around Miraxis’s wrists, Shadow hauled his captive onto his feet. Miraxis’s struggles had weakened, as though his distressed sobs had sapped his strength.

Shadow forced Miraxis to the dresser and tugged open the top drawer. An assortment of silk neckties were arranged on one side of it; he used several of them to quickly bind his captive’s ankles and wrists. Then he dragged Miraxis into the bathroom—with his legs bound, the pale-skinned praxian couldn’t walk on his own—and dumped him on the floor.

Miraxis begged throughout, going on and on about how he didn’t want to face true death, how he’d just been doing as he’d been ordered, how he’d never harmed anyone himself. Shadow ignored him; whatever fun he might’ve had in this encounter had already been leached away, and he saw nothing to gain in killing Miraxis. It simply wouldn’t have provided any fulfillment.

Leaving his captive on the floor, Shadow collected the clothing—his own and Alice’s—that he’d draped over the shower door to dry. Some of the fabric was still damp, but at least it wasn’t dirty anymore.

He stepped over Miraxis without a downward glance and exited the bathroom, closing the door behind him. Miraxis continued his frantic begging; at least it was muffled, now.

Alice was sitting on the edge of the bed, staring at Shadow, still holding the blanket over her chest.

“Jor’calla said the Red King was from beyond,” she said. “That he didn’t come like us, and that he could only be killed beyond.”

Shadow’s frown deepened. He didn’t want to think about all this, didn’t want to stumble along the chain of thoughts thathad caused him such distress the night before. Didn’t want to acknowledge that there was any chance of losing her.

He stopped in front of her and extended his free hand, brushing her hair back from her face. “Jor’calla said a lot of things that didn’t mean much.”

Alice raised her hand and gently grasped his wrist. “They mean a lot, Shadow. The king—whoever he really is—could be the key to escaping this place.”

The sincerity in her expression made Shadow’s chest constrict. It didn’t matter how many times he told himself this was madness, that the ideas she—and now seemingly everyone else—was throwing around were ludicrous, that she was simply confused and had a warped perspective; it was all coming together. There were too many things falling into place for him to dismiss them all, and that made him uncomfortable.

Because it challengedeverythinghe’d ever known.

He knelt in front of her, keeping his hand on her face, and let the clothing fall to the floor. Miraxis’s pleas hadn’t ceased, but they were little more than easily forgotten background noise now. Only Alice mattered.

“None of this makes sense to me, Alice. It seems mad.” He ran his tongue over his dry lips. “If this isn’t real, what is? Where did you come from, where are you trying to go? How did you get here?”

Alice released his wrist and cupped his face, brushing her thumb over his cheek. As she looked down at him, her expression was both tender and sad. “This is a simulation, Shadow. Everything we see here is made up, like a game, and we are the characters. I came from what Jor’calla called beyond. The real world.”

“Tell me about your world. Aboutyou, Alice.”

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