Page 54 of Escaping Wonderland

Whoever was holding Alice tugged her back from the shoreline as the boruk stepped forward. She wiggled, trying to pull her arms free while fighting back a swell of fear.

“King was right,” the boruk said, his long, thin tongue flicking out. His voice had a strange, vibrating quality to it that reminded her of a rattlesnake’s tail. “What a little pretty we’ve found.”

“Too plain,” said the alien behind her—in a voice identical to the boruk’s.

“Letgoof me!” Alice kicked at her captor’s legs, took in a deep breath, and screamed, “Shadow!”

The alien restraining her—whose arms were the same as the boruk’s, as well—hissed softly and tightened his hold on her, making it difficult for her to draw in another breath after her scream. “Feisty. Maybe I do like it, after all.”

Water sloshed around the first boruk as he climbed out of the stream. “Too loud. It should learn when to give in.”

As he emerged from the water fully, Alice couldn’t help but drop her gaze lower. A thick, powerful tail extended from his lower back, and his legs—as heavily muscled as his arms—were clad in form-fitting black pants, but it was the belt around his waist that held her attention the longest. At least half a dozen sheathed knives hung from that belt, each longer than the last.

“It would be boring if it was submissive,” said the boruk holding her. His long, alien tongue flicked over Alice’s hair and across the top of her ear.

Alice jerked her head away, then instinctively snapped it backward, striking the boruk behind her in his mouth. Pain pierced her skull; her captor’s teeth were rock solid, and the sting on her scalp suggested they might have broken her skin. And it was that pain that brought clarity to Alice’s mind.

This simulation may not be real, but these people were—and they could deliver true death.

The alien holding Alice growled and leaned back, lifting Alice off her feet, before carrying her toward the water.

“See?” the first boruk said. “Too much fight. Pretty but annoying.”

“Plain but intriguing,” snapped her captor.

Alice’s eyes widened as she neared the water. She renewed her fight, kicking and thrashing against the boruk. “No! Stop!Shadow!”

Undeterred, Alice’s captor stepped off the bank and dropped into the stream. Alice found herself immediately submerged to her chest, and he only moved farther from the shore, into deeper water. Her continued struggles were soon too far below the surface to cause more than some pathetic ripples around her.

He halted when the cold water had reached Alice’s chin and twisted around to face the shoreline. He and his companion were both staring at the same place—a mass of leaves between the trunks of two trees. The same spot, she realized, through which she’d arrived.

“He is here,” said the alien on land.

“Yes,” hissed the alien holding her.

Lifting her chin to keep her mouth above the stream’s surface, Alice stared at the foliage. Her heart pounded, and her body trembled with fear and cold. Were they talking aboutShadow? How could they be? There was no sign of him, no way they could’ve known where he was, especially if he didn’t want them to know.

He’s already taken out two very dangerous men like it was nothing. He’ll do the same with these two.

For several seconds, both boruks were still, and everything seemed unnaturally quiet. Even the rustling of the leaves overhead and the stream’s burbling around Alice were muted.

Then everything moved faster than her fear-addled mind could keep up with.

The boruk holding Alice spun around suddenly, swinging her to face the opposite bank. Shadow was standing in the stream no more than five feet away. The water was barely up to his chest, even though she had to stretch her neck to keep her chin above the surface. But the relief she should’ve felt at his presence, at his nearness, was cancelled out by the look on his face.

There was a crease between his eyebrows, which were drawn tight over rounded eyes, and his mouth was agape. No grin, no playful sparkle in his gaze, no hint of his normal carefree demeanor. He wore only concern and shock on his face. Both his arms were raised, claws poised as though to strike, but he was unmoving.

That was the last thing Alice saw before she was pulled under water—Shadow frozen in an unending moment of time, stunned and helpless.

CHAPTER 15

For Shadow, the space between those heartbeats stretched into eternity.

Thump-thump.

He’d phased behind the boruk holding Alice—that one posed the most immediate threat, directly endangering her life, and therefore needed to die first. It should’ve been quick and simple.

But the alien spun around before Shadow could strike—as though he’d somehow known the very instant Shadow had meant to attack. Shadow only had time enough to meet Alice’s terrified gaze before her captor dragged her below the stream’s surface.

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