Page 56 of Escaping Wonderland

“I will find you,” the one holding Alice added.

Alice’s hair wavered as she panted. She flicked her chin up and aside to flip some of the strands away, uncovering one piercing blue eye. It was bright with panic and worry, but there was something more in it, something Shadow couldn’t fully identify—as though it brimmed with a thousand words left unsaid.

As though were overflowing withcaringshe longed to express.

Shadow’s aching heart swelled until it seemed likely to burst from his ribcage. He’d promised her she was safe with him. This was his failure, staring him in the face.

This was no game. There was no fun to be had here. Shadow had to assume death had become a permanent state now, that there’d be no coming back. Not for Alice.

That made her the most precious, invaluable thing in all Wonderland—the one thing for which he’d gladly giveeverythingup. The only thing he needed to be real.

The only thing heknewto be real.

She’s been that to me all along.

Shadow clenched his fists at his sides, digging his claws into his palms.

Save her,protecther.

“Who are you?” Shadow asked through gritted teeth.

“I am Sithix,” both boruks replied in unison. They glanced at one another and said, “Iam Sithix.”

“You seem confused, Sithixes.” Shadow raised a hand, holding up his pointer finger. “You getonechance. Release her and walk away.”

“Voices whisper and claim the ghost enjoys games.” Knife-Sithix inched closer to Alice and his companion. “Play.”

“What color is her blood?” other-Sithix asked.

Knife-Sithix settled his blade on Alice’s cheek. “Does her flesh taste foul or sweet?”

Alice squeezed her lips together in a tight line; the already pale flesh around them somehow paled further. Her nostrils flared as the blade pressed into her skin, producing a crimson line on her cheek. Blood trickled from the small wound. A high-pitched whimper escaped her.

Shadow’s lips peeled back, baring his teeth, and his fingers curled to ready his claws.

“King won’t mind if I take a small taste,” knife-Sithix said, staring at the blood.

Other-Sithix leaned close to Alice’s ear and ran his long, thin tongue along its outer edge. “I wantmorethan a taste.” He dipped his face lower and dragged the point of a tooth just below her jaw. She flinched with a cry. Blood dripped from thecut opened by his tooth, falling into the water to vanish in the current.

Their brief exchange saw Shadow frozen in place; even had he been able to think, his legs wouldn’t have moved. For those few seconds, he was an immovable mountain with roots that ran unfathomably deep—but even though his body was still, there was no peace within him.

Alice, my Alice,mine, sweet, sweet Alice…

Heat roiled in his gut like a churning mass of molten stone and fire, and as it built, so did the pressure accompanying it. The heat flowed through his veins and made his scalp, fingertips, and toes tingle; it flared in his eyes, tinting everything crimson, and when it coalesced in his chest, it met the jumble of powerful emotions he felt toward Alice.

That combination of fire and emotion triggered an explosion.

Rage like Shadow had never experienced, like should never have been possible, enveloped his mind and body, and it wouldn’t allow a single moment of inaction.

Shadow charged. He leapt over the stream, perceiving the Sithixes only as threats, only as vessels for blood that needed to be spilled.

Their already wide, reptilian eyes somehow rounded further, but their grins did not falter. They were confident, especially in the water.

Confidence didn’t frighten Shadow.

Knife-Sithix raised his blades, which gleamed with droplets of water—and one of them with a hint of Alice’s blood. Those droplets fell away and were swallowed by the stream like tears lost to the flow of time.

Halfway through the arc of his leap, Shadow phased, driven by instincts that had been honed by the intensity of his fury and hatred. He rematerialized in the place his jump would have taken him naturally—in front of knife-Sithix’s position—but hisfoe was already in the process of turning around, having likely anticipated another attack from behind.

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