Page 78 of Escaping Wonderland

This kiss wasn’t about seduction or blazing desire—it was a grounding kiss, confirming that they were real, that they were alive, that they were together. They’d never kissed one another with such desperation and relief; no other kiss had ever been so comforting.

When they finally pulled away from one another, Alice searched his face, frowning at the cuts and swelling, at the first hints of bruising on his gray skin. Easing down on the cushion beneath her, Alice lightly touched the side of his mouth near the split.

“What happened?” she asked.

“The king and I found one another,” he replied, voice hoarse.

Alice’s eyes flared. Theking? She tore her gaze away from Shadow to take in her surroundings. Though she and Shadow were no longer in the simulation, they were still in Wonderland—or at least the asylum thathousedWonderland. “Where is he now?”

“Showed him true death.”

Perhaps it was wrong to feel relief over someone’s death, but she couldn’t help it now. Though she’d recently dealt with death when she’d lost her father, Wonderland had given Alice her first experiences with violence and bloodshed—the worst of which had been perpetrated by the Red King.

“We need to leave,” Alice said, gently brushing her fingertips over his cheek.

Shadow nodded and removed one arm from around her, leaning away to pick up a small black tablet from the foot of the pod—a gun lay beside it on the padded bed. He winced and held the device to her. “This has a map on it. Could you use it to find a way? I…my head is too fuzzy, and I can’t…I can’t remember enough.”

Pushing herself up with her hands, Alice took the tablet, but she didn’t remove her eyes from Shadow. “How hurt are you?”

He glanced down at himself for a few seconds before returning his gaze to hers. “I’m sure I’ve had worse. I just can’t remember it.”

Frowning, Alice settled her hand just over his hip and slowly ran it up over his hospital gown. He stiffened and sucked in a sharp breath through his teeth when she reached his ribs.

“Just a little tender,” he said in a strained voice.

“I barely touched it… Oh, Shadow.”

How badly was he hurt?

“I’ll be fine,” he said. “Barely felt it, thanks to all the drugs they must’ve pumped into me.”

Alice’s frown deepened, but she chose not to press him on the obvious lie. Despite the concern eating away at her from within, there wasn’t much she could do to help him while they were in this place.

She carefully pulled away from him and climbed out of the pod, keeping the tablet in hand as she moved. Her legs were unsteady at first, feeling terribly weak, but Shadow—holding onto the pod to anchor himself—offered her his arm in support. She was suddenly aware of every spot on her body where a needle had been embedded; they were highlighted by patches of numbness beneath which that strange, cold sensation lingered.

Alice looked around the room. She’d been drugged when they first dragged her in here, and her vision had been too blurred to see much of it. The pod had looked like a coffin to her at first glance; it might as well have been one, in the end, had Shadow not saved her in time. There was one pod to the right of hers, and at least twenty-five more to the left—meaning that, just in this room alone, there were nearly thirty people trapped in Wonderland.

How many of them actually belonged here? How many people in this facility were like Alice, imprisoned unjustly and against their will?

How many of them desperately needed treatment,realtreatment, but instead were subjected to that surreal, chaotic, dangerous simulation?

She turned her face back toward Shadow. Why washehere?

Whatever the reason, Alice didn’t care, and she wouldn’t allow them to keep him here. Shadow washers.

“Were there other guards or workers out there?” Alice asked, turning the tablet in her hands.

“I didn’t see anyone on my way here. The device said the security and reporting systems were deactivated. I think the king turned them off before he came for me.”

“This washis?”

Shadow nodded. “And it’s totally unsecured. I was able to use it to override your pod and force you awake.”

An unsecured tablet that could override systems in this facility? Alice leaned forward and pressed a kiss on the corner of his mouth as elation warmed her, fighting back the chill that had settled into her body since waking. This tablet, so plain and unimportant at a glance, was their way out. “Good. I’ll figure out a way to lock the door so we can have a few minutes to think.”

She swiped her finger over the screen. It came on to display Alice’s picture—her file was open. Brows lowering, she skimmed the document.

Patient suffers from intermittent explosive disorder, depression, delusions, and paranoia. Family has reported violent outbursts and threats, and patient exhibited those tendencies while being transported to facility.

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