Page 25 of Escaping Wonderland

Maybe I just got turned around while I slept?

It wasn’t like she’d have known which direction they were heading to begin with—Shadow had said they were lost, and he seemed to wander without any set course. She’d likely have to do the same, at least until she found a path. Surely there had to be onesomewhere.

“Shadow?” she called again, louder this time.

Again, there was no answer except for sweet bird songs and the faint echo of her own voice between the trees. She wrung the jacket in her hands.

She was alone.

Alice should’ve felt relieved—Shadow was completely mad, and it was foolish to believe she was safe with him around. Despite how he’d acted around her thus far—friendly and oddly gentle—he was still a dangerous, unpredictable male.

So why was her gut heavy with building disappointment and fear? Why was she so anxious to hear his voice, to catch even a tiny glimpse of him among the trees?

Whether you believe or not, I will keep you safe, Alice.

She’d heard him say those words as she’d fallen asleep; she remembered them as if he’d spoken only moments ago.

If he was going to keep her safe, wherewashe?

A faint tingling sensation crept across her skin, sending a shudder along her spine, and the little hairs on her arms stood on end. Just like when she’d first woken in Wonderland, she felt like she was being watched…but she found herself oddly unalarmed by the sensation.

Alice pushed herself onto her feet, swung the jacket to her back, and slipped her arms through the sleeves. She had to roll those sleeves up to free her hands, and the jacket’s hem fell past her knees, but once she drew it closed around herself, it warded off the morning chill.

“Well…any direction is as good as the rest,” she said, brows creased as she turned in place. She stopped at random and began walking. The grass was laden with cool dew that dampened her single stocking. Sighing, Alice stopped to lift her left foot, tug off her remaining stocking, and tuck it into one of the pockets in Shadow’s jacket.

She took in a deep breath and resumed walking. Hints of his scent wafted off his jacket, stoking a strange sense of longing in her. Though she didn’t have any idea how it was possible—as they’d only justmet—shemissedShadow. She couldn’t deny it. She missed his presence, his voice, his glowing eyes, and his disturbing but oddly charming grin.

With all her senses contradicting what she thought to be true, it was already a struggle to keep herself convinced that this world was a simulation, and Shadow made that struggle even more difficult—because even if this world wasn’t real,hewas. He was somewhere in the asylum, hooked up to a mess of tubes, wires, and needles in one of those pods just like she was. Even if he didn’t realize it, he was as much a prisoner as Alice.

Whether it had to do with a quirk of this virtual world or something within Alice herself, her body had reacted strongly every time Shadow touched her. If she continued traveling withhim, how long would she be able to resist him? How long would it be before desire overwhelmed her good sense and she gave in?

His words from the night before drifted to the forefront of her mind.

Play the game a while. Enjoy yourself while you’re here.

Was it wrong to seek out the good in a bad situation? She’d never indulged such urges in the real world—she had loved her father, and she’d always avoided anything that would’ve caused him scandal, that would’ve tainted their family name any more than her mother already had. Buthere…

Whatever happened in this simulation would have no consequences, no impact on the world outside. No one would ever know. There’d be no repercussions if she?—

Alice shook her head sharply.

I need to find a way out of here. Before I give in to temptation.

And oh, she was sorely tempted when it came to Shadow, despite his alienness.

Her trek through the forest was a lonely, quiet one. The giant leaves and flowers occasionally rustled as though something were moving through them, but Alice never saw any wildlife—even though the sense that she was being watched persisted.

She passed countless trees; before long, they all looked the same. Her worry that she was walking in circles was assuaged only by the varying colors of the flowers—they were much easier to distinguish from one another than the trees, just different enough to tell her she wasn’t wandering in an endless loop.

The forest presented conflicting airs of unease and serenity. The light filtering through the oversized leaves high overhead, paired with the smell of living, thriving plants and the high, carefree bird songs created a peaceful environment, but like everything else in this simulation, it was alloff.

She couldn’t help but wonder whether this place was designed to ease the mental illnesses of its patients or feed into them.

After what felt like a long time—during which it also seemed like she’d only traveled a few hundred feet from her starting point—she realized that mist was forming between the trees. The golden sunlight had been replaced by uniform gray, and her unease intensified, tinged with an inexplicable sense of loss and sorrow.

It’s not real, she reminded herself as she continued forward.

Now, tufts of sagging moss hung from the trees, and the oversized flowers and undergrowth that had dominated the rest of the forest gave way to clinging vines. The trees were steadily thinner, many of them standing almost perfectly straight and branchless for their lowest twenty or thirty feet, their bark dulled and gray beneath the moss.

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