Page 34 of Escaping Wonderland

Alice glanced back to see Shadow push himself to his feet, his lips curling into a grin.

He met her gaze. “I think I’ll have a look.”

Before she could say anything, Shadow was gone—vanished like a ghost.

Grinning Ghost.

Unease filled Alice as she stepped to the spot in which Shadow had been standing a moment before. The air was thick with foreboding and tension, which mixed with the wisps of smoke to press in around her.

“Shadow?” she called shakily.

“He has come! He is here!” Jor’calla cried out.

The door burst open and banged against the wall, startling Alice. She spun around, eyes wide, to see at least six tall, black figures march into the room. They were clad in armor and roughly human in size and shape, but the exposed metal at theirjoints and necks revealed their true nature—they were robots. The only color on them came from their glowing red eyes and the X’s on their chests, the latter of which were painted in dripping crimson over the place where a human’s heart would’ve been.

Several of the robots fanned out around the room, aiming their guns at Alice and Jor’calla, as four more filed inside. These four wasted no time in grabbing hold of Alice and the alien. Their fingers were impossibly strong and solid as they hauled her toward the door. Terror seized her.

Rapid flashes of memory assailed Alice—cruel hands and rough fingers, mocking laughter, searing pain, a dim corridor.

“No! No! Not again,” Alice screamed, only vaguely aware of Jor’calla’s voice in the background; he was speaking too frantically for her to understand. She thrashed against her captors’ holds, kicking and clawing, seeking any means of escape.

They held firm, unfazed by her struggles. Her shoulders burned with the exertion, one of her nails broke, and pain radiated up from her toes as they struck solid metal, but she didn’t stop as they dragged her along the spiraling trail through the interior forest.

When they emerged from Jor’calla’s home, the woods were gloomy with approaching twilight. More of the robotic soldiers stood on either side of the purple cobblestone path, lined up in neat, mirrored rows that ignored the way the path meandered and curved.

The robots holding Alice dragged her between the lines of their fellows, toward the man standing at the end of the formation. He was tall and broad-shouldered, dressed in a long, red, double-breasted leather overcoat that had polished silver armor pieces on the shoulders and arms. The belt around his waist held a holstered gun on one hip and a sheathed sword on the other. His coat’s collar was upturned, wrapping around theback of his neck and framing his cheeks. Like the robots, he had a mark over his heart, but hiswasa heart—or at least the shape of one, depicted in the deepest black. It matched the black hair that hung past his shoulders in waves.

The man’s dark eyes fell on Alice as she neared.

Breath heavy and ragged, she bared her teeth and stared up at the man through the mess of her hair. His lips were curled in a self-satisfied smirk, and smugness gleamed in his eyes. He exuded the air of a powerful man—but more than that, he exuded the air of a man utterly confident in his power.

“Alice”—his smirk shifted into an unsettling grin—“I’ve finally found you.”

CHAPTER 9

Alice trembled in the grasp of her robotic captors as icy fear crept through her veins and dread pooled in her stomach.

She knew the king’s voice—it was familiar, it was horrible, and she’d heard itsomewherebefore. The answer danced along the edges of her consciousness, but she just couldn’t figure it out. Why couldn’t she place that voice?

Oh God, why can’t Iremember?

She swept her gaze around, searching for Shadow, for even a hint of him, but he was nowhere to be found.

Another pair of robots dragged Jor’calla up beside Alice. They had their arms looped around his, keeping his long, thin limbs pinned together. His legs kicked and scrabbled for purchase beneath him in vain; they were too weak to resist his captors.

“If I’d known she was here, I would’ve paid you a visit sooner, Jor’calla,” said the Red King. “I hope you didn’t run your mouth too much. Wouldn’t want you spoiling the fun.”

“Who are you?” Alice asked, barely keeping her voice steady.

“Here, I’m the king. Act accordingly.”

One of the robots placed a hand on the back of her neck and forced her to her knees with her head bowed. Alice grittedher teeth and pushed back against the robot’s hold, but it was useless.

“Perfect. Before long, you’ll learn to do it on your own.” He placed a finger beneath her chin and tipped it up once the robot removed its hand from the back of her neck. “And you’ll get on your knees often—any time I want my cock between those pretty lips.”

From somewhere nearby, there was a faint, nearly inaudible growl; Alice heard it only as a low rumbling, but it was somehow reminiscent of an agitated lion.

Pulling her chin away, Alice snapped her teeth at the king’s finger.

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