Page 40 of Escaping Wonderland

Her smile was so genuine, so grateful, sotired, that it struck his heart directly, making his chest ache.

“I’m sorry, Alice. I only wanted you to have some fun with me. Not…all this.”

She tilted her head, her smile fading. “It’s not your fault.” She turned toward him fully and lightly ran her fingers over his vest. “You’ve saved me—more than once. And despite them, despite all this, I enjoy my time with you. You make me laugh.”

He smiled; it wasn’t his usual grin, not nearly as large, but it feltgood. “At leastsomeonelaughs. Everyone else gets so angry.”

She grinned. “They don’t know you like I do.”

Shadow tilted his head and couldn’t help running his eyes over her body. Even though her pale skin was smudged with dirt and blood, she was beautiful. “I get the sense I don’t know me like you do, either.”

“No, I don’t think you do.” She flattened her palm over his heart. “But you’re still there.”

He furrowed his brow. He wasn’t entirely sure what she meant by that, but her words somehow felt…right.

“Come along, dearest,” he said, slipping his arm around her shoulders and drawing her against his side. His tail coiled around her hips. “Let’s find a place where we can rest and get to know each other even better.”

She ducked her head, but not before he caught sight of her shy little smile and darkening cheeks.

They walked together, beneath the boughs of towering trees and the petals of huge flowers that glowed in the moonlight. Shadow had no destination in mind; he didn’t know where they were and didn’t particularly care. All that mattered was that they seemed to be far away from the king’s soldiers.

If death is permanent, I hope it took him.

But something else Jor’calla had said drifted up from his memory to quash his hopes.

He is deathless in Wonderland! End him beyond, only beyond!

Shadow knew, somehow, that those words were true—even if permanent death had come to this world. It made no difference that everyone else would simply cease to be when they died; the king would come back. He wouldalwayscome back.

The night seemed to hold its breath, as it was sometimes wont to do; the moon didn’t move, the darkness didn’t deepen, and even the usual rustling of leaves and night songs of insects seemed muted. It was impossible to tell how long or far Shadow and Alice walked—not that he often paid attention to such things to begin with. Time worked however it pleased, wherever it pleased, and who was Shadow to question it?

“Are there animals and birds here?” Alice asked, her voice breaking the silence.

“There must be, mustn’t there?”

“I’ve heard them, but I haven’t seen any.”

Shadow shrugged. “Neither have I. I supposed they simply don’t want to be seen.”

“Are they like you, then?”

He inadvertently slowed his pace as he contemplated her question, which was more difficult to answer than he might’ve imagined. The train of thought it sparked led him to a question of his own well before he could provide a satisfactory answer to hers. “Whatdoyou see when you look at me, Alice?”

Alice stopped, and Shadow did the same. She moved to stand in front of him and gazed up at his face. Raising her hand, she brushed her fingers along one of his ears before tracing them slowly over his other features. “I see a face. I see you. Not a shadow, not a ghost, justyou.”

Warmth blossomed in his chest. “No one else sees me. No one but you.” He knew his words were layered with meaning, knew she might not be able to decipher all that meaning, but it was the truth. For the first time in his existence, he had a companion, a friend, and he longed for her to become more.

She returned to his side, and they resumed their journey.

When they finally reached one of the many purple-cobblestone paths—which, like the flowers, seemed to glow with its own soft light—that wound aimlessly through the forest, Shadow stepped onto it without hesitation.

It seemed they’d followed the path for only a few paces when they rounded a bend to find a house—a white, two-story structure with four dark windows on its front. A low white fence surrounded the little patch of land it was nestled upon, butting up against the edge of the cobblestones.

“This looks like a good place to rest for the night,” Shadow said, leading Alice toward the waist-high gate.

“Whose house is this?” she asked.

Shadow bent forward and opened the gate. “Miraxis’s.”

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