Page 108 of Heartless

‘Pinkerton?’

She looked up through her cascade of tangled hair and spotted Jack a few feet away, his back pressed against the same pillar she’d hidden behind.

‘Jack! Help me – my ankle – I think it’s—’ She swallowed back a sob.

Nostrils flared, Jack took a step towards her, but was halted by another piercing cry from the Jabberwock. He glanced up and paled. After a moment of indecision, he shook his head. ‘Not even you’re worth it, Lady Pinkerton!’ he yelled, before turning on his heels and bolting towards the exit along with the rest of the stampeding crowd.

‘Jack! Come back here, you knave!’

But he was gone, lost in the chaos.

Locking her jaw, Catherine rolled on to her back, trying not to disturb her ankle. The sharp pain had turned to agony, but she didn’t see any blood.

With stars sparking in the corners of her eyes, she dared to look up. Jest had his sceptre hooked around the Jabberwock’s neck, and Raven’s talons had left a series of claw marks between the beast’s leathery wings.

Cath curled her fingers into her gown and thought of the stories she’d heard as a child. Fairy tales in which the beast was slain, its monstrous head cut clean from its shoulders like a gruesome trophy.

‘Off with its head,’ she whispered to herself, tossing her gaze wildly around the lobby. There had to be a weapon – something sharper than Jest’s polished-wood sceptre. ‘We have to chop off its head.’

She had spoken so quietly she could barely hear her own words in the turmoil, yet at that moment, Raven landed on the stairs’ railing and cocked his head, his fathomless eyes peering into her.

Jest grunted, his face contorted with the effort to control the Jabberwock. The beast suddenly hurled itself upward. Jest lost his grip and slipped back, struck by the monster’s whipping tail.

He flipped in the air, landing on his feet with only a slight stumble.

The Jabberwock beat its great wings. All around the lobby, candle flames flickered and blew out.

But one of the monster’s wings was off-kilter.

It was wounded.

Raven tore his focus from Catherine and soared upward, targeting the monster’s remaining eye. With a snap of its jaws, the Jabberwock caught a tail feather in its mouth. Raven retreated with a cry.

The Jabberwock warbled in the air. It reached for a chandelier but missed and crumpled back towards the lobby’s floor. What was left of the crowd scattered. The tiles cracked under the impact. The walls quaked.

The creature panted and gurgled. One burning eye darted around the destruction. A curl of steam spiralled from its nostrils.

It fixed its eye on Catherine again, like a predator singling out the weakest from the herd. Its tongue lolled as it shuddered itself up on to all four legs.

Cath pushed back, her palms slipping on her gown’s fabric. She was tangled and trapped and the very idea of putting weight on her ankle brought hysteria clawing up her throat.

The beast lumbered towards her, great globs of saliva dripping from its teeth.

‘No!’ Jest yelled. ‘You’re fighting me, you great smelly beast! Leave her alone!’

He launched himself off the mezzanine and swung down from a chandelier. The candles were still swinging, splattering wax on the floor, when he landed between the beast’s wings. His brow was beaded with sweat, lines of kohl running down his cheeks, yet he managed to make it look like a choreographed dance.

It was like being at the circus. Cath could see it all in her pain-filled delirium.For our next act, please welcome Jest and the Jubilant Jabberwock, best acrobatic team in all of Hearts!

She started to laugh hysterically.

Raven puffed his wings, still watching her.

Raging and twisting, the Jabberwock tried to shake off the Joker again, but Jest latched on to the soft tissue where its wings met its back, his sceptre raised to strike. Catherine didn’t believe he could kill it with a wooden stick. Take out another eye, perhaps. Wound and maim, no doubt. But soon the Jabberwock’s teeth would find Jest and end this act.

Feathered wings beat at her hair. She screamed and ducked away, but it was only Raven. He dropped to the ground beside her, his chest fluttering with quick breaths. He had Jest’s hat in his talons, the bells silenced against the broken ground.

He fixed his eyes on her and nudged the hat forward.

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