Page 29 of Cinder's Adventure: Get Me To the Wedding!

She came to a crossroads, where a sign had long ago rotted away. She could see its arrows pointing in either direction, but not what they would have been pointing to.

She glanced down the road to her left. An arch made of knotted twigs and moss hung over the road, and a haze of fog was creeping along the path. In the distance, she could make out a group of three travelers, on foot. She squinted, wishing she could see more clearly, because, from this far away, they appeared to be dressed strangely in medieval garb and weaponry.

Cinder glanced in the other direction. The road was better lit there, and soon opened up into what appeared to be a lush green lawn surrounded by rosebushes dotted with bloodred blooms. She heard the sounds of laughter and the clinking of crystal and porcelain, as if a garden party was well underway.

If Cinder goes to talk to the travelers, go to Chapter 20.

If Cinder goes to the rose garden, go to Chapter 4.

Chapter 32

Clenching her hand into a fist, Cinder turned to face the Erlking once more. “I appreciate the offer to send me home through your magical-mirror-portal thing, but that ghost? The poltergeist? He took my engagement ring, and I want it back. I’m not leaving without it.”

The Erlking’s gaze flashed with annoyance, but before he could speak, another voice rang out through the tower.

“Do you meanthisengagement ring?”

Cinder swiveled toward one of the diamond-leaded-glass windows. She was sure it had been closed before, but now the glass stood wide-open, and the boy perched on the windowsilldefinitelyhadn’t been there when last she’d looked.

He was holding up a ring—herring.

But it wasn’t the red-haired boy from before.

This boy was dressed all in black and wore a three-pointed jester’s hat. Wisps of raven-black hair poked out from beneath the hat, and thick kohl had been painted around his eyes, dripping down to form a heart on one cheek. Strangest of all was his eyes, which were as bright yellow as the petals of a sunflower.

With a grin, he tossed the ring up into the air as one might flip a coin. Cinder gasped, sure it would fall out the tower window and get lost in whatever garden or moat lay below, but the boy caught it with ease.

“Who are you?” drawled the Erlking, with a voice hovering between curiosity and boredom. “And what are you doing in my castle?”

“And what are you doing with my ring?” Cinder added. Holding out her palm, she marched toward the boy.

“My sincerest apologies,” he said, twirling the ring on the tip of his finger, sending flickers of light across the tower walls, “but I’m afraid I’ll be keeping it. I rather need it, you see.”

Then, with a bow, he stepped back off the window ledge.

Cinder gasped. “No—!”

But rather than fall, the boy transformed into a silky-winged raven. Clutching her ring in its talons, the raven took off with a caw, flying past the castle’s walls, the drawbridge, and over the forest beyond.

Cinder let out an aggravated scream, and was met with an equally aggravated growl.

She looked down.

There, just below the window, its claws digging into the tower’s stone wall, was an enormous beast—all shadows and talons, glossy scales and pitch-black wings.

“A Jabberwock,” murmured the Alder King. Cinder started. She hadn’t heard him approach, and now he stood at her side, peering down at the monster with greedy eyes. “It would make a marvelous piece in my collection. I could mount its head in the great room.”

The creature snorted and looked from Cinder and the king to the raven, which was growing smaller in the distance with every passing moment.

Cinder’s jaw tensed. She had to follow that bird. A carriage would be far too slow, but perhaps a horse could give chase, if she didn’t lose the bird in the time it took her to get one…

She was just about to turn back to the Alder King, when the Jabberwock bristled, and Cinder could see it preparing to launch itself off the tower and give chase to the raven.

Was it possible there was another way to get her ring back after all?

If Cinder asks for a horse, go to Chapter 34.

If Cinder jumps onto the Jabberwock’s back, go to Chapter 33.

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