Page 42 of Wilds of Wonder
My breath caught in my throat. I’d heard about this, how the sun never shone here, the sky always dusky and twinkling. Even sixty years after the star court was destroyed, that still held true.
“Oh, fuck me.” Driscoll’s eyes widened. I held out a hand and helped him to a stand as he said, “That wasn’t a dream, was it?”
I shook my head. “No, I don’t think it was.”
He scratched his head, frowning. “Why is everything so...?”
“Off?” I finished for him, then sighed. “I don’t know. I have no clue what’s going on or why anything is the way it is. I don’t know what we might face here, what the dangers are. I don’t know how we’ll ever escape.”
He planted his hands on his hips. “You’re the white rabbit. Figure it out. That’s what you do, right? You research and find unfindable things and somehow manage to steal them and hide your identity.”
I straightened at his description of me. He was right. I’d never let anything stop me from getting what I wanted. Not my mother. Not the Academy of Ladies. Not my husband. And certainly not the bone collector and his mysterious motives. Now, at a time in my life when I most needed to step up and be the white rabbit, I was shrinking away, acting like some hopeless, lost woman.
I was better than that. Stronger than that. I’d been through too much to give up. Now was not the time to fall. It was the time to rise.
I threw my arms around Driscoll, and he stiffened. “I don’t know you that well, but thank you for reminding me of who I want to be.”
His shoulders slumped. “Great, does this mean you’re going to save us?”
“Yes, yes it does.”
I unwrapped my arms from him, and he pointed. “Hey, where’s he going?”
I glared at Maverick's form, shrinking into the distance as he stalked farther away. “He’s not our concern anymore. He can do whatever he likes. My only motivation is getting us home safe.”
Driscoll raised a black brow. “What about the bolt?”
It would pain me to leave something like that behind, but we couldn’t go traipsing around the Deadlands looking for it. What I’d said was true. I knew nothing of the dangers here. No one did. And this... this strange world where nothing was as it seemed... it wasn’t a place I wanted to be for any longer than necessary.
“Our goal is to survive,” I said.
“Maybe Leoni will get help.” Driscoll shrugged. “Then again, we had our worst fight ever before I fell, so maybe not. Maybe she’s happy to finally be rid of me.”
I didn’t know what to say to that. They’d bickered a lot, but there seemed to be a fondness there. “I’m not good at relationships,” I said slowly. “The only ones I’ve ever had involved people who didn’t care about me, who only wanted me to exist for their benefit.”
My mother had reminded me again and again how a good husband would provide for me. That she’d spent our life savings for me to attend the Academy of Ladies and find a wealthy husband so I wasn’t a burden on her. That’s all I ever was to anyone.
If only she were still alive for me to prove her wrong.
Then, of course, there was the one relationship that had been the most real in my life. The one where I’d felt safest, where I felt like I could be myself. And it had all been a lie.
“Well, that sucks.” Driscoll kicked some of the black dirt, and it flew up in the air, a puff of ebony motes floating before us. “I’m not good at relationships either. Clearly. Probably because I’m too selfish.”
So Leoni’s words had gotten to him.
“Well, screw them,” I said.
His head shot up. “Who, exactly, are we screwing?”
“Everyone who doubts us.” I spread out my arms. “We’ll prove them all wrong.”
“I like your spirit. So where do we start with the screwing?” His face twisted. “Yes, I did just hear how that sounded.”
I took a deep breath, looking around this land of wonder. “I had some old maps of the star court stashed in that bunker. I’ve studied them a time or two, though not as well as I studied maps of the frost court and the sky court.” I crouched down, using my finger to sketch a rough outline of the star court as I remembered it.
“Wow, he must think highly of himself.” Driscoll nodded to my drawing.
I tilted my head, realizing it definitely looked like a very well-endowed man. “This is Shiraeth,” I clarified.
