Page 63 of Edge of Wonder

Hatter pulled a long knife from a sheath beneath his jacket. He examined the blade, tilting it so the metal glinted in the sunlight.

“These things can get a bit messy, I'm afraid. And seeing how it's traumatizing for everyone involved, I'd like to turn it into a game, if you don't mind.”

The guards shoved me toward the entrance to the maze. I caught myself before I fell and glared at Hatter.

“I'll give you a head start, Alice. If you make it to the center of the maze, you'll find your friend. Then at least you'll be together at the end. Do you agree with my provision?” He aimed the blade at me, the point dangerously close to my throat.

I held my head high even though my legs threatened to buckle. I had to find Sebastian, and if that meant playing by Hatter’s rules, then so be it.

“Yes.”

“Excellent. I only have one more thing to tell you before we begin our game.”

“What's that?”

Hatter’s eyebrows wiggled, and his throaty voice severed the air. “Run!”

I stumbled backward, then whirled, taking the path to the right. The hedges loomed over my head, creating a narrow, twisting path of sharp turns and dead ends. My boots crunched over the gravel path, and I cursed the sound that might give me away. Adrenaline pumped through my body, making my feet fast, but my mind scattered. I had to focus on the turns and find a way to the center.

“Time’s up, Alice!” Hatter’s guttural shout sent ice flowing through my veins.

The hunt was on.

Slowing at the next fork, I looked over my shoulder. The path was empty, but Hatter's footsteps thudded close by. Metal scraped against the branches as I imagined him running his blade along the hedges.

I went left. The air was warm and sticky, smelling of dirt and vegetation. It entered my lungs in heavy gasps as I sprinted toward another bend in the maze.

"Alice, I can hear you…" Hatter's voice slithered through the air. The back of my neck tingled as I flattened myself against a hedge and peered around the side. A blade whizzed past my head, lodging itself into the branches. I swallowed a panicked shriek. I wasn’t going that way.

I backtracked until I came to a spot with three choices. I took a gamble, racing through the middle. The path was a straight shot with another bend in the distance, but fear seized my chest at being visible for so long. I felt Hatter’s savage eyes on me as if he were everywhere at once.

“Come out and play, Alice!” Hatter bellowed, but his voice was far off. He’d taken a different path. I stopped to catch my breath, resting my hands on my knees. How far had I gone? I counted the turns in my head, trying to visualize where I might be in the maze. A flock of birds soared overhead, and I would have given anything to have their view.

The birds continued to circle in the air. Then one of them dove from the sky, landing somewhere on the other side of the hedge. Water splashed. I leaned toward the thicket, parting the branches as best I could, and tried to listen. A bubble of flowing water made my breath catch.

There had to be something there.

Maybe I didn’t need a bird's-eye view, maybe I just needed to follow their instincts. Trying to keep quiet, I crept over the gravel path until I spotted a gap in the wall. I slipped inside and entered a large courtyard.

A cluster of gigantic teacups, probably sixteen feet tall, rested in the center. They were surrounded by a deep moat teeming with orange and white spotted koi fish. Water lilies dotted the surface of the water, sprouting between green lily pads that gathered beneath wooden bridges connecting the cups to the lawn. Each of the cups had a door beneath their handle, but no other openings or windows.

“Sebastian!” I shouted his name, knowing it would give away my location, but I didn’t have time to search the courtyard. A panic-inducing silence followed. Then I heard his voice.

“Alice?”

The sound came from inside one of the cups. I called his name again, trying to pinpoint which one. Running across a wooden bridge, I chose the cup on the far left and pulled open the door. It was heavy and snapped closed behind me as if it were spring-loaded.

Sebastian sat in a chair, similar to the one I’d woken up in. His hands and feet were bound to the rails with a length of rope. Relief he was okay merged with the urgency to set him free and escape the hedge maze.

“We have to hurry!” I lunged for the rope binding his arms, kneeling to untie the knots. My fingers shook, and I forced myself to calm down and focus.

“Alice, what’s going on?” One knot broke free, and he moved to untie his other arm, while I dropped to the rope restraining his legs.

“It’s Hatter. He’s one of the queen’s soldiers, and he’s in the hedge maze, coming after us. If we don’t get out of here, we’re dead. He’s playing with us. He thinks it’s a game!”

The rope fell to the floor, and Sebastian surged out of the chair. We ran for the door, but when Sebastian pushed against it, nothing happened. He tried again, battering his shoulder into the hatch.

“I think it only opens from the outside,” he said, running his hands along the seam of the door casing.

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