“Oh right,” she clapped her hands, “I’d forgotten I had Rob and Hadden plant that seed of your grandmother being the white queen. I figured the rumor would reach you soon enough. But as you can certainly see, that is most certainly not the case.”
Near me, Hadden stood with his head hung low. Rob paled.
“Do something,” I pleaded. “We can’t let her get away with this.”
“Oh but he had no choice, not really.” She patted Hadden’s cheek. “As a wizard, and a powerful one, I couldn’t extract his whole heart so I took half. And I had him led you here to my trap.”
“No.” It was my idea to come here. To find my grandmother. He had tried to stop me. “No, that’s impossible.”
She spun, facing me. “Is it? His rebellious, traitorous half of a heart tried to hide you from me. Tried to protect you. But I allowed him his illusion of safety.” She shrugged. “After all, I had to know for a certainty who you really were.”
My mouth opened and closed before I answered. “I’m just Alicia.”
“No, my dear.” She shook her head. “Only a family member of the white queen could’ve been the one to break the spell on my dungeon door or touch the gravestones of my beloved sister. You were the first to move a rock and hence broke my magical ward. As soon as you did, I and my men were alerted.”
Fear wrapped around my lungs, feeling them with cement. “Then why...why didn’t you stop us sooner?”
“Because, I wanted you to see your fate.”
Chapter Fifteen
The queen of hearts tapped a black-crimson fingernail against her lips. “Bring her to the throne room, I want to remove the other half of the wizard's heart for disobeying me. But first I need hers.”
Even though she looked like Grams, this queen was warped. How had I believed for one minute that this vile woman was my grandmother? “Look, you don't need to do this.” I swallowed and forced a smile I didn't feel. “All I want is my grandmother back. Then she and I will leave and never come back.”
“I am the queen here and my word is law. Bring her.”
Time to change tactics as being nice wasn’t working and I had a feeling she’d chop off my head and bury me under a pile of rocks if I didn’t try to get out of this mess. My stomach turned but I nodded to the half-revealed skeleton. “Your sister, who could've overthrown you is dead, so now you're safe to rule however you wish.”
Once I got Grams safely home, then I'd return and help Hadden, Rob, and Chaz. Wait, how could I even help them? What if me freeing us from the dungeon had been a trick? Blood triggered the unlocking mechanism and lure me into a false sense of security while the queen laughed her head off?
“And what makes you think I will give you anything except an executioner's ax on your neck after I'm done with you?”
The guards drew me after the queen up stone steps into the castle. We marched through the hallways and into a huge room with an onyx floor. More guards brought in Hadden, Rob, and Chaz in his panther form.
A dark ruby throne sat at the back of the chamber with black tapestries covered in red hearts. Instead of looking sweet and innocent, like Valentine's decorations, they appeared menacing. The chandelier overhead held thousands of rosebuds and twisting branches filled with thorns at least six inches long and three inches thick.
But a white glow in the center of the chandelier had my heart banging against my breastbone. Grams!
My stomach heaving at seeing her frail form. I was right, she was alive. Elation filled me but it was quickly replaced with dread clawing my insides. She was locked in the center of the thorned light fixture.
“Wha—Get her down from there.” I strained against the guards hold, their thorns stabbing my arms, but I didn’t stop trying to get away from them and to my grandmother.
“Oh? You want the traitor...the deserter?” The queen brushed her long skirts, then sat on her throne with a flourish. “I will allow you to take her if you can get her free of her prison.”
Something told me it wasn't going to be as easy as I hoped. With a snap of her fingers, the guards dropped their piercing hold on and me. Trickles of blood ran down my arms from their thorns. I took a step forward and the queen held up a hand.
“Oh, I almost forgot,” her dark eyes brightened, “if you fail to release her before the sunrise, then you forfeit, and I get your heart. Do you agree?”
Hadden sucked in a breath between his teeth. His face turning purple as he tried to speak but my guess was that he was trying to warn me against the queen's game. Beside him, locked in the air but twisting and turning. Sweat glistened off his black fur, his claws raking air. It was my fault he'd been captured. And Hadden too even if he had been working with the queen, in part. Which explained his weirdness some unless that was a wizard trait. Even Rob stood frozen with his brow pinched in worry.
“Come now, child, we don't have all day.” She fanned a hand to her face in impatience. “Do you agree to the rules or not?”
Hadden made grunting noises. The vein in his forehead pulsed as he tried to break out of the magical prison holding him hostage. Next to him, Rob clenched his fists and stared down at his feet. And now the queen had all of their hearts thanks to me. If I had listened to even one of them, we wouldn't be in this predicament. But what about my grandma?
“How do I know she's alive and this isn't another falsehood of yours?”
She glared at me but twirled her finger in the air.
Grams let out a rasping sob. “Alicia, run! Leave.”
Tears burned the back of my eyes, and I took a step closer to the chandler. “No, I can’t, not without you.” She was alive. A mixture of elation and dread coiled in my gut. How was I going to get her out of her thorned prison?
“You’ve heard her yourself.” The queen curled her fingers around the armrests of her throne. “Final chance, do you agree to the rules?”
I licked my lips, my gaze not leaving my grandmothers. The desire to run up to her and throw my arms around her sang through every cell of my body. She was alive! And I could save her. Somehow. But what about the three men here who’d risked so much to help me? I couldn’t leave them behind.
“One condition,” I said. “If I get Grams out of your jail, then you must return the hearts of Rob, Hadden, and Chaz.”
Her laugh echoed through the chambers. “You ask for too high a price.”
I squared my shoulders. One of the many things I had inherited from my grandmother was stubbornness. “If I lose,” I continued as though she hadn’t spoken, “then may have my heart.”
“And mine too,” my grandmother added.
“No,” I spun around. She didn’t deserve to be locked up or a prisoner here and I would gladly exchange places with her. But my mom having to bury her mother one day and her daughter days later would kill her. “You have to go back. Have to tell everyone about this place.”
Grams winced and gazed down at me. “We already have but nobody believed us. The fables and myths were altered slightly and put in a book that I thought by keeping from my daughter and granddaughter that it would keep you safe.”
I shook my head not understanding what she was referring to. What book? “What do you mean?”
“Alice in Wonderland.” She sighed. “But maybe I was wrong. Maybe if I had allowed you to read the stories and taught you what you needed to know, you would’ve never come here and you’d be safe.”
“What about you?” I waved a hand up to her. “Why did you come here if it’s so dangerous?”
She looked away, her voice so soft I strained to hear her. “Because, I thought I could do what no one in generations has been able to.”
The queen sat back in her throne, folding her hands in her lap, her eyebrow cocked. “I agree to the new terms of the game, do you Alicia?”
Briefly, I closed my eyes. I couldn’t walk away from the chance to free my grandmother and save the others. I had to do this. Even though I had no idea how to get her down from the lofty, plant prison. �
�Yes, I agree.”
“Excellent.” The queen turned an old-timey looking hourglass with black sand in it. “You have until this runs out to free her or both of your hearts belong to me.”
Oh god, how was I going to do this? I stepped forward on shaky legs. The chandelier was ten feet up. I searched the throne room for a rope or ladder or something to scale to that height. All around the back of the throne room, the guards stood at attention. Their thorned branches twisted into almost shape-like faces. Doubtful they’d let me out of here to go to a hardware store and by a hacksaw and stepladder.
Okay, think Alicia, think. My blood had worked to free me and Rob from the dungeon. Would it work again? I rubbed my arms which still had remnants of my blood from where the guard’s thorns had pricked me. But how to send the blood all the way up to the chandelier? I jumped as high as I could and waved one of my hands hard toward my grandmother, hoping to do the impossible that a flake of blood would hit the plant holding her.
Nothing.
I tried two more times before my gaze shifted to the hourglass. Almost half the sand had run out! My breaths locked in my chest. I had to try something else.
“Any ideas?” I called up to my grandmother. If she had known about this supposed book of this place, then maybe she knew how I could break her out.
The queen clapped her hands. “Sorry dear, that’s against the rules. You’ll have to pay a penalty.”
“For what?” I clenched my jaw to keep from insulting her by name-calling and getting into more trouble.
“It’s up to you to get her out, I didn’t agree to you gathering information from her.” She lifted her chin sharply behind me.
At first, I thought she was directing her guards to come and do something. But then a low growl echoed through the chamber. Slowly, I turned toward. Chaz in his panther form crouched low to the ground in attack mode. My skin grew hot and tight and the urge to bolt increased with every heartbeat.
“As per the rules, I’m able to release one guardian to try and stop you because you tried to get your grandmother to interfere in the game,” the red queen said.
“But I didn’t get any answer.” I backpedaled, not taking my eyes off Chaz. Was it large cats or wolves that chased if the prey ran away? “I didn’t get an advantage so why do you get one?”
“Because I’m the queen.”
Of course. I swallowed the lump in my throat and held my hands up toward Chaz. “Nice kitty.”
He growled again, creeping toward me.
“Chaz, it’s me. God, please don’t do this.” An icy dread drilled a chasm in my chest.
When he lunged, I held up my hands, my scream ripping from my dry throat.
Chapter Sixteen
Chaz’s tail twitched as he rolled his shoulders like he winded a spring that would shoot him directly at my throat.
“Please, this isn’t fair,” I said backing up another step. Damn the psycho queen and her crazy rules. “You've got a huge advantage now and I have nothing.”
I spared her a glance as I slid another step away from panther Chaz. Her face screwed up like she'd eaten bitter lemons.
Oh so, I’d hit a nerve with the queen’s ego.
“You heard my grandmother, she kept the book that hinted about this place from me. You hold all the cards, and I have none.” Not even the magical blood of the white queen as that had been a trick to capture me and the guys was real.
Chaz’s pupils widened like a cat does before attack mode. My heart slammed in my throat. Before I could turn to run, he charged. I screamed.
He plowed into my side, knocking me over. I crashed to the floor. His teeth sinking into my shoulder. Ripping pain lashed through me.
His claws sliced across my arm and abdomen. White-hot pain seared me. I gasped for breath. “Don't...please...Chaz.” I pushed at his bulk with my good arm.
He sank his teeth in deeper into my shoulder, and I screamed.
Someone yelled something. I punched Chaz in the muzzle as hard as I could. He blinked when I hit him on the nose, so I smacked him again and again. With a growl, he released my arm and backed up, rubbing his nose with his paw.
“Fine! Since I’ve already claimed Chaz for my side” The queen stood. “You may have one other champion to help you.”
I clasped my arm to staunch the bleeding. With Rob, I had a bunny-shifter and a disadvantage against a panther. Having a wizard on my side would be good. Unless his magic consisted of parlor tricks. Besides the force field, I hadn’t seen any real evidence of powerful magic. But a barrier between me and snapping jaws and sharp claws was a bonus. I glanced at the black sand marking the end of the game. It was halfway done.
Hadden might be able to heal me too. And if levitation was one of the tricks he learned in magic school, then I could use that too. Reach my grandmother and win this stupid game.
“I chose—”
“Rob!” The queen shouted. “The white rabbit will be your champion.”
I gasped. “Wait, no.”
But Rob pitched forward as though an invisible force had suddenly released him.
The queen clapped her hands. “Now let’s see who the panther finds tastier...you...or a rabbit.”
How could this have happened? The bitch made up her own rules as she went along to screw everyone else. Why didn’t she just kill us? Was it because she enjoyed seeing us suffer? Behind me, Chaz snarled. If I didn’t do something, he’d kill Rob and me. What would the queen do to my grandmother once no one was around to play her game and entertain her?
“Don’t doddle, child, the sands more than halfway gone now,” the queen’s mocking words echoed through the chamber.
How did I even hope to win with a rabbit-shifter against a panther? Think, Alicia, think. I racked my brain. What advantages did a bunny have besides being cute? They were fast...and...I snapped my fingers. Of course, they could squeeze through small openings. But how would that help me? I needed to get up high then worry about weaving through a briar patch to get my grandmother out. And too bad Chaz wasn’t house-cat size. Then that would give me and Rob a better chance of winning this. Nope, instead, he had to be a four hundred or so pound panther. If I could shrink him.
A lightning bolt of an idea shot into my mind. Tight spaces. Shrinking. Rob had mentioned mushrooms that could make an animal grow huge. Was there such a thing?
If I could get Rob big, then he wouldn’t have to worry about Chaz and he’d be tall enough to reach my grandmother’s prison and release her.
I spun. “Rob, can you shift? And bring me what we talked about in the dungeon? When I was thinking about the rats chewing on the crackers and wood?” I didn’t want the queen to understand what I wanted him to do ’cause she’d do something worse than she already had.
He frowned, then his features softened as if the realization of our conversation hit him. “I told you, there aren’t any left.”
“There have to be.” I ground my teeth.
“Alicia, behind you!” Grams yelled.
In a split-second, Rob crashed into my side, knocking me hard against the ground. Chaz seized him by the back of the neck, shaking him.
“No!” I screamed. My insides froze, and my heart fell into a bottomless pit. I couldn’t move as blood dripped across the onyx floor. None of this was real, it couldn’t be. Chaz didn’t hurt Rob or kill him. He wouldn’t have.
The queen’s laughter vibrated through my very marrow. Next to her, the black sands spilled faster and faster. Like time sped up to deliver me to my doom.
Chapter Seventeen
“Stop!” my scream tore past my raw, dry throat as I pushed up from the floor and ran to Rob.
Chaz snarled at me and didn’t let go of the back of Rob’s neck, his fangs glistening with blood. My heart stung with each beat. I clenched my fists and stomped toward the red and black stripped panther.
“Let him go!” I shouted.
Chaz curled his upper lip at me, his grip not relenting, but he bit down into his neck
harder. My heart squeezed in terror. Rob was unconscious as Chaz shook him around like a rag doll. The rabbit-shifter had risked his life for mine, and I wasn’t about to let Chaz make a meal of him.
I had no idea if Chaz understood me or could fight the queen’s control, after all, she took his heart. But I had to try something.
“You don’t have to do this, Chaz. Fight her control. I know deep inside somewhere you can hear me. Fight.”
His black eyes stared at me. Just when I thought I might have reached him, he dragged Rob away to the corner of the queen’s throne chamber.
“So much for your champion,” the red queen laughed.
All of this was my fault. If the damned queen didn’t look so much like my grandmother, if she didn’t steal hearts and force other to do her bidding, if she’d just allowed me and the guys to leave with my grandmother... I was tired of playing these game by her rules. Time I made my own way in this upside-down world.
I marched toward the queen, but the guards made from huge rose bushes broke formation and blocked my path. Her smirk made me want to scream.
Fine. I spun back to Rob and Chaz. The least I could do was save Rob from being killed and Chaz from having a guilty conscious the rest of his life.
In six steps, with my stomach clenching tight, I knelt beside Rob’s leg.
“Please, Chaz.” I swallowed against the lump pressing into my throat, “Let him go. You don’t want this. If you care for me at all, release him. It doesn’t matter to me that you can shift into this magnificent cat. Or that you can never come to my world. I love you.” The words spilled from me without thought but they were so true that they rang through my heart and soul. “And I love Rob... and Hadden.” I admitted even though I was still mad at the wizard. I understood why he’d his actions and couldn’t fault him. “If you love me at all, Chaz, then you’ll let Rob go.”
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