Ascending From Madness

by Stacey Marie Brown

  Right now we needed to deal with Jessica and Blitzen. Scrooge didn’t wait for a response, moving up to the group on the veranda, guarding Jessica. Santa wouldn’t hold a weapon and too much could go wrong with just Vix and Rudy guarding the two slippery snakes. Jessica still held power, and I knew she would not go quietly.

  “I don’t want to know,” Hare said quietly, his gaze sliding behind us. I could hear a handful of people sobbing and moving through the debris.

  “I know.” I squeezed his shoulder, pain flinching my forehead as I headed after Scrooge. To be the one to discover who was alive… or dead… was the worst position.

  I headed forward to the fortress. Vixen and Rudy kept Blitzen close, his stagger still full of confidence and ego, while Scrooge kept a gun to the back of Jessica’s head. The only weapon I had left was the ice pick, which throbbed in my hand with ironic justice.

  False light flickered against the dark stone walls, our footsteps echoing off the high ceilings sounding like a drum march. Not one person was left in the castle, but clothes and items were strung around showing signs of people’s fast getaways.

  “You disappoint me, Alice.” Jessica’s voice slithered to me. “Once again letting men control you, tell you your worth.”

  “Is that any better than letting you?” I growled, holding up my pick to her neck. “Look familiar?”

  Her lips pinched with amusement.

  “The same thing you used to control me.” I skated the point to her temple. “Do you know how good it felt when I stabbed Dr. Cane with it? The irony of killing him with the very item he had in my brain just moments before, trying to turn me into a vegetable he could abuse.”

  “I saw your handiwork.” Jessica’s eyes strained to look at me without twisting her head. “I was quite impressed. As I thought from the beginning, you would have made an excellent partner. It’s not too late, my dear girl. You are far more powerful than any man here. Remember the feeling of the pick spearing into his head, the power you felt as his life slipped away. You have it in you, Alice. It calls to you… we could be magnificent together.”

  “Shut up.” Scrooge shoved her forward, but her smile only grew, her eyes finding mine.

  It scared me, the high I felt killing him. The justice of saving the world from someone like him. What if I was more similar to Jessica than I thought? What if I liked it too much? Wanted more of it? The world was better off without him. Would be better off with a lot of men who beat, raped, stole, and destroyed.

  “Haven’t you had enough of being kept in a box?” Her voice coiled around me. “Scrooge may talk a good game, but he and Nickolas are no different from any other men. Deep down they cannot handle your power. A woman’s power. It will be gradual, putting you back in a box. All men, no matter what they say, feel too insecure at the thought a woman could rule them. Their fragile egos can’t handle the fact they know we would do far better ruling the world.”

  A fizz of anger crackled at the back of my head, my teeth crunching together, her words sinking into places. Nooooo…

  “Get. Out. Of. My. Head.” I snarled.

  “I wasn’t in your head, my dear. Whatever you are thinking is all you.” She grinned maliciously, licking her lips as a cat does with cream.

  Doubt sprang like flowers, the ice pick dropping from her temple.

  “You know the truth, Alice. You are scared to face it. Realize it in yourself.”

  “I said shut up!” Scrooge dug the gun deeper into her scalp.

  “Feeling left out?” She smirked.

  Scrooge grunted, his nose flaring, his jaw locking. “You can’t get into my head anymore.” He snarled, his voice low. “I know the truth now.”

  “Really?” she taunted. “Want to bet on that?”

  “Stop. It.” A streak of pain sliced over Scrooge’s face, proving she could still crawl into his brain. It was less effective than before, but continued to cause him grief. “I have a lot of guilt from that night, but Belle made her choice. You were the one she was talking to. The one who betrayed her.”

  “And your innocent son? Did he make his own choice?” Like an arrow, her words dug into its target. Agony curled Scrooge’s shoulders, but he kept upright, his grip on her crunching down.

  “Jessica!” Santa boomed, his voice an order. “Cease!”

  At his demand, it was as if the sun broke through the clouds, a darkness easing off my chest. Her power weaseled into your head like a worm, digging holes of doubt and hate, while Santa’s lifted it away, brushing out the cobwebs she weaved into your mind. Letting you breathe again. See the truth.

  Dammit. I let her get in, mess with me.

  She lifted her lip in a malicious sneer, her heels clipping the stairs as we rounded up to the tower.

  He was taking her to the mirror.

  Santa seemed to know exactly where he was going, even though he had only been held prisoner here. Something told me it was the magic of Santa. He knew more than just when you were sleeping or naughty.

  Entering the small tower room, I twisted to watch Scrooge shove Jessica up the final step. Her gaze locked with mine, her mouth twitching with wickedness, a plan toiling behind her eyes.

  It was a split second when understanding flooded me with alarm. Before my lips could even part, she dug her heel onto the last stair rise. No! My head screamed as I watched everything in slow motion and fast forward simultaneously.

  At her sudden stop, Scrooge knocked into her, bouncing him backward. The small turret step not holding his huge form, he stumbled back with a shout, his eyes meeting mine. For a moment, I saw the shock and fear, the realization of what was about to happen before his physique was taken by gravity. Bones crunching, his body plummeted down the steep spiral stairs.

  “Scrooge!” I screamed, instinctively lurching for him, the same time Jessica came barreling into me. Crashing into the ground, my tailbone rammed into the uneven hard floor, wind gushing from my lungs. The ice pick in my hand tumbled to the ground. Jessica clawed my face, climbing over me to reach it.

  “No!” I grunted, my fingers straining to reach the weapon, the tips brushing the handle.

  Pandemonium detonated in the room.

  Jessica dug her nails into my scalp as she forcefully slammed my head into the floor. My skull, cracking against the stone floor, caused pain to stab through my brain, my vision blurring, the ice pick rolling away from my limp fingers.

  Blitzen slammed his head back into Rudy’s face. Blood spurted like a fountain from Rudy’s nose, a snap echoing in the chamber. Blitzen whirled around, taking advantage, grabbing the gun in Rudy’s hand as his heavy boot slammed into Vixen’s chest, knocking her to the ground. Her gun tumbled to the ground. Blitzen leaped for it, kicking her in the side.

  Jessica swiped it up, grabbing me by the hair. She yanked me to my feet, the pick digging deep into the thin skin at my neck as she pulled me back into her, using me as a shield.

  “Now, how is this for irony?” she hissed in my ear, prodding the ice pick into my neck, my pulse bouncing off the metal sticking in my throat, right at my artery. One move and I would bleed out in moments.

  “Jessica.” Santa stood there, his voice calm and powerful. As if nothing remarkable happened. That the situation didn’t get flipped and turned upside down in seconds.

  “Don’t even think about using your magic, Nicholas.” Jessica’s breath seethed past my ear to the man across the tiny room. “I can stab this through her throat long before you can do anything to stop me.”

  Blitzen held both guns up, moving around to the side of her, pointing them at anyone hinting on moving. Even if they hated each other, they knew each other was the best option to get out of this. The enemy of your enemy is a temporary ally.

  Boots pelted up the stairs, Scrooge appearing in the door, his eyes widening as they met mine, but he quickly hid away his emotion, his expression locking down as he stepped fully into the room.

  “And you too, Knave.” Jessica sneered. “Your girl dies
if you try to make one move toward me.”

  “Jessica.” Scrooge held his hands up as if he were trying to calm a wild animal. “Don’t do this.”

  “Why?” the queen asked. “Give me one good reason. Since she has shown up, she has been nothing but trouble. She is the culprit. Why so many more have died.”

  “No.” Santa shook his head. “She was the trigger who woke us up. The girl who saved Winterland.”

  “Saved Winterland?” Jessica burst out in a howl. “Does it look like she saved you? Look around, you idiot. The countless bodies lying on the lawn. No one is left! You lost!” She laughed again. “You are delusional. But why should I be surprised? The man who’s based off fairytales, wraps himself up in his own false reality.”

  “It’s not about winning or losing this actual place.” Santa shook his head. “You’ve always missed the point of what Winterland is. The heart of this realm. It’s not a physical place, but—”

  “Ugh, no, please stop.” She cut him off. “If you say it’s a place that exists in my heart, I might stab my own throat.” Jessica yanked me farther back, shoving in the tip deeper, trails of blood pooling at my collarbone.

  “Alice saved Winterland because she roused us from our slumber. She inspired us to fight for what we believe in. For love and kindness. That is true freedom.”

  “Please. Shut up. You are giving me a migraine.” Jessica groaned, inching me back again. Every step leading us closer to the mirror. Once we went through, it was game over. “Now, it’s been lovely catching up, but it’s time for me to depart.”

  “No.” Scrooge lurched forward. Blitzen directed the gun straight at his head.

  “Stay back.” He moved with us, his weapon ready to fire. “You prepared for her to die in front of you? No matter what… we are walking out of here. If you want your girl alive for a bit longer, you stay right there.”

  “I mean, did you really think I was going to give in so easily?” Jessica scoffed. My skin burned as the sharp point tore into it, my head spinning and foggy. “I’m finally free of you, of this life. I’m not giving it up. She will close the door for good.”

  Santa’s head drew up, his demeanor shifting in a blink, anger lifting his lip, his glower lowering on his wife.

  Nick.

  He chuckled dryly, stepping forward; the naughty Santa smirked with glee.

  “You think you can shut the door on me?” Nick tilted his head, his bushy eyebrows lifting. “I’m the reason this realm even exists. I’m the reason you even exist. You aren’t meant for Earth, Jessica. You were made up for me. In a make-believe world.”

  “Screw you. I’ve been living without you just fine,” she snapped. “I belong on Earth. They find me very real. And capable.”

  “I am the one who used to be a real man before my legend made Winterland. I am the bridge between the worlds. You can’t keep me out. And you can’t kill me. I am more powerful than you. It took me a long time to see that I let you have power you shouldn’t have had because of guilt.”

  “Let me? Don’t underestimate me. You started out real and now are merely a legend, where I started out a legend and will become a real person. One who stands without you,” she snarled, yanking me back. My pulse thudded in my neck; my breath was clipped with fear. My eyes constantly wandered to Scrooge, trying to find some way out of this. “I’m not the sweet little wife you once knew. And you didn’t let me have anything. I. Took. It.”

  Could I fight her before she pierced my artery? I doubted even the Christmas fairies could save me from this. I still asked for their help, but nothing appeared. There would be a time they weren’t going to be there at all. I knew I wasn’t immune to death. What if they kept me alive just to get Santa free? The legend of “her” said she saved Winterland, but stupid me never asked what her fate was after.

  “What do you expect to happen right now, Jessie?” Nick took another step. “You take her through? Hold her prisoner? And we would let you?”

  “I love how you think you let me do anything. I haven’t needed your permission or approval in decades,” she spat at Nick before her eyes slid to Scrooge. “If you love her, you’ll leave her be. You come for her… she dies.”

  “Like you won’t kill me anyway,” I growled.

  “Not for a while. You are my insurance getting back to earth. But don’t worry, you will be so brain dead you won’t care where you are or who you are with.”

  “I will hunt you down. I will never let you rest.” Scrooge’s chest heaved with fury, his eyes burning with hate. “I will always come for her.”

  “Every time you try, she will get punished. Do you know how close someone can come to death without actually dying?” She scuttled us back again, a few steps from the mirror.

  “You are grasping at straws. You have no one left. No soldier to order around, none of your supposed admirers fighting for you. Let it go, Jessie. It’s over.” Nick clenched his fists.

  Tinsel my tree, I didn’t know what would happen once we slipped into the glass, but in my gut I knew it wasn’t good. What if they couldn’t follow us easily? Or it spit us out in different places like the holly maze did? They could be lost to me for good. I looked down. Two steps and we would be ingested by the mirror, out of reach.

  “I vow I will never be confined by you again. Being your wife for so many centuries was like being put in a box. I’d rather die. I will not be held as your prisoner again. In any capacity.” Her heel touched the mirror, making it wobble with energy.

  “If that’s what you want…” A voice came from the door, jerking us to the side. Hare hopped into the room, a gun in his hand pointed at Jessica, his teeth bared.

  “Hare, no!” Scrooge yelled.

  Boom!

  Jessica shoved me to the side as the bullet flew across the room, sinking into its target, the sound resounding off the walls.

  The recoil rang in my ears, bombarding numbness down my limbs, shock opening my mouth.

  Burning. Hot.

  “Alice!” I could hear Scrooge yell as I stumbled to the side, grabbing for the area above my heart, hot liquid gushing through my fingers.

  “No! Alice!” Hare yelled, my gaze connecting with his, his eyes wide with horror, telling me what my body didn’t feel. Strange. I knew I should feel pain, but everything felt slow, as if I had been anesthetized. My mouth opened to speak, but a deep grunt broke through the room. It took me a moment to realize it wasn’t mine.

  A body staggered behind me, knocking into me, twisting my head slowly around.

  Blitzen’s eyes were wide in shock, his mouth parted, blood cascading from his lips. Crimson gushed from the middle of his chest, down his torso.

  He looked down then back up, blinking, his mouth parting to say something. He dropped to the ground with a loud thud. Wet gurgled gasps rattled his lungs before his body seized with death.

  I heard a cry of shock, but I couldn’t decipher who it was from, my head spinning with blood loss. The bullet went straight through me, killing Blitzen, but I knew the damage it did to me, the way coldness crept into my bones, death lurking at the door, waiting for me.

  My body crumpled to the floor.

  “Alice.” Hands grabbed me, bundling me into his lap. Scrooge’s warmth felt like an electric blanket as I lost my own, my essence oozing from the bullet hole so close to my heart.

  Jessica whirled around, lurching for the mirror, cutting her losses.

  “Fuck, no!” Hare bellowed, his body bounding for hers, his teeth sinking into the back of her ankle.

  Her scream pitched in the air, her body plunging to the ground, her hands gripping the frame of the mirror, trying to pull herself through it.

  “Stop!” Nick leaped to her, yanking her back and dragging her form across the floor before he forcefully flipped her over onto her back, his hands pinning her to the ground. “You aren’t going anywhere but in a box, Mrs. Claus.”

  “And without a lucky charm.” Hare jumped onto her chest, his paw wrapping around he
r necklace, yanking his foot from her neck roughly. “Think this belongs to me, snow bitch.”

  A malicious smile grew on her face as he put his foot around his own neck. Rudy and Santa yanked her up to her feet. She didn’t fight or fuss, a strange confidence lighting her eyes.

  Nick held her, his head flicking at Rudy and Vixen. “Flip the mirror upside down and backward.”

  “What?” Hare asked.

  “Mirrors have many paths. Entrances and exits. You have to make sure it’s the right one. The Land of the Lost Souls is never straightforward.”

  Rudy and Vixen quickly switched the mirror. The glass turned a deep inky black, sparks of light tapping on the other side.

  Souls.

  They clamored at the glass, either wanting to be freed or waiting for their next meal to feed on.

  Jessica swallowed, fright flickering for a moment in her expression.

  “Time to say goodbye, Jessie. Get comfortable with torment for eternity.”

  Out of everyone in the room, her eyes found mine. “I love when men underestimate us.”

  “I’m sure Santa would have some emotional, meaningful moment here. But I’m not one for farewells,” Nick snarled and shoved her. “Plus, I couldn’t give a fuck.”

  Her form plunged into the darkness, the mirror wobbling with energy as she fell into it. Descending into a world of madness. Her eyes latched onto mine, as her body was slurped up into the black ink. As if she were sucking me in with her, pulling me into darkness, shadows crept around my peripheral, nausea watering the back of my throat, my head spinning.

  “Alice?” My name sounded far away. “No. Hold on.”

  But awareness slipped from me, pulling me away from consciousness.

  And I fell, again.

  Down. Down. A dark, dark hole.