by Eva Chase
Chapter Seventeen
Hatter
“This is fucking amazing,” Doria said, her face glowing with excitement as we moved through the forest. She bent to grab another stick to add to the pile of firewood in her arms. “Isn’t it? Can you imagine the looks on their faces when they realized they’d have to go through a jabberwock to get to us?”
“It’s pretty incredible,” I said, maybe a little more dryly than she’d have hoped to get from my response. The truth was that an anxious twitch had been tugging at my ribs from the moment Lyssa had declared her intentions. Not even the evergreen tang in the warm summer air or the brightness of the sun—more sun than I’d gotten to experience in weeks—had managed to soothe it.
I was the one who’d once earned the name “Mad.” If anyone around here could say a plan was completely bonkers, it should be me. Ordering jabberwocks to serve as our guard dogs was one hundred percent, beyond a doubt, utterly insane.
And yet our queen’s first attempt had worked out so well, she was summoning a few more of the monsters right now.
I scooped another two thick branches into my arms and judged I wasn’t going to be able to carry much more back to the camp without my arms falling off. Also, it was a good thing I’d become accustomed to my suits getting ruined on a regular basis, because this one’s sleek blue fabric was now polka-dotted with bits of bark.
My daughter’s arms looked heavily laden too. “I think this is enough for now,” I said to her. “Let’s head back before they start thinking a stray jabberwock has eaten us.”
Doria gave me an amused look as we tramped through the brush toward the clearing where we’d set up a new sort of camp. “Once Lyssa brings more of them, she’s going to start pushing the guards right out of the city, you know. That’s what she said. But she’ll need people on the ground helping the Clubbers stay out of the way and watching her back. I’m planning on going with her.”
She kept eyeing me warily as she said the last bit. I didn’t need any psychic powers to know she suspected I was going to argue about her plans.
A month ago, I probably would have argued. Even now, after everything all of us had been through together, after everything we’d survived, something deep in my chest screamed No! at the thought of Doria going up against the Hearts’ Guard directly, even with a bunch of us and a herd of jabberwocks at her side.
I swallowed that scream down. If I’d learned anything from all those close calls, it was that these days hearing a “No” only made Doria more determined to follow through. She was coming up on fifteen, coming up on adulthood soon after. I’d taken plenty of mad risks with the Spades at her age.
March and May had wanted me to look after her, not lock her in a cage.
“Of course you do, Mouse,” I said fondly. I’d have ruffled her hair for good measure if my arms hadn’t been occupied with the heap of firewood. Doria made a face at me for the childhood nickname, but I wasn’t done yet. There were things I should say that maybe I should have said even earlier.
“You don’t need permission from me to run missions or pitch in however you think you best can,” I went on. “I’ve seen how well you can handle yourself, especially in the last few weeks since we’ve come underground. I’m still going to worry, because as far as I know that’s what parents are for, but I’ll try not to inflict those worries on you too often. All I ask is that you make sure you’re working with us, not running off to try something on your own like you did with that fiery sign outside the club.”
Doria blinked at me. A slow smile spread across her face. “Yeah. Okay, I can handle that. I’m not in any hurry to revisit the palace dungeon anyway.” She paused, and her voice softened. “Thanks, Dad.”
Damn, she had grown into a capable young woman right in front of me, hadn’t she? I found I had to add, “I’m proud of you, you know.”
She brightened even more, and then a teasing glint lit in her dark eyes. “I’m proud of you too, Pops,” she said, bumping her elbow against my arm. “You proved you’re not just a stick in the mud after all.”
I laughed. “I suppose I deserve that.”
She grinned, but a moment later a shadow crossed her expression. Her gaze slipped away toward the forest ahead. I knew her well enough to guess what she might be thinking about.
“You and Dee were good friends,” I said. “I know it must be hard—if you want to talk about anything to do with that, you can.”
Her mouth tensed. “I’m not even totally sure what happened. Did he really sell us out? He offered to bring the guards to the River Down?”
The twins had been not just good friends but her best friends in the Spades. I wished I could save her from the pain of that kind of betrayal, but I had to be honest.
“I wasn’t there, but from what Lyssa and Theo have said, there isn’t much doubt. He didn’t have anything else to bargain with, and he was frantic to save his mother.” And he’d been shaken, no doubt, by all the revelations about the man he’d looked to as a leader. None of that excused him turning traitor, but the circumstances explained his betrayal at least a little. “Theo did say it sounded as if he tried to give warning, to make sure we’d get out in time. And that worked.”
“Still.” Doria kicked at a fallen twig. “I would never have thought… We could all have been killed. How could he trust the Queen’s people enough to even try to make a deal?”
“I don’t know.” I’d run missions with the twins and joked around with them afterward for a few years before my life had become focused on parenthood, but I couldn’t say we’d really been close. “People can always surprise you. Sometimes in good ways, but sometimes in bad ways too.”
She let out a sharp chuckle. “I still hope he makes it back to us in one piece. If only so I can shout his head off myself.”
“Well, I don’t think anyone would blame you for that—either part of it.”
To my relief, the conversation appeared to have taken a small weight off her shoulders. She strode over to the pile of firewood in the camp with her usual energy.
Most of the city folk we’d taken in were sitting near the fire, gnawing on pieces of roast pigeon. Dum and a couple of the others had gone off on a hunting trip not long after we’d set down here. A prickle of annoyance passed over me looking at the bunch of Clubbers as I set down my wood in the pile too.
They were sitting on their asses enjoying our efforts, happy enough that we’d gotten them away from the Queen’s influence but too scared of the consequences to really join in.
It was going to take time, I reminded myself. A lifetime of playing along and following the rules couldn’t be switched off in an instant. It’d taken me long enough to recover my sense of righteous courage after holding back in caution for twelve years, and I’d had plenty of years of running wild before that.
Chess strolled over to meet us, the bright sun sparking in his auburn hair. He rubbed his hands together with one of his familiar grins.
“Are you ready?” he asked Doria. “We’re heading out now.”
Despite the way I’d talked myself down when she’d mentioned the impending mission, a flicker of panic shot through me. “Are you going to the city already?”
Chess tipped his head in that direction. “Our queen headed over with her first jabberwock not that long ago. She said she expected she could summon a few more before too long. They do move rather quickly when they’re motivated. She wanted us to be ready to press on toward the city right away.”
I supposed that was better than having a horde of jabberwocks prowling around here. I worked my jaw for a second and then said, “I’m coming along too.”
“The more the merrier,” Chess said. “We’ll show the guards how the Spades throw a party.” He beckoned, and a few more of the Spades joined us: Dum and Kip and a newer woman whose name I couldn’t recall. There wasn’t any sign of Theo around, but probably our former Inventor was conjuring up new tools for us wherever he could find the means.
With a
t least one monster making sure no guards came this way, we could take the faster path of the road rather than weaving out of sight through the forest and the mushroom stands. I spotted the jabberwock before I made out Lyssa. Or rather, jabberwocks. One sat right at the side of the road, its searing violet gaze aimed at the city as if daring anyone to try to travel this way. Another stood closer to the nearest buildings, ruffling its gold and scarlet feathers impatiently.
A third of the immense creatures was leaning right over Lyssa where she stood in the middle of the cobblestone lane. Streams of smoke trailed up from the jabberwock’s wide nostrils as it nudged its snout against the scepter she was holding up. Its lips drew back, revealing the jagged teeth I’d seen another clamp around a guard’s body just a few weeks ago.
Lyssa’s lips were moving too, forming words too soft for me to make out across the distance. As we approached, her attention didn’t waver from the beast in front of her. My pulse kicked up a notch as the sour stench of the creatures’ breath reached my nose.
I’d watched Lyssa tame jabberwocks before, but I’d also seen one snap from her hold in an instant. That one was so close, it could have snatched her in its maw before she could so much as blink.
Just as that thought crossed my mind, the beast’s head jerked up and then down again. My heart outright stopped. Before I had a chance to think anything else, my feet were already flinging me forward to grab Lyssa, to fling myself between the monster and the woman I loved if I had to.
The moment I leapt, a shudder passed through the jabberwock’s bulky body. Its eyes flashed, and its head jerked again—toward me.
“Hey!” Lyssa said, a little louder now but still gentle. “Hey. Here. With me.”
I stopped in my tracks. My heart thumped so hard it echoed through my head, every nerve insisting I had to get my queen, my lover, to safety, but I clenched my hands against the urge.
Lyssa knew what she was doing, I reminded myself. I had to trust her. My attempt to intervene had only incited the creature.
Chess came up beside me, touching my shoulder. I forced myself to take a slow step backward, and then another. The jabberwock shifted its focus to Lyssa again, and Doria let out a shaky breath, as much excited as relieved.
Lyssa rubbed the creature’s muzzle with the gold-and-ruby end of the scepter, and the muscles coiled beneath its feathered skin appeared to relax. The jabberwock exhaled with a putrid huff. A satisfied sound reverberated in its throat. It blinked slowly and gazed down at the new Red Queen with a look I’d almost call adoring.
Now that we were closer, I could see there was a fourth jabberwock, already tamed, waiting amid the trees on the other side of the road. Its gaze was trained on Lyssa with a similar expression. She had won them over well, hadn’t she? I never would have thought I’d see a jabberwock look at anything like that.
If she could keep them that loyal, we might really get somewhere.
Lyssa slid her scepter into the bag at her back and pulled her sword from the belted leather sheath Theo had hastily constructed for her. She pointed the blade toward the city. “We destroy the roses and clear off the men in the uniforms of the Hearts. Everyone else is our friend. Watch me and listen.”
She glanced back at us and gave a quick nod. I couldn’t blame her for not being able to spare us more than that brief gesture. By all means, let her stay focused on the massive beasts that could slaughter us all in a matter of seconds.
Three of the jabberwocks lumbered toward the city with our queen. The one farthest back stayed in place to watch over the path to our camp. It narrowed its eyes at us as we passed, but apparently we passed muster. I wasn’t keen to find out what it was going to do to anyone who didn’t. How well could they identify the guards’ uniforms, exactly?
As we passed the first few buildings, the revelers up ahead caught sight of the jabberwocks. Even in their dazed state, a few of the Clubbers shrieked.
“Go inside,” Lyssa called out. “They won’t hurt you, but it’ll be easier for us to protect you if you’re off the street. As soon as we’ve passed by, you can come back out. The Red Queen is here to take your city back for you and free you from the spell of the Queen of Hearts’ roses.”
With her last words, she pointed her sword toward a nearby heap of roses. One of the jabberwocks snorted and spewed out a spurt of flame. In an instant, only cinders and a faint burnt smell remained.
If we could burn up all the drugged roses and stop the guards from bringing more, the whole city would be freed.
I walked on with lightening spirits, pausing to reassure a trembling woman who’d frozen by the door of a shop, carefully slipping past the monsters to usher a few gaping kids into the shelter of a nearby house. In the Clubbers’ current state, no one was likely to care which building belonged to whom.
Lyssa strode on between the jabberwocks without a hint of nerves. My gaze kept sliding back to her, wanting to revel myself—in the power she commanded, in the confidence she was finding in herself. She’d always been pretty, but now, with her eyes bright and her mouth set in a determined smile, she was more beautiful than I’d ever seen her.
It made me want to offer her more than meandering along here dealing with the stragglers.
When we reached the street with my hat shop, a tiny inspiration hit me. It wasn’t much, but hopefully it’d give her a little comfort when she took a break from her work.
A few of the guards who’d been stationed there charged out and then fled with jabberwock fire scorching their heels. Lyssa directed one of the beasts to bring its head to an open second floor window, and I heard more scampering out the back of the building with shouts of alarm. I exchanged a glance with Chess.
“Let’s make sure they’re all cleared out?” I said. “We don’t want any enemies lurking at our backs.”
Chess nodded, and I pushed past the shop door. “Everyone out,” I hollered, “or the jabberwocks will have you. This building belongs to the Spades now.”
It turned out only one guard had stood his ground. He rushed at us on the stairs, and Chess heaved him on past us, leaving him crumpled in a heap at the bottom.
“Off with you,” he said. “And run fast, or the beasts with have you for dinner.”
I brandished my dagger in one hand and a hatpin in the other. The guard looked from one of us to the other, and then out the shop window at the feathered beasts beyond, and must have recalculated how much he valued his life. He darted out the back door.
A couple of now-stale scones sat on a plate in the kitchen. The bakery would be closed, the baker as muddled by drugs as the rest of the city, or I’d have grabbed more of those to bring back to the camp. Too bad.
On the top floor, I opened up the wardrobe Lyssa had been using and picked out a couple of the dresses I thought she’d favored. Since she’d arrived here, she’d been relying on her Otherlander clothes and a blouse and skirt one of the Spades had been able to lend her. Something clean and familiar should give her a least a bit of joy.
“For Lyssa?” Chess said from where he was leaning against the doorframe.
“It’s the least I can think to do.” I stared at the fabric in my hands, and suddenly this effort seemed ridiculous. “She’s out there with jabberwocks looming over her on all sides, taking on all the guards in the city practically on her own. Doesn’t it bother you that she’s having to put herself through so much, and there’s hardly a thing we can do to protect her?”
“I don’t think Lyssa takes more onto her shoulders than her shoulders can hold,” Chess said in his typical offhand way. “When she needs us, we’re here.”
“It doesn’t seem right to simply wait on the sidelines.” Not for the woman I loved. Not when there was so much danger still ahead of us.
“It’s hardly right to jump into the line of fire either, I expect.” Chess cocked his head, and his tone turned more serious. “You know, when our queen heard of threats still hanging over me, the best thing she did for me was to simply ask what I need
ed and give me that. She didn’t go charging off trying to take on the spirits of my past as if she didn’t believe I could attend to them myself. She has my back, and I have hers, but we don’t step in front of each other in our eagerness to prove our devotion. Treat her like she’s whole, not like she’s broken.”
I couldn’t help thinking of the state Chess had been in when he’d first come to me, years and years ago, after his torture at the Duchess’s hands. The resetting of the day had ensured his body had returned to its previous state, but he’d flinched at almost every touch, at random noises. He’d spent five days holed up in my guest bedroom before he’d come back to himself enough to join myself and March and May even for dinner outside those four walls.
The buoyant, carefree man I’d always seen him as hadn’t taken long to re-emerge, but perhaps that wasn’t the whole story. The pain of the past could haunt a person a long time—I should know. Had he still felt broken?
However much he was speaking from his side of the experience as well, his words rang true. I’d only diminish the confidence I’d been admiring in our queen if I hovered around Lyssa braced for any possible catastrophe. Trying to guard Doria that avidly certainly hadn’t helped anyone.
“That sounds… very reasonable,” I said. “Even if I wish I could take more of the blows to come.”
“Ah,” Chess said, his smile coming back, “but she wouldn’t wish that, don’t you see?”
Perhaps not well enough, but I’d have plenty of time to practice shifting my inclinations during the battles to come. I bundled up the dresses and headed back down the stairs, stopping only to duck into my bedroom and grab a fresh suit for myself as well.
My gaze roved over the shelves beside my bed automatically and halted. I frowned, stepping closer to check the floor.
The sketch of Alicia’s house—the house Lyssa had since inherited—wasn’t sitting where I’d left it. It didn’t appear to have fallen, either. Where had that slip of paper gotten to?