Within the Wonder

by A. K. Koonce

  Contents

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Untitled

  Academy of Six

  Also by A.K. Koonce

  About the Author

  Within the Wonder

  Copyright 2019 A.K. Koonce

  All Rights Reserved

  Cover design by Covers by Christian

  Interior art by Killer Book Covers

  Editing by Polished Perfection

  No portion of this book may be reproduced in any form without express written permission from the author. Any unauthorized use of this material is prohibited.

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  Created with Vellum

  One

  Madison

  There’s a single silent moment in the middle of my interrupted wedding where I’m looking at the beautiful young girl and she’s looking at me. The heavy attention of the crowd is on the two of us, and I really wish I could say it’s like looking in a mirror. Except she’s graceful and innocent, and I’m in a tattered black wedding gown with the memory of my future brother-in-law’s hands on my body, so fresh in my mind I can almost still feel his touch along my skin.

  Definitely not like looking into a mirror. Not at all.

  I look like the cheap knock off to her name brand Alice apparel line.

  Or maybe I’m the only one picking apart our differences under such harsh lighting.

  The sun is warm across my skin, making me realize how fair both of our complexions are. Identical really. My fake blonde hair is identical and… That’s it. That is where our Alice similarities stop.

  My willowy limbs seem long and awkward compared to her petite stature. I suppose the purse of my lips is probably the opposite of the aloof fucking smile she’s giving me too.

  Who in the wonder fucking hell smiles about being lost?

  She’s just crazy enough to fit right in here.

  And I don’t belong.

  A crashing sound brings me out of my isolated thoughts. A flood of scattered activity crashes over the silence in a matter of seconds. Flashes of black movements blur through the crowd. Wooden chairs bang to the ground, women scream, and the pounding of footsteps erupt all around me as the attendees flee from the mysterious shadows bleeding through the picturesque white wedding.

  A gasp tears from my throat as I’m thrown down to my hands and knees. Strong hands grip my wrists and haul me up against an even stronger body.

  When I careen my neck back to get a glimpse of my attacker, a dark smoky figure is all he’s made of. A blurring, wafting faceless being. The smoke man’s fingers digging into my skin feel real, even if his appearance seems like it could drift away in the wind at any moment. The veil of inky color shrouding him is hard to look at. It’s a terrifying image of a man that brings fear pounding through my heart like never before.

  And he’s not alone.

  Another drift of smoke grips New Alice, her hands forced back until that proper posture of hers is arched unnaturally, and a scream crawls up her throat. It’s all a haze of movement and attacks and pain that spreads through me from where his hands touch mine.

  I scream as the attacker’s burning skin continues to scorch mine. I’m made of thrashing violence, kicking and screaming and fighting against the faceless man. Only to be forced harder upright against him as he starts to drag me away.

  In a crackle of magic, Alixx Stone is right there in front of me, that glint of menace sparkling in his emerald eyes. And then, for the very first time, I believe all the sinister whispers the villagers utter behind his back.

  They say he’s a murderer. An assassin. A man to be fucking feared.

  In this moment, he proves that.

  He pulls two short blades from somewhere in his smooth black suit, and they shine in the morning sunlight. He slashes back and forth through the air, just inches from my face, in rhythm with a melody only he seems to hear. It’s an art form. A bloody, disfiguring art form he seems to take immense pleasure from. With one more downward slash of his blade, Alixx sinks his knife into something solid, pulling it down with so much force I hear bone crack and blood gush. A gasping, empty breath crawls across my neck.

  The mysterious smoke clears, and a thick warmth trickles down my spine, soaking into my dress as a heavy body slouches into me before slapping to the ground with a disgusting thud. A sound shudders from my lungs, but it feels lost, and I watch, stunned in place as Alixx rolls his tongue slowly across his lower lip, flicking over a droplet of blood before turning swiftly to the next shadow man.

  A real body lies at my feet. Dead. Because of the one man I love to hate.

  And hate to love.

  More shadows spread, inching up until they’re standing before Alixx and that manic smile that’s spread across his lips. They crash down on him all at once, pushing him to the ground. The thrashing of his knives never stops. Blood pools across the deep green grass, trickling until it kisses the tips of my high heels.

  It’s that stain of crimson seeping into my satin heels that snaps me out of the haze of numbness.

  My fingers grip the closest object. I fling the wooden chair through the smoke with so much effort my arms shake. The smoke dissipates. It wafts up and crashes right back down on Alixx.

  A splinter of wood, a sharp jagged point from the broken chair, fists in my hand, and it’s that sharp weapon that seems to penetrate the smoke.

  My arms heave up, and in one slicing motion, the wood lodges into something hard. My palms linger there against the stranger’s back. His blood runs through my fingertips, hot and slick.

  Alixx kicks him off with a firm press of his boot to the man’s chest.

  There’s a pausing moment where I can’t look away from the deep crimson coating my palms.

  “That color looks beautiful on you.” Alixx jars his blade down hard with a groan before pushing off another smoke man, letting him land in that pile he and I are creating of dead attackers.

  Alixx halts for a single second, his gaze catching on me with excitement burning in his eyes. His thumb skims along my chin, and among all the chaos, he tips my face up to his, his hand slick against my skin, brushing blood back and forth across my jaw.

  “You killed him. For me,” he whispers, his shifting attention never pausing as he studies the empty emotions on my face.

  I killed someone for Alixx Stone, the man who fucked me and then shoved me aside so similarly to how he’s done with these corpses.

  I’m a fucking idiot.

  My shoulder knocks into his, and I push past him without another glance.

  What I find is complete and total destruction.

  While I dwelled on the fact that I killed one man, an entire wedding of broken chairs, violins, roses, and…dead bodies litters the ground.

  A mixture of blood and sweat trickles down the black tattooed line of Kais’s jaw and throat. That blo
od drips from the black numbers running down the back of his hand. He doesn’t hold a single weapon. But all that quiet lethalness I knew lived inside him is now very, very apparent. Piercing blue eyes level on me as he pushes out a heavy breath, wiping his brow with that back of his numbered hand.

  He’s a dangerous man. Much more dangerous than the calm façade he always feeds everyone.

  And I’m just now seeing that.

  “Isn’t this fun?” Alixx asks with manic amusement. “This is far better than I expected our wedding to be, wouldn’t you agree, sweet Alice?”

  I can’t even find a breath to reply. And I don’t have time to.

  A fierce wind of black, consuming smoke sweeps me up, taking my feet from the ground and stealing the air right from my lungs. Cold, controlling wind holds me tight as I’m carried higher and higher. It’s everything I see. Everything I feel. Everything I am in this moment.

  It’s just a flicker of recklessness, a short moment of time that I can’t even focus on while I try to calm the erratic beating of my heart.

  It ends so fast. The smoke swept me up and spit me out faster than a scream could tear from my throat.

  My knees scrape over sharp pine needles and jagged branches.

  The serene sound of water trickling and falling into a depthless pool doesn’t ease the fear that’s thrashing inside me.

  It’s replaced with immediate bewilderment when I look up at the now solidified smoke man who stands before me. And find Lighton’s sweet brown eyes staring down on me. His broad shoulders block out the sun, and I’m faintly aware of those strange words that he spoke to me all that time ago, circling the back of my confused mind.

  Because if you’re Alice, you’ll hate me soon enough.

  “What-what are we doing here, Light?” I kneel at his feet with my bloody hands trembling in my lap, and the way the sunlight overhead shadows his face sends a sinking feeling right through my stomach.

  Regret is etched into those shadowed features, regret and determination.

  “I’ve been ordered by Elder Liddell to bring you to your destiny.”

  The quick beat of my heart pounding in my ears cuts away the gentle sounds of nature.

  “I need Kais. I need to speak with Kais.” My jaw clenches, and I refuse to be afraid of the sweet man I thought I knew.

  I know him. I know Lighton. And he wouldn’t hurt me.

  This is all just a misunderstanding. The shadow men who attacked me…Lighton couldn’t be one of them. How is this even possible? He doesn’t have this kind of magic.

  Does he?

  “Please get Kais.” My throat begs for me to release the tension I’m holding in my lungs, but I will not show weakness. I won’t.

  “You’re Alice. You belong here. You belong in Wonderland.”

  This was not the plan. Why in the March-Hare-fuck didn’t he tell me about this?

  I shake my head at his words, and when he reaches his hand down, I shove back from him, letting the thick brush slice along my thighs just to put space between us.

  “I’m sorry. I really am. But don’t make this harder than it has to be, Madison.”

  My eyes narrow on him and his fucking shit apology.

  His big hands grip mine in one quick motion. The stinging pain of his shadow touch burns across my skin. It’s a gripping strength that holds me in place with so much force I immediately thrash in his hold. My flailing body doesn’t slow him down, and he lifts me from the ground, pulling me to my feet, but before he can haul me away, I lift my foot and slam my heel with all my might into his thigh.

  It sinks in with grinding force.

  The groan that shakes through him hums as he locks his jaw in place, clenching it so hard I’m sure it’ll crack. But his gaze never turns hard. There’s no rage within him. It’s the sincerest appearance of guilt.

  Fuck him and his guilt.

  But that earnest look in his eyes is all I can focus on. Even as the inky smoke drifts around us.

  And tears me away once again.

  Two

  Madison

  We land in a swirling heap. Unfortunately, I’m sprawled out on top of Lighton’s hard chest, his hands pressed low on my back. A beat slips by with me just staring into those deep amber eyes, trying to remember what it was that I trusted about this man so damn much.

  My palms sink gruffly into his pecs, and I roll off of him, letting my back slam to the tile floor, my head banging hard enough to make me flinch, but anything is better than letting my heart rest so close to his.

  I should be assessing my surroundings, looking for an exit, plotting my escape, but all I have the energy to do is stare up at the steepled ceiling. Bright, beautiful paint swirls across every inch of the surface, over the high beams, down the arching walls, creating the most enormous, stunning mural of…a crying woman.

  Her perfect painted eyes blink down at me, forever stuck in this constant state of eternal sadness. Some sort of magic has brought her image to life, and what a sad fucking life she must have lived. Why anyone would drag out her pain in this shrine seems cruel.

  Hair the color of melted gold wafts in a magical breeze, and it pools down on the left-hand wall, stopping abruptly at the shining tile floor. Her tears that stream down her pale face are so big and detailed I can almost see something reflected in them, but I can’t make the image out.

  It hurts me to look at something so miserable, so broken, but I can’t look away either.

  “Hello, my dear,” an aging voice says on a whisper that sweeps through the empty room.

  Hazy blue eyes look down on me, the man’s face appearing upside down from where I lounge at his feet. He isn’t an ancient as his tone hinted he might be. He’s possibly early thirties. Dark hair without a single streak of gray crossing through it is hidden beneath a dark hat. But he walks like a pain has settled in his spine, pulling at his shoulders but not bringing down the wide smile on his lips.

  “Hello,” I say carefully. My hand moves to push my hat up only to find the hat that I loved so much seems to have fallen away during my hectic morning.

  Lighton stands, backing away to a respectable distance, and it’s his out of place politeness that makes me realize I should probably get off of the floor at some point.

  It takes me a few ungraceful seconds to find my feet, but the quiet man waits with patience.

  “Are you Alice?” The stranger tilts his head just slightly, his silky top hat reminding me of what I’ve lost. He studies me and what I can only assume are smudges of blood lining my jaw and chin.

  Am I Alice? That is the question, isn’t it?

  How long will I lie? To how many good people?

  Forever. To all of them. For as long as they let me stay, I’ll lie my little Alice heart out.

  “That’s what Profit seemed to think.” I add a small smile that I don’t really feel, and it makes the man’s eyes light up with a spark of interest.

  “Mr. Farrow has told me a bit about you, my dear.”

  Hmm, I bet he did. My attention cuts to the traitorous March Hare.

  He meets my gaze without flinching, without shame.

  The men in my life are going to make me crazier than they are.

  “My name is Mr. Johnathan Liddell.”

  Liddell…

  That can’t be good for my lies.

  “When I was a young man, I fell in love with a lovely woman. Her name was Miss Maisie Torrent.”

  Torrent. Like Madison Torrent…

  Shit, that can’t be good either.

  I tip my chin up, swallowing down all the insecurities that are rising up inside of me.

  “For a few short months, I loved her. She took everything from me. Before she disappeared, she slipped me a note telling me she was expecting our child.” His hazy eyes become distant and painful to look at. “I spent years waiting for her to return. I never knew where she went, but I used every ounce of magic I could get my hands on to create a portal in hopes that she’d return.”


  “Did she?” I finally ask, finding myself pulled into the trance of his heartbreaking story.

  His gaze finds mine, and he simply stares at me for several moments. “I opened the portal, and a furious man named Kais St. Croix fell through. He changed this realm. I felt it, but I didn’t really notice it until years passed and I never aged. I tried to stay positive; I told the others to accept the newcomers. And they did for a while. Until one of them brought an unimaginable disease with him.”

  Alixx.

  “I know too much time has passed. I know that I’ll never see Maisie again,” Johnathan whispers.

  I can’t help all the questions that are crawling up my throat. I nearly bite them all back, but one slips out.

  “What is it you want, Mr. Liddell?”

  That gentle, slow smile pulls at his lips when his attention settles on me. It’s an eerie delight that makes me shift on my feet.

  “I want what everyone wants,” His gaze follows the way I cringe from that name, but he ignores it. “I want happiness.”

  You and me both, John.

  I have a feeling only one of us will get it though.

  “So you’ve waited for…your family?”

  The man’s slicing smile stays as he nods.

  Oh my God. He thinks I’m his family. And I’m lying to his fucking face. But I do have the last name…

  Who am I? Really. In this world, you can be anyone, but right now, I feel like I’m no one.

  Unless I really am this strange man’s great-great-excessively-great-granddaughter.

  “I just want to get to know you is all. I just want, I want the happiness I lost all those years ago. I’d just like you to say you’ll stay for a while. Maybe for a few days. A few years. For as long as you’d like. Please stay.” He waits with so much patience it kills me with every second that slips by.