The queen’s clammy palm cups my chin. “How remarkable. Her life-clock is split in twain, hanging by mere threads. Yet still, she has fight in her.” Her expression grows intense. “I already have the medallion. I have my own way into Wonderland. There’s no reason I should do anything you ask, Red. I’m going to let her die and take her specimen. I’ve never seen another like it.”
“There will be another, one day,” Red insists, frantic. “Morpheus and I will have children through her. I’ll spare you one of their hearts. But not hers. Hers belongs to me. It doesn’t matter if you get into Wonderland. You won’t have access to the humans without the portals. Alyssa is the only one who can reopen them. And my plan for her and Morpheus reaches beyond your petty ideals. I am giving their firstborn—the first netherling capable of dreams—to Sister Two. She abhors chasing down human children. For centuries she’s complained about how tedious it is. So in exchange for an immortal child that will forever supply the souls in her lair, she and her disgruntled toys will aid me in overthrowing Ivory. Once I have the magic of both crowns, my control over all of Wonderland will be absolute. And you and every inhabitant of AnyElsewhere will be welcomed upon our borders to come and go and plunder the human realm as you please.”
I sob, at last face-to-face with Red’s horrific plan yet physically unable to intervene.
Hart clucks her tongue. “You’ve made a fair point. We have an accord. But the girl is barricading the transfer of your spirit by sheer will.” The queen draws her hand back, fingers dripping with my bloody saliva. “She’s the one who needs convincing now.”
“Let me in, Alyssa.” Red’s entreaty is eerily tender. “ You’re bleeding to death. What good will such a loss be to anyone? It will endanger both the human boy and Morpheus. Not to mention all of Wonderland.”
Tears trickle down my face.
Her argument is sound. As terrified as I am for my future child, he’ll never exist if I don’t save everyone today. The only way is to let Red’s spirit hold me together, then hijack her magic to fix Wonderland. I know her strategy now. If I can be stronger than her long enough, I’ll defeat Hart and cast Red out once and for all. I can’t let myself consider what will happen to my heart after that.
I slump forward in surrender.
My lungs shrink and my veins wither, depleted of oxygen. My eyelids droop, unable to resist the welcoming darkness that waits there.
“Hurry, hag. Release my spirit before she fades to ash and neither of us gets what we want.”
Hart groans in resignation and her clammy hand presses my forehead. A bright light bursts behind my eyes.
White-hot tendrils shoot from my skull into my spine, forcing my body to straighten. To awaken.
I remember this feeling . . .
My eyes flutter open. The colored streak of my hair pulls loose, dancing. Bit by bit, my bobby pins drop to the floor until all of my hair matches the enchanted strands, free and flowing around my shoulders in vivid crimson waves.
The intrusion migrates to my arms and legs, filling my limbs with power.
My veins illuminate under my skin. Each one grows, expands to the form of a living, breathing plant that blossoms out of me like a snake.
Red inhabits me, and I welcome her, because she’s making me strong.
The splitting agony in my heart yields to the sensation of needles stitching it back together. All the pain soothes away and the beat is unified and solid. I fill my lungs, drinking the air.
I wrap my arms around my chest, hugging myself, embracing Red’s vitality.
“ Yes, my child.” Her voice forces its way from my mouth on a breath. “Together, We shall be unstoppable.” She addresses us as a collective We, as if We are one being. The possibility appeals to my madness in ways I never imagined.
The leafy tendrils sprouting from my skin lash at the Queen of Hearts. She takes a step back, cautious. Red uses the connection between her ivy strands and my veins to move me, as if I were a marionette. This time, there’s no pain, no cracking of bones or ripping of muscles and veins, because I don’t fight her. I move gracefully, as if I’m floating. I look down to find my body propelled by the vines, a creeping plant. My feet aren’t even touching the floor.
However wrong it looks and feels, all dread and fear vanish.
What’s so bad, really? The power coursing through us? The horror on Hart’s face as We wrap her in our deadly ivy? Her eyes bugging out like a guppy’s as We tighten our clasp on her neck?
No. Nothing bad here. On the contrary, the brutality is rapturous.
“Please,” Hart murmurs, her voice no more than a whistle of compressed air. “Our bargain . . . the medallion.”
Right. We still don’t know which of her guards hid the medallion. My and Red’s thoughts intertwine as one. Let her live. She yet has a part to play.
Before We release the queen, several guards enter the room, their reptilian faces reflections of terror. “Y-y-your Majesties,” the one in charge stutters. “Manti has captured the human boy.”
We unwind our tendrils and drop Hart. She flops to the floor and gasps for breath. Her guards help her move a safe distance from us.
“Tell Morpheus the transfer is complete,” We say, our voices merging. “Bring the boy to the courtyard, and let the ceremony begin.”