“And in the process,” Morpheus says from beside the fireplace, “you’ll destroy some of her best qualities.”
Mom and Ivory glance at him, as if taken aback to hear those words coming from his lips.
He sits hard on the chaise lounge, wings draped over the back, then slouches with elbows on knees. The silvery flames flicker across his bejeweled face. “What of her whimsy and curiosity, her compassion and loyalty? Her imagination, her dreams. These are all part of her humanness.”
My mom stares at him in disbelief. “This is thanks to your schemes. You pressured her to choose you . . . to choose Wonderland over her other side. What did you think would happen?”
Morpheus hunches lower, miserable.
“Alison.” Ivory sits beside Mom on the mattress. “You are being too harsh. This rift was not caused merely by her efforts to choose between her worlds or between her love for Morpheus and her mortal knight. Red put a spell upon her netherling side, in hopes it would dominate and destroy the other one. You cannot blame him for that.”
“I can, because it all started when Allie came here last summer.” Mom glares at Morpheus again. “Now you’re finally going to get what you wanted. To have her here in Wonderland with you. To have her break all ties with mortals forever. You should be celebrating. You won.”
“Won what?” Dad asks from the door.
Before anyone can answer, Jeb comes up behind him. He curses and rushes to the bed with Dad.
Ivory moves aside while explaining everything, including the plan on the table.
Dad starts toward Morpheus. “Are you happy? You made it all about Wonderland. Now she’ll be a queen without a family who loves her.”
Jeb grabs Dad’s arm before he can get across the room. “Thomas, it wasn’t just him. We were pulling her apart, too. Trying to convince her to stay in our world. We have to be unified now, to think of Al and how to keep her alive.” There’s torment behind his green eyes, because he knows he’s about to give me up forever. But there’s no doubt, only pained resignation.
“Jebediah is right.” Morpheus meets Jeb’s gaze. An unspoken understanding passes between them. “But this isn’t the path to Alyssa’s salvation. Were she able to speak for herself in this moment, she would insist there must be another way.”
“I can think of none, and we’re out of time,” Ivory answers sadly. Her wings hang low at her back, appearing heavy.
“Put her on ice then,” Morpheus suggests. “Freeze her heart and give us a chance to come up with options.”
Ivory agrees.
An arctic surge rushes through me and my blood slows in my veins, like icy slush. The pain in my chest vanishes.
Mom pets my frozen hair and Dad slumps to his knees next to Jeb, burying his face against my frosted gown.
“If only we still had the diary,” Jeb says absently, rubbing my fingers inside his, as if trying to keep me warm. “The magic inside. Maybe we could’ve used it somehow.”
Morpheus tilts his chin. “The diary. Of course.” He stands and stares pointedly at Ivory. “We’re looking at this all wrong. We need to think of her heart as an object . . . like a toy. What makes abandoned toys such powerful casings for Sister Two’s souls? ’Tis not so much what they are, but what is used to seal them.”
“A child’s love magic.” Ivory purses her pale pink mouth. “It could work, since you’ve both shared her childhood at different times.”
“It’s worth a try, at the very least,” Morpheus adds.
Ivory nods, then casts a wise and knowing glance from him to Jeb. “The seal would only be a temporary fix, to hold her together until she can heal. You both must be willing to compromise . . . see past your needs, and accept that she is meant for more than fulfilling your expectations for her. You will have to support one another as constants in her life if you’re to bridge her human and netherling heart. She must live in both worlds for equal amounts of time. This will allow her heart to grow and mend, piece by piece. Once it has healed and is unified, she’ll no longer need the sutures, and she can endure being crowned without losing either part of who she is. Are you willing to let her have this dual future? The decision falls to you. She’s too weak to make it for herself. Red’s greed and vengefulness saw to that when she made Alyssa’s heart the battlefield.”
“I’ll do whatever it takes,” Morpheus and Jeb answer simultaneously without hesitation.
The bubble in Ivory’s hand bursts, Chessie rematerializes, and the moment is gone.
I frown, overwhelmed by Jeb’s and Morpheus’s devotion, but still confused.
Ivory lays my palm over my heart. “What do you see inside?”