“As was his mother,” he returned before the mirror shifted, returning to silver. As I regarded the silver, it swirled like a vortex, then solidified once more. When it returned, a man with dark hair and vibrant, blue eyes held a little girl. Beside him, a woman with a rounded belly, and a toddler, who was resting his head on her shoulder. The male moved toward the mirror, forcing me to rush forward. He hadn’t looked the least bit friendly.
A woman’s whispered moan forced my eyes to drift to the one on the other side. In it, a man had his head leaned back on a small couch, his arms extended over the back of it. The woman was on her knees, pleasuring him. “Either get in here and join her on your knees, or move along, pretty kitty.” His head raised, even as the woman choked, lifting from an impressive cock lined with a Jacob’s ladder. My eyes grew owl shaped as a whispered breath explosively expelled from my dry throat. Snaking my tongue out, I wetted my suddenly dry lips. “Here kitty-kitty. Does the pretty pussy want some cream? Or are you the type who needs to be caught in the spider’s web?”
“Do I look like a cat?”
“Trust me, kitty. You’ll be purring so prettily for me if you let me play with the fire burning in those lovely eyes.”
“Hard pass, but thanks for the offer?” I hastened my movement. Fucking hell. Maybe it was some sort of hostel or a sex club? Did they have sex clubs here? Where the hell was I? Who the hell were they?
I took another step, eyeing the next. A meadow covered in delicate violet-colored flowers swept out as far as I could see. The adjacent one was awash in darkness, yet tiny, gold specks pirouetted against the velvety-black canvas. Several more held similar scenes, like the first few, which appeared to be portals into other worlds. At least, I assumed they were since some creatures didn’t look like ones we had here. Maybe I’d been supposed to choose one? How would I choose? There had to be a reason they were within the same hallway I’d been pulled into, right? But how would I know which one took me back to where I’d been, before I’d ended up in Wonderland?
“A little help would be nice right about now. Not from those people, either,” I grumbled. “Alice had a guide. He might have been batshit bonkers, but I enjoy riddles.” My words reverberated through the seemingly endless hallway.
Abandoning the portals, I allowed myself to be led toward a dark doorway. It appeared to be the end of the long, winding corridor I’d traveled down. Grabbing the knob, I twisted and pushed it open, peering into a darkened forest. If I entered it and ended up lost . . . what then?
If I got lost, I had a feeling that it wouldn’t matter if I never moved another muscle again, no one would come looking for me here. Esme was probably threatening my father and all present by now, which meant I had to get back to her. We’d promised to stay together, but it wasn’t as if I’d intended to fall down the rabbit hole, per se. I inhaled deeply and stepped through the shimmering surface of the mirror, gasping as the sensation of falling began anew.
The moment I’d exited the hall of mirrors, I was dropping swiftly toward the ground. A moment before I could crash against the boulders rushing up to meet my face, something grabbed me and tossed me into the sky. A scream of horror ripped from my lips as I landed on a slippery rock face, teetering on the side of a cliff.
“What the actual fuck? I should’ve gone in the stained-glass window, but no. Not me. No, I have to run toward the one drawing me in, as if I ever choose anything correctly? Nope. Not me. I’m the idiot who refuses to take the simple path forward. Why? Because I’m that bitch.” I groaned as I softly beat my head against the rock. It was then that I noticed what, exactly, I was kneeling on, and I flinched. “You’ve got to be kidding me.”
I didn’t wait around to plummet to my death. Instead, I began scouting a forward escape from the slate I knew was treacherous and deadly. Knox wasn’t here to save me this time, which meant if I were careless with my life, it’d be game over. I wasn’t a damsel. I carefully inched over the precarious pathway, needing no one to save me because I could save myself—or, at least, that was what I told myself.
The sound of cracking slate sent ice trickling down my spine. Instead of rushing forward, I continued creeping toward the portion of rock that moved toward the top of the cliff. The chill of the hard surface against my back was sinking into my weary bones with each slide closer to the edge of the next tier of slate. A prickling sensation of being watched grew as I turned toward the cliff and then hoisted myself up to the next.
A tedious amount of time passed before I finally made it to solid ground. Laying on my back on the damp, chilly ground, I gazed up at the startling, blue skies above. As my face scrunched up, I felt my eyebrows pushing together in confusion. Rising to my knees, I braced myself on the edge, peering down the slate-covered side of the towering cliff.
Darkness shadowed the cliff behind me, while daylight filled the wooden terrain before me. Inching back from the edge, I surveyed the thick, silent forest. It took effort to get up this time, as if I’d pressed myself past the point of exhaustion. I had rested little since leaving Norvalla, which was swiftly exhausting my reserved energy. I’d expected some rest before being tossed into the next challenge.
The moment I entered the forest, strange, haunting noises began thrumming through the trees. The light streaming through the treetops above kept me from blindly stumbling over fallen debris, yet every step I took had the sense of foreboding in my stomach growing stronger and stronger. I still felt eyes boring into my spine, but every time I peered back over my shoulder, nothing was there.
“I’d really appreciate that mad little pussy cat right about now,” I grumbled beneath my breath. Then a twig snapped somewhere behind me and I spun toward the sound. “Come on, creeper, don’t keep a girl waiting. Show yourself!” Sweat trickled down the back of the skin-tight black tunic Aden had provided for us to endure the trials in.
A breeze wafted against my neck, which reminded me of the rather atrocious braid Esme had done in my hair. She’d returned the favor after I’d braided hers, but with nothing to tie the end, it had been a lost cause. The girl had fuck-all knowledge of anything pertaining to girly shit. Closing my fingers against the palms of my hands, I searched through the trees for anything hunting me.
The sound of a branch snapping underfoot forced my head to turn toward the sound. As my eyes narrowed in the vicinity, the sound had come from, a flash of violet captured my attention. Dramatically shaded, heart-shaped petals clung to a lush, navy-colored flower bud. The flower was pretty, but it wasn’t why I’d noticed it. The fact that it was attached to something that was rising, is what had caught my eye. It persisted in its ascent until the bushes no longer obscured it, unveiling a sizable, pale stag that fixated its stare on me.