Inside was a lock of blonde hair. Soft. Bright. Preserved perfectly after all these years.
The dream slammed into me. Fire. Screams. My mother's face as she pushed me to safety. She'd died in those flames—died so I could live. And this small golden lock was all that remained of her. "That's my mother's, isn't it?"
"Yes." A tear slid down his weathered cheek. He swallowed hard, his throat working. "The spell calls for something from the person you love to open it. Your mother gave me a lock of her hair before she left."
A tear rolled down my cheek. The dream came back to me again. Her scream. Her determination to protect me. The woman I never knew who risked her life to save me.
Darius hugged me. I pulled in Grump and we stood there, the three of us holding each other. Father, daughter, and the man I loved.
For the first time in my life, I had a family. A real family. And now I would do anything to protect it. Alanna would destroy all of them if they were captured. The thought carved a hole in my chest.
“How quaint,” a sarcastic voice said. “But I suggest we stop all this emotion and figure out how to get out of here.”
I stiffened. Ari. He always showed up at the worst possible times.
But he was right. Alanna's soldiers could be tracking us already. Every second we spent here was another second closer to capture.
I untangled myself from Darius and Grump.
Darius narrowed his eyes. “If I didn’t know better, Ari, I would suspect you were afraid.”
Ari shrugged, not even bothering with a denial. “As you should be. What do you think the queen will do to you for leaving her at the altar? Forgiveness isn’t in her nature.”
He should know. The queen reduced him to being a pet. Her Boy Friday. I didn’t want to admit it, but he was right. The queen would still want Darius, but she’d torture him first—something much, much worse than what she did to Ari. I couldn’t allow that.
“You’re not coming back to our world, Ari,” Darius said, his voice cold as steel.
Ari laughed—a cruel, mocking sound. “Then how do you get your merry band out of here, Hatter?” His red eyes shifted to me. “Or have you forgotten, witch? The web bracelet binds us. You promised to help me escape.” He held up his wrist, the black web pulsing faintly. “Break that promise, and you die.”
I clenched my jaw. Of course. I'd sold a piece of my soul to escape that dungeon. The binding I’d agreed to in desperation. Now it was a noose around my neck.
Darius’ hand flew to his sword. “You bastard?—”
“Darius.” I grabbed his arm. “You know I made the deal.”
“He doesn’t have to fucking gloat.”
Ari rolled his eyes.
I sighed as I looked at all the people I cared for—Darius, Bunny and her children, Caterpillar, Chester, the twins, and the Uncrowned. Even with the harpies, we couldn’t get everyone out of here. And I couldn’t leave anyone behind. “But he’s rightabout one thing. We need him. Even with you and the two harpies, we couldn’t get all of us out of here.”
Grump gave me a faint smile. “Alice, we’re not going with you.”
My heart stopped. “What?”
No. No, no, no. I’d just found him. I’d just found my father—and now he was telling me he wasn’t coming?
“My brothers and I have taken a vow to overthrow Alanna and free Brynn. You saw what Alanna’s capable of. Many of my people are suffering under her rule.”
This was my family. This was the first time I felt I belonged. Alanna was a monster. How could I walk away?
But we were being hunted. What if Alanna captured Darius again? She’d force him to marry her again or maybe do something even worse. I had to get him where he’d be safe, where Alanna would never find him again.
But these were my people. A place where I belonged. I never belonged in New Orleans with Tinker Bell.
I was a stranger.
“Then I should stay too.” I stepped toward him. “I can help. My magic?—”
