She was more resourceful than I’d given her credit for. Braver too.
I’d left her stranded up there, certain she was helpless. And she’d saved herself.
“I’m sorry.” The words scraped out of me. “I should never have left you.”
“You seem to be apologizing a lot.”
“I don’t apologize to just anyone.”
Our eyes met. Something flickered between us—fragile and unnamed.
But then another sharp pain hit me. I forced my eyes to focus, scanning the trees. Nothing looked familiar.
“Where are we?”
Caterpillar crouched by a small fire, poking it lazily with a stick. “Where are we?” he repeated, as if savoring the question. “We are... precisely where we need to be. And nowhere at all.”
I bit back a groan—whether from the pain or his riddles, I wasn't sure. I squeezed her hand. “What about the queen’s men?”
“They are where they are supposed to be,” Caterpillar said.
“Which is where?”
Gold eyes flashed over Alice’s head, followed by a broad, impossible grin.
My heart stuttered.
Chester. His body materialized piece by piece—first the grin, then the eyes, then the rest of him, lounging against a tree like he hadn’t a care in the world.
“Behind us,” he said.
Something cracked in my chest. Relief. Gratitude. The sting of tears I refused to let fall.
“Chester.” His name came out rough, broken. “They didn’t capture you.”
After Flint and Steel—after watching Ari drag them away—I’d feared the worst. That the queen had taken everyone. That I’d lost them all.
But he was here. Grinning like a fool. Alive.
“It’s hard to capture what you can’t see,” Chester said, his smile widening.
I wanted to laugh. I wanted to weep. The pain in my side wouldn’t let me do either.
His grin widened. “But Caterpillar says Alice can stop time. That’s what happened to the soldiers and gave Caterpillar time to carry you away and Alice time to climb down the tree.”
Stop time.
I stared at her. This woman—this witch who claimed she couldn’t control her magic, who’d heard a voice from a magical mirror, who’d been kicked around by her coven—had frozen a troop of soldiers in place.
Arrows hung midair. Soldiers turned to statues. Time itself had bent to her will.
I’d left her stranded on that branch, convinced she was helpless. Convinced she’d only slow me down. I’d treated her like a liability when she was anything but.
I’d underestimated her. Badly.
“Alice.” I cleared my parched throat. “You saved us.”
She shook her head, refusing to meet my eyes. “I don’t know what I did.”
