“Was that before her weird outfit change or after?” Gwyneth asks before she cackles. I snort, and a little spit flies out of my mouth.
“What is happening?” Charming demands as he eyeballs Gwyneth. “Your girlfriend infected my Gwyneth with her chaos. Undo it.”
Gwyneth and I have been together for many years. If she was going to get infected by me, it would have happened before now.
“I think they are high,” Nash says as he tilts his head.
“I feel low,” I say as I spin around in a circle with my arms out wide. I trip, but Hart is right there with his arms circling my waist. “My hero,” I breathe and kiss him.
He growls low and helps me stand before releasing me, but he doesn’t go far. Gwyneth displays amazing grace as she too falls, but Charming is too slow to catch her, so I dive for her, and we both end up on the ground. Hamish and Eugene hurry over to peck at our heads.
“It’s like she’s actively trying to injure herself,” Hart grumbles.
Gwyneth bellows a laugh as I roll off her. She flaps her arms and legs, making the purple fog swirl around us. Sir Sweeps-A-Lot gets in on the action and tries to combat the substance to no avail. I give him a thumbs up. “Top marks for effort,” I tell him.
Gwyneth glances at my broom. “Why is he your gift, and I get a quill?”
“I’m yet to understand anything that has come from the All Knowing, but who are we to question him?”
“The owners of wonders, apparently,” she says as she lifts her arms and waves them in the air like the wonders will appear before us.
Charming suddenly lets free a huge laugh that shatters the silence. “You can’t simply wish a wonder.”
“I disagree,” the genie interjects.
Charming rolls his eyes. “Those not in possession of a genie can’t wish a wonder.”
“I don’t believe in wishes. People make their own luck in this life,” Malachi says.
I roll onto my belly and rest my head in my hands. Standing seems too hard right now. My legs are enjoying the rest.
“We need to get out of here before we are all affected,” Nash snaps. He sweeps me into his arms like I weigh nothing more than a feather.
Charming does the same with Gwyneth, and I scowl at him in warning. So long as his hands stay where I can see them, we shouldn’t have a problem.
I point at Eugene and Hamish. “I’m putting you in charge of ensuring my sister is not fondled by him. Unless she wishes to be fondled. Maybe we need a secret code word or a handshake or a sign that says fondling is welcome.” Eugene squawks, making Gwyneth giggle. I nod. “Perfect.”
“We shouldn’t stray far. The hatter won’t find us,” Nash says as he strides in the opposite direction of the mysterious drugging mist. Not more than two tempos pass when his steps falter.
“Tell me there aren’t giant spiders,” Genie whispers, disappearing before waiting for an answer. He needs serious therapy.
“You’re different, but the same,” a giant caterpillar declares from his lofty position on top of a mushroom. He takes puffs from a huge pipe, the origin of the purple mist.
“I am merely me,” I counter.
“Well, merely me, riddle me this...”
Nash groans. I flop my head back over his arm and sigh. Riddles, piddles, I want cake and sausages. Is that too much to ask? The rest of our gang form an arc around the creature.
“They are new,” the caterpillar points out as he glares at the knights. His gaze settles on Gwyneth. “You, however, are not.”
“Did he call me old?” Gwyneth says from Charming’s arms.
“Rude,” I agree. Commenting on a maiden’s age is frowned upon. We are all one cat away from becoming an old crone.
Nash puts me down, and although my head swims, I manage to conquer standing like a queen. The purple mist thickens, curling around our ankles like it’s alive. My thoughts swirl like currents in my mind, flickering between cake, sausages, and the alarming possibility that I might actually enjoy riddles in this state.
The caterpillar takes a slow, deliberate puff from his pipe, his eyes half-lidded. “You wish to pass through Wonderland,” he muses. “But tell me this—what is the way forward when every path leads you back to where you started?”
