Chess’s grins widens. “You’d have to catch me first, beastie.”
“Focus,” Gwyneth says. “You’re supposed to lead us to the Grimm brothers.”
Chess blinks. “No, I am leading you out of Wonderland. You have miles to go yet, Stone sisters.”
“You have lost them, you infernal idiots,” the Red Queen shrieks from behind the door. “I will have their heads decorating my walls this sundown, and you will join them.”
“Yes, queen,” a chorus of guards shouts.
“Search every room, every nook and cranny.”
“It didn’t take long for her to realize our ruse,” Hart murmurs in my ear as his hand presses against my belly. He takes a few steps back, away from the door.
“What do we do?” Malachi asks. “Fight?”
“Hide. We are tempos away from being found,” Gwyneth says.
“Where?” I ask, glancing around the mostly empty room.
“Here,” Chess says as he materializes in the wall. No, wait. Not a wall, but a mirror.Idols save me.I’ve had enough of mirrors this annus.
“How will that hide us?” Gwyneth wonders as she peers around the edge of the huge mirror hanging on the wall.
“Stop thinking so literally. Step inside another world,” Chess coaxes.
“I don’t trust it,” Nash says. “We’ll fight our way out.”
The genie snorts before disappearing inside the mirror, making Chess spin in the air. A tempo passes, then the genie’s head reappears. “All seems okay, but I’d put these on.” He snaps his fingers, and a pile of heavy fur cloaks thud to the floor.
I slip on the smallest cloak, and my sister does the same before grabbing my hand and tugging me toward our reflection. The surface parts, allowing us through. Darkness engulfs us, and my heart pitter-patters in my chest. “Are you guys coming or what?” I whisper-yell. “Get your asses in here.”
Sir Sweeps-A-Lot streaks past me as Genie passes over our heads. I sense the guys piling in after us. “Keep going, Daphne,” Chess says, his voice a distant silky caress.
Someone touches my ass. “Hey,” I grumble.
Hart laughs low. “It’s just me.”
There’s a crash from behind us and shouts as the red guards search the room. “Anyone else feel that chill?” Charming asks.
Now that he mentions it, the temperature has plummeted a few degrees. My breath mists in front of my face, and a shiver runs down my spine.
“Oh my Idols,” Gwyneth whispers as the darkness gives way to a glistening world.
We file out and stand in awe at the world we’ve found ourselves in. “It’s snow,” Charming says. “I’ve never seen it before.”
None of us have. It’s in books and tales of wonder.
Chess appears beside us, curling his tail. “Until we meet again,” he says as he disappears back inside the mirror. Then, that too vanishes.
The frozen forest rustles like it’s waiting for us to make our move. Eyes shift in the darkness, and a sense of foreboding skitters along my nerves.
Nash points at a set of hoofprints in the snow. “Looks like we aren’t the only ones here.”
“Do we follow them?” I check. I can’t decide if going after a mysterious being in a strange land is clever or stupid. Possibly both.
Snow drifts down, filling the prints. I squeeze my eyes closed and search my heart, begging it to give me any sign of where we should go. What is the right path? I’m getting tired. When was the last time we slept? We need a night of sanctuary to gather our strength and make new plans.
“Daphne,” Gwyneth whispers. “Are you doing that?”
