Page 11 of Cheshire’s Smile (The Crimes of Alice #3)

Thankfully, the entrance to the back of the hall had the same thick gloves to open the door in a hidden panel. The door opened, and we stepped through it.

Once more, the Underground blew my mind with its insane physics. The Hall of Mirrors stood behind us, and yet a line of metal doors lined the walls of the hallway before us. Mind boggling for sure.

Tick once more bounded forward without us, peering curiously at each door, his eyes catching the names etched into the plates by each door. I hung back by the door, my knees locking up.

I thought the Hall of Mirrors was going to be the scariest part of this endeavor. I’d been wrong.

My body refused to move. Every muscle locked in place. My eyes widened, my pulse beating in my ears. One would think I was facing down the Shadow Man himself and not an empty hall of doors. I’d be appalled by my own body’s reaction had I the ability to do anything but resemble that of a statue.

A warm palm rubbed up and down my back. Cheshire pressed against my side, his purring chest vibrating through my whole form. “It’s alright, Aly. I’m here. No one is going to put you back in there.”

“Hey!” Tick stopped before a door and waved at us. “Here’s your door. Looks like the queen didn’t replace you yet.”

My breath hitched. Of course she hadn’t. That ice bitch probably had hopes of putting me back in there as soon as she could. You’d think that she’d be grateful that I found her reincarnated daughter and helped fix the mess I’d made in the first place.

Unsurprisingly, she held a grudge.

“Fox!” Cheshire snapped, a low warning rumble in his voice.

“What?” Tick frowned, his brows bunched together. He stared at me and Cheshire for a long moment.

“Have a bit of decorum,” Cheshire huffed, his tail twitching against me. “Some people might find this place a bit traumatizing.”

Tick’s eyes widened. “Oh, hehe, sorry about that. I’m just so excited to see this place. I mean, from the outside. No way would I want to be on the other side. I can’t imagine how horrible it was in there. I mean, you know what I mean.” He gestured at me with a lopsided grin.

Forcing myself to relax, I blew out a breath. “Let’s just get out of here. The portal to the Between will be over there somewhere.”

I threw a hand toward the end of the hall. I didn’t exactly remember how it ended up there. I was sure the queen hadn’t put the portal there. Most likely, the shadows had created their own opening so they could feed on the prisoners.

Cheshire held me close, helping me take one step after the other. We passed by my door, and I was proud to say that my steps barely stuttered. I closed my eyes and held my breath until we were a few doors away from it. When I was sure we had passed it, I let out the breath and opened my eyes.

Tick stood by a door a few feet away, his face pensive. “Uh, is this door supposed to be open?”

I swallowed and slowly approached the door. If Tick was that close to it without being gobbled up, then whoever was supposed to be in there was gone now. When my gaze fell onto the name plate next to the door, my footsteps faltered.

J. S.

Those two initials sent a shockwave of fear through my body. That door shouldn’t be open. The fae that lived there should be dead. Kat told me the Shadow Man took his form over, draining him of all his life force. Shouldn’t the queen have cleared out that cell and repurposed it?

“Alice?” Tick cocked his head to the side. “What’s wrong?”

I shook my head, clearing my thoughts. “Nothing. Don’t worry about it. That fae is dead. No need to worry about an open cell.”

“But who was in here?”

Pulling Cheshire along with me, I ignored his question. No good would come from talking about the Shadow Man. Besides, we had more important things to worry about right now.

Tick chased after us, still asking questions I had no intention of answering. We stopped in front of a small tear in the air before us. A white light poured from the inside, the edges a burning yellow. Thankfully, Tick had finally fallen silent.

My head turned to find the annoying fox, only to find him no longer beside us. My head whipped from one side to the other, releasing Cheshire as I turned around. When my gaze finally landed on Tick beside another door, my jaw tightened.

“Would you come on, fox? You were in such a hurry to leave and now you want to loiter here?” I huffed and stepped towards him.

Tick didn’t respond, staring at the door with a pale pallor.

I huffed and dragged Cheshire with me over to the fox. “Hello, I’m talking to you. If you would be so kind as to acknowledge me, we can leave this place.”

It was like the fox didn’t even realize I was talking to him. His entire focus was on the cracked door and the name plate. The initials were scratched out in such a violent manner that there was a small hole in the metal.

“And this door?” Tick finally spoke. “Is it supposed to be open as well?”

My head tilted to the side. “I don’t know. I can’t make out the name, and it’s not like I knew everyone the queen imprisoned here. Did you check to see if they were in there?”

I reached for the door and then paused, remembering not to touch the metal surface.

“Wh—why would I do that?” Tick stuttered, his tail flicking in random movements.

“Then why bother, if they’re not coming out and you’re not going in? Just leave it. We have to get to the Between and currently, we are not making any progress standing around here.” I turned my back on him and drew Cheshire away from the door.

“But... shouldn’t we...? I don’t know. Close the door?” Tick called after me, still not following.

I lifted my hands and shrugged. “Not my concern. Let them go, lock them in. All the same to me.”

Those locked in the Hall of Mirrors usually belonged there. Me not included, of course. The queen at least was smart enough to lock away the most dangerous of fae.

Though, if it’d been me making the decisions, I would have just killed them. Then I would be dead, too. Regardless, I didn’t have any sympathy for those locked in the Hall of Mirrors. Hypocritical? Maybe. But that’s how I felt.

“But what if they get out and attack the other prisoners?” Tick chased after me. When his hand came close to me, Cheshire growled a warning. “We can’t just leave them like this.”

I pivoted and pointed a finger at his chest. “Look, I don’t know who you think I am, but I’m not a saint. The only reason I’m here is to find my males. And that doesn’t include cleaning up another of the queen’s messes. If you’re that worried, then you go close the cell.”

“That won’t matter if they’re already gone.” Tick argued, sending a worried look over his shoulder. “We should find them and put them back in their cell.”

“Nope.” I popped the word and spun around, my hair whipping behind me.

“Not my problem. Besides, if they did escape, they aren’t going to get through the metal door to the prisoners.

Most likely they went through the portal to the Between.

If I were them, I would have disappeared into one of the other realms. Honestly, if they were smart, they would have gone to the Human Realm.

It’s so big and chaotic over there, it would be easy for someone to hide.

We’d only be wasting our time trying to find them. ”

“But—”

“You heard her, fox. Stop your yapping. We are wasting time.” Cheshire clutched me closer to his side, drawing us toward the portal. “Either you’re coming with us or not. Either way, we aren’t waiting for you.”

I didn’t bother to wait for the fox to follow us as we stepped through the portal and into the Between. Bright light burned my eyes. The large white void of the Between spread out before us. Tick stumbled out behind us, bumping into my back.

“Watch it,” Cheshire snarled, shoving Tick back a step.

Tick glared at Cheshire and then stepped around us. “Well, I guess this is where I leave you.”

“Wait,” I called out, but he was already gone, lost to the void. I sighed and shrugged. “Well, if he gets eaten, they can’t blame me, right?”

Cheshire stroked a hand down my hair. “Forget about the fox. He’s not our concern. We have to get to the reception before something realizes we are here.”

I would be lying if a tiny part of me wasn’t concerned about Tick. However, the fox had made his choice.

It wasn’t my duty to keep everyone in the Underground safe. That would make me like a leader or something. And that I was not.

“You’re right.” I nodded, holding his arm with a firm grip. “Let’s go. We’re one step closer to saving the others.”

And into the void we go.