Page 21 of Dark & Darker Still (Vane and Roc: Origin)

Twenty

Alice

When I come to, I’m lying on the cold cobblestone in the alley behind the Joker’s Den. The wind has picked up and the chill in the air tells me it’s probably well into evening.

Voices sound somewhere off to my left. No one I immediately recognize. Both male.

I keep my eyes closed and my body still, listening.

“What kind of monsters are they?” the one guy says. “What kind of beast is subdued by mercury bullets?”

“Have no clue,” the other guy says. His accent is more northern Winterland with soft constants and stilted speech.

“You really think they ate the princess? I mean, gross right?”

“They leave no trace of her. Seems odd.”

“Yeah. True. Maybe they’re holding her hostage?”

“Unlikely,” the other man says. “The witch cast a blood spell. The princess is poof. Gone.”

A blood spell. Of course, Callista pulled out all her tricks. Heart witches from Wonderland are experts in spells and magic of the body. But she’s claimed to only be a healer for the palace, that she put aside any of her more complex spell work.

I suppose when a princess goes missing, your self-imposed restrictions no longer apply.

“I overheard them talking about looking for the Madd brothers’ little sister. An eye for an eye.”

Fear lances through me.

Not Lainey.

Please god not Lainey.

The brothers have done an excellent job at hiding her.

She’s nearby so they can keep an eye on her and visit when time allows, but far enough away from the city that no one would find her unless they knew where to look.

We’re always careful not to take a cab or carriage directly there.

Our routes there are always long and meandering to further shield her.

But with the Lorne princess gone…the rest of the family will likely stop at nothing to find Lainey, if revenge is really their goal.

I have to get to her. I don’t sense Vane and Roc nearby, which means the guards took them. Probably they’re being tortured right now for answers.

The only person to warn Lainey is me.

I open my eyes a sliver, just enough so I can see the men and the rest of the alley.

It seems like we’re the only three here. They’ve probably been tasked with watching me until I wake up.

Thankfully, it’s dark enough in the alley that I’m partially in shadow. But it won’t be easy to slip away unnoticed.

The taller of the men fights with a lighter, trying to light a cigarette.

“Let me help,” the other guard says, cupping his hands around the flame.

When the men are distracted, I slowly, carefully resituate myself so my hands are free. And as I shift just slightly, something hard presses against my rib cage on my left side.

My hat. Yes . Thank god I grabbed it before we fled.

Now, if I can just get it out and on my head.

The lighter flame gutters out again and the guard curses.

“Turn away from the wind,” the other says and they do, putting their backs to me.

Move. Now.

I shimmy the hat out of my jacket, trying to remain as quiet as I can. I hear the roll of the lighter wheel, the snap of a spark.

I bring the hat up and yank it snuggly on my head, and a second later I’m gone.

I keep the hat on as I leave the Umbrage. I run from the Joker’s Den further north, past Fortune’s Lane and past the High Chamber Council and past the royal palace grounds that stretches from the sea to the center of the island.

When I’m well out of the city, I take the hat off and my body reorients itself on the visible plane.

I huff out a breath.

It’s getting late and I’m far outside the city where cabs are fewer and farther between.

I could run all the way there, but it would take me three times as long and I don’t know how much time we have. If they find out where Lainey is, their horses, built for speed and stamina, will outpace any cab I can hail.

I keep walking through the countryside until I get closer to the seaside village where all the aristocrats and nobility have summer cottages on the sea.

I spot a cab on the outskirts of the village and manage to hail him.

“I need to get to the Highlands. Can you take me?”

“It’ll cost you.”

I dig into my pocket and find a handful of coins. “Here. Take it all. Go as fast as you can.”

He happily takes my offering and ushers me inside.

The carriage is simple, but swift and we get to the borderland of the Highlands in record time.

I hop out of the cab and start running down the main street through the village, then over the rolling hills outside the village, and finally to the cottage.

When I burst inside, Lainey is in the kitchen at the worktable kneading dough and Ms. Ollen is washing dishes. Both women let out a yelp of surprise and I can only imagine how I look. Sweaty, bloody, and slightly deranged.

“Alice,” Lainey says, her hands going still. “What’s going on? What happened? Are you hurt?”

“You have to go. We have to go. Right now.”

“What? Where?”

I start rummaging in the cupboards looking for a bag. What do we pack? Where do we go? Is here safer than somewhere deeper in the highlands? Tears are burning in my eyes. Panic welling in my chest.

I don’t know what to do.

This is all my fault.

What the fuck have I done?

I find a bag and start stuffing things inside of it while Lainey trails me.

“Where is Roc and Vane?” she asks.

“I don’t know,” I admit. “But…it’s bad. They were…shot.”

“Shot?!”

“Roc devoured someone he shouldn’t have and I think they want revenge.”

“Why would he do that?”

I stop rummaging in a closet and finally face her. When she sees the wetness welling in my eyes, she frowns and puts her hands on my shoulders. “Tell me what happened, Alice.”

“I did a bad thing.” My voice trembles.

“What did you do?”

The sound of horses fills the night.

“Oh god.” I toss the bag and run to one of the front windows and peek through the curtains.

There are seven horses pulling to a stop in the driveway. Callista is on one.

Ice cold realization fills my veins.

I press my fingers to my forehead where the skin is split open, blood now dried on my skin.

You need blood to do a blood spell to locate someone. Of course they didn’t have Lainey’s blood.

But they had mine.

And I led them here.

I led them straight to Lainey.

I yank the hat out. “I’m going to put this on you. Your uncle made it for me. It’ll make you invisible. Do not make a sound.”

“But—”

Voices are shouting, growing closer to the house.

“Not a sound. No matter what they say or do. Promise me.”

“Alice—”

I place the hat on her head and yank it down low over her forehead and a second later, she’s gone.