Page 59 of Knot My Wonderland, Part Two (Fairytale Omegaverse #2)

Chapter

Thirty-Six

ALICE

I stared at the spot where Seth had vanished, the shadows seemed to linger longer than they should have, reaching toward me with an almost tangible hunger that made my skin prickle with awareness.

"He's been struggling," Heart observed quietly, his golden patterns dimming with concern as he watched the last wisps of void magic fade. "The incomplete bond is becoming increasingly difficult for him to manage."

Chi nodded, his tail swishing with sympathetic understanding. "Void magic feeds on connection. The longer the bond remains unfinished, the more it hungers."

Through our silver and golden connections, I felt their complex emotions—not jealousy over my planned conversation with Seth, but genuine concern for both his wellbeing and mine. The pattern beneath my skin pulsed with restless energy, responding to the lingering traces of shadow magic in the air.

"Is he dangerous like this?" I asked, touching the marks on my neck unconsciously. The completed bonds with Heart and Chi provided stability, but I could still feel the pull of that unfinished connection with Seth—darker, more primal than anything I'd experienced with the others.

"Not to you," Heart assured me, his hand settling on my shoulder with reassuring warmth. "The void bond seeks completion, not harm. But his control is being tested to its limits."

"He's been channeling the excess energy into his spy network," Chi added, his teal eyes thoughtful. "Shadow magic is particularly useful for gathering intelligence. I suspect that's partly why his information is so thorough—he's been working constantly to burn off the void bond's restless energy."

I nodded, processing this new understanding of Seth's behavior. Through our incomplete connection, I'd felt his hunger when he looked at me, the shadows beneath his skin reaching toward me with almost desperate need.

"We should get some rest," Heart suggested gently, sensing my exhaustion through our golden bond. "There will be time to address the void bond after we've recovered from the dimensional transition."

"And discussed our strategy more thoroughly," Vee added, carefully rolling up the maps Seth had left behind. "The probabilities of success depend heavily on precise timing and coordination."

I followed Heart and Chi through the winding corridors of the resistance base, feeling the weight of everything we'd learned settling over me.

The Queen's plan to permanently corrupt Wonderland's pattern, the urgency of our timeline, and the visible hunger in Seth's shadows when he'd looked at me—it was almost too much to process after the disorienting dimensional shift.

Our quarters were the same ones I had been staying in before I had been taken to the Red Queen. The familiarity of the space was welcoming after the ethereal beauty of the pocket dimension, grounding me in the reality of what we now faced.

"You should rest," Heart murmured, his golden patterns pulsing with protective concern as he helped me sit on the edge of the bed. "The dimensional transition takes more out of you than you realize. Just because you rested while in the pocket doesn’t mean you aren’t exhausted now."

Chi Chi settled beside me, his tail wrapping around my wrist with gentle pressure. "He's right. Your patterns are dimming at the edges—a clear sign of magical exhaustion from the transition."

I nodded, suddenly aware of how heavy my limbs felt. The pattern beneath my skin pulsed more sluggishly than before, the silver and gold light dimming as Chi had observed. Through our bonds, I felt their concern mingled with their own fatigue—the dimensional journey had drained all of us.

"What about you two?" I asked, noting the slight dimming in their own patterns. "You need rest as well."

Heart's lips curved in a tired smile. "We'll rest with you," he said simply, beginning to remove his boots. "The bonds settle more quickly when we're in close proximity."

Chi was already stretching out on one side of the bed, his silver patterns rippling beneathhis skin with the languid motion. "Besides, I'm not letting you out of my sight after what we just learned. The Queen's corruption is spreading faster than we anticipated."

I couldn't argue with their logic or their protective instincts.

As I settled between them, Heart's golden warmth on one side and Chi's silver coolness on the other, I felt the pattern beneath my skin responding to their proximity.

The mating marks on my neck pulsed in gentle synchronization, soothing the ragged edges of magical exhaustion.

"Sleep," Heart murmured against my hair, his arm settling securely around my waist. "Tomorrow will bring enough challenges without facing them exhausted."

Chi's tail wrapped loosely around my ankle, a familiar gesture of comfort that made the silver bond between us hum with contentment. "We'll figure it all out," he promised, his voice already growing drowsy. "The Queen's plan, the public declaration, everything."

I closed my eyes, letting their combined warmth and presence wash over me.

Through our bonds, I felt their love and protection wrapping around me like a shield against the uncertainties ahead.

The incomplete void bond with Seth pulsed at the edges of my consciousness—a dark thread of potential that would need to be addressed soon.

But for now, surrounded by the steady breathing of my mates and the gentle pulse of our completed connections, sleep claimed me easily. My dreams were filled with swirling shadows and silver light, echoes of Seth's hungry gaze and the promise of conversations yet to come.

The dreams shifted, mist flicking until I could feel myself falling and hitting the ground. As I looked around me I was deep underground and all around me was withered plants, but I stood in the middle of what could have been a garden maze of some kind.

Little Alice has come home at last.

“Who is there?” I asked, fear shooting through me. I was confused as I thought I had fallen asleep. I never had a dream like this….but how did I know it was a dream?

I am the foundation of this world. I am what gave you power. Gave you the pattern that makes your skin.

My mind went a mile a minute trying to figure out what those words could mean. I know anything was possible in the world, “Wonderland?”

Yes, little Alice. I am Wonderland itself, speaking through the pattern that flows within you.

The voice seemed to come from everywhere at once—the withered plants, the cracked earth beneath my feet, even the stagnant air around me. I spun in a circle, trying to find the source, but there was nothing except the dying garden maze stretching endlessly in all directions.

"This isn't possible," I whispered, though even as I said it, I knew I was wrong. In a realm where playing cards could be people and cats could disappear at will, why shouldn't the land itself be able to speak?

Look around you, child. See what she has done to me.

I focused on my surroundings with new understanding.

What I had taken for a neglected garden was something far worse—this was Wonderland's heart, the very core of the realm's magic, an ancient nexus point now poisoned by the Queen's corruption.

The withered plants weren't simply dying—they were being transformed, their natural magic twisted into something unnatural.

Thorny vines with blood-red flowers crept along the ground, pulsing with malevolent energy that made my skin crawl.

"This is one of the nexus points Seth mentioned," I realized aloud. "One the Queen has already corrupted."

Yes. Once this was a place of pure creation—where dreams took form and magic flowed freely.

Now it festers with her blood magic, spreading corruption through my roots like a cancer.

The first Queen, my favored child, gave her life to sustain me but it is not enough anymore. The corruption is too much now.

I reached out hesitantly, letting my fingers hover above one of the sickly plants. The pattern beneath my skin recoiled instinctively, silver and gold light dimming as if to protect itself from contamination.

"Why show me this? Why speak to me now?" I didn’t understand. I never knew wonderland was fully sentient.

Because all the dreamers before you either died or have become like your Cheshire.

HE was one of the closest with magical possabitiles but he wasn’t the one who would bering me back to what I once was.

So I saved him, making hime what he is. He thinks the Red Queen did that to him… ..but no I did…to save him.

I staggered back, mind reeling at this revelation. "You... transformed Chi? Not the Queen? He was a dreamer?"

The voice seemed to sigh, a rustling whisper through the dying foliage.

He was dying. His pattern was fracturing under her torture. I... intervened. Reshaped him into something that could survive. The cat essence was already within him—a potential never realized. I merely awakened it.

"Does he know?" I whispered, thinking of Chi's hatred for the Queen, his belief that she had twisted him into his current form as punishment.

No. Some truths are too heavy for those who must carry on fighting. Perhaps someday, when this is over... if there is an after.

I felt a pang of guilt at keeping this secret, but understood the wisdom in it. Learning the source of his transformation now might shatter Chi's resolve when we needed him most…that and who he really was. He always thought Wonderland was his home…never someone who was brought here.

But he was always meant to be here—the pattern recognized him the moment he crossed the threshold between worlds.

"Why me?" I asked, turning slowly to take in the full devastation of the corrupted nexus point. "Why am I different from the other dreamers?"

The pattern you carry is unique. Most dreamers bring fragments of imagination, but you... you brought a complete template. A pattern that can rewrite corruption.

The ground trembled beneath me, and I watched as a small patch of soil directly under my feet began to clear of corruption, tiny shoots of healthy green pushing through the poisoned earth.

"I'm healing you just by being here?" I whispered, amazed as the healthy growth spread outward in a small circle around me.

Only temporarily. Only in dreams. The Queen's corruption runs too deep now for such simple remedies. But it shows what might be possible if you succeed.

I knelt I knelt down, touching one of the tiny green shoots. It responded instantly, growing several inches toward my fingers as if seeking connection. The pattern beneath my skin pulsed with answering warmth, silver and gold light spreading down my arm to meet the plant's natural magic.

"What happens if the Queen completes her ritual?" I asked, watching as the healthy circle around me expanded slightly before stopping, unable to push back the wall of corruption beyond.

Death. Not just for me, but for the very concept of Wonderland. The realm would continue existing, but as a twisted shadow of itself—a nightmare realm where only blood magic and corruption could thrive.

"And everyone in it? Heart, Chi, Seth, the Tweedles..." My voice caught as I thought of my bonded ones, of all the resistance fighters who had risked everything.

They would be consumed or transformed. The choice would be corruption or death.

The weight of this truth settled over me like a physical burden. I watched as the small circle of health I'd created began to shrink, the corruption creeping back in as if sensing my distraction.

"How do I stop it?" I demanded, pressing my palm flat against the ground, willing the pattern within me to push back harder. "Tell me what to do!"

The corrupted vines at the edge of my circle hissed and recoiled, but only momentarily. They seemed stronger here, in this nexus point, than anything I'd faced during my training.

The voice of Wonderland seemed to fade slightly, as if speaking required tremendous effort.

You already know. The death of the Queen so her madness and magic can no longer corrupt.

"But killing her isn't enough, is it?" I pressed, feeling the truth even as I spoke it. "The corruption she's already spread—it won't just disappear when she dies."

Clever child. You understand the deeper problem. The blood magic has taken root in my very foundation. Simply removing its source will not undo what has already been poisoned.

The healthy circle around me pulsed weakly, struggling against the encroaching darkness. I could feel Wonderland's pain through the connection, a deep ache that resonated in my bones.

"Then what? How do I cleanse corruption that's already taken hold?" I asked, desperate for answers. The voice grew fainter, as if this dream-connection was requiring too much energy to maintain.

The pattern within you... it remembers what I was before.

Pure creation, untainted possibility. If you can reach the Heart of Hearts—the nexus beneath her palace—you might—be able to reset the pattern.

But it will require all the bonds, all the connections you've formed.

A complete network, Alice, to channel enough power to purify what has been tainted.

The dream was starting to fragment around me, the corrupted garden maze blurring at the edges as Wonderland's voice grew fainter.

"Wait!" I called out desperately. "What about Seth? The void bond—is that why it's so important?"

A whisper, barely audible: The void is balance. Shadow defines light. Without it, the pattern remains incomplete.

The ground beneath me trembled violently, and I felt the connection slipping away. The circle of health I'd created was rapidly shrinking, corruption rushing in as Wonderland's consciousness retreated.

Complete the bonds. Find the Heart of Hearts. Remember, Alice—I chose you because you can remake what has been broken.

The dream shattered like glass, and I jolted awake with a gasp, sitting upright between Heart and Chi as struggled to hold onto the fragments of the dream, the voice of Wonderland itself already fading from my memory like water through cupped hands.

But the essential truth remained, burning in my mind with crystal clarity.

I knew what needed to happen…but I hoped It was enough.