Page 56 of Madness Becomes Her

“Oh, get it off me!” Dancing around, I flick at the bitty creature, earning looks from those around me and a devilish laugh from Finlo.

“I am not anit, Madam. I am Acacius.” His front hoof stomps.

“What are you?” I whisper as he flies off my shoulder and hovers before my face.

“I knew it was you,” he breathes. “Oh, she’ll be so happy to see you again, Eleanor.”

I swallow. “Who?”

Finlo scoffs. “He’s a horsefly, of course.”

Lewis gives him a scolding look. “Rarely are things called what they truly are on earth.”

I’d argue that thingshereare rarely called what they should be called, but that argument could take us down a very dark path, and we don’t have time to go back and forth.

“Well, it’s hard for me to believe horseflies talk, so forgive me for how startled I was,” I tell Acacius.

He laughs, which is more like a small whinny. “Once, you told me if I believed in you, you would do the same.”

“Believe in me? I’m a normal girl. Just Eleanor. Well, woman, now,” I argue.

“You’re one of a kind in these parts,” Acacius counters. “All those years ago, I believed in you and what you stood for; I only expect the same respect.” He puffs his chest up with pride. Pride former me placed there, and something in my belly buzzes at the notion.

“Well, what I said stands.” I nod my head, solidifying my decision.

“Good. Then I’ll lead you to the other side.”

Finlo exhales shakily, as if there was more riding on my interaction with Acacius than I realized.

The horsefly buzzes away, dropping before Winston to lead us through the caverns.

Leaning toward Finlo, I ask, “Did we need him to lead us through?”

He gives me a look. “Of course, he guards the exit. We would’ve been turned around if he hadn’t approved our passage.”

“I mean…” I joke with a smirk, forgetting that sometimes our upbringings create a language barrier.

“What?!” he prods.

“It’s only… how would he turn us around and refuse us passage? He’s so tiny.”

Finlo flicks a worried glance ahead of us as if worried the tiny creature heard me. “Acacius is a general in the White Queen’s Guard, Tiger Lily. If he had denied us, we would not get out of these caves.”

I swallow, wondering if he, too, can grow as I did when rescuing Prospero from the Red Queen.

Everything here is so preposterous, edging on insane. But sometimes, everything almost makes perfect sense. What worries me is that I’m seeing sense in the insane.

Once we’re on the other side of the caves, looking down from a cliff we’ve exited on, I take in the vast land beyond.

“Wow.”

A city, or rather, a kingdom, sprawls out below the mountains, butting up to the base of a massive palace, irradiant in the sunlight. The palace is a stark contrast to the Red Queen, gorgeous in structure and breathtaking.

“That’s where we’re going?” I ask Fin in a hushed tone. The others are discussing something loudly, and I don’t have the nerve to listen.

“No. It looks jumbled up here, but we’re going through two cities before getting to the palace, which is Ozryn. Though all of us folk consider this entire land the White Queen’s Territory.”

I look down at the vast land. It doesn’t look like two cities, but perspective is everything.