Page 57 of Madness Becomes Her

“How are we getting down?” I ask, turning to glimpse Lewis as he leaps over the edge.

My scream catches in my throat. Running toward the edge, I look to where Lewis cascades through the air, disappearing through the lush treetops.

“Lewis!” I scream.

Chuckles come from behind me, and I narrow my worried gaze on Finlo and Acacius. Winston must’ve already leapt to his death because he’s nowhere in sight.

“It’s not funny! He could be hurt! That’s hundreds of feet down!”

“Are you sure this is the right Eleanor?” Acacius asks Finlo.

Finlo ends his laughing, something dark fluttering through his eyes. “I’m sure. She’s changed, but she’s the right one.”

Acacius chuffs. “We’ll see about that.” Turning, he flies over the edge, descending much slower than Lewis had.

“Fin, look. I’m not great with heights; even being this close to the edge feels harrowing. There has to be another way down.”

“Don’t worry, Elli-roo, if you jump, so do I.” He winks at me.

“What?! How does that make it any better?” I scream as he scoops me up and leaps over the edge of the cliff.

My stomach leaps into my throat, the feeling of falling freely causing all the air to lurch out of my lungs as fear grips me tightly. I can’t scream. Shit, I can’t breathe.

Fin never lets me go, and I clutch onto him like he’s my life raft before we finally break through the trees.

Momentarily, I’m transported back to when I appeared through the hole in the ground, but then, I remember other flashes of falling, falling through a hole in Mother’s garden, falling through a hole at the base of a tree, walking through a portal at the back of Father’s wardrobe.

My mind is muddled as Fin turns us in the air, his back facing the brunt of the coming blow.

“Fin,” I breathe.

“Ready, Tiger Lily?” He grins.

“Ready for what?” I manage.

Glowing purple around us registers as we finally land, bouncing on the pillow softness of massive… mushrooms?

Fin’s laugh is childlike and free, like he’s come home. It’s like he can finally be himself now that he’s out of The Bog, and I wonder why he lives there if this is how he feels when he’s home?

I roll out of Finlo’s arms, laughing deliriously as adrenaline surges through my body now that I’m safe.

“You were so afraid,” he says, lifting onto an elbow and leaning over me where I lay on my back. Tucking hair behind my ear, he steals my breath with his intensity. He kisses me softly and slowly before pulling back. “Sometimes the fall is worth it.”

He rolls away, sliding off the mushroom top to the ground below, and I’m left bereft in his absence.

“Come down when you’re ready!” he shouts at me, and I grin.

Moments like this, I wonder how the hell I’d ever leave Wonderland and return home. That thought leads to the next: Had leaving Wonderland been so traumatic, my mind blocked the memories from me on purpose?

No. I distinctly recall Ariadne saying there are security measures Wonderland takes, stealing one’s memories of this place from its visitors.

Makes sense.

If everyone knew this place existed outside of the hardships of human life, Wonderland wouldn’t be the same.

It would be ruined.

Finlo and I catch up with the group outside the city: Dawnkep, I’m told.