Page 14 of Tweedles Reflection (The Crimes of Alice #4)

The scream of the JubJub shook the ground, and the leaves tinkled together on the trees. Hatter and Cheshire grabbed me, pulling me out from under the tree before the leaves could slice me to pieces.

“What now?” I asked the Shadow Man, but it was Hatter who answered.

“Perhaps you are to slay it?”

“Slay it?” Cheshire scoffed. “One would have a better chance at wooing it than slaying it.”

“Both of those are ridiculous options.” I rushed over to the twins and looked over Carban, who was bleeding from multiple wounds. “Are you alright?”

“Dandy,” Carban grunted, gripping his shoulder where the majority of the blood was pouring from.

I glanced over at the JubJub, who had yet to see us, before ripping the bottom length of my skirt off. “Here.” Without waiting for permission, I wrapped the strip of fabric around his shoulder, staunching the wound. “You need to get out of here.”

“What?” Coby gaped. “We’re not leaving you alone.”

“What he said,” Carban snapped. “We’re in this together.”

The ground vibrated closer, warning of the JubJub’s nearness.

“This isn’t up for debate. You can’t help me if you’re dead.”

“And we can’t live if you’re dead. Please, Ally, don’t do this to us.” Coby grabbed at me, pulling me in close. “Don’t leave us alone again. We couldn’t survive it.”

I let him hold me for a short moment, breathing him in before shoving him away. “Very well, have it your way.” Turning to the others, I huffed. “Well, don’t just stand there. Are we fighting or running?”

They all exchanged a look and then shot their eyes toward the JubJub before saying in unison, “Running.”

The moment they made their decision, the JubJub burst through the trees, snapping its jaws at us. Blood trickled from the sides of its eyes as if it had cut itself on the leaves it had made a nest from.

We scattered to either direction, dodging its jaws as well as the crystal trees. Hatter and Cheshire disappeared into the trees one way while the twins and I went another. I didn’t have time to worry about us being split up with the JubJub hot on my tail.

Coby swerved to the left, yet the JubJub didn’t even glance his way. Testing a theory, I made a sharp right turn, confusing Carban who continued on straight. Like I’d expected, the JubJub followed me and not Carban.

“Ally!” Coby called out in warning.

Ignoring his panicked cry, I focused on drawing the JubJub away from them. I had no idea where I was going or what I was doing. I just knew I needed to keep it away from them.

This was my trial. I wouldn’t let them get hurt because of it.

Will you run forever, Alice?

The Shadow Man’s voice taunted me as I pumped my arms and legs. I tripped and scrambled back to my feet, cuts stinging along my legs and arms. The cloth wrapped around my hand was bleeding once again from the impact. At this rate, I’d bleed out before I tired the JubJub out.

Fight or run, Alice? Have you ever fought for anything in all your life?

My teeth gnashed together at his words. He knew very well that I’d never fought for anything. At the first sign of trouble, I ran. Or I let someone else make the decision for me.

When I found out that Lewis had betrayed me, had I confronted him? No. I’d run.

I’d run straight to the Underground and had been running ever since. From my past, from my mortality, and then from the fae I’d betrayed with my actions.

All my life, I’d run. Now, I was tired of running.

Skidding to a stop, I spun to face the JubJub.

The creature didn’t notice that I stopped until it was too late. It dug its claw into the ground, shoving into the dirt and glass, screeching in pain as it tried to stop its momentum. It took me a second before I realized that it wasn’t going to stop in time before it barreled into me.

Throwing myself to the side, I winced as leaves cut into my skin. With no time to lick my wounds, I rolled out of the way just as the JubJub’s beak snapped in my direction. Kicking a foot out, it collided with the side of its head, dazing it for a moment.

I pulled myself back to my feet, breathing heavily.

How was I supposed to take it down? I didn’t have the same kind of powers as Kat.

I couldn’t make vines appear to tie it down.

I could lift things, but I’d never lifted something as big as the JubJub bird before.

Could I choke it? Would it even die from that?

My eyes skittered over the area, searching for something that I could use to help me. Crystal leaves crackled under my feet. An idea came to me.

Drawing my magic from my core, I lifted a few sharp-edged leaves from the ground. Launching them across the space between us, I winced as the first few missed the mark. Then one hit.

The agonizing, harsh high-pitched sound that came from the JubJub made me drop the leaves for a moment, covering my ears in pain. Its snarling beak turned on me, wings flapping, and claws scratching at the ground.

With a pained squawk, the JubJub charged me.

Using as much magic as I could, I lifted all the leaves around me, until a shield of them surrounded me.

The JubJub didn’t stop, so I dropped my hand. Half a dozen leaves shot forward. Most of them missed the mark. But the few that did made the JubJub stumble.

Filled with pain and anger, it stomped toward me, unable or unwilling to give up yet.

“Please stop.” I held the last of the leaves before me. “Just go. Leave me alone.”

The JubJub’s eyes whirled almost like it wasn’t really seeing me there. That served to say it couldn’t hear me either. Was this the Underground’s work? Or was it suffering from some other ailment?

Whichever it was, it didn’t matter anymore. It was either me or it, and I liked me a whole lot more than I did the nightmarish bird, even if I had used its visage to scare Lewis. This creature had made its choice, as had I.

I waited until it was close enough to see the bloody whites of its eyes before launching the remainder of my leaves at the JubJub.

This time, every one of them sank into their flesh. It dropped to one leg and then the other, its wings flapping haphazardly as it fell to the ground in a whining croon.

Stuttering breaths came out of the JubJub as I waited a few feet away. I knew by now that nothing was as it seemed in the Underground. The moment I relaxed was the moment they would attack once more.

So, I waited.

I stood by its side, waiting for those breaths to slow, for its eyes to close, and then for a shudder to go through its form before it stilled.

It was gone.

Finally, I collapsed on the ground. My heart jerked in my chest seconds from making a run for it. My body ached and bled from various places. There was no sign of the others, which at least meant that they got away. That settled some of the raging tidal wave of emotions going on inside of me.

It’s not over yet.

I scowled at the voice inside me. He couldn’t give me one moment to rejoice in still being alive, could he?

Apparently, the Underground wasn’t on the same page. The JubJub bird’s body melted, falling in on itself, bits and pieces dripping onto the ground with a hiss. Beneath the bird, the ground gave way, a hole stretching out toward me.

My feet barely made purchase before the ground tried to crumble beneath me. This time, I didn’t stay to fight, I ran.

The crystal trees fell into the gaping hole chasing me, glass shattering and clinking together. For a brief moment, I worried about the others wondering if they had found a way out of the forest.

Worry about yourself, girl.

For once, the Shadow Man was right. I couldn’t worry about them right now. I had to focus on surviving, then I could find them. If there was anything left to find.

The hole kept growing with no signs of slowing down. Was this the end? Was the Underground finally falling in on itself? Had I been too late?

My questions weren’t answered in a traditional sense. A large stone wall appeared before me, wrapped around the Seelie Palace. Hope swelled in my chest until I realized there was no way around or over the damned thing.

Worse, the hole had taken the pathway until I was left with nowhere to go but forward.

Then, right before my eyes, the wall opened up. The opening was just big enough if I crawled through with nothing but dim light on the other side.

It definitely wasn’t the palace before me.

I glanced back at the hole and then to the opening. My choices would be taken from me in a matter of moments, so I dove into the opening.

Immediate searing pain lit up my skin. Everywhere I touched, my skin burned. I tried not to touch the sides of the tunnel as I crawled forward, each touch of my hands and knees a jaw numbing pain making me gasp.

That iron allergy is quite a bitch, isn’t it?

Whimpering, I moved one knee and then the next, tears dripping down my face as snot filled my nose. The tunnel became impossibly long so that what should have been a few feet lasted for longer than I could count.

My limbs shook, and I fell forward, my face hit the ground. A scream ripped through my throat as the iron burned through the flesh of my face. Swallowing down the bile coming up, I pushed myself up and forced myself forward.

Each torturous movement was harder than the next.

I kept reminding myself during each painful movement that this was a test. That’s all it was. Part of the trial. It would all be over soon.

Eventually, the ground became slick with my blood. My movements grew even more sluggish. The dim light from the end of the tunnel came closer and closer until I half threw myself from the tunnel and onto the green grass of the palace courtyard.

Someone yelled my name. Hands grabbed at me.

I cried out, pushing at their touch. My words slurred as I told them to leave me. Someone lifted me up. The world went dark around me until all I knew was sweet oblivion.

I woke in a gasp of pain. Every inch of me screamed in agony. Even breathing hurt.

“Easy,” a soft masculine voice murmured at my side, hand pressing against my shoulder keeping me from sitting up.