Page 106 of Wonder

He tips an invisible hat toward me before the crowd swallows him up.

I stretch over the railing, searching, but he’s gone.

Another patron catches my eye. Two, in fact.

They stand across the dancefloor from where Buck vanished. Both of them wearing masks. One, broad shouldered and heavily muscled. The other, still muscular, but sleeker.

They’re not facing me. They’re murmuring to another man, one I don’t recognise at all. The three of them vanish into the crowd.

“Hatter.” Knave’s voice sounds behind me. “You’ve been summoned, dog.”

He shoves his shoulder into mine as I pass. “Your time is coming to an end.”

I stop, staring at him. “All things must end eventually. Remember that when you’re in my place.”

He sneers, but his eyes tighten. “We’ll see.”

Turning my back on him, I take the steps two at a time.

What if—

No.

Fear battles with hope inside my chest.

I’m coming back for you.

She screamed that at me before they put her under. Despite her response to Red’s riddle. But time can be a cruel mistress.

All things fade in time.

I pray she hasn’t come, as much as I wish she would.

She escaped once. It’s enough. It has to be enough.

But as I duck through the curtain into the palace, my eyes go to Red. She grips the arms of her throne tightly, her lips white with anger as her gaze lands on me.

My eyes scatter across the others sat there, dismissing them.

But across from Red—

Chess meets my gaze, a smile curling his upper lip that looks more like a sneer. The amber rim of his eyes glints in the light of the lamps strung above our heads as he raises the glass in his hand with a mocking expression. “Evening, Hatter.”

My heart simultaneously sinks and leaps at the same time, twisting savagely inside my chest as I glance around.

“She’s not here,” Red says coolly. She inclines her head. “Meet the representative sent by the Hearts gang. Although I believe you’ve alreadymet.”

She clicks her fingers and I move to stand beside her. My heart thunders as I offer Chess a nod of greeting, my eyes questioning.

“If I had known,” Red’s voice turns glacial. “Things would have been rather different, of course.”

Chess takes a sip of his drink. One leg is crossed over his knee. He looks perfectly at ease, smartly dressed in a navy-blue shirt and dark trousers. “I won’t hold it against you, Red. You can hardly blame us for scoping out Wonder after hearing so many rumors. We wished to form an unbiased opinion.”

“Indeed,” she says coolly. “Although I understood one Robert Lidell to be the president. You’ll excuse my surprise.”

My back stiffens. RobertLidell?

I took over his job at the club, Adam Lidell had told me.Alyss would have been better.