Page 14 of Cinder's Adventure: Get Me To the Wedding!

Her heart skipped. This was it. She could go home.

But… she pulled her hand back and looked down at her empty ring finger, regret pooling in her stomach.

If Cinder should go through the looking glass, go to Chapter 30.

If Cinder should ask for her ring back, go to Chapter 32.

Chapter 14

Cinder made a derisive sound in the back of her throat. She’d gotten out of plenty of prison cells on her own before, some way more heavily protected than this one.

“Thanks, but no thanks,” she said. “I’ll find a way out on my own.”

The boy looked surprised for a moment, but then shrugged. “Suit yourself.”

He waved goodbye. Then, with a snap of his fingers—he was gone. Vanished, as if she’d been imagining him all along.

Cinder rubbed her eyes, wondering if she was seeing things.

But seeing things or not, she was still very much locked inside this dungeon.

Feeling newly determined, she knelt down in front of the lock and released the stiletto knife and screwdriver attachments in her cyborg hand. She listened carefully to the internal mechanisms as she wriggled the tools inside, until—

Click.

With a satisfied grin, she opened the door, revealing an empty corridor outside.

She hurried off down the hall, listening for footsteps or whistling, relieved when she passed no one.

It wasn’t long before she found a large iron door that, when she pried it open, thankfully led outside. She stepped out into fresh air, complete with a cool, fragrant breeze. She wasn’t sure what she’d been expecting to see—a courtyard, perhaps, or a barren yard hemmed in by an enormous, impassable wall. But she certainly hadn’t expected to find herself staring down into a lush garden, complete with topiaries and hedges, fountains and cobblestone paths, and red and white flowers blooming everywhere she looked.

Worried that she might be caught at any moment, Cinder hurried down the steps, away from the door, and into the gardens. She ducked beneath fruit trees and arches of ornamental vines, past a small pond where two trumpet swans swam in lazy circles, until she spotted a manicured lawn in the distance and heard, to her endless surprise, what sounded like a garden party in full swing.

Proceed to Chapter 4.

Chapter 15

Cinder shrugged, pretending that her supposed skill was no big deal. “Didn’t you know?” she said, holding the Erlking’s gaze. “All cyborgs are capable of spinning straw into gold. It’s just one more thing that makes us so amazing.”

A beat of silence passed between them, followed by an amused laugh from the Erlking. “Fascinating,” he said, an unexpected lightness to his tone. “Your talents must be yet another strange blessing from one of the old gods.”

Cinder blinked.Old gods?In actuality, her so-called talents were more the result of a lot of surgeries, modifications, and biological tampering. In other words… science.

But this king guy seemed more inclined to believe the deity story, so she just smiled. “I guess you could say that. And now that you have your gold… I’d like to go back to New Beijing. I have something kind of important happening today.”

The Erlking clicked his tongue. “Let you go?” He shook his head, his eyes growing brighter with every passing moment. “I don’t think so. Now that I know what you are capable of, I foresee your being very useful to me.”

“What?” she roared, anger quickly rising to the surface. “But I did what you asked!”

“Yes, and you shall do it again.”

Turning on his heel, the Erlking swept from the room. Cinder threw herself after him, but she wasn’t quick enough.

The door slammed shut in her face, once again locking her inside.

Proceed to Chapter 24.

Chapter 16

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