Page 15 of Cinder's Adventure: Get Me To the Wedding!

Cinder stepped through the iron gate and found herself in a pumpkin patch—though it was the creepiest pumpkin patch she’d ever seen. In every direction lay patches of mud and tangled vines and rotting, wart-covered gourds.

She was not alone.

The first person she noticed was a girl in an exquisite red-and-white dress, half-covered in mud herself, and the enormous monster that was towering over her. Cinder had never seen anything like it. The closest thing she could compare it to was a dragon, with black scales and fiery eyes and a long, serpentine neck.

In the other direction were two men, locked in battle. One wore all black, with a black heart painted on his cheek. The other was humongous and barrel-chested, with greasy reddish hair and dirty overalls. He was wielding an enormous ax.

Though the smaller boy was quick on his feet, continuously dancing away from the larger man, every now and then he would flinch and groan, as if wounded.

“Hatta!” screamed the girl, and at first Cinder thought she was yelling at the boy in black, until she noticed another person jogging toward them. Another boy, neatly dressed in a velvet coat and top hat. “You have to get the hat!” the girl yelled, backing nervously away from the monster as it stalked toward her. “The sword is inside!”

The boy in the top hat—Hatta?—glanced around.

His gaze landed on Cinder and for a blink, they gaped at each other, equally confused.

Then Hatta’s gaze fell down to one of the pumpkins mere steps in front of Cinder. She followed the look, and saw that a pumpkin with a face carved into an agonized grimace was wearing a black jester’s hat.

“You!” Hatta yelled, pointing at Cinder. “Grab the hat. Give it to Cath, quickly, now! The sword only answers to royalty. It’s the only way to stop the Jabberwock!”

Baffled, Cinder stooped and picked up the hat. She felt the fabric, and was sure that it was nothing more than that—fabric. A simple jester’s hat with empty threads on the three points where tiny bells should have been sewn.

The girl cried out.

Cinder swiveled her head to see that she had tripped over a pumpkin and fallen into the mud. The monster snarled, baring massive fangs.

“Quick!” Hatta yelled again. “Throw it to Cath! Now!”

If Cinder throws the hat to Cath, go to Chapter 42.

If Cinder reaches inside the hat, go to Chapter 17.

Chapter 17

Cinder upended the hat and peered into its black shadows, then shoved her hand inside. It sank in—deeper and deeper—until her arm was submerged nearly to her shoulder.

Her fingers brushed something cool and hard. She wrapped her hand around it and pulled her arm free.

Her eyes widened. She was holding a sword. Its blade shone in the moonlight, its hilt encrusted with sharp teeth and bleached white bones.

The man in the top hat gasped. “She has the Vorpal Sword! It… it answered to her. But how…?”

Dropping the hat, Cinder met the shocked gazes around her. The girl in the striped gown looked particularly hopeful, as if some new scheme were occurring to her. Something that could fixeverything. Cinder had seen that hope before, too often directed at her. It made her want to drop the sword and back away.

“Could she be another queen?” the girl asked. “Jest—it will answer to a queen, won’t it?”

“She must be,” responded the boy with the heart painted on his cheek. “Is it possible the prophecy could have been referring, not to you, Cath, but… toher?”

The monster screeched, as if annoyed to have been forgotten. It lifted up on its back legs and roared at the sky, and when it came back down, the ground thundered beneath Cinder’s feet.

“Kill it!” cried the girl. “Kill it now!”

“No!” roared the large man, swinging his ax again at the boy, who again danced out of reach. “You will not harm her! This is your fault!” He pivoted, aiming the blade of the ax at the man in the top hat. “You did this to her, with your lousy pumpkin seeds. I won’t let you hurt her anymore!”

Cinder frowned. Was this beast a pet of his? He seemed strangely attached.

With another cry, the Jabberwock lurched toward the man in the top hat, fangs snapping. He hollered in surprise and fell back, landing—fine suit and all—in a mud puddle. His eyes widened as the Jabberwock lauded over him.

“Please, no! Hatta!” cried Jest—the boy in black. “Leave him be! We can resolve this.”

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