Page 37 of Cinder's Adventure: Get Me To the Wedding!

Chapter 42

Hauling back her arm, Cinder threw the hat as hard as she could. It landed with a dull thud just out of reach of the girl in the striped gown. The girl scrabbled toward it. The moment she had grabbed the hat, she shoved her hand inside—

And when she pulled it out, she was gripping the hilt of glimmering sword.

Cinder’s jaw dropped.

The Jabberwock screeched, a sound that could have split the earth for all its fury and terror.

In the next moment, the Jabberwock was lurching for the girl, jaw unhinged.

The girl rolled onto her back and swung the sword in a clean arc. It sliced through the Jabberwock’s neck. A spray of blood dotted the girl’s dress and the pumpkins beside her. The monster’s head fell to the ground and tumbled a few feet away, while its humongous body collapsed to the mud, barely missing the girl’s form beneath.

For a moment, the pumpkin patch was still, as if even the rotting gourds were holding their breaths.

“Cath…” It was the boy in black who had spoken, his voice wavered, breathless with relief. “Are you all right?”

Dazed, the girl looked toward him. She used the skirt of her gown to wipe away a smear of blood from her chin. With a shaky nod, she pulled herself to her feet, yanking one edge of her skirt out from beneath the monster’s weight. She still gripped the sword handle, but now had its tip dug into the dirt, more for support than a weapon.

“It’s done,” she said. “It’s over.”

“You… youkilledher.” The man with the ax was swaying on his feet, staring at the monster’s headless form. “You murderer. You monster!” Slowly, his look of utter defeat began to change. From despair to rage. His nostrils flared. His knuckles whitened.

“No, that was the monster!” shouted Cath, pointing at the Jabberwock. “And you were going to feed my maid to her! You are the murderer!”

“I would leave now… if I were you.”

Cinder jumped and glanced around. She didn’t know who had spoken. It had sounded close, but there was no one near her. “Hello? Who said that?”

“Down here.”

She glanced down and found herself staring into the horrified expression of a jack-o’-lantern. It was lit by a candle on the inside, but the wick was growing short, and the flame flickered weakly in an attempt to stay alive.

“This next part is very, very sad,”the pumpkin said, its expression growing more pained by the second.“I don’t think you will want to see.”

Cinder glanced back at the gate she had entered through. But now, on the other side of it, she could see a graveyard—tidy tombstones in neat, grassy rows, a stark contrast to the mucky chaos of the pumpkin patch.

“You will pay for this,” growled the man with the ax. “I will make sure you all pay!”

If Cinder should head for the gate, go to Chapter 45.

If Cinder should join the fight, go to Chapter 44.

Chapter 43

Just as the monster was unhinging its jaw, ready to devour the fallen man, Cinder let out a roar and charged into the fray.

The monster’s head swiveled in her direction. Its eyes glowed and steam burst from its nostrils. It snarled and turned to face her full-on, releasing an ear-splitting screech that startled a flock of blackbirds picking at seeds in the back corner of the pumpkin patch.

Cinder gritted her teeth. Squeezed the sword’s handle.

The monster lunged for her.

The heat from its breath burst across her skin, smelling of squash and char.

With a grunt, Cinder plunged the sword into its gut. It cut through the beast’s flesh as easily as engine sludge. The monster howled. Cinder slashed the blade down through its abdomen, flaying it open. Blood sprayed across her hands, her legs, pooling in the muck beneath them.

With a keening wail, the Jabberwock collapsed, eyes roving madly from side to side before rolling back up into its head as its body convulsed one final time.

---