Page 38 of Cinder's Adventure: Get Me To the Wedding!

Blinking fast to clear her vision, Cinder released the sword. It fell into the pool of gore with a sickening thud. Distantly, she heard a yell, thick with rage, howling with revenge.

She started to turn, and the sight that greeted her made her freeze.

The man with the ax was rampaging through the pumpkin patch. A blink—and he had swung his weapon at Jest, cleaving his head from his shoulders. A roar and he was throwing the weapon at the girl in red. It caught her in the chest, right in her heart. A gasp and he was lifting an enormous pumpkin and hurling it toward the man in the top hat, burying him beneath broken flesh and slime.

Then he was charging toward Cinder.

Heart stuttering, Cinder fumbled to unlock one of the tools in her hand that she might be able to use against him. She took a step back and tripped on one of the dead Jabberwock’s outstretched legs. She fell backward into a circle of pumpkins. Their faces all turned toward her, vicious and taunting, but she kept her gaze glued to the man.

He paused just long enough to pick up the sword—

Then he snarled and drove it straight through her.

Proceed to Chapter 27.

Chapter 44

Cinder may have had only a faint idea of what was happening, but she did know that it was never a good thing when someone started screaming about revenge while wielding a gigantic ax.

The man’s grip tightened on the ax handle. He took a step toward the boy in black, sneering an ugly, murderous sneer.

Which is when Cinder stooped and picked up the nearest pumpkin. She hurled it as hard as she could at the man’s back.

It struck him in one shoulder.

He stumbled with a grunt, but regained his balance and whirled back to face Cinder.

“Just a warning,” said Cinder, bending down to pick up another gourd, “my fiancé iswaybetter at talking things through than I am.”

The man glowered at her, his nostrils flaring.

Then, with a roar, he pulled back the ax and threw it, end over end, as someone might throw a hatchet during target practice.

Cinder barely had time to register what he’d done.

The glint of the blade—flying straight toward her.

She didn’t have time to duck.

It happened so fast, she didn’t even feel it. Flesh and wires alike, severed in one clean cut.

And then—nothing.

Proceed to Chapter 27.

Chapter 45

Cinder turned away, shaking her head. She didn’t know what she’d just stumbled upon, but it was clear that this was a disaster, and she wanted nothing more to do with it.

She picked her way over the vines and pumpkins.

But as she set her hand on the gate and it opened with a groan and squeak, she couldn’t help looking back—just in time to see the large man pivot and swing the ax.

Cinder shuddered, horrified, as the blade cut clear through the neck of the man in black.

Cath’s scream echoed, startling a flock of blackbirds. By the time they had dispersed through the sky, the man had dropped the ax and taken off running for the distant forest, chased by Cath’s wails and a single raven.

Cinder hesitated, her heart in her throat. The part of her that craved justice felt a pull toward that forest.

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