Page 8 of Cinder's Adventure: Get Me To the Wedding!

Rubbing her palms into her eyes, Cinder glanced around at the bustling market of New Beijing, then back into her mechanic’s booth. Iko—squat little robot Iko, with her glossy white pear-shaped body and single blue eye sensor—rolled toward her on treads that crunched over the ground littered with bolts and screws. Her three-pronged hand gave Cinder’s shoulder a shake.

“Took you long enough to wake up,” she said. “I’m going to go get that foot you wanted, the one that will fit you properly. Didn’t think I should leave you here asleep.”

“No. No, you’re right.” Cinder yawned and stretched out a series of kinks in her spine. “I was just having the strangest dream.” She tried to remember how the dream had started, but it was so bizarre and convoluted that it took her a moment to trace it all the way back to the beginning.

When she finally remembered, she started to laugh at the absurdity of it all.

“In it, Prince Kai came to our booth,” she said, and Iko’s sensor flashed with piqued interest. “He had an android he needed fixed. And then… we fell in love, but it turned out I wasLunar, and…” She trailed off, remembering an awful part of the dream, when Peony had gotten sick.

She gave her head a shake. “It was definitely the strangest I’ve ever had. A little nightmarish at times, actually.”

“Well, I can’t dream,” said Iko, with a melodramatic sigh. “But if I could, I wouldn’t call any dream in which Prince Kai and I fall in love anightmare.”

Cinder chuckled, her heart fluttering unexpectedly at the memory of kisses and proposals and…

She shook her head, trying to clear it. Silly subconscious. She wasn’t about to waste her time fantasizing about—

“Excuse me?”

She and Iko both spun around to see a stranger at the booth’s entrance. He was dressed in a gray hooded sweatshirt and carrying an android under one arm. “I’m looking for Linh Cinder.”

The end.

Chapter 6

Reasoning to herself that it wouldn’t be thefirsttime she’d shot Wolf with a tranquilizer and knocked him out cold, Cinder lifted her hand, pointed her finger—and directed the internal mechanism to fire.

Except… nothing happened. No projectile shot from her finger. Instead, a light blinked in the corner of her vision, along with a warning message.

Jam detected in ammunition cartridge. Troubleshoot?

“Gah! Not now!” she shouted, backing away as Wolf sauntered closer, the ax resting across his shoulders. “W-Wolf,” she stammered, her voice rising as she tugged on her fingers, trying to wriggle the joints around enough to dislodge the dart inside. “Let’s think about this. You are not a monster.”

Wolf hesitated, a deep sadness flickering in his eyes. “I know,” he said quietly. “But somehow, I keep getting cast as one, which is… it’s really discouraging.”

“I bet it is,” she said, trying to sound understanding. With another tug, something slid loose on her finger. At first she’d thought she was making progress, but then with a glance down at her hand, she froze.

Her ring. It was missing.

“No! Where—?”

“What is taking so long?” Scarlet shouted. “Off with her head!”

“Can’t you say anything else?” Cinder shouted back as she searched the ground. She spotted it—a hint of gold, lying not far from a hedgehog who had rolled up into a ball and was apparently trying to take a nap.

Cinder went to dive for the ring, but Wolf stepped in front of her, blocking her path. His shadow fell over her, the ax catching a sinister glint of sunlight.

Cinder swallowed hard and lifted her hands in a show of peace.

“Wolf—” she started, when an ear-splittingcawinterrupted whatever plea she would say next. They both turned to see a blur of black feathers swoop down from the sky, snatch the ruby ring in its beak, and take off soaring toward the far reaches of the garden.

Cinder let out an affronted cry and was about to chase after the bird, when a shadow fell over the croquet lawn and a scream filled the air. All around her, party guests and croquet players ran off into the orchards or ducked beneath the dessert table, shouting the monster had returned, theJabberwockhad returned! Even Wolf backed away, putting himself in a better place to protect Scarlet, who stood gaping up into the sky.

Slowly, Cinder turned.

Her breath caught. The Jabberwock was a terrifying monster, with a long, slithery neck, leathery wings, an enormous body covered in black scales… and it was flying straight toward her.

Or—was it flying after that raven that had just stolen her ring?

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