Page 9 of Cinder's Adventure: Get Me To the Wedding!

If Cinder should try to chase after the raven, go to Chapter 51.

If Cinder should hide from the Jabberwock, go to Chapter 7.

Chapter 7

At the last moment, as the Jabberwock swooped over the lawn and let out its horrendous shriek, Cinder dove beneath the nearest dessert table.

She wasn’t alone. A collection of party guests were huddled behind the lace tablecloth, shivering with fear. At least, most were shivering with fear, whereas a few seemed perfectly content to go on enjoying the soirée as if nothing untoward were happening, swirling cream into their porcelain teacups and nibbling on pastries taken from the buffet.

Cinder spied a silver tray within arm’s reach. The tray was set on a round doily, and it held a tower of the most perfect rose-pink macarons, neatly stacked on top of one another as if they’d been sitting here on the grass beneath this table, undisturbed, this whole time.

A little flag had been stuck into the topmost macaron, with curly calligraphy that read, simply,EAT ME.

“They might help,” said a familiar voice. “Or they might not.”

Cinder’s heart soared and she glanced around to see Winter lounging beneath the other side of the table. She was sprawled out on her side, her cheek rested on one palm and her other hand idly plucking little white daisies from the grass. Most peculiar, though, was that she was wearing a striped purple bodysuit, complete with fluffy violet ears and a long tail that draped over her legs. Cat whiskers had been painted over her face, crossing over the pale scars on her cheek.

“Winter, what are you doing here? And why are you dressed like a cat?”

She looked around at the other hiding guests, wondering whether this was actually a costume party she’d stumbled into. There was something distinctly second era about their frilly dresses and cravats…

“What do you mean?” asked Winter, just as the tail, which Cinder was sure was nothing but stuffed fabric, gave a very lifelike flicker.

“Erm. Never mind. You said something might help?”

“Oh yes. The macarons.” Winter scooted the plate closer to Cinder. “Their instructions are very clear. You see?Eat me. Hard to misinterpret.”

“Yes, but… what will happen if I eat one?”

Winter shrugged. “Who knows?”

Cinder frowned. “But… if you don’t know what they’ll do, then… how can you know it will help?”

“Precisely,” said Winter with a giggle. “Which is why theymighthelp, or… they might not.”

Cinder studied the platter of confections a long moment.

They did look divine, and the roars and screams and crashes outside the dessert table only seemed to be getting worse.

Before she could second-guess herself, Cinder grabbed a macaron from the plate.

Proceed to Chapter 41.

Chapter 8

“And they all lived happily to the end of their days,” said Cinder. She clapped her hands together. “And with that… it’s time for bed.”

She started to lean over to give four-year-old Rikan a kiss on his brow, but something about the confused look on his face gave her pause. She sat back. “What’s wrong?”

“That’s not how itreallyhappened,” he said. “Is it?”

He turned away from Cinder to look at Peony, his big sister by four years. They technically had separate rooms in the palace, but Peony had been snuggling beside her baby brother ever since he was out of his crib and had declared thatshewas better than their Lunar cyborg motherandtheir Emperor fatherandthe entire palace’s worth of royal guards when it came to keeping away night terrors. And so they shared the same bed each night, after story time with Mom and Dad… or sometimes Torin, who turned out to do kind of amazing character voices.

“Howwhatreally happened?” asked Peony. “You mean the day of Mom and Dad’s wedding?” She gave her head a firm shake. “Definitely not.”

“How should you know?” said Cinder, ruffling her hair. “You weren’t there.”

“Yeah, but Aunt Iko has told me all about it, and showed me a bunch of pictures.” She met her brother’s gaze. “It sounds like it was a pretty normal wedding.”

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