Page 17 of Knave

The Jabberwocky spun, its body a blur. It was much faster than Ferris expected something its size to be. One second, Didi was racing forward, the next, she was between its teeth. She didn’t even have enough time to scream. With one grindingcrunch,Didi’s lower half fell to the ground with a wetthwack.

Mock screamed her name and Ferris’s breath caught in his throat. Didi … was dead. His eyes had witnessed it happen, but his brain rejected the idea. She was too full of life for it to be snuffed out so easily. They’d only just become friends…

Fuck this, Didi had yelled. And Ferris couldn’t have agreed more. He raised his gun as the beast chewed. Fired his weapon again and again. One of the bullets slammed into the Jabberwocky’s soft upper lip and a small spot of blood shot outward. The Jabberwocky reared back, half-howled, half-screeched, and threw the unknown dead body from its talons at Ferris.

Leaping backward, the mangled, dark-haired corpse splattered at his feet. The head was completely flattened, making it impossible to know who it might have been, and a large hole pierced straight through their chest cavity, exposing snapped ribs and torn intestines.

“Fucking hell,” he breathed. Images of Rav’s experiments flashed through his mind. The bodies Ferris had to dispose of. The brain matter he had to mop up…

Mouse sucked in a sharp breath and he snapped his gaze to her, hoping she wasn’t thinking about the same thing.Rav’s room of horror.But no, it wasn’t that, not as something darker filled her eyes—hunger. Her fangs dropped, piercing her bottom lip where she’d bitten it, and she shifted her feet back. Whether it was about stepping away from the vampire’s body or away from the Jabberwocky wasn’t clear, but Ferris grabbed her arm to steady her as she swayed.

The Jabberwocky scanned the city center once more as Mock fired uselessly at its face, screaming his rage. Then, Ferris could’ve sworn intelligence flickered in the beast’s eyes. Throwing its head back, the beast released a high-pitched screech and leapt into the sky. The Jabberwocky pounded against the air to gain momentum for its massive body, dipping a few times before soaring away.

With the crack of the Jabberwocky’s wings fading, silence descended, heavy and cloying. Ferris tucked the gun into his waistband and turned to Mouse. Her eyes were wide as she stared at the blood on the ground, her breaths coming too fast. “Luv,” he said slowly. “Let’s get you back to the palace.”

She jerked at the sound of his voice and lifted a hand to hide her fangs. “I’m fine. We need to clean up the city.”

Ferris took in the carnage, the crumbled fountain, pieces of debris knocked from surrounding buildings. Shattered glass lay in front of windows, their awnings in tatters. Shingles from roofs littered the ground. But none of that mattered. Either the guards or the people who lived in the city could take care of it. It was more important that Mouse didn’t lose her self-control and attack a guard. Worse yet if she tried to drink the blood from the cobblestones. She was considering it—he could see the thought in her eyes as her gaze flicked back to the blood on the ground.

“We can handle it,” Maddie said. Her tone was strained, her shoulders stiff, but she offered Mouse a comforting smile. “I’ll see you in a little bit, all right? Ever is already being summoned to return.”

“I can help clean up,” Mouse insisted.

“No,” the Hatter said with a sigh. She looked over her shoulder and sighed a second time at the sight of Noah holding Mock back from Didi’s half-corpse. “Please, go inside. We’ll take care of Mock, but you need to take care of yourself.”

“Fine.” Mouse relented.

Ferris released a breath and guided her away from the gore. Vampires were already creeping back from their hiding places.Cowards.Not that Ferris blamed them. It wasn’t fair to ask most of Wonderland to take up arms when they weren’t trained to fight. A chill ran down his spine as he thought about the massive wings, claws, and teeth. The damned thing was built to kill.

“Are you all right?” Mouse asked when they entered the palace through the main doors.

Ferris furrowed his brow. “Me?”

“You look a little horrified,” she said.

“Well, yeah,” he admitted. “But what about you?”

She bit her bottom lip. “I’m … hungry.”

“I know.” He gave her a small smile and turned them toward the storage rooms where the blood was kept. Aware that Mouse craved it fresh from the source, he wasn’t sure how much good the powdered stuff would do to take her edge off. There was little to be done about that tonight, though. Anyone she fed off of would probably end up like that bloke behind the club.Dead.

“The Jabberwocky has never attacked anyone here before,” Mouse wondered aloud, seeming to speak to herself.

Yes, it has.

“I’m going to get Des,” she added before scampering up the nearby staircase.

Ferris opened the door to the small kitchen where meals would sometimes be cooked for human visitors. Pops of blue in the tile backsplash accented the gray quartz countertops and white cupboards. A small sink, narrow icebox, and gas-powered burner made it functional. He ran his hands down his face and released a sigh. Things couldn’t be calm for two fucking seconds? He had to jump right back into the fire and lie to Mouse on top of it?

Mouse entered the kitchen, steps light as air, and took a seat on one of the tall barstools along the peninsula. She set Des on the cool marble in front of her. “So, what do you think could’ve changed? To bring the Jabberwocky so far into Ivory, I mean.”

“Damned if I know,” Ferris muttered. He poured some of the powered blood into a water bottle, shook it, and guzzled it down to ward off the hunger that always followed a battle.

With Imogen and Rav dead, and Chess and Ever merging territories, it was possible the upheaval set the beast off. Ferris set about collecting a few packs of powdered blood and water bottles, his mind wandering. The Jabberwocky had been at the lake, so very near the palace, only days ago. Had killed someone then too. Chess had a point about not creating panic over the quill Ferris had found, but now? The Jabberwocky had done that all on his own.

Ferris ran a hand through his hair. “Mouse?”

“Yes?” She eyed the red liquid he’d absentmindedly prepared, and he slid it toward her.

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