Page 42 of Knave

Mouse smiled. “You’re almost as fun as I can be.”

She stepped toward him, eyes trained on the bulge in his trousers, when the picture she’d fallen into slipped from its hook. Ferris lunged for it, knocking it out of the way before it crashed into Mouse’s head. It smashed into the nearest glass case and a small crack skated across the surface.

“Ferris?”

He looked up to see what had Mouse’s voice sounding so curious. A large hole had been bashed through the wall. Jagged edges of stone and bricks hung around the opening where the ripped wallpaper frayed.

“Well, fuck me.” Ferris squinted into the dark hole, seeing nothing but stone walls. “This place is full of surprises.”

Chapter Eighteen

Mouse

Mouse’s chest heaved as she stared at the peeled green and gold wallpaper, the opening in the center, not knowing where it would lead next. She drew on her clothing and Ferris helped her fasten the buttons of her dress. His fingers fumbled on one as exhaustion swirled in his gaze. He’d been through so much in a single day,days, long ones where he hadn’t even slept as he fought to save her from behind the boulders.

“Thank you,” Mouse said softly as he buttoned the last one. They smiled at one another and she stepped around him to peer inside the hole within the wall. Heavy darkness cloaked what looked to be another tunnel, and she let her eyes adjust to the dull black brick surrounding the space. The end seemed to curve, leading to the unknown. She had no idea how far it would go or if it would take them anywhere worthwhile.

“It’s a tunnel,” Mouse finally said, stepping back so Ferris could take a look. “How about we check it out first thing in the morning? You’ve had practically zero sleep in days and we don’t know where it will even take us.” Besides that, she needed to recover for a moment, catch her breath, not only from everything she’d been through the past few days, the past fewyears, but from Ferris giving her the release she’d needed. She’d never thought she would be so bold as to touch herself in front of another. But she trusted Ferris, trusted him with her life.

He pressed his hands to the wallpaper and scanned the area. His rosewood scent enveloped Mouse as he inched closer to her, and her gaze naturally took in the hard muscles of his arms, the tight trousers hugging his buttocks.

Ferris furrowed his brow as he moved backward. “Are you sure? This might be the final place to search before we return to Ivory.”

In reality, she wasn’t certain if they should take a break to rest because the Jabberwocky had ventured to Ivory twice recently, yet they knew the beast still lingered in Red from when they’d rinsed themselves in the lake. She didn’t know if the beast would go back any time soon or continue to terrorize the rogue werewolves here. But Ferris really needed to recover or he wouldn’t be good to anyone.

“Yes, we will rest,” Mouse started. “And I agree about us leaving after this. We’ve found a whole lot of nothing on the Jabberwocky so far, but we’ve also discovered other things.” She closed the door to the room and locked it in case anything tried to come for them from the secret passage.

Ferris arched a brow, a smirk on his face. “The king’s fingers in the bag? Is that our prize to take home?”

“I think Chess would be the most amused to learn that the queen saved his bones after feeding the rest of him to the Jabberwocky.” Mouse grinned. She settled on the stone floor, resting her back against the wall, and patted the spot next to her. “Besides that, there are these treasures here that Ever and Maddie can examine to see if they might mean anything.”

Ferris tossed his backpack beside her and used it as a pillow while turning to face her. “Unless the dagger can be used to penetrate the Jabberwocky’s flesh, then they’re just some old relics.” He placed a palm on her thigh and butterflies stormed in her stomach at his touch. Mouse thought about the way his tongue had trailed up her center, how he’d used it with such perfect precision as if he was drawing the night sky and all its constellations with it.

She ran her fingers through his hair while looking at the different items they’d rifled through. The belt, the key, the hourglass, the pearls, and much more. It was strange. They looked like nothing she’d ever seen in Wonderland or the mortal world. Most of these things seemed to have come from a storybook. Wonderland had swords and daggers, but nothing of this nature as if they held some sort of power.

“Perhaps the weapons can. We should take a few,” Mouse said, staring at the dagger in the glass case, then at the collection of the others near a dusty iron sword on the wall. Even if they couldn’t harm the Jabberwocky, she wanted to take them home to show Ever and Maddie. “Ferris?” She looked down at him when he didn’t answer her, but his eyes were shut, his lips parted as he slept, his breaths even.

Mouse smiled softly, trailing her fingers from his hair down his face, to his plump lips, the curve of his neck, stopping as her digits brushed the metal chain. The necklace he never took off. She drew it from beneath his shirt and studied the ring that she now knew to be a promise to Ellie. Mouse wondered what she’d looked like, what Ferris would be doing now if she’d lived, if their baby had lived. Her chest tightened, not because she was envious of this ring, or his former love, but because of what it had meant. He would’ve been a wonderful father, would’ve had a different life. She could see him teaching his daughter how to play drums, teasing her, tossing her in the air then catching her as she giggled. But that life was gone, just as her old one was. And even though centuries had passed, she thought about what would’ve happened to her if Mr. Taylor had never ripped away her virginity. Would she have still discovered Maddie had been watching her? Would she have chosen to become a vampire? Leave the mortal world? There was no point in wondering because both of their lives had taken a different path, one where their worlds collided, her heart pulling toward his.

Tiredness no longer lingered within her, her mind spinning with too many thoughts. Perhaps because she’d slept for days.

Mouse tucked the ring back beneath Ferris’s shirt, then stood and walked to the glass cases. She used her strength to break the seal on the first case and collected the dagger, along with the others resting on the shelf by the sword, then placed them inside her backpack except for one. A clear blade that looked as if it was made of glass, but it wasn’t precisely that. It seemed to hum against her hand and she held it up to the light illuminating from the orbs. The glass reflected in a way she’d never seen before. A strange inscription in an unknown language was written on the handle.

“Where were you created?” she murmured.

Mouse looked toward the hole in the wall. Her thoughts turned to her sister, Ever, Des, Noah, and Chess. Even to Mock who had lost Didi. She wondered what they would do if they were here now, if they would explore the new tunnel or try to force themselves to rest. So far, nothing too dangerous was found in this hidden area, but Ferris wouldn’t approve of her going alone. She glanced at him, watching his chest slowly rise and fall—she didn’t want to disturb him.

Curiosity nagged at her and she chewed her lip as she weighed the choices. She would be quick. The door was locked, protecting Ferris, and if she heard anything she would run straight back to him. Mouse slid the dagger into the belt loop of her dress, then grabbed the gun from her bag. Ducking her head, she stepped through the splintered wood of the wall and entered the dark tunnel. A musty odor invaded her nostrils, heavier than in the previous room. Only a few cracks marred the faded stone of the walls.

The hallway led her down a curving path that turned into another room. Her heart pounded as she took in the circular area where six dark concrete coffins stood upright. Sets of three lined the walls across from each other, and if she were to step inside, they were tall enough to house two of her.

In the center of the wall between the two sets stood a door, this one looked to be heavy steel with multiple locks running up its length. The Red Queen and all her secret doors. But Mouse knew she was getting closer to something, a giddiness filling her.

When she’d been to the Red Palace last with Maddie and March for their tea party, she now wished they had thoroughly searched the palace. But even then, it was fate that had led her and Ferris to this secret place. Perhaps no one had believed the library would hide things of value since the jewels hadn’t been kept there.

Tucking the gun at her waist, Mouse gripped the lid of a coffin and slid it to the side. The scraping sound echoed off the walls. She blinked at what rested inside, expecting to possibly find something useful. Instead, iron chains coiled within the empty space. One by one, she opened the five other coffins, discovering only chains and nothing useful, and a disappointed sigh escaped her.

Perhaps the Red Queen had brought vampires down there and placed them into the coffins, but why? From what she knew, the Red Queen would just murder them and hang their pieces in the forest. But maybe she had done what Rav and Imogen had done to her—punish them to get answers.

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