Page 53 of Knave

Mouse shifted closer to Ferris, eyeing the two fae as they spoke a few lines in a soft, lyrical language full of rolling letters. “Are you okay with this?” she whispered.

Was he? There didn’t seem to be much of a choice—Tik-Tok would easily turn them to stone again if they refused. But what other options did they have? If these two had a shot of ridding Wonderland of the beast, he and Mouse would be fucking insane not to give it a go. And then he thought of something they’d said that made his chest tighten. Helping Tik-Tok’s wife and child in the process wasn’t something he could deny either. He hadn’t been able to save his girlfriend and daughter, but maybe he could help them.

“For now,” he replied quietly.

She stuck close to his side as they followed the fae through Red and away from the castle. They passed the wreckage of a city with half crumbled walls, then meandered through a forest of rotting trees, and climbed a small, craggy hill. While Tik-Tok stared at his compass and Tin kept a sharp eye on their surroundings, Ferris watchedthem.They moved with a fluid grace, not completely unlike vampires, though they gave off otherworldly vibes. Different than both Wonderland and the mortal world. Cocky, mysterious bastards.

“Ferris, was it?” Tin asked when they’d been walking for a good while.

“Yeah,” he replied warily, side-eyeing the fae. They entered a prairie with patches of brown crunchy grass and a dried-up stream.

“I’m curious.” The silver-haired male slowed his steps until he walked beside Ferris instead of Tik-Tok. His axe rested casually on his shoulder. “How does one become … like you?”

Ferris scratched the side of his neck where Imogen had torn into him. It hadn’t been a pleasant experience—feeding her, fucking her, drinking her blood. He’d hated every second of it, not knowing if Imogen would uncover his plan with Maddie through his memories. It was the painful ones of Ellie the Queen of Hearts had seen though. But Mouse was worth it. If it had been someone else… If it had beenMousewho’d turned him, Ferris was sure it would’ve been a vastly different experience. “Why? Are you interested?”

“In drinking blood? Fuck no. You’re immortal, I hear, yet your kind can’t walk in the sun. It sounds even more pathetic than having iron imbedded on your face.” He switched his axe to his other shoulder and stared out over the emptiness that was Red. “I don’t understand why anyone would choose to live eternally in a shit place like this.”

“All of Wonderland isn’t like Red,” Mouse drawled, motioning at the bare trees. “Ivory is beautiful and thousands live in Scarlet.”

“Not everyone chooses this life,” Ferris added. Maddie certainly hadn’t. Imogen and Rav had never asked anyone’s opinion on the matter. Noah’s sister, Alice, flashed through his mind. The journey Noah and Maddie took to save her life after Imogen turned her was nothing short of perilous. “The Queen of Ivory and the King of Scarlet are working together to make sure no one is forced anymore.”

Tin’s brows furrowed, then smoothed out as he shrugged. “Tik-Tok once turned me to stone.”

“Fucking brutal.” The sense of suffocating, of being unable to move, but being fully aware of everything was torturous.

“He does it to everyone who might attack. Cowardly, if you ask me,” Tin grumbled. “He kidnapped North right in front of me and her mother. There wasn’t a damn thing we could’ve done about it because he’d turned the entire ballroom into statues.”

Mouse gasped. “Kidnapped her? I thought—”

“Yes,” he said in a hard voice. “They’re together now. Going on almost a century at this point, so I’ve given up trying to get rid of the bastard.”

A screech blasted through the air and pebbles shook against the parched ground. Ferris threw a protective arm around Mouse, looking toward the sky, catching sight of the Jabberwocky’s silhouette following above them. “He’s too close.”

“On the contrary.” Tik-Tok threw a smirk over his shoulder. “We’re not close enough.”

“I don’t think you fully understand what the Jabberwocky is,” Ferris mumbled. They were in the middle of a damnprairie. Nowhere to hide. Nowhere to run.

“Pipt doesn’t breathe fire, does he?” Tin asked the vampires. “Or have any long-range attacks?”

“Not that we’ve seen,” Mouse said. “He’s a relatively new risk to those outside of Red, but no one has ever reported him breathing fire.”

Tik-Tok tucked the compass away in his back pocket. “If I need to turn him into stone to knock him out of the sky, we’ll just have to hope no limbs break off when he lands. Celyna never said anything about bringing him back in one piece.”

“Who?” Mouse asked.

“The sea witch.” Tik-Tok shrugged. Ferris’s eyes lifted to the sky just as the Jabberwocky’s shadow fell over their group, his wings giving a deafening clap. The shadow moved swiftly, swallowing them and spitting them out just as fast. “Show time.”

“Take out the chains,” Tik-Tok ordered Ferris. “We’ll lure the dreadful creature down. As soon as you’ve got him tangled, I’ll handle the rest.”

With that, the fae sprinted ahead, leaving Ferris and Mouse to stare after them. Their feet barely seemed to hit the ground. Red magic sparked off the tips of Tik-Tok’s golden fingers and Tin lowered his axe to hold with two hands.

“They’re giving us a lot of trust here.” Ferris turned his eyes up to the gray sky. A tip of a taloned foot dipped below the clouds, then the giant beast came into view, throwing his head back to release a rumbling roar.Fuck.“Either that, or they’re using us as the perfect appetizer to distract him.”

“The chains,” Mouse hissed.

“Shit.” Ferris reached into the bag and handed one end to Mouse. She took two steps back, helping pull the links out, until there was a massive coil between them. Finally reaching the other end, he wound it around his fist once for a better grip.

The two fae spoke loud enough to draw the Jabberwocky’s attention from where it circled above them. Scuffing their feet on the dry earth, they kept their gaze trained upward. Waiting for him to attack.

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